GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLO. � APRIL 24, 2003 � According to a recent report from PhoCusWright Inc., Online Travel Overview: Market Size and Forecasts 2002-2005, online leisure/unmanaged business travel grew 37% to more than $28 billion while the overall travel market declined 5%. By 2002, 15% of all travel was booked online, and slower but steady growth is predicted for the next few years, assuming improved economic conditions by the second half of this year or early 2004. 

With online travel on the rise (PhoCusWright predicts that between now and 2005, travel booked online is likely to double and reach more than 30 percent) hotels need to take a long, hard look at their Web site design, content and promotion to determine if they have what it takes to capture coveted customers. 

�The first impression a visitor has from viewing a hotel�s homepage is very important,� said Trent Blizzard, president of Blizzard Internet Marketing Inc. �A site needs to have immediate curb appeal. It must look fantastic. Even more important, it needs to have the property�s name visibly apparent, along with photos that really sell the property. The location should be obvious, as should links to the most important information people need, such as rooms, rates and reservations.�

Blizzard Internet Marketing Inc., the industry�s premier provider of Web site design, hosting and promotional services to hotels, has assisted more than 2,000 independent lodging properties in building traffic to their Web sites through specialized Internet marketing plans and strategies.

Implementing the 3 R�s

�The main goal of any Web site is to book rooms,� Blizzard said. �To do this, hoteliers must effectively show Rooms, provide Rates, and offer online Reservations. The �3 R�s� should be easy to find from any page on the Web site and should be easy to understand.�

He said minimizing the total number of clicks a visitor has to make to research rooms, find rates and make a reservation guarantees maximum results.

�If you want your Web site to be found in search engines, it must have the keywords, in plain text, that potential guests will be searching for,� Blizzard said. �Your city, state, hotel name, and lodging words (hotel, lodging) all need to be on your home page, preferably repeated.�

For example:  A well-known Midwestern resort was having difficulty capturing online reservations. Although the Web site was �pretty,� the homepage, with its elaborate photos and streaming video flash opening, offered little verbiage that all search engines look for. A traveler, tapping into Google or other search engine and performing a key word search for the resort, would come up empty because the words simply were not on the homepage. Today, the site has been vastly improved, and so have the resort�s online bookings.

�Hotels must have the ability to track not only how many unique visitors go to their Web site, but how each visitor found the site,� Blizzard said. �There are a number of statistical tracking software packages out there that track the name of the search engines and keyword phrases people have used, and, which pages on the Web site people visited. This is one tool no property should do without.�

Convert �Lookers� to �Bookers�

One of the best ways to convert Web site �lookers� to lodging �bookers,� Blizzard said, is to be certain that the Web site converts or loads in very little time. If a Web site loads too slowly, hotels will lose visitors to competitors� faster-loading sites, he said. High quality photographs of a property and its rooms also are vital to capturing business. Without crisp, clear and colorful photos that load quickly and display enlarged versions when clicked upon, hotels also can lose bookings, he said. 

Blizzard suggests that hotels research pay-for-result search engines which will help drive large amounts of targeted traffic to a site at reasonable prices, and implement e-mail marketing programs to guests who have given the hotel permission to do so. Blizzard said that targeting guests within driving distance by offering distressed inventory at the last minute is a great way to use e-mail. Promoting special value-added packages for former guests also helps to capture business.

�What drives online bookings today is promotion,� Blizzard said. �A lot of Web masters can design a site, but if the promotional effort is lacking, they won�t get qualified visitors. Because travelers have become more sophisticated in their online booking habits, they will make a purchasing decision based on the attractiveness of a site, its functionality and its flexibility to book a reservation. Hotels that need to upgrade their Web site to increase online bookings should give us a call.�

Dos And Don�ts Of Web Site Design

Blizzard offers the following suggestions when contemplating Web site design or enhancement:

Web Site Do�s:

• Always use professional photography 
• Make sure the site has �Curb Appeal.� First impressions have an enormous impact.
• Utilize tracking software
• Spend money in search engines
• Implement an e-mail marketing program: Ask for permission and do it!

• Neglect Website Marketing: Spend money in lodging directories and search engines.
• Hide rates: Rate ranges should be with room descriptions.
• Use Splash Pages 
• Spam: Get permission from your guests to send them email marketing promotions.

About Blizzard Internet Marketing
Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc. has provided Web site design, hosting, and promotion to the lodging industry since 1997.  The company is owned by Trent and Susan Blizzard and is located in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.  Blizzard Marketing Inc. currently has more than 30 employees and more than 2,000 national and international clients.  Eighty-five percent of Blizzard clients are independent lodging properties: bed and breakfasts, hotels, country inns, motels, vacation rentals, cottages and spas. Blizzard executives are often featured speakers at lodging conferences - about 25 a year -- sharing their knowledge on Internet Marketing for hotels and B&Bs. For more information, visit www.blizzardinternet.com.