In order to provide a rewarding and meaningful web site experience for site visitors and to also insure your web site delivers a respectable ROI, it is imperative that you understand what makes your web site visitor tick - you must access their "Consumer DNA". Companies that develop a learning dialogue with their customers and access that "Consumer DNA" create a competitive advantage that is defendable, unique and permanent. Your web site is a channel ideally suited to open, nurture and sustain that dialogue. To create this dialogue, you must use whatever tools are available to watch and truly listen to what your web site visitors have to say. It has been our experience that many site owners believe that simply "watching" or tracking "hits" and following click-streams is sufficient to understand what is going on in the minds of their users. READ MORE

Many hotel executives also don't realize that a big benefit of a hotel Web site is in cross-selling and up-selling. A well designed site can suggest a larger room, an additional meal or a booking with a business partner. It may also offer exclusive entertainment packages for events or attractions which require a specified hotel stay, thereby pulling in the traveler by selling a bigger experience. But here again, the look and feel of the Web site will determine your success. One simple way to approach Web site usability is to follow the same standards you uphold throughout your hotel: your rooms are clean and inviting; your desk clerks are trained and efficient. Both elements help reinforce your brand. Similarly on a Web site, the design should be clean, inviting, helpful and intuitive. That means balancing graphics with text. READ MORE

If you are like most hotel marketers, you spend a good deal of time thinking about what consumers are doing in the days and months leading up to booking a hotel stay or vacation package. With PhoCusWright Research forecasting that 28 percent (or $28 billion) of all U.S. hotel bookings in 2007 expected to occur online, and an additional 50 percent of bookings to be influenced by visits to online travel sites, it's no wonder that hotel marketers are spending significant time evaluating online consumer behavior. To maximize results and ensure an optimal return on investment, many hotel marketers are looking to better understand how consumer decisions influence searches, site visits and engagement metrics. READ MORE

There are two trends in leisure group travel that represent a substantial opportunity to hotels. These trends are not so much new to this travel season as they are a continuation of important travel industry developments. The first trend is the increasing size of the Baby Boomers as a percentage of total travel consumers. Baby Boomer households are defined as having a head of household age 41-64. This consumer segment has high levels of disposable income, and according to the Travel Industry Association this age group accounts for more total annual trips than any other age group. The second trend I will address is the increasing popularity of friends getaways. READ MORE

Hotels chains are doing a better job these days of creating a consistent look and feel throughout their Web sites and providing information about locations, rates and availability. Aside from information about your hotel, it's important to think about adding incremental value to customers via your site. One area that is ripe for improvement is the delivery of personalized content to your customers. Hotels have only scratched the surface of offering virtual concierge services that give customers a vague notion of what they can do and see while in town. READ MORE