The Rise of the Meta Search Opportunity

Ciaran Rowe is Senior Search Strategist, and Dr Des O’Mahony is CEO and founder at Bookassist (bookassist.org), the award-winning technology and online strategy partner for hotels worldwide.

The demands of the online consumer for a more efficient way to assess multiple sources of information, for example comparing lots of sites for the best price for a specific hotel on a specific date, has directly led to the recent rapid rise in meta search websites and technologies of late.

Meta search for travel has actually been around in various formats for quite some time, particularly for flights, though airlines like Ryanair have taken considerable steps to thwart them. Recent news shows that Skyscanner, for example, is expected to massively grow and also expand into hotels.

The first model in the meta search arena was introduced by Sidestep in 1999, in the format of a downloadable widget. The basic comparison principle has remained much the same since then, but the model is becoming ever more sophisticated as technology develops and meta search presence is now becoming an integral part of customer acquisition strategy for hotels.

The most popular sites for accommodation at the moment include Google Hotel Finder, TripAdvisor, Kayak & Trivago, all of whom offer real time availability and pricing from multiple sources to their users, thereby allowing the user to make an informed decision with minimal effort. Consolidation in this space has been rife recently, with smaller sites being acquired by some of the bigger players, and new entrants to the market quickly grabbing a huge presence in the consumers’ decision making process.

The Third Way Online for Hotels

For consumers, the development of meta search was clearly a useful tool in their search process, but for hotels the advantages weren't initially so clear. The rates and availability being displayed were usually taken from OTA sites, so although the hotels might be getting bookings through meta search, they were coming at a high price - up to 25% commission in some instances.

This all changed recently as the meta search providers allowed for integration with the hotel’s own inventory, thus enabling direct contact between hotels and consumers. The introduction of this integration changed the meta search model from being just another distribution channel to becoming a key marketing channel for hotels. Note that hotels can’t directly integrate themselves with most meta search sites - they need to be using a hotel representation service, such as Bookassist, that can manage the data and integration for them in a structured and automated way.

Hotel representation companies such as Bookassist have integrated with Google Hotel Finder, TripAdvisor, Trivago and others to allow Bookassist client hotels’ inventory and rates to be fed automatically and dynamically to the meta search sites, allowing hotels to compete head to head with the OTA pricing on those sites.

For hotels, meta search can therefore be viewed as the “third way” online, sitting right in the middle between the direct model on the one hand, where the customer books directly on the hotel’s own website, and the indirect online travel agent (OTA) model on the other hand, where the customer browses and books on a single branded OTA platform such as Expedia or Lastminute.com.
Game-Changing Marketing Opportunity

As a marketing channel, meta search interacts with users at most stages of their research and decision making process. So whether a user goes directly to a site such as Trivago, or if they are doing a general search in Google, or even if they are looking at reviews in TripAdvisor, there is an opportunity for hoteliers to be directly present with their live rates, and the chance to bring the user directly to the hotel website booking page.

Once a hotel is working with a company such as Bookassist, pages on TripAdvisor where they can expect their rates to appear include their own hotel page. They will also appear on generic location pages on TripAdvisor, for example ‘Paris Hotels’, but the level of exposure on these type of pages will depend on how highly ranked the hotel is in within TripAdvisor itself. Ranking is always king on TripAdvisor.

Google offers a bewildering array of placement opportunities once your hotel is using an integrated service like Bookassist. Rates can appear on Google’s Hotel Finder, on Google Maps, on Google+ Local, and in Google Universal searches. In this case the ranking of the placement relative to the OTA offerings will specifically depend on the price of a double room for the dates chosen by the customer, and on the bid placed for the potential click by the representation company managing the listing on the hotel’s behalf.

This has the potential to be a game-changer for hotels - why would a user go to an individual OTA website when they can check multiple OTA offerings in one place using meta search?

Hotels can now compete on an equal footing with OTAs, particularly when it comes to users specifically researching the hotel brand, but they need to understand the medium first and partner with an experienced provider such as Bookassist. 

Practical Details

Getting set up to appear on meta search sites is relatively straightforward, but as mentioned, needs to be done via a representation company that has established a trusted integration with the meta search site. The system generally works on a pay per click model, with the hotel charged every time a user clicks through to their booking page, similar to the Google Adwords PPC model. If a user does not click then there is no charge for the exposure. So it’s still valuable free advertising.

