Latest Google Trends and News for the Revenue Management Department

Hotels often find it challenging to determine which technology is used by guests and whether this technology actually reaches their guest mix. It’s important to stay up to date with latest trends and news in hospitality and technology, but  without going crazy. This way you can act on the right opportunities for your hotel. If used right, innovation can definitely help you gain a competitive edge.

In this article, we’ve compiled a list of technologies specifically for your revenue management department and your pricing and marketing strategies. It’s important to take note of these new developments because you may soon find yourself integrating them into routine processes. This technology can seem out of reach now, put at the pace technology is advancing, it’ won’t be long until they become mainstream:

• Bots capable of managing guest-related tasks. With tools like live chats, conversion rates jump at the same time as operating costs do. Chatbots can increment and enhance correspondence with visitors and visitor engagement, offer endless possibilities for personalization, and save on staff costs. Platforms, such as Skyscanner, use this system and have, as a result, improved their bottom line while increasing user satisfaction in purchasing and content searching processes.

• Ready for the new version of Google Adwords? Google Adwords is working towards launching a new version of their tool called “Next.” Next  is said to offer a new user interface and new features for managing promotional extensions and adjusting bids.

• The future of search engines- voice search. The typical question that comes up when it’s time to manage this need is this: How can I optimize for voice search? There are many new technologies built on voice search commands (Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Google Homepage, etc.). Consider tailoring content to customer needs, adapting web hosting to different devices and optimizing positioning using certain long tail words.

• Local search directed towards ads. Before, online search advertising was limited to businesses with larger advertising budgets. However, Google has now made this accessible to all businesses. You can see this evolution in Google Maps. Using one map, users can search businesses, attractions, and other places of interest.

• Improvements in segmentation using the “micro-moments” in which the traveler is present. For a while now, Google has had two focal points- improving user segmentation and gathering data about users. However, this is complicated when users switch to other platforms like Facebook. One possibility is split testing. Google is betting on improving their conversion rates by acquiring as much information about users and offering this information to advertisers.

• Organic positioning is complex and limited.  Organic traffic is on the decline and the trend is likely to continue as Google continues to gain economically from its results pages. Due to the rising costs in advertising, hotels are looking towards new ways to drive traffic to their websites. It takes great skill to find the right balance between organic and paid traffic, so an important factor for hoteliers to consider is cost of acquisition. Below you can see an example of keywords in Google AdWords (pay-per-click- advertising):

• Making the switch to a responsive website. Google will continue to wait for websites to adapt and offer a mobile-friendly version as well as a faster loading time, before entirely penalizing them. In the meanwhile, it’s important to keep in mind Google’s algorithm changes that are expected to be implemented in 2018.

• Rising CPC costs for all sectors, including tourism. As CPC use continues rising, so do campaign costs. High CPCs are seen with words that have a direct relationship to the brand and in industries that handle large amounts of money. Analyze how much Google Adwords cost for your hotel, determine the ROI and analyze whether it’s profitable for your hotel to continue appearing under certain keywords.

• Faster website loading time. This is crucial for mobile navigation. If a website’s load time is longer than 5 seconds, it will be excessively slow. By avoiding video content, minimizing scripts and compressing images you can have a faster loading time and improve user experience and organic positioning.  A study by KISSmetrics revealed that a 1 second delay in page loading time can reduce conversions by 7 percent.

• Content marketing is more important than ever
  . Content marketing is more important than ever. Content marketing is one of the pillars underpinning your hotel’s relationship with guests. Last year, Google confirmed that content continues to be one of the top 3 search ranking factors. Depending on your guest’s stage in the buying journey, you can add tremendous value through relevant and helpful content. Offer quality, user-specific content to give your hotel maximum visibility and drive more bookings. To position your website higher and make booking with your hotel easier, display visual content and texts that are relevant to your ideal guest.

Being capable of making these improvements and understanding how these changes affect your hotel’s pricing strategy will allow you to target travelers in each of the  8 stages of travel. It’s there where you will be able to measure your hotel’s overall competitiveness.