As an industry we continue to struggle with capturing data that will help support business decisions. From an understanding of turn-down information from our reservations call center to the continued manual entry into spreadsheets, data has been hard to come by.

This is why a property’s website is such a powerful tool for revenue managers and marketers alike. Beyond the reach it provides to expose a hotel to a global audience; it can provide meaningful data that can be used in your revenue management process.

Many hotels are not taking advantage of this data in their business decisions either because they are not aware of what is available or their website analytics are not setup properly.

If you are using a third party internet marketing company to build and market your website checks that they have setup your website with analytics correctly. Whether it is Google Analytics (a free data solution) or Omniture (a high end analytics tool) there are many options to capturing gaining intelligence from your site. If you aren’t using an internet marketing company no problem; adding analytics to your site is fairly straightforward.

If awareness is the issue starts exploring the data available to you. There are many resources available online to assist in educating yourself.

Can you answer “YES” to these questions? If you can then you are likely in good shape; if not you are missing a great opportunity to help grow your business…

1.  Do you know what analytics program is on your website?

2.  Do you have a login?

3.  Have you looked at the analytics in the last 7 days?

4.  Do you bring your site analytics to your revenue management meetings?

5.  Do you know these statistics for your site:Unique visitors

• Top 10 geographic regions for visitors

• Top sources of traffic

• Top pages viewed on your site

• Revenue booked

• Conversion Rate

Website analytics can provide the answers you are looking for to deliver more revenue; the data is there use it.

]]> http://www.inciterevenue.com/website-analytics-a-revenue-managers-best-friend/feed 6 http://www.inciterevenue.com/out-of-sight-out-of-mind http://www.inciterevenue.com/out-of-sight-out-of-mind#comments Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:16:55 +0000 Scott http://www.inciterevenue.com/?p=293 Continue reading →]]> Hotel Revenue Management and Distribution professionals are focused on driving business direct to their website; however, they are starting at a disadvantage due to the way expenses are recognized.

In speaking with Revenue Management and Distribution professionals around the globe over the past several years there is one goal that unites them all.

Goal: Drive more business direct through the property website.

It would make sense then that the web direct channel would consistently grow year over year. In the e-Trak Report that TravelCLICK produces on major brands it shows that the trend toward consumers’ use of the internet for booking continues. Good news for hoteliers with the goal of driving business direct to the web.

Going one layer further into the share of Internet business the findings are more disappointing than surprising. The Brand site dropped 7.5 points while the OTA merchant channel grew 5.5 points.

I continue to struggle with the industry continuing the same trend through economic cycles. When demand is high hotels pull back on the OTAs; when demand declines there is a mad rush to the OTA as the answer for more business.

While reviewing production numbers of several properties along with the costs of each channel it hit me. The way that hospitality industry accounts for revenues and expenses is putting hotels at a disadvantage.

How?

Have a look….

When accounting is done for Web Direct, GDS and Voice channels there are hard costs associated to each; when calculating the OTA channel there is no cost that hits the books. That’s right there are no expenses booked for OTA.

It’s brilliant actually the OTA removes the expense from the hotel’s  books taking away the internal debate of where to spend funds. They simply put it on a cost per transaction model, delivering revenue at a perceived $0 cost.

If the model was to change and the OTA margin was considered an expense the decision of where to spend resources would be clear.

From a return on investment stand point the Web  Direct channel delivers 27 to 1 while the OTA at 25% delivers 3 to 1.

This is not a debate around the value of the OTA; it is about tactics to support the goal of driving Web Direct business.

Tactic #1: Create a Web Direct Marketing Fund:

• Take a percentage of the total OTA margin paid and add it to the fund.
• Book it as an expense against OTA and a credit to Web Direct Marketing.
• In the above example there OTA1 had an expense of $5,000; take 25% or $1,250 of the expense and add it to the fund.

Radical…not if the goal is truly to drive business direct to the hotel’s own site.

The cycle is on the move again; demand is increasing. It is a perfect time to get serious about breaking the same old trends.