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Neil Salerno

The Internet Is Indispensable

Take a serious look at your hotel’s website; this year, more than 70% of your business will be directly or indirectly influenced by the Internet. Before you look to have another website designed, get an analysis of your current site. A good analysis will give you a clue to what is working or isn’t working very well on your site. Beware of those offering to analyze your whole site for free; that's usually what it's worth.

You can then use this analysis to guide the new designer to create a functional website. Remember, search engine optimization must be incorporated into the design of your site; it’s not something used only after your site is completed.

It’s an absolute fallacy to think that SEO can be applied to a poorly designed website to increase traffic. If someone suggests that to you, run, don’t walk away quickly. SEO must be incorporated into the design of the site itself.

The number of hotels getting ripped-off by techie-talking web designers is astounding. I read an article the other day, written by a web site design company that thinks that, having an average of only 2% of site visitors who actually make a reservation, is a good average. Less than 4% indicates that something is wrong.

Converting "lookers into bookers" is an integral function of your website.

As I have said many times, web design is not rocket science. Your site needs to be designed to be easily found through search and, once found, it needs to have the necessary elements of location, facilities, attractions, and value to persuade its visitors to make a reservation.

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Make a Commitment to Revenue Management

Today is the day to finally make a commitment to learn and use revenue management to increase occupancy and average rate. Sure, it takes a little effort to do the necessary research, but the rewards are great.

Revenue management relies upon your ability to look into the near and distant future to view occupancy demand and making rate decisions well in advance.

Measuring reservation booking pace and being aware of occupancy generators in your area promotes smart decisions.