Michael Madison, Worldwide Director, Distribution &
Revenue Management, Forte Hotels
Pete Brady, Managing Director, BusinessMeetings.com
Audrey Bird, Managing Director, Meeting Planners International Ltd.
Some online booking statistics
w Phocuswright estimates that $1.1 billion of hotel online revenue
was generated in 1999. By 2003, this will rise to $6.6 billion and 50% of the business
will be done on hotel's own websites replacing third parties.
w Forrester estimates that by 2003 purchasing on the
internet will rise to $10 billion, with online travel the second largest segment
accounting for $2 billion - out of a total $30 billion globally spent on travel.
Forte's website progress
w Fortehotels.com was the initial generic site launched in
1997 which included hotel search/booking by TravelWeb and maps.
w In 1999 it developed branded sites, with partner links,
content, special F&B offers etc.
w The Le Meridien site has content management tools,
regional and individual hotels can do their own sites themselves, rather than rely on an
external programmer. It integrates a 'fast site access' function which eliminates graphics
for the time pressured customer. It uses one platform with the same navigation regardless
of which region the property is in, so reflects the brand image across the whole chain. It
offers a virtual room tour. The e-mail postcard functions helps to collect e-mail
addresses for targeting promotional campaigns. Key content includes maps (location) and
restaurant facilities, local attractions and community events (for leisure travellers),
and a meeting planner and booking facility.
w For the future Forte is developing its own front end to
TravelWeb to reflect the Forte brand image. The site will be in multiple languages (eg.
Japanese, Korean and Chinese.) It will have enhanced meeting planner facilities and
content management will extend across all sites.
Website success factors
w Know your customers what they want and what you want
them to do on your site.
* To drive bookings, put booking functionality at the forefront.
* As high speed internet access is rare in Europe, beware long download times. Don't put
too many pictures at the top of the site.
* Reconcile your ambitions with the constraints of legacy systems (CRS, database).
* Be prepared to change your site as soon as you set it up.
* Remember that with data warehousing you have to integrate with legacy systems to provide
consistency across channels and seamless service.
* With e-pricing the internet provides the opportunity to differentiate prices/products
for individual customers.
Pete Brady, Managing Director, BusinessMeetings.com
Internet Evolution what's next?
w The internet will get more user-friendly and will become a
tool that everyone uses on an everyday basis, connecting a range of applications globally.
w With ADSL it could become 20-40 faster to access
than today for some people.
w Internet content is growing by 100% every 100 days.
w It will become a fully interactive voice-driven medium.
WAP wireless application protocol will connect the business traveller to the
internet on their mobile phone, take their instructions verbally and make their travel
arrangements interactively.
What makes a winning website?
A Businessmeetings.com survey of meeting planners found that travellers are more likely to
go to a syndicated rather than a branded website to get the breadth of content. The
winners will be syndicated, independent, comprehensive sites that -
w Are well-marketed
w Offer comprehensive content
w Take the traveller simply and painlessly to the solution
of their travel problem
w Don't ask for credit card details a second time
w Take budget into account
w Are tech-enabled eg. with automated responses, video
planning tools, automatic translation etc
Audrey Bird, Managing Director, Meeting Planners International td.
Winning websites for Meeting Planners
MPI reviewed 50 websites of meeting facilities to rank them in terms of content,
functionality, and features. Their findings were as follows:
w The most effective delivery method of meeting-planner
information was a simple sequence of pages linked directly from the home page, logically
presented.
w Generally, US based chains are ahead of their European
counterparts in providing resources for meeting planners.
w Devoted or syndicated sites (eg Businessmeetings.com) add
enrichment by pooling information in one location.
Best website practices identified by meeting planners
w Placement of prominent links on the homepage that guide
user to meetings area.
w Online availability of meeting space dimensions and
photos.
w Option to submit RFP's for meetings online (eg. *
Availability of contact information.
w Use of secondary site for customized meeting planning (eg.
PlanitOnline).
Criticisms
w Lack of meeting planners' resources on many corporate
hotel sites obliges the planner to visit sites for every property.
w Requiring user to download additional software to utilise
the hotel's online resources.
w Language inconsistency (foreign terms on an English site).
w Forced online registration for general information search.
Vos commentaires : cliquez sur le Forum des Blogs des Experts
L'HÔTELLERIE Eurhotec Special Issue 8 February 2001
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