Managing these campaigns is a skill that requires experience in the online marketing area, in particular with meta search marketing, so we would advise partnering with a provider that offers a robust integration as well as marketing expertise to get the most from your marketing budget.

Budgets for meta search marketing vary significantly by property, but the costs are not prohibitive. A budget of €500 each per month usually provides good exposure on Google Hotel Finder and on Tripadvisor. However, participating in meta search marketing is not something you should set up and forget about. In order to generate a good return you need to ensure good availability and rate parity or better, as well as a good user experience when they arrive at your booking page or landing page. The click delivery is the meta searchers’ job, but conversion of the customer is still yours.

TABLE 1: Try your hotel's numbers in this calculation.

When looking at the return on investment, it is also critical to factor in the commission costs that were saved by diverting a user from booking through an OTA to booking direct on the hotel site. For example, through an OTA your booking may have been at 20%, while through your website it may be at 3% or less, plus the click charges. As an example, enter your own figures in Table 1 and see what can be achieved. The savings of course need to also contribute to website costs and management fees, but it still is significant. Getting this right on a regular and consistent basis means that there is a considerable ongoing benefit to be had.

What’s more, since the customer converted has booked on your own website, you now have their details for future marketing. This customer is now your customer, not an OTAs customer, which presents further opportunities for brand building and re-marketing in order to capitalise on life-time value.
Bottom Line

Meta Search marketing is a great opportunity for hotels. To ensure you get clicks, you need to be focused on pushing the best rates and always having last room availability. Remember that a click is wasted unless you can work hard on ensuring conversion through proper website design, specific targeted landing pages, and a booking engine layout designed to convert.

Meta search is one of so many online marketing approaches, all of which need to be tackled and optimized. It is important to partner with an experienced provider, with a proven track record in online marketing and strategy, in order to really maximise the returns on your investment and to be kept informed of the latest trends and opportunities in the area.

What’s more, since the customer converted has booked on your own website, you now have their details for future marketing. This customer is now your customer, not an OTAs customer, which presents further opportunities for brand building and re-marketing in order to capitalise on life-time value.

Bottom Line

Meta Search marketing is a great opportunity for hotels. To ensure you get clicks, you need to be focused on pushing the best rates and always having last room availability. Remember that a click is wasted unless you can work hard on ensuring conversion through proper website design, specific targeted landing pages, and a booking engine layout designed to convert.

Meta search is one of so many online marketing approaches, all of which need to be tackled and optimized. It is important to partner with an experienced provider, with a proven track record in online marketing and strategy, in order to really maximise the returns on your investment and to be kept informed of the latest trends and opportunities in the area.

HOTELS BOOST DIRECT BUSINESS WITH BOOKASSIST’S GOOGLE HOTEL FINDER CONNECTION

Leading hotel strategy partner Bookassist (bookassist.org) today announced the release of their certified interface to Google Hotel Finder. The interface, built by Google engineers and Bookassist's development team, enables live room availability and best rates to be displayed to hotel customers searching on Google, boosting direct bookings. 

Up to now, only large travel sites (OTAs) were able to reach customers early in the decision-making process online, but now meta-search technologies like Google’s allow the hotel website to also position itself directly in front of potential guests as they begin their search.Hotels can compete head on with OTAs in Google Hotel Price Ads, on Google Maps, Google+ Local and Google Hotel Finder.

"By being part of meta-search on websites like Google Hotel Finder we are levelling the playing field with OTAs, giving guests the opportunity to book directly with our hotel. Meta-search marketing generates incremental revenues for us, produces excellent return on our ad spend, and is managed stress-free for us by Bookassist", comments Valerie Steinbeck, Group Revenue & Ecommerce Manager, Destination Killarney Group. 

"This is a real opportunity for hotels to position their own websites right where their customers are considering options and making decisions", says Mary Collins, Head of Internet Marketing at Bookassist. 

With this integration, live hotel rates will now display next to those of the OTAs in Google’s Hotel Finder, on Google Maps, in Google+ Local, and Google Universal searches. Now when a potential customer enters dates in a hotel's destination or for a particular hotel, the hotel's own rates and availability can compete with the OTAs for the direct sale.

While many hotels are taking advantage of this growing direct online revenue opportunity and are adding meta-search marketing to their core marketing budgets the concluding message for hotels must, however, be one of caution.  Even though this new technology gives them a new opportunity to compete with OTAs they must be mindful that the technology is simply an enabler. With the increased online visibility it will give to a critical audience, careful monitoring and management of online rates and availability has never been more critical.

