Thursday, October 28, 2010

Gailes LInks Course Guide

Great new addition to the Gailes Links website has been unveiled with  a fantastic Video Course Guide.

Gailes Links, also known as Glasgow Gailes, have introduced a short video on their
web home page showing the course, clubhouse, practice facilities and other amenities.

Even more impressively they have on their web site an “Interactive Video Course Guide” - (right). 

You can click on a hole number to view the video fly through with expert commentary from John Greaves, PGA Professional, and the Golf Pro at Gailes Links.

Gailes Links will be represented at the forthcoming  International Golf Travel Market (IGTM) in Valencia with the rest of Scotland's West Coast Golf Links on the Visitscotland stand.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Gold Award for Isle of Eriska Hotel

Success is golden for a luxury hotel near Oban which has been presented with the highest award given by VisitScotland.

The Isle of Eriska Hotel, Spa and Island has won the gold award for country houses — a testament to its outstanding service — having already achieved VisitScotland five-star status.

The hotel, which stands on its own small island, accessed by bridge from Benderloch, first gained its five-star rating five years ago and has continued to strive for excellence since.

Beppo Buchanan-Smith, managing director of the family business, said: “I am very proud of the team who work here.

“They work endlessly and tirelessly to produce the standard of service that we have.

“People get the choice to go anywhere in the world, but what sets us apart in Scotland is our level of service and hospitality.

“It sets us as a world-class destination.

“I can invest all that I can into the facilities, but it is down to the service and the standards of the staff that actually creates that.”

VisitScotland’s regional director, David Adams McGilp, said: “I’m delighted that the hard work and dedication of the Isle of Eriska Hotel has been rewarded with five gold stars.

“Establishments such as the Isle of Eriska Hotel really are the leading lights in tourism when it comes to exceptional quality and service in accommodation provision.

“The rewards of these gold stars will be reaped not only by the hotel, but also by their customers and, by extension, Scottish tourism as a whole, as we work together to encourage visitors to Scotland to stay longer and spend more.”

The hotel has also been shortlisted in the Taste of Scotland category at the Scottish Thistle Awards.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Ayrshire Golf Group Head For Travel Market

Scotland's West Coast Golf Links are delighted to confirm that they will be attending the International Golf Travel Market in Valencia this November alongside industry partners on the VisitScotland stand.

Group Chairman, and Prestwick Golf Club Secretary, Ian Bunch was delighted that the marketing group were going to be represented, "IGTM presents an exciting opportunity for Scotland's West Coast Golf Links to promote the golf destination of Ayrshire to the travel trade. Whilst we are hardly unknown there is more to the area than many realise and this market gives us the opportunity to present our product clearly to the travel trade."

The group will be represented by Guy Redford from Dundonald Links who is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities the event offers. "We've believed for some time that Ayrshire needed a presence at key travel trade events and we are sure that being at IGTM will open up some great new business relationships not only with the golf courses but also the accommodation providers all over Ayrshire."

Find out more about Scotland's West Coast Golf Links on their website and get the low down on IGTM online
This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design, content management, marketing and project management services to Scotland's West Coast Golf Links and golf tourism businesses across Ayrshire and Scotland.

Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

Ayrshire Golf Group Head For Travel Market

Scotland's West Coast Golf Links are delighted to confirm that they will be attending the International Golf Travel Market in Valencia this November alongside industry partners on the VisitScotland stand.

Group Chairman, and Prestwick Golf Club Secretary, Ian Bunch was delighted that the marketing group were going to be represented, "IGTM presents an exciting opportunity for Scotland's West Coast Golf Links to promote the golf destination of Ayrshire to the travel trade. Whilst we are hardly unknown there is more to the area than many realise and this market gives us the opportunity to present our product clearly to the travel trade."

The group will be represented by Guy Redford from Dundonald Links who is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities the event offers. "We've believed for some time that Ayrshire needed a presence at key travel trade events and we are sure that being at IGTM will open up some great new business relationships not only with the golf courses but also the accommodation providers all over Ayrshire."

Find out more about Scotland's West Coast Golf Links on their website and get the low down on IGTM online
This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design, content management, marketing and project management services to Scotland's West Coast Golf Links and golf tourism businesses across Ayrshire and Scotland.

Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

Ayrshire Business Celebrates National Award

The Old Loans Inn, the hotel, bar and restaurant near Troon, part of the privately owned SimpsInns hotel group based in the heart of Ayrshire, reached dizzy new heights this week after being announced as winner of the Scottish Licensed Trade News (SLTN) award in the category of “Best New Business” for 2010.

Based in the village of Loans near Troon, The Old Loans Inn was short-listed for the prestigious award before taking top plaudits at the glittering ceremony hosted by TV personality Tess Daly at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on Thursday night.

The much sought-after SLTN awards, now in their 15th year, identify stars of the hospitality industry with the category of “Best New Business” fiercely contested after organisers received hundreds of entries across Scotland.

Owner Malcolm Simpson was delighted with the recognition, "The award is tremendous acknowledgement for all the effort, commitment and dedication that our entire team deliver on an ongoing basis.”

The Old Loans Inn has also been nominated for Hotel of the Year in the Golf Tourism Scotland Gold Standards Awards, which celebrate the very best in Scottish Golf Tourism. With this nomination we are now in the running for four awards over the next month.

This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design, marketing and on-line booking services to The Old Inn and hospitality business across Ayrshire and Scotland.


Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

Ayrshire Business Celebrates National Award

The Old Loans Inn, the hotel, bar and restaurant near Troon, part of the privately owned SimpsInns hotel group based in the heart of Ayrshire, reached dizzy new heights this week after being announced as winner of the Scottish Licensed Trade News (SLTN) award in the category of “Best New Business” for 2010.

Based in the village of Loans near Troon, The Old Loans Inn was short-listed for the prestigious award before taking top plaudits at the glittering ceremony hosted by TV personality Tess Daly at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on Thursday night.

The much sought-after SLTN awards, now in their 15th year, identify stars of the hospitality industry with the category of “Best New Business” fiercely contested after organisers received hundreds of entries across Scotland.

Owner Malcolm Simpson was delighted with the recognition, "The award is tremendous acknowledgement for all the effort, commitment and dedication that our entire team deliver on an ongoing basis.”

The Old Loans Inn has also been nominated for Hotel of the Year in the Golf Tourism Scotland Gold Standards Awards, which celebrate the very best in Scottish Golf Tourism. With this nomination we are now in the running for four awards over the next month.

