|
News for the Hospitality Executive |
O’Rourke Interview with Chris Brogan
 November 18, 2009 - ‘In with the new - out
with old!’ is a common
phrase as the
new year approaches. At O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing we believe this
is
especially true for hotel website design and the traditional ways of
marketing. We believe it is time to reinvent the standard hotel website, and we will begin with a quick comparison of a typical hotel website today, and our ideas of how a website should be for 2010. A Typical Hotel Website Today:
We recently attended the Inbound Marketing Summit in Tom O’Rourke founder/CEO of O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing wanted to share Brogan’s insight with the Hospitality Industry in this video interview (part II of Chris Brogan Interview). Tom asked Brogan his view on the current hotel website design and navigation structure. “Don’t make me hate!” was Chris Brogan’s first response to Tom’s question about his view was on the current hotel website design. He supports our opinion that hotel websites are utterly backwards of what the guests really want. Chris elaborates: It’s basically these beautiful
majestic pictures. No matter how horrible your hotel is, it’s the best
possible
picture of your venue. It’s great to have pictures, it’s nice to see
the layout
of the rooms, but take it backwards from the buyer’s experience,
because
ultimately I’m the buyer.
I have a really strange set of questions when I’m traveling as a dad, or when I’m traveling as a business guy. As a dad I want to know; What’s the biggest room? Can I get a suite? Can I have door-to-door? Basics. If I’m a business traveler I want to know what the desk is like. What chair do I have? Are there 5 plugs for my stuff? Do you give me free Wi-Fi or should I worry about bringing my card? How late is your business center open? So what I’m saying when I say all this is that site design now needs to be a bit more dynamic, and it needs to route me through because right now there’s these crazy navigation trees that cascade like rain and have 500 possible ways to go somewhere. This is not how we buy anything. We don’t buy groceries that way, we don’t buy anything like this – but for some reason hotels think if I offer you 147 things to click on, you might click one. Tom agrees with Chris that hotel websites should go in a new direction, and he takes it a step further by suggesting that they incorporate social media and interactivity within their website to stay with the guest before, during, and after their stay. Tom believes it would be a different approach for the hotel business, but that it would be giving the guest what the guest really wants. Chris agrees with Tom and adds some of his ideas: I concur. Would you like to make
seven figures on a business I just don’t have time to start? Here’s my
idea,
concierge service – it’s not that person at that desk. That’s part of
it, but I
would like to have someone I could pay an extra $29 dollars a day to
keep all
of my things in alignment, and tell me the local ‘Staples’ is here, the
‘Target’ is here, do you need me to run out and get you pens and
markers? It’s
here. I’d pay $29 dollars a day just to know that person was there.
There are so many things we could
do. I’m in Manhattan – I’m on 4th Avenue, I have no idea
where I
need to eat, and if they ping me right back on Twitter, because I’m a
guest,
that’s all I have to do, is maintain a little guest registry – they
don’t even
have to work hard – I can message them, and they can message me back.
There are so many opportunities
for
hotels to do so much more with these new tools that don’t cost much to
launch.
They cost time, and they cost a little consideration, and to not do it
the way
you’ve already been doing it.
So as we approach 2010, it’s time to evaluate your hotel website and internet marketing efforts. Take a look at your current hotel website from a user perspective. Is it easy to navigate or does it confuse the user with too many options? Does it provide the user with the information he or she wants, or does it just show beautiful images? Does it address the needs of individual travelers i.e. business vs. leisure or does it just group all information together? Do you have links to your Twitter and Facebook account on your site? As Chris says there are so many opportunities for hotels in this space – and we believe 2010 is a great time to start employing these exciting new strategies. Stay tuned to our blog for part II of Innovative Website Ideas for 2010. You can see the first part of the video interview with Chris Brogan on our blog, Hotels That Listen in Social Media Generate Business. Below is a list of some of Chris Brogan’s blog posts related to the hotel industry. Ideas for Hotels and Hospitality Should Hotels have Social Networks? Café Shaped Business – The Roger Smith Hotel Social Media Starter Moves for Tourism Workflow – Social Media for Marketers A Hotel Built For Media Makers We are interested in hearing your thoughts on revolutionizing the standard hotel website. Do you agree with what Tom and Chris suggest? Are you planning to make any changes to your hotel website or internet marketing strategy in 2010? Please feel free to leave your comments on our blog http://bit.ly/4rvcQP If you would like to learn more about hotel website design and internet marketing please call us at 978-465-5955 or send an e-mail to [email protected] |
| Contact: O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing Newburyport http://www.orourkehospitality.com |