For further information for Scottish hotels email Neil or call on 01294 233713 

Golf Tourism Strategy Launched

Along with another 99 delegates I'm heading expectantly towards Perth tomorrow to hear about the first combined golf strategy developed for Scotland's golf industry. Ah the first?

Yes well maybe it is technically the first but mischievously (clearly) I couldn't resist looking through the files for the other first combined strategy developed in 2000 as support for the subsequently doomed Ryder Cup bid for 2009. A ten year strategy that came out of pressure applied at the time by the very vociferous and articulate golf tourism group SIGTOA.

So anyway to tomorrow. A new direction? New ideas? New communication frameworks? New ways to reduce duplication between regional golf groups? A new organisational structure? New economic targets? Infrastructure improvements? Support for developing the customer experience? New tournaments? Improved transition between amateur and professional ranks? A new online tee time reservation system? A joint industry website selling tour packages?

There would be absolutely no chance that the speech and the press release would ever include any of the following then?

"Golf is worth nearly £100 million to the Scottish economy every year and is a vital part of our tourist industry.

"As the home of golf, Scotland boasts some of the finest and most famous courses in the world. We have over 500 courses and clubs in convenient city or stunning rural locations that cater for every taste and price range.

"In the past our first class assets have been underused and their potential to attract tourists has not been fully developed. One of the key aims of the Tourist Strategy, which I launched in February, was to address the under performance of tourism by developing 'niche marketing', particularly in areas such as golf and genealogy.

"The launch of the golf strategy today opens a new chapter in Scottish tourism. From now on we will be aggressively marketing our world class facilities and aiming to secure more prestigious events like The Open and Ryder Cup.

"We will also be looking to improve the quality of the typical golf holiday through training initiatives and new investment in the infrastructure.

"I am delighted that Europe's number one golfer, Colin Montgomerie is backing the strategy and I'm sure with his continued support we can raise the profile of Scottish golf to new levels.

"A great golf course with a priceless history must no longer be accompanied by second rate service and sub-standard off-course amenities. That is a package tour to failure. A world class welcome must back our world class golf. To fail on this is to squander a priceless asset and consign our tourism industry to the second division.

"I am confident that the initiatives outlined in the Golf Strategy will have a major impact on tourist numbers, bring more jobs and prosperity to the Scottish economy and ultimately help secure the long-term future of the game".

A New Strategy for Scottish Golf Tourism aims to:

• Develop new marketing campaigns for Scottish golf involving spending of up to £500,000 by the Scottish Tourist Board;
• Invest in business development through a further £400,000 from Scottish Enterprise and £250,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise;
• Appoint a new National Golf Tourism Development Manager to lead the implementation of the Strategy;
• Focus on attracting more women and children to the courses in Scotland;
• Implement training packages to assist golf clubs with marketing, business planning and service;
• Establish regional golf development groups to improve the service to visiting golfers throughout Scotland;
• Develop the network of 'golf classic' events to improve access for visitors to attractive golf packages;
• Provide support for the development of infrastructure and facilities for visitors in Scotland's golf clubs;
• Improve the industry's market intelligence by researching golf markets and golf consumer;
• Identify new channels through which to promote Scottish golf to consumers, including its two main websites www.visitscotland.com and www.scottishgolf.com;
• Introduce new research methods to monitor the way golf tourism is measured and therefore the progress of the Strategy.

The launch of the Golf Strategy was also welcomed by Deputy Minister for Culture and Sport, Rhona Brankin. She said:

"Today's announcement is a landmark for Scottish golf and presents the sport with an excellent opportunity to grow and prosper in the future.

"By aiming to attract more golf tourists the strategy will strengthen the game nationally, help develop facilities and give more young people the chance to make a career from the sport.

"I am delighted that the strategy also makes a clear commitment to bringing more world class events like The Open and Ryder Cup to Scotland. These prestigious competitions will build on the high profile which Scottish golf currently enjoys, mainly thanks to the success of Colin Montgomerie.

"When the golf strategy begins to pay dividends I think we can look forward to a stronger game in Scotland and a new generation of young people enthusiastically taking up the game".

11th of July 2000...

Technology Trends That Are Changing Hospitality

Our Guest Blogger, Dr Des O’Mahony is CEO and Founder of Bookassist (bookassist.org), the leading technology and online strategy partner for hotels. Bookassist provides Site Builder web design, Traffic Builder online marketing and Booking Engine services to drive direct business to hotels and was recently voted World’s Leading Booking engine Technology Provider by the industry.