This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design, marketing and on-line booking services to The Old Inn and hospitality business across Ayrshire and Scotland.


Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

Travel Award For Fairmont St Andrews

The five-star Fairmont St Andrews has been named as Scotland's best golf resort and spa by the World Travel Awards. Beating off competition from a number of the world’s best golf courses – including Gleneagles, Turnberry and Cameron House – the Fairmont boasts two championship golf courses, the Torrance and Kittocks, and has played host to a number of prestigious events, including both the Open Championship's final local qualifying and the Scottish Senior Open. 

“Over the years we have collected many awards but to receive one that recognises both the golf and spa sides of our operation is particularly special,” said Charles Head, general manager of Fairmont St Andrews. “I know everyone works very hard to maintain consistently high levels throughout the resort and things like this make it all-the-more worthwhile.” 

With thousands of votes cast by travel professionals from 183,000 travel agencies in more than 160 countries globally, winning a World Travel Award has become one of the highest accolades a travel product can receive.

SimpsInns Announce Latest Development for Irvine

The site of Irvine’s Golf Hotel is set to be transformed into a continental-style bar and restaurant.

This week, new owners Malcolm and Karen Simpson, of SimpsInns, confirmed they had big plans for the former hotel in Kilwinning Road which will see the hotel being torn down within a year as work starts on Si! Restaurant and Bar.

The ambitious project boasts a two-storey restaurant and bar complete with a balcony for al fresco dining. And it will bring 40 jobs to the town. Malcolm and wife Karen, who also own the Gailes Hotel, the Old Loans Inn and travel company, Wilkinson Golf, have also bought over the Waterside Inn in Seamill.


The Waterside is set to be transformed into a five-star hotel and spa, the likes of which have never been seen in North Ayrshire.

As Malcolm showed the Irvine Herald his ambitious plans for Si! and the Waterside Hotel he said: “The Golf Hotel site deal has taken some time to put together but we are finally at the planning stage.

“I had a clear vision for the sort of restaurant and bar that I wanted to see open in Irvine and to achieve that I felt it was best to start with a clean canvas and knock the old hotel down.

“We want to create somewhere fairly informal but with quality dining along with a bar offering continental lagers and somewhere different.

“We anticipate creating 40 full-time and part-time jobs at Si! and a further 140 at Waterside. We are in pre-consultation with North Ayrshire’s planning department who have been very supportive and we are working closely with Irvine Bay Regeneration.”

SimpsInns are also about to launch their first ever loyalty card for customers to gain points, whatever hotel or restaurant they choose.

This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design, on-line reservations software and online marketing services to SimpsInns and their businesses at Old Loans Inn near Troon and Gailes Hotel in Irvine and hospitality and tourism businesses across Ayrshire and Scotland.


Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

SimpsInns Announce Latest Development for Irvine

The site of Irvine’s Golf Hotel is set to be transformed into a continental-style bar and restaurant.

This week, new owners Malcolm and Karen Simpson, of SimpsInns, confirmed they had big plans for the former hotel in Kilwinning Road which will see the hotel being torn down within a year as work starts on Si! Restaurant and Bar.

The ambitious project boasts a two-storey restaurant and bar complete with a balcony for al fresco dining. And it will bring 40 jobs to the town. Malcolm and wife Karen, who also own the Gailes Hotel, the Old Loans Inn and travel company, Wilkinson Golf, have also bought over the Waterside Inn in Seamill.


The Waterside is set to be transformed into a five-star hotel and spa, the likes of which have never been seen in North Ayrshire.

As Malcolm showed the Irvine Herald his ambitious plans for Si! and the Waterside Hotel he said: “The Golf Hotel site deal has taken some time to put together but we are finally at the planning stage.

“I had a clear vision for the sort of restaurant and bar that I wanted to see open in Irvine and to achieve that I felt it was best to start with a clean canvas and knock the old hotel down.

“We want to create somewhere fairly informal but with quality dining along with a bar offering continental lagers and somewhere different.

“We anticipate creating 40 full-time and part-time jobs at Si! and a further 140 at Waterside. We are in pre-consultation with North Ayrshire’s planning department who have been very supportive and we are working closely with Irvine Bay Regeneration.”

SimpsInns are also about to launch their first ever loyalty card for customers to gain points, whatever hotel or restaurant they choose.

This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design, on-line reservations software and online marketing services to SimpsInns and their businesses at Old Loans Inn near Troon and Gailes Hotel in Irvine and hospitality and tourism businesses across Ayrshire and Scotland.


Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

Friday, October 22, 2010

McCaig Electrical Celebrate 25 Years in Business

Twenty Five Years on – From kitchen table to staff of 50 and electrical contractor John McCaig & Sons has celebrated a quarter century business.

The milestone was marked with an open day held at the company’s old farm road premises in Ayr and has been further enhanced by a short-listing in the annual Select Awards.

To help with the celebrations customers and suppliers of John McCaig & Sons attended to show their continuing support.

Director Frances McCaig said: “ We were delighted at the turn out for our open day, it is with the help and support of such people that has made the past 25 years such a success”.

John and Frances started the business in 1985, where they worked from their family home, while looking after their two young sons before moving to a leased premises in York Street in Ayr.

It was always their aim to own premises and they and they achieved this in September 2008. The prominent block 3 Old Farm Road became available and it proved to be ideal for the rapidly expanding business, which now employs 50.

It was always there wish that their two sons joined the company and they were delighted both of them decided to do so.

Frances said: We thought it was extremely important John and Jamie had a trade behind them, so both served their apprenticeships as electricians”.

John now holds the position of Contracts manager and Jamie is Estimator/Buyer.

Dad John said : “ we feel the experience both our sons have within the company stands them in good stead for the many years they have ahead of them”.

In 2005, Robert Stirrat, who started working for John McCaig & Sons in 1998, was made a Director. Robert started off as an electrician and has worked through the ranks.

This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design services to McCaig Electrical and business across Ayrshire and Scotland.


Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

McCaig Electrical Celebrate 25 Years in Business

Twenty Five Years on – From kitchen table to staff of 50 and electrical contractor John McCaig & Sons has celebrated a quarter century business.

The milestone was marked with an open day held at the company’s old farm road premises in Ayr and has been further enhanced by a short-listing in the annual Select Awards.

