NATIONAL REPORT -- Hotel companies increasingly are relying on third-party Web sites and services to help drive reservations traffic to the hotels' Web sites.
Many of these partnerships fall into the realm of destination information content offered to the hotel reservations site by the third-party provider. Examples of such content include special event calendars, restaurant reviews, mapping information and weather.
In terms of what the end user sees, the aggregation of destination information on hotel-branded sites is similar to the integration of restaurant reviews from CitySearch with many of the hotel information and booking pages on Expedia.com. IAC/InterActiveCorp. owns both sites.
But when it comes to uniting booking with e-commerce, lodging chain marketers would rather not depend on the third-party travel sites. Sensing that their most brand-loyal customers are more likely to go to hotel sites than to third-party Web addresses, marketers increasingly regard their own site's content aggregation efforts as crucial.
Del Ross, director of e-commerce services for InterContinental Hotels Group, said there's a direct relationship between the availability of such services for site visitors and the percentage of site visitors who make a reservation when they click on the company's site .
"These partnerships influence our demand and conversion rate," Ross said.
"Our philosophy is that we are trying to create an experience for people to shop and book travel," said Wendi Mazzucco, senior director of channel marketing for Cendant Corp.'s hotel group. "We know our own core competency, and we like to stay focused on our hotels' sites. But if we can give our [site] customers even more information, they are going to find our site even more valuable."
MapQuest, an Internet-based mapping service, is a key third-party partner on Cendant's brand-specific Web sites. For payments that Mazzucco would only describe as being in the millions of dollars per year, a "Map It" icon appears for each property listed on the page a prospective guest sees when he or she enters a query for a hotel in or near a city.
When the site visitor clicks that icon, a page with a MapQuest-drawn map, often with driving directions from the nearest airport, appears. For example, a search on Cendant's Days Inn site for hotels near Grand Junction, Colo., shows the Grand Junction Days Inn as one of the listings. The map page for that property describes the route from the local airport. If the customer regards the route to the hotel as a convenient one, he or she can start the booking process by clicking the reservations icon on the same map page.
"Our customers have told us that they want quick reservations, and they are open to receiving additional information of this kind," Mazzucco said.
Of course, many travelers don't base their booking decisions entirely on how easy the drive is to the hotel as much as what attractions and amenities are in the immediate area. Hotel chains have always been aware of this, and an array of third-party destination sites are happy to help provide this type of information.
Choice Hotels International provides destination information on www.hotelchoice.com, as well as its branded sites. Mary Beth Knight, v.p. of e-commerce for Choice, said that in addition to a new look and better site navigation, additional enhancements will include destination information from third-party providers. She said the site will offer an entire menu of content, including local sporting events, museums, attractions and restaurants. Weather conditions and forecasts for local areas also are likely to be added, also via an as-yet unnamed third-party partner site.
Choice already has a third-party mapping site partner, Microsoft's Vicinity.com. Vicinity also partners with Hilton Hotels Corp., Best Western International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
As an example of how the information is delivered on the site, a prospective guest searching for a Clarion Inn in or near Seattle would see a search-results page that highlights the Clarion Inn Totem Lake in nearby Kirkland, Wash. Clicking the property's info/photos icon on the search results page would bring a pop-up page with a link to another page with a list of nearby restaurants and attractions.
"Location is a key in a booking decision," Knight said.
InterContinental takes the third-party model a step further by means of a partnership with online destination information publisher 10Best, (www.10best.com). The site's Virtual Concierge product is offered by IHG and on the Web sites of brands such as Doubletree, Hilton, Fairmont, Radisson and Omni.
"[10Best] has the information our customers want, so we marry our online offerings with theirs," said Ross, who described the relationship as a fee-based arrangement.
As an example, a customer making a reservation on the Web page for IHG's Staybridge Suites in Houston would see a page with a linked list of "Recommendations In The City." Supplied by 10Best, these links would include dining, cultural events, leisure, nightlife and shopping suggestions.
No comments:
Post a Comment