​In the evolution of the hotel business, the guest is the driver and the dominant change in guest behaviour in recent years has undoubtedly been in the realm of technology. Guests are increasingly tech-savvy leading them to demand higher and higher standards. These fast-changing standards are increasingly difficult for hotels to reach. But they are a key factor in guest choice.

It was a truism in the restaurant business that a customer would be disappointed if presented with food inferior to what they could reproduce at home. The analogous problem for hotels now is that guests often have far superior levels of networking and technology at home, leading to a disappointment factor with the hotel. 

Here are just some of the areas that we see as crucial to hotels today, based on customer searches we monitor, customer reviews we collect, and general industry commentary.

Guests Expect Speed

Guests are now traveling with their own technology, and prefer to choose and consume their own media. This has a number of immediate implications.

Wireless broadband connections in rooms and throughout the hotel must now be fast, easily accessible and preferably free. On the speed end, many hotel customers would now routinely have 50Mb or 100Mb fibre connections to their homes, so inferior speeds at hotels leads to frustration. It is not an exaggeration to say that the lack of quality high speed wifi is an inhibitor to your business. At Bookassist, we see “wifi” and “free wifi” to be a dominant search term for our hotels online.

As recently noted on Tnooz, some estimates put the amount of lost revenue across the industry from lost bookings due to poor wifi at close to $5 billion a year. Read more at http://www.tnooz.com/2013/08/02/news/does-your-hotel-wifi-suck-infographic/#qBBpqVQ0L0dv2ft8.99

Multi-Device Guests Are The Norm

A mistake that many hotels make is “rationing” of wifi connections. Providing access to wifi based on guest name and room number log-in is commonplace, but often it is restricted to one or two simultaneous logins per room. This is crazy in the modern age.

It’s not just business travelers who need connectivity. Most of your guests will have two or more wifi devices. It’s not uncommon for one person to have a laptop, iPad and smart phone all on the go at the same time and with a couple or a family in a room, the number of devices required to be connected can quickly mushroom. Even cameras can now use wifi to transfer photos to computers and iPads. Expect guests’ smart watches to be adding to the connectivity list by this time next year. 

If you are aiming to deliver an experience that is even better than “home away from home”, then your network architecture is an area that needs to be seriously and quickly addressed.

Examples of recent hotel guest trends. Multiple devices are the norm and the number per person is sure to grow. The expectation of wifi services is now a key decider in booking trends. (Data above is adapted from SmartBrief Media Services White Paper on Top Hospitality Tech Trends June 2013, smartbrief.com)

Are You Investing In Pointless Provision?

Traditional in-house entertainment is rapidly fading as a service. On-demand TV movies are increasingly ignored. A guest with an iPhone likely has their entire music collection with them, or can access it from the cloud. With a tablet or phone, it is likely your guest has movies with them, or access to a cloud movie store with far greater choice than you can offer. Ensuring that your wifi can handle this traffic is therefore critical. But you can go further and ensure the guests’ experience can be enhanced by what you provide.

Docks for iPhone/iPod are already problematic since Apple’s devices have multiple connectors and many guests are not Apple users. But both Apple and Google have cheap wifi devices that connect to HDMI flat screens and sound systems and allow content to be “beamed” wirelessly to them from smartphones, tablets and laptops. The AppleTV device is a small wifi device that also shows the iTunes store, and Netflix, for renting movies with a choice that would be unrealistic and impractical for a hotel to attempt to provide. Google’s new Chromecast similarly allows any smart device running the Google’s Chrome web browser to feed its screen wirelessly to an equipped TV. Guests may indeed increasingly be bringing these devices with them. 

Beyond accessing online movie content, another major advantage of these inexpensive connectivity devices is that they allow for large screen gaming. As family vacationers know, gaming is a critical time filler for the kids much appreciated by their parents. But gaming is also strongly embraced by adults of all ages. Connectivity should facilitate it.

It may not be necessary to equip all TVs with these gizmos, but having a stock of them available and advertised at check-in is something you should consider. Some hotels have gone further, with the provision of in-house iPads for guests, loaded with local info and hotel information, but the cost of this service and the speed at which these devices are superceded would indicate that this is not a trend to follow. With guests bringing their own technology, connectivity is the key focus area.