To help with the celebrations customers and suppliers of John McCaig & Sons attended to show their continuing support.

Director Frances McCaig said: “ We were delighted at the turn out for our open day, it is with the help and support of such people that has made the past 25 years such a success”.

John and Frances started the business in 1985, where they worked from their family home, while looking after their two young sons before moving to a leased premises in York Street in Ayr.

It was always their aim to own premises and they and they achieved this in September 2008. The prominent block 3 Old Farm Road became available and it proved to be ideal for the rapidly expanding business, which now employs 50.

It was always there wish that their two sons joined the company and they were delighted both of them decided to do so.

Frances said: We thought it was extremely important John and Jamie had a trade behind them, so both served their apprenticeships as electricians”.

John now holds the position of Contracts manager and Jamie is Estimator/Buyer.

Dad John said : “ we feel the experience both our sons have within the company stands them in good stead for the many years they have ahead of them”.

In 2005, Robert Stirrat, who started working for John McCaig & Sons in 1998, was made a Director. Robert started off as an electrician and has worked through the ranks.

This article is just one part of the on-line Business Development and PR support available to all clients of The Edge Studios. The E-dge provide web design services to McCaig Electrical and business across Ayrshire and Scotland.


Contact us by email or telephone 01292 521404 for further information on how we can help develop your on and off line business.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

VisitScotland CEO Responds to Spending Review

VisitScotland has reacted to today’s UK Government spending review announcement, stating that tourism will be ‘at the heart’ of the UK recovery.

In reaction the review, Malcolm Roughead, the recently named chief executive of the Scottish Tourism body said: “We have been working with the Scottish Government on its preparations for the comprehensive spending review for several months and are committed to working together with the tourism industry to deliver sustainable economic growth and best value for Scotland."

He continued: "Tourism will be at the heart of economic recovery in Scotland, but growth will only come from investment. We know that the money we invest in marketing brings an immediate return to Scotland, delivering at least £20 for every £1 we invest. Last year alone some of our key marketing campaigns brought £400 million into the economy.”

The argument is not that marketing is a prerequisite of destination marketing the challenge is how we alter the balance between public and private sector influence and input.


The public purse cannot justify supporting a fundamentally free market sector with an unlimited budget. The long heard shout from small operators about VisitScotland doing nothing for them has always been flawed anyway (VS not being there to sell rooms but to market the country - in theory) but now is the time where budget cuts may concentrate those minds further.

The return on investment may sound good but as we've highlighted elsewhere in this blog tourism statistics are perhaps the most unsound use of figures and can be made to say anything currently. The ROI of 20:1 is indeed impressive but is actually totally irrelevant if the revenue figures we use plucked from the air meaningless multiplier factors.

And anyway, the challenge should not be about increasing our public sector expenditure in Scotland but about making it more effective and efficient.

Savings must be made by concentrating on the knitting, divesting of ancillary and non productive public sector roles and concentrating increasingly on partnership marketing built to date by Malcolm Roughead in his marketing role at VS.

As a knee jerk reaction?
  • Marketing must have increased private sector funding for campaigns
  • They must reduce administrative costs and departments nationally and regionally
  • Duplicated tourism development/marketing spending by Councils and publicly funded DMOs must be eradicated
  • VS must become administratively much more lean
  • VS must concentrate on core activities and divest of  all other roles
  • The private sector must take more responsibility

Meanwhile, VisitBritain will see its funding reduced by a quarter over the next four years, it was announced today.

The tourism body will review its operations as part of the budget tightening restrictions applied to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with the current grant for VisitBritain falling from £28.8m this year to £26.5m in 2011/2012and £21.2m in 2014/15.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Teeing Off - 150th Anniversary of The Open

Took a couple of pictures on what was a historic moment for the four golfers involved - Brian Morrison Prestwick Club Captain, David Fleming, Club Pro, Ian Bunch club secretary and Ian McCaig from Scotland's West Coast Golf Links - and Jock the dug!

Monte Carlo Rally Revs Up For Glasgow 2011

Great piece of news for Scotland that the Monte Carlo Rally will be returning to Glasgow for the first time since Slade were at number one. That's the early seventies for those who can't remember Noddy Holder.

According to various press reports  between 70 and 100 cars will be at the start point at George Square ahead of the flag being waved to signal the start of the Scottish leg of the rally on the 27th of January.


It's small niche events like this that will sustain Scotland in the media and for sure provide benefits to the more aggesive marketeers within the accommodation sector. Will there be a rash of Monte Carlo or Bust accommodation pacakges in and around Glasgow for that period? We hope so.

The only thing that yet again frustrates us in here is that there is this overwhelming need for every event to have seven figure economic benefit attached to it for fear it may not be deemed positive enough.

It is a great event, a positive achievement by those involved in making it happen so just drop the need for the "£1 million boost to the local economy say tourism experts" addendum. It's really not needed.

Move to the Seaside For Golf's Scottish Open?

According to The Scotsman, "The Scottish Open, which has been held at Loch Lomond since 1996, could be heading to a new venue after the European Tour confirmed it is in discussions with "four or five" links courses at the request of sponsors Barclays."
 
"The news is a blow to Loch Lomond Golf Club. It posted pre-tax losses of £45.5 million for 2008 and has been on the market for the past two years."

Apparently, the tournament sponsors, Barclays would to see the event played ton a links course in the hope of attracting all the world's top players the week before The Open and a decision on a prospective new venue could be made in the next month.

You have to feel a little for Loch Lomond which is a splendid spectacle but it does make sense certainly for the organisers to have the event as a warm up for the links based Open Championship which follows on the week after. From a Scottish perspective it could be good for other tourism areas who find early July a perennial struggle to fill rooms.

East Lothian has apparently been mentioned but the problem of the number of available rooms would push visitors into Edinburgh, Ayrshire's obvious candidate could have been Dundonald Links as the sister course of Loch Lomond. It does look however from the outside look as though the change of ownership plans may have inadvertently contributed to the course losing the event and that in turn would mean that Dundonald could be ruled out also.

My choice? Let's be brave and go to somewhere fresh to areas that would directly see the benefits. If you want tradition go to Royal Dornoch, if it wasn't where it was it would have hosted half a dozen Opens already; if you want something new and challenging make it Castle Stuart between Nairn and Inverness.

Go on European Tour show some innovation...

