Asia Pacific hotels explore best practices in internet marketing at TravelCLICK’s global seminar series

Dec 22, 08 | 1:57 am

More than 30 percent of hotel bookings come directly from the web, and online shoppers visit at least three websites before making an online hotel reservation purchase decision.  These statistics and more are central to understanding Internet marketing, a topic of increasing interest for Asia Pacific hoteliers.  According to Smith Travel Research, for the first 10 months of 2008, occupancy has been down 6 percent for the region, while RevPAR is up 6 percent on the strength of the steady average daily rate (ADR).   As occupancy continues to be a potential challenge for the region-as well as for other areas of the world-building web-based business is a key requirement for hotel profitability.

To help Asia Pacific's leading hotels and resorts better understand actionable online reservation strategies and best practices for Internet marketing, TravelCLICK hosted a seminar series throughout the continent.  To date, the event has been presented to hoteliers in Singapore; Maldives; Bangkok, Thailand; Ko Samui, Phuket, Thailand; Tokyo, Japan; and Guam, US -with nine more presentations scheduled for cities in Malaysia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The seminar addresses such topics as maximizing hotel direct web revenue, optimizing the role of online travel agents and metasearch sites, creating effective websites, understanding search engine marketing, managing online customer relationships, and making the most of analytic software.

"In a complex and challenging global marketplace, online consumers now have more choices than ever to book travel," said Maverick Mak, TravelCLICK's Director of E-Commerce, Asia and keynote seminar speaker.  "As these choices expand, trends in consumer behavior are rapidly shifting-online consumers are shopping longer and investigating new alternative online channels.  Asian hotels are eager for the expertise and guidance that will help them seize the opportunities that the Internet provides for building brand, increasing revenue, and maximizing profitability."

Based on the strength of its web-direct strategy, TravelCLICK's iHotelier Central Reservations System clients in the Asia Pacific region grew revenue 33 percent and increased room nights 24 percent. The collective performance of these hotels is attributed to industry-recognized best practices for driving revenue through electronic channels, personalized service, and an unmatched network of local market experts.

Comments from seminar attendees affirm the industry need for this type of education-delivered by a proven authority with local market expertise, such as TravelCLICK:

• "The most useful, informative, eye-opening quick half-day session a hotel owner could ever attend! If you're an independent competing in a chain-dominated, highly competitive, price-driven market, this is the session you should not miss."
  Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi,
  Vice President The Siam City Hotel, Bangkok

• "For us, it's a one-stop-shop solution where we only have to deal with one company for online marketing, including web design, SEO, PPC, and the booking engine.  All these elements should be interlinked to make your campaign really work and drive direct booking to your site. I would recommend TravelCLICK again and again to colleagues in the hospitality industry."
  Nopparat P'Kulsiri,
  Vice President of Marketing Absolute Hotel Services Co., Ltd.

• "Having an understanding of optimizing search engines, influencing customer behavior using search engines, and building effective websites is of paramount importance. This was a very useful seminar that helped the attendees understand the many factors (and myths!) to take into account when developing a website."
  Sirinun Saelee,
  Online Marketing Manager Sheraton Grande Laguna, a Luxury Collection Resort, Phuket
  
  

About TravelCLICK, Inc. (www.travelclick.net)

TravelCLICK is the leading provider of ecommerce solutions that help hotels sell rooms smarter and drive long-term profitability. TravelCLICK helps hotels maximize asset ROI by combining innovative market analysis and proven industry best practices with advanced technology to develop and implement high-return strategies. The company offers a full set of solutions including distribution services, market intelligence-based decision support, emarketing, and professional services. Serving the hospitality industry since 1999 and headquartered in the Chicago area, TravelCLICK has more than 13,000 customers in 140 countries.

*Market performance data based on Smith Travel Research (STR) and STR Global.  TravelCLICK hotel performance is based on reservations through the iHotelier Central Reservation System for same store year-over-year performance for October 2007 YTD vs. October 2008 YTD.