Mobile and Social Feed Each Other

Of course you can capitalise on all this connectivity you are providing too. Ask guests to share pictures online of their happy moments in your hotel. Post signs and have your check-out staff remind them to request their positive comments online if they are enjoying their stay. Give rewards for the best meal photo of the week shared on your Facebook page. Be creative in encouraging social media in a positive way. Most of all, ensure it is being monitored on the major channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, TripAdvisor so that you can fix issues arising instantly.

Remember that the impact of social media on hotels is not just all about TripAdvisor. Private social media is even larger, where people check-in or comment on Facebook or Google+ or other such services. When guests post pictures and comments about your hotel to their friends, you do not have the opportunity to interact at all. But the influence of a friend’s comments on you are far more persuasive than those of hundreds of anonymous TripAdvisors.

Digital Guest Interaction

Evaluating an in-house internet channel, or in-house app service, specifically for guest interaction and information provision is something well worth considering. Digital concierge is a fast growing area, and is a natural but powerful evolution of the old TV-driven in-room information system. For example, having multilingual room service menus on such a channel, as well as ordering capability, is something that is trending well in larger hotels and has a place in smaller ones too. Couple this with clear and regularly-updated information on services available in the hotel (like your stock of AppleTVs or Chromecasts available on request) and you are providing information right where your guests expect it. Your app could even suggest services based on the type of device the guest is using, or the usage pattern in the hotel. This is a strong area for the future. 

There is a popular trend towards automated check-in and check-out, which is desirable in larger properties and business properties to avoid queues. Such services are probably far less necessary in boutique and family hotels with the personal touch, but are nevertheless worth watching. It is also the point at which services can be advertised and upsold in simple touch-screen format.

Bottom Line

Guests are highly connected and multi-device dependent. They are increasingly bringing and consuming their own media. Hotels must deliver high speed connectivity, online services, and allow guests to optimise their own digital experience. It is no longer just the business guest that requires technology, though the requirements for business and conference capabilities have just as seriously grown in recent years. The question for you is, is guest-facing technology a true priority for your hotel?

Infographic from Xirrus and Moonblink via Tnooz.com, August 2, 2013

TripAdvisor Connect - What Does it Mean For Your Online Business?

We've been asked how the new TripAdvisor Connect will work with Bookassist web booking engine when it goes live later in the year. Well Bookassist is one of the Premium Partners listed on the TripAdvisor Connect page and that ensures that Bookassist booking engine users will be to make full use of the programmes when they go live.

Your Bookassist Account Manager will be able to advise you on how it can best work for you. The following article was first published in Early August 2013 on HotelMarketing.com

You can of course find out all about the very latest in hotel online marketing support from the Bookassist website.

TripAdvisor announced that 210 Internet booking engines have signed up in anticipation of the site’s game-changing online platform, TripAdvisor Connect, scheduled to launch later this year. The number of committed booking engines means that more than 135,000 hotels and B&Bs worldwide will be able to participate in Hotel Price Comparison on TripAdvisor.

Initial commitment for TripAdvisor Connect has exceeded company expectations, with booking engines from 48 countries already on board. The announcement has also generated interest from industry opinion leaders.

Jay Karen, President and CEO of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, welcomes the development: “Currently it seems that millions of TripAdvisor visitors may bypass B&Bs when searching by dates of stay, because there has been no connectivity to nearly all of the inventory in our industry. This initiative looks to be a big step forward.”

“We’re delighted to have such an international range of Internet booking engines on board for the launch of TripAdvisor Connect. The enthusiastic response from over 200 Internet booking engines from 48 countries shows that they realize this will be a powerful new way for their clients to generate incremental bookings,” says Jean-Charles Lacoste, TripAdvisor’s Vice President of Direct Connect Solutions. “We anticipate signing up even more Internet booking engines over the next few weeks and we look forward to enabling so many independent accommodation owners to generate new bookings.”

TripAdvisor has devised a tiered certification process for Internet booking engines to offer their clients:

• TripAdvisor Connect – hotels and B&Bs can bid for TripAdvisor meta search traffic
• TripAdvisor Connect Plus – hotels and B&Bs can bid for TripAdvisor meta search traffic and automate review collection efforts using TripAdvisor’s Review Express service, which will be integrated into the platform
• TripAdvisor Connect Premium – hotels and B&Bs can bid for traffic, automate review collection and track the results of their activity to measure their return on investment

As of today, close to 90 percent of the committed 210 Internet booking engines will be TripAdvisor Connect Premium partners. TripAdvisor Connect will enable Business Listings subscribers to provide real-time availability and online booking to travelers researching on TripAdvisor via their booking engines.