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Scotland's Kingsbarns Golf Links extends season by two weeks

Great to see that Kingsbarns have decided to open their course for an additional two weeks at the end of the year. It's quite unbelievably celebrating its tenth anniversary and was recently ranked 15th in the Golf World Top 100, 
The course will now stay open until November 14 to accommodate increased demand from visiting golfers.

Stuart McEwen, the General Manager, said: "After a very busy season and another successful Alfred Dunhill Links Championship the course is still in fantastic condition and we want to give visiting golfers as much chance to enjoy it as possible. 2010 has been a tremendous year for Kingsbarns. We have celebrated the 10th anniversary of the course opening, hosted the Open Championship Local Final Qualifying and attracted greater numbers of visiting golfers. We want to keep the momentum going before the regular winter break."

Kingsbarns attracted widespread praise from both the professionals and the amateurs at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

British actor Hugh Grant said: ""For the middle-aged golf addict like myself, this is like dying and going to golfing heaven. It's impossible to say which of the three courses is the best but Kingsbarns is probably the prettiest."

The Hollywood film star Andy Garcia said: "The Kingsbarns Course reminds me a lot of some of the golf courses on the California coastline. There's one on the Monterrey Peninsula, and Pebble Beach too. I love playing links courses and Kingsbarns is a beautiful design. It looks much more than just 10 years old."

For tee time reservations you can call +44 (0)1334 460861 or visit the Kingsbarns website


Monday, October 18, 2010

Lies, Damned Lies and Tourism Statistics

It pays to have an increasingly sceptical view on statistics; particularly tourism statistics. Over the past month we must have been subjected to more tourism statistics than any other industry in the world.

We have had statistics for the value of The Open, statistics on the value of The Ryder Cup, statistics on the value of Nature Tourism, of golf in Fife, of The Commonwealth Games, of Homecoming Scotland 2009, of Homecoming Scotland 2014, of Convention Business to Edinburgh, of the value of sailing, of the importance of food and drink and this is only 23.2% of the sample range we could have actually used...but they are statistically significant!


All we need now is an accurate figure on the value of tourism statistics to the national economy. We reckon it could be as high as 10% of overall GDP....

Marking the 150th Anniversary of The Open

October 17th 2010. 

The scene, with four golfers making their way towards the first tee in watery autumnal morning sunshine is not an unusual one in itself being replicated on courses across Scotland and beyond by tens of thousands of Sunday morning golfers.

The difference this morning however is the location and the date. Accompanied by the Club Captain Brian Morrison, Club Secretary Ian Bunch and Club Pro David Fleming, I was in fact walking towards The Cairn which marks the location of the first tee of the first Open Championship which teed off exactly 150 years earlier over Prestwick Links on the Ayrshire coast.

October 17th 1860

That was a Wednesday and on that particular Wednesday morning a small group of eight roughly dressed individuals made their way towards the wind-strewn sand hills of Prestwick from The Red Lion Inn at The Cross which doubled back then as the clubhouse for Prestwick Links.

According to the history books, “Under his arm each carries a strange assortment of wooden implements. They march, like prisoners under guard, accompanied by four members of the gentry, whose role it is to ensure that none among them shall transgress.”

For certain they were not aware of what they were about to set in motion but it was on this day 150 years ago that history was made by the eight individuals made up of “golf professionals”. Professionals in the sense that they made a living form the game through as a caddy, club or ball maker.

The eight players teed of at midday and before dusk had fallen they had played 36 holes of stroke or medal play golf

They were unknowingly making history by playing the first ever round of The Open Championship resulting in the presentation of The Belt to Willie Park from Musselburgh who won that first Open with a score of 174 and a two stroke cushion over Tom Morris who was at that time the Keeper of Prestwick’s green.

The red morocco belt was purchased for £25 by the members of Prestwick and subsequently retained by Young Tom Morris after he won it in three successive years from 1868-70. The Claret Jug, still played for now, was then purchased jointly by Prestwick, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfer and first played for in 1872.

So it was with this burden of history that our band of four men and a dog took the short walk to the historic mound of stone and the starting point for the first ever Open Championship.

Now if you’ve played Prestwick before you’ll know that the first runs alongside the Glasgow to Ayr railway line with out of bounds on the right. It is a rather intimidating opener. Well the “old first” exists in the sense that the tee is there and the green is there, the green being the current 16th.

Apart from that there is no fairway and the thirteenth green stands in your way! The fairway as I saw it seemed to be a path about five yards wide running down from the fourteenth tee. That made this an even more intimidating opener.

Add to this that every golfer in Scotland has his own Open Championship memories and who wouldn’t have wanted to be standing in our place. My own first Open memory was as an eight year old at Muirfield chasing Tony Jacklin in a buggy (he in the buggy not me) for an autograph. Various spectating highlights have followed over the years at Troon, Turnberry, The Old Course, Carnoustie, Birkdale and Lytham and my own single zenith as a spotty 17 year old youth caddying for English Amateur Chris Poxon at Royal Troon. We (he) may have missed the cut but it is my own special albeit tenuous “professional” connection with the greatest of golf championships.

It may be gilding the lily slightly to say that it was an emotional moment but there was a genuine sense of history in teeing the ball up on that spot at that moment and I have to say it was with some pride, for all I think, that each drive left the tee – straight - following that historic route.

The original 1st hole measured 578 yards and the talk on the tee was how Tom Morris Jnr could hole out over that distance in three strokes using hickory shafts and a gutty golf ball. I still haven’t figured it out but it would have required me to hole out with a four wood to have replicated the feat!

As it was the green was reached in three and unusually two putted for a five. Elation.

Our Professional David Fleming lipped out from a few feet for what would have been a deserved four and Ian Bunch, the club secretary, well Ian was penalised by the fact that what would have been fairway in 1860 was now benefitting from a 150 years of growth!

As I played the rest of the round, I couldn’t help, as I criss-crossed those hallowed fairways, but compare Prestwick again with all of those aforementioned championship links and how well this challenge still compared. So hallowed indeed were those fairways that I quite respectfully avoided playing from most of them!

Prestwick remains one of the purest links golf challenges that a golfer can take on and while it will never see an Open championship again, it will for sure continue to be high on the list of courses you must play before you die. Indeed it should be very high on that list.

In those early days Prestwick, however, continued to host the Open and did so intermittently until its swan song in 1925 when sheer pressure of crowd numbers contributed, it is said, to the home favourite MacDonald Smith losing out to his American challenger Jim Barnes.

Indeed as part of the 150th celebrations, the pro shop has taken a series of the images from that last event and produced a wonderful range of canvasses. David Fleming explained, “There is such a wealth of history in the club archives that it seemed a natural project to follow and they have been incredibly popular with visitors and members alike. When you scale the images up to 40 inches you can see that even in 1925 hospitality tents had already made an appearance and the crowds around the players must have made it almost impossible to play competitive golf!”

(Since it was formed in 1851, David Fleming is only the eight professional in the club’s history.)

Indeed the history is all around you at Prestwick. Replica belts and trophies, original scorecards, photographs, winners boards. Yet the contradiction at Prestwick is that while it retains its tradition it is far from lost in it.

Since becoming the club secretary Ian Bunch has, in his own style, transformed the way the club is seen from the outside. First class visitor facilities and a genuinely warm welcome are offered at Prestwick along with increases in tee time availability for the tourism markets; a position that in itself encouraged other golf courses in the area to follow suit.

In addition each year Prestwick recognises the role that the golf travel sector play in its success by hosting a wonderfully quirky “six-some” event.

The cherished highlight was surely the first hole but our game was rounded off with an equally indelible memory coming down the 13th hole.

Playing into the wind, the club pro once again out hit us both by seventy five yards into the wind. As we approach our balls we witness the gap decreasing with David Fleming’s ball coming towards our own being pushed back down the fairway assiduously by the beak of a rather large black crow!

Patently tiring the crow looks up towards the incoming golfers and decides to beat an escape with the golf ball firmly fixed in its beak and heads for the beach. Imperiously now, and sensing escape with a Taylor Made Penta, it flies off and lands fifty yards away on the boundary fence separating course from beach; differentiating in-play from Out of Bounds.

And yes you can guess the next part. It had a last thought about where it was going to drop the ball, turned towards the Firth of Clyde, decided the pro needed penalised and neatly dropped Mr Fleming’s ball Out of Bounds!

Hole to the amateurs on the day of the first professionals!

On a day such as this it was quite clear that the spirit of 150 years ago was still very much present in the south westerly Ayrshire breeze and hell if we want to romanticise the presence of our feathered friend on this day then who is to condemn us!

Thank you Prestwick for what you started and to Ian Bunch and David Fleming for letting me share a little part of it with them.

You can find out more about the history and heritage of not only The Open Championship at Prestwick but also Troon, Turnberry and the other seven links golf courses on Scotland's West Coast.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

150th Open Anniversary - An Opportunity Missed?

October 17th 2010. 

The scene, with four golfers making their way towards the first tee in watery autumnal morning sunshine is not an unusual one in itself being replicated on courses across Scotland and beyond by tens of thousands of Sunday morning golfers.

The difference this morning however is the location and the date. Accompanied by the Club Captain Brian Morrison, Club Secretary Ian Bunch and Club Pro David Fleming, I was in fact walking towards The Cairn which marks the location of the first tee of the first Open Championship which teed off exactly 150 years earlier over Prestwick Links on the Ayrshire coast.

October 17th 1860

That was a Wednesday and on that particular Wednesday morning a small group of eight roughly dressed individuals made their way towards the wind-strewn sand hills of Prestwick from The Red Lion Inn at The Cross which doubled back then as the clubhouse for Prestwick Links.

According to the history books, “Under his arm each carries a strange assortment of wooden implements. They march, like prisoners under guard, accompanied by four members of the gentry, whose role it is to ensure that none among them shall transgress.”

For certain they were not aware of what they were about to set in motion but it was on this day 150 years ago that history was made by the eight individuals made up of “golf professionals”. Professionals in the sense that they made a living form the game through as a caddy, club or ball maker.

The eight players teed of at midday and before dusk had fallen they had played 36 holes of stroke or medal play golf

They were unknowingly making history by playing the first ever round of The Open Championship resulting in the presentation of The Belt to Willie Park from Musselburgh who won that first Open with a score of 174 and a two stroke cushion over Tom Morris who was at that time the Keeper of Prestwick’s green.

The red morocco belt was purchased for £25 by the members of Prestwick and subsequently retained by Young Tom Morris after he won it in three successive years from 1868-70. The Claret Jug, still played for now, was then purchased jointly by Prestwick, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfer and first played for in 1872.

So it was with this burden of history that our band of four men and a dog took the short walk to the historic mound of stone and the starting point for the first ever Open Championship.

Now if you’ve played Prestwick before you’ll know that the first runs alongside the Glasgow to Ayr railway line with out of bounds on the right. It is a rather intimidating opener. Well the “old first” exists in the sense that the tee is there and the green is there, the green being the current 16th.

Apart from that there is no fairway and the thirteenth green stands in your way! The fairway as I saw it seemed to be a path about five yards wide running down from the fourteenth tee. That made this an even more intimidating opener.

Add to this that every golfer in Scotland has his own Open Championship memories and who wouldn’t have wanted to be standing in our place. My own first Open memory was as an eight year old at Muirfield chasing Tony Jacklin in a buggy (he in the buggy not me) for an autograph. Various spectating highlights have followed over the years at Troon, Turnberry, The Old Course, Carnoustie, Birkdale and Lytham and my own single zenith as a spotty 17 year old youth caddying for English Amateur Chris Poxon at Royal Troon. We (he) may have missed the cut but it is my own special albeit tenuous “professional” connection with the greatest of golf championships.

It may be gilding the lily slightly to say that it was an emotional moment but there was a genuine sense of history in teeing the ball up on that spot at that moment and I have to say it was with some pride, for all I think, that each drive left the tee – straight - following that historic route.

The original 1st hole measured 578 yards and the talk on the tee was how Tom Morris Jnr could hole out over that distance in three strokes using hickory shafts and a gutty golf ball. I still haven’t figured it out but it would have required me to hole out with a four wood to have replicated the feat!

As it was the green was reached in three and unusually two putted for a five. Elation.

Our Professional David Fleming lipped out from a few feet for what would have been a deserved four and Ian Bunch, the club secretary, well Ian was penalised by the fact that what would have been fairway in 1860 was now benefitting from a 150 years of growth!

As I played the rest of the round, I couldn’t help, as I criss-crossed those hallowed fairways, but compare Prestwick again with all of those aforementioned championship links and how well this challenge still compared. So hallowed indeed were those fairways that I quite respectfully avoided playing from most of them!

Prestwick remains one of the purest links golf challenges that a golfer can take on and while it will never see an Open championship again, it will for sure continue to be high on the list of courses you must play before you die. Indeed it should be very high on that list.

In those early days Prestwick, however, continued to host the Open and did so intermittently until its swan song in 1925 when sheer pressure of crowd numbers contributed, it is said, to the home favourite MacDonald Smith losing out to his American challenger Jim Barnes.

Indeed as part of the 150th celebrations, the pro shop has taken a series of the images from that last event and produced a wonderful range of canvasses. David Fleming explained, “There is such a wealth of history in the club archives that it seemed a natural project to follow and they have been incredibly popular with visitors and members alike. When you scale the images up to 40 inches you can see that even in 1925 hospitality tents had already made an appearance and the crowds around the players must have made it almost impossible to play competitive golf!”

(Since it was formed in 1851, David Fleming is only the eight professional in the club’s history.)

Indeed the history is all around you at Prestwick. Replica belts and trophies, original scorecards, photographs, winners boards. Yet the contradiction at Prestwick is that while it retains its tradition it is far from lost in it.

Since becoming the club secretary Ian Bunch has, in his own style, transformed the way the club is seen from the outside. First class visitor facilities and a genuinely warm welcome are offered at Prestwick along with increases in tee time availability for the tourism markets; a position that in itself encouraged other golf courses in the area to follow suit.

In addition each year Prestwick recognises the role that the golf travel sector play in its success by hosting a wonderfully quirky “six-some” event.

And it is this innovative and inclusive attitude that makes it all the more puzzling that our little three ball – the captain’s tee shot being ceremonial – made its way around the Prestwick Links without any apparent notice or recognition of the date from the wider world.

Scotland’s golfing literati still seem to be fixated with The Ryder Cup or at least talking about Scotland’s 2014 version of it.

Alex Salmond talked about The Ryder Cup this week; EventScotland and VisitScotland focussed on it with the launch of their Ryder Cup 2014 website and today one of Scotland’s top golf journalists gave a full page over to making up a fictional 18 holes out of Gleneagles three courses which he thought more appropriate for the Ryder Cup 2014.

The fear of many in the golf industry, certainly on the tourism side, has been expressed more effectively by others than I can do hear but the public agencies – Scottish Enterprise, EventScotland, VisitScotland and the government – must remember that there is more to Scotland’s golf future than the Ryder Cup. For sure it is a great spectator event but the promised economic legacy remains to date unfulfilled for other destinations (ask The K Club or Bord Failte) and we should reflect on this when missing truly unique opportunities to promote golf’s most historic date.

The Ryder Cup is an important part of Scotland’s present picture but it will be fleeting; The Open has a Scottish heart with proven longevity. The economic benefit of 2014 at Gleneagles?

Is that economic gain offset by the loss of The Open from Royal Troon the same year? Who knows. Would the R&A have made more of the date had it been an Old Course anniversary? Would VisitScotland have passed it over if it had been a five start golf resort and as for the golf press, well for sure there’s more than a few unique tales that should have been told today.

Could we not have used the date of the first Open to highlight the date of our next home Ryder Cup? The 150th Anniversary of The Open Championsh garnered no press releases, no feature copy distributed on the Indian Commonwealth Games visit, no inclusion in any of the speeches by our First Minister about our history and heritage. It didn’t even merit a mention on the official open Championship website.

Analogies are cheap but we were putting for a birdie and came off with a bogey I fear.

In short I can’t help but thinking that Prestwick, Ayrshire, indeed, Those first Open Championship players deserved a lot more from the 17th of October 2010; the date 1860 had a lot more resonance over the past week and a lot more PR value than the date 2014.

But back to today.

The cherished highlight was surely the first hole but our game was rounded off with an equally indelible memory coming down the 13th hole.

Playing into the wind, the club pro once again out hit us both by seventy five yards into the wind. As we approach our balls we witness the gap decreasing with David Fleming’s ball coming towards our own being pushed back down the fairway assiduously by the beak of a rather large black crow!

Patently tiring the crow looks up towards the incoming golfers and decides to beat an escape with the golf ball firmly fixed in its beak and heads for the beach. Imperiously now, and sensing escape with a Taylor Made Penta, it flies off and lands fifty yards away on the boundary fence separating course from beach; differentiating in-play from Out of Bounds.

And yes you can guess the next part. It had a last thought about where it was going to drop the ball, turned towards the Firth of Clyde, decided the pro needed penalised and neatly dropped Mr Fleming’s ball Out of Bounds!

Hole to the amateurs on the day of the first professionals!

On a day such as this it was quite clear that the spirit of 150 years ago was still very much present in the south westerly Ayrshire breeze and hell if we want to romanticise the presence of our feathered friend on this day then who is to condemn us!

Thank you Prestwick for what you started and to Ian Bunch and David Fleming for letting me share a little part of it with them.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Winter Tee Times at Royal Troon

The Scottish Golf Union has teamed up with one of world golf’s most famous venues, Royal Troon to offer SGU affiliated golf club members exclusive green fee rates during the winter months.

Royal Troon have very generously donated tee times to the Scottish Golf Union to offer to golf club members in Scotland with all proceeds going into junior golf development. The tee times, detailed below are available for £280 per fourball, allowing golf club members a terrific discount on the standard green-fees at Royal Troon.

The following tee-times are available at the special discounted rate:
All times available are on a Tuesday at 10.00am
  • November 2010 – 2nd, 9th
  • December 2010 – 7th, 14th
  • January 2011 – 4th, 18th
  • February 2011 – 1st, 15th
  • March 2011 – 1st, 15th
  • April 2011 – 5th
To book your tee-times, please contact the Scottish Golf Union on 01334 466477 or for further information please e-mail l.llewellyn@scottishgolf.org. All tee-times are subject to availability at the time of booking.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Inspirational Retro Style Marketing or Missing the Point?

Ah the dichotomy that is Scottish Tourism...

Two emails within an hour of each other displaying two entirely different facets of our "industry". The first from go getter and assertive individual that he is Stephen Leckie (first time I met him was back in the the days of brilliant white shirt, no jacket, bright tie and red braces a la Wall Street Michael Douglas - most impressive it was too) pointing us to a review of a  refreshed tourism strategy for Scotland.

The next was from VisitScotland's expo team inviting us to Meet the Scots on their stand at the forthcoming World Travel Market. We will no doubt blog lots about the refreshing of Scotland's tourism Strategy later but it was the embedded image that got me most. I understand the rationale behind the Meet The Scots campaign and the use of independent operators and real people clearly resonates with some, indeed, many marketplaces.

But I just have to wonder whether the image above is the inspiration that is required for a highly competitive international marketplace. I assume that there will be additional marketing messages going out alongside these ones and that other more dynamic images and calls to action will be in the ether soon.

We shall ask the VS team for their plan of attack and come back to you.

But in the meantime what are your thoughts?

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Screensavers of Scotlands Championship Links Courses

In the week that sees the 150th Anniversary of The Open Championship teeing off for the very first time at Prestwick Golf Club, we're adding some nice wee gadgets to the website for you to use.

The first of these can be seen in the Downloads Page of the website which as well as featuring PDF versions of the printed materials it also now has a Screensaver from each of the ten courses invovled with Scotland's West Coast Golf Links.


So if you're looking for something different on your screen as the winter months reduce your golf play why not download one of Ayrshire's finest links golf courses to keep you sane until the Spring. And then you can visit us in 2011 and play the real thing.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Five Stars For St Andrews Inn

The Peat Inn by St Andrews has become the third 'Restaurant with Rooms' in Scotland to attain both an EatScotland Gold Award and a Five Star Gold Award from VisitScotland's Quality Assurance Scheme.

Now part of a small and exclusive group comprising only two other such establishments in the country - The Three Chimneys in Skye and Loch Ness Lodge outside Inverness - The Peat Inn has been recognised as offering guests exceptional quality across the board, from hospitality and service to fine dining.

Geoffrey Smeddle chef proprietor of The Peat Inn, said: "We are stunned but absolutely delighted by the news. The entire team here is passionate about delivering exceptional quality in every area, every day, for every guest. For that to be recognised by such a pioneering quality assurance scheme is truly fantastic. We feel excited and truly privileged to join such an elite group of 'restaurants with rooms'."

Originally a coaching inn dating from the 1700s, The Peat Inn is synonymous with excellent cooking and hospitality. Taken over in 2006 by renowned chef and food columnist Geoffrey Smeddle and his wife Katherine, the restaurant with rooms uses the highest quality local and seasonal produce and boasts eight individually appointed and beautifully furnished suites, with bedroom and separate living room uniquely on two levels.

Old Course Hotel Financial Results Reported

The following article was picked up from Google Alerts and highlights some interesting figures relating to the operations of one of Scotland's iconic resort hotels.
"Kohler Co.'s golf-and-hospitality venture in Scotland has run largely in the red since the firm bought the Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa in St. Andrews six years ago, financial reports show.
The business, run through the Kohler subsidiary The Old Course Limited, has had one profitable full year since the purchase was announced in October 2004. Cumulative annual losses from 2005 through 2009 total 8.2 million British pounds - about $13 million at the current exchange rate.
The losses, and the entire Scottish operation, represent only a tiny slice of Kohler Co.'s overall business, which generated $4.5 billion in sales last year, according to a spokesman.
But the firm's foothold at what is regarded as the birthplace of golf has captured widespread attention. And with British law requiring many non-public companies to file annual reports, it offers a peek into a small part of the very private Kohler Co.
The luxury hotel in Scotland overlooks the famed Old Course, site of this year's British Open. Besides the 144-room hotel, Kohler's St. Andrews holdings include The Duke's golf course; Craigtoun Manor, an adjacent rundown mansion Kohler has begun redeveloping; and Hamilton Hall, a dilapidated former hotel overlooking the 18th hole of the Old Course that Kohler bought a year ago and plans to restore.
Depreciation and a big write-down last year on Craigtoun Manor account for most if not all of the cumulative loss of The Old Course Limited since 2005, the financial reports indicate.
The company halted work on Craigtoun Manor after buying Hamilton Hall, which now will be redeveloped first. Meanwhile, the firm last year recorded a 4.9 million pound charge related to the manor, citing the effects of the economic downturn on real estate in the United Kingdom.
Sales for The Old Course Limited totaled 9.9 million pounds in 2009, down from 11.7 million the previous year and 12.4 million in 2007. Sales had been rising until then.
A Kohler spokesman declined to comment on the financial results of The Old Course Limited.
The Scottish operations are part of Kohler's hospitality group, which also includes such well-known Wisconsin destinations as The American Club in Kohler and the Whistling Straits golf course north of Sheboygan."

Monday, October 11, 2010

Scottish Links to Valencia...

Scotland's West Coast Golf Links are delighted to confirm that they will be attending the International Golf Travel Market in Valencia this November alongside industry partners on the VisitScotland stand.

Group Chairman, and Prestwick Golf Club Secretary, Ian Bunch was delighted that the marketing group were going to be represented, "IGTM presents an exciting opportunity for Scotland's West Coast Golf Links to promote the golf destination of Ayrshire to the travel trade. Whilst we are hardly unknown there is more to the area than many realise and this market gives us the opportunity to present our product clearly to the travel trade."

The group will be represented by Guy Redford from Dundonald Links who is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities the event offers. "We've believed for some time that Ayrshire needed a presence at key travel trade events and we are sure that being at IGTM will open up some great new business relationships not only with the golf courses but also the accommodation providers all over Ayrshire."

Find out more about Scotland's West Coast Golf Links on their website and get the low down on IGTM online

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Old Loans on SLTN Awards Shortlist

We got an email in from our good friends at Simpsinns in Ayrshire yesterday.

"We are delighted to announce that The Old Loans Inn near Troon in Ayrshire is one of three short-listed finalists in the Scottish Licensed Trade News Awards Best New Business of the Year 2010. The glittering awards ceremony will be held at the Hilton in Glasgow at the end of October.

Companies nominated are recognised as the hospitality stars of 2010 and the highly sought after title is fiercely contested.

We are delighted to have made it this far and are looking forward to the awards ceremony. It's a tremendous acknowledgement for the effort commitment and dedication that our entire team delivers on an ongoing basis."

The investment at The Old Loans Inn has been extremely impressive and we're delighted to having been working with Malcolm Simpson, Gill and the team at The Old Loans and The Gailes Hotel helping them develop their online marketing strategy and providing their booking engine through Bookassist.

Article Contributed by Ian McCaig, Edge Studios Scotland

Golf Tourism Scotland AGM and Annual Awards

We've just had notice that the sixth AGM of Golf Tourism Scotland will be held on Thursday 11th November at 3:30 for 4:00pm, in the Redan Room of the Macdonald Marine Hotel and Spa, North Berwick.

The initial papers for the meeting are now available for members to download. Notice of any business that a paid-up member wishes to have transacted at the meeting and nominations for the Executive Board should be sent to the Company Secretary by Thursday 14th October. The AGM is always followed by the annual Awards ceremnoy and shindig and once again more than 150 industry members will descend on North Berwick to celebrate the very best of Scottish Golf Tourism.

For the uninitiated Golf Tourism Scotland is the membership body representing hotels, golf courses, tour operators, travel trade and service providers offering support, lobbying and marketing opportunities. They have recently created a promotional video highlighting their Modus Operandi - the video was produced by Ayrshire based marketing Agency The Edge.


The Real Cost of Online Travel Agencies

When you're developing on-line strategies you're often aware that the recipient of your message is warily eyeing what you've presented with the "well you would say that wouldn't you" scepticism. So we have no problem reproducing the words of others even when that someone else is also in the business of on-line reservations.

Bookassist Booking Engine is undoubtedly competing in the market place with a host of other direct on-line booking systems but it is almost as important that the message gets across loud and clear to accommodation providers that a dependency on OTAs - Online Travel Agents - is not without major risks.

We therefore quite happily recommend reading the article below which was published through HotelMarketing.com by Kirsti White of TravelClick; she points out quite clearly what we consistently tell our own clients under the title of "Why your marketing budget may not reflect the true price of doing business."
"Hoteliers will tell you that dealing with online travel agencies (OTAs) is a necessary cost of doing business. Yet, in recent history, they have become more than that for hotels – in fact, for some hotels, particularly in 2009, OTAs were an essential marketing channel for staying alive. However, 2010 has been a different story, and 2011 will be an even more different story.
So, in the midst of budget seasons for most hotels, let’s look at the true cost of this business as we would examine any cost at our hotel. Because of their business model, OTAs are often an overlooked cost that is not included in annual marketing budgets. (OTAs very wisely retain their commission at the point of sale.) So, hotels never feel the pinch of the “cost” of that piece of business.

The chart below analyzes the true cost of OTA business. It looks at the average size of a hotel in different regions of the world. Using July year-to-date occupancies and average daily rates (ADRs) from Smith Travel Research, we extrapolate the cost of the OTA business at different contribution levels. For margin, we used an average of 20 percent. Your individual hotel costs may be lower or higher based on the favorability of your margins. The cost ranges from a low of $22,450 at the 10 percent contribution level to a high of $173,881 at the 25 percent contribution level. Are you shocked by this spend?



On an annualized basis, these numbers are even higher. If your hotel is in the Americas, you could be spending as much $96,000 in unallocated funds toward marketing your hotel.


You may think that – based on the opening of this article – I am anti-OTAs . I’m not. I just believe that hoteliers need to factor in all of their costs and, where possible, reallocate those funds to channels that drive more revenue to their hotels.

What channels drive more revenue for hotels? The chart below represents the revenue the hotel keeps by channel for an average hotel. The Web direct channel brings the highest net return for the hotel, providing 17 percent more revenue ($28 in this example).

Even with these numbers, many hotels may still think that getting 25 percent of their business through the OTAs is a valid business plan. All you do is sign an agreement, provide a rate, and open up some inventory – and the customer walks through the door. In essence, it’s free business…except for that $96,000 you might be spending to get it. And, beyond the $96,000, you never actually acquire the customer. You might get the business, but you don’t get the customer.

Owning the customer is where the real value lies. The OTAs know this. That’s why they don’t share customer email addresses with your hotel. They retain customer ownership, which allows them to remarket to customers over and over and over. You, however, got a one-time transaction that you spent 20 percent or more to obtain.

So, what do you need to do in 2011? We know that you probably can’t afford to turn this channel off. So, you need to work with it while also weaning your dependency. In this effort, it will likely be small steps that lead you on a path of lower contributions and higher profits:

Determine your actual contribution to total occupancy from the OTAs, along with how much this contribution costs your hotel.

Develop an action plan to lower your OTA contribution by 2–5 points in the next six months. In the examples above, in the Americas, going from 25 percent contribution to 20 percent contribution would save your hotel $19,000 annually in expenses. Allocate some of that savings toward Internet marketing to drive new customers to your website. Also, doing this would drive 17 percent more revenue to your bottom line. This would represent incremental revenue, which flows to the bottom line at 90 percent.

Take a long, hard look at your website. When was the last time you renovated it? Many hotels will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating their hotel but won’t spend $10,000 on a new website. Is your site easily navigable? Does it have a call to action to book? Does it accurately represent your hotel? Is its primary goal to sell rooms at your hotel? If you can’t answer a resounding “yes” to all of these questions, it’s probably time to give your site a makeover.

Develop a comprehensive Internet marketing strategy that includes search engine optimization, pay-per-click, email marketing, and social media. As you look at the numbers in the charts above, ask yourself this: Do we spend this much on actual direct marketing? If the answer is no, you might want to take another look at those direct marketing numbers.

Starting today, create an incentive plan for your front-desk staff to capture an email address for every OTA customer who walks in your front door. After checkout, every one of those customers should receive an email thanking them for their stay and offering them some come-back opportunity. These emails should help the customer understand how booking directly with your hotel is best for them. This can be as simple as a slightly lower rate that is rate-code accessible or a value-added opportunity that is available only when booking through your website.

Develop an ongoing strategy to remarket to any customer who has booked your hotel through an OTA. If an average customer is worth $200 for each stay (ADR $100 at an average length of stay of two nights), you potentially gain $200 for each additional stay. So, if a customer stays in your market three times a year, by converting them from an OTA customer to your customer, that customer is worth an extra $400 to your hotel.In our market segmentation, the OTAs have carved out a healthy slice of the pie. However, the size of the slice is in your hands. Start carving today to thin out their slice and fatten yours. You can’t turn them off instantly, but you can redirect that business gradually to more profitable channels. For every reservation you redirect, you put 17 percent back into your profits. What could your hotel do with 17 percent more profits?"

Thought provoking article for accommodation providers in Scotland, yes even the smallest of operators. Now is the time to reassess your online marketing. If you wish to discuss it personally with us give us a call on 01292 521404 or email us on scotland@bookassist.com or visit www.bookassist.org/sco