"Experience" from HEDNA Lisbon Conference

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HotelMarketing.com has put out an original article summarizing comments from various speakers at HEDNA's Lisbon Conference at end of April: Henry Harteveldt from Forrester, Michael Ball from WORLDHOTELS, Mike Nelson of Orbitz, Heiko Siebert from Mövenpick and Marc Charron from Trip Advisor.

So I will summarize it even more and, as usual, write some flippant comment. :-)

Henry Harteveldt, VP & Principal Analyst @ Forrester Research:

- Hotel e-business is evolving from selling to engaging the customer and “To succeed, hoteliers need to fulfill the experience expected by customers, not just think of them as heads in a bed"

Oh come on.. They eat too... Seriously, "experience" is about the product. It is about the operations as well as the infrastructure as well as the product position of a hotel. E-business has very little control over that "experience". The control is with the Hotel Owners, Hotel Management Company, the General Manager, the EAM, and the Front Office Manager before it goes to e-business. I am not disagreeing with Forrester by any means, but "experience" is too easy to throw out there. Everyone has been telling us to differentiate our brands, don't become a commodity, and let people "experience the brand". This does not help e-business.

- Social computing, which Harteveldt calls the fifth generation of electronic distribution; “Travel plays a big role in social computing, making social computing a blend of marketing and distribution”

They did not tell me what the first 4 generation was but I guess travel agents, GDS, OTAs, etc. .. Anyway, integrating social computing into a hotel brand website? hmmm... "like maybe not". At least not anytime soon. For an OTA? It's a must have.

- The sixth generation for electronic distribution is mobile technology; “Travelers are an ideal group for mobile-based services and activities”

Ah, THAT's the 6th generation. I never knew. Anyway, this is bull as I wrote here. 1) people don't book hotel rooms and flights on their mobile (imagine filling in your details), 2) roaming data charges are TOO high because the telecoms are ripping us off, and 3) we are talking about users receiving info and offers WHILE ON THEIR TRIP. Us hoteliers, airlines, and online travel agents (which makes up a huge chunk of the travel industry) would prefer users to get offers and info BEFORE THEY MAKE THEIR TRIP and while they are planning their trip.

I agree that these people want these services and this M-info will be provided (possibly by OTAs), but it ain't "e-business". It will provide better "experience" i.e. more capex costs.


Michael Ball, CEO @ WORLDHOTELS:

Five important trends affecting hotel e-business. According to Ball, these trends are: 1) more demanding consumers; 2) more complex distribution channels; 3) changing business models where companies must give more but expect less in return; 4) an emphasis on technology and richer content; and 5) a change in the structure of hotel e-business.

1) is related to 2) and 4) ... and 2) and 3) is related to 5). So it is really only 2 trends right? Demanding costumers will want richer content and better ways to shop, and changing business models lead to more complex distribution channel will force hotel e-business to adapt.

“Five points to ponder.” First, don’t let opportunities for the hotel e-business get hijacked again. The industry must do a better job at managing downturns, says Ball. The other points are: 2) strive to simplify; 3) put distribution at the heart of your planning process; 4) recognize the need for capital expenditures on new technology; and 5) add the social agenda to your agenda, before the environmentalists and regulators do it for you.

1) Right on, brother. Don't let the OTAs get ahead of us... if we can. (see my post OTAs are smarter than us hoteliers.) 2) I always do. 3) I wish we had a heart ... and a planning process. 4) it's easier to pull teeth, and 5) this social is "going green" and not going "social network".


Mike Nelson, COO @ Orbitz Worldwide:

Are globalization and localization competing strategies? "No. You need to incorporate local and global to be successful," Nelson says.

It depends on what you are trying to sell I would say. For example with search engine, different markets uses different keywords - even in the same language. How you structure your PPC campaign and ad groups will affect the quality score and hence rankings and cost. But there are commonalities that you can implement across markets, like misspellings, long tail keywords, etc. Also we have to be mindful that some products (i.e. hotel brands) have different brand positioning in different market so you would have to be careful. YAAAWWWNNNN......


Heiko Siebert, VP Distribution @ Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts:

Shaping customers expectations is becoming crucial as customers look for an ‘experience’ rather than just a room.

YIKES!!! The word "experience" again. Yeah, that bloke booking a couple nights at my 45 year-old 3-star hotel in central London is looking to have an "experience", all right - but not at my hotel. He just wants a cheap room.

"No Joe, its about the service experience too!" you say? - Right, you mean the service offered by the Eastern Europeans in the UK, the mainland Chinese in Singapore, and the central Americans in the US? With their perfect command of the English language and 2 month's job "experience"? That service, right? Then I would say, "That's what we pay GMs for. They need to straighten out that service. What's this got to do with HEDNA and e-business?" HEDNA = Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association

“Content will replace price as a deciding factor for customers”...But who then owns that content and the customers that are attracted by it? Is it the hotel or is it the online service? Siebert strongly believes that his hotel has ownership of its content and customers. But online services feel otherwise. Since this is an area of debate, the panel believes this is an area where HEDNA can make a substantial impact in the industry by developing a solution.

There is a debate in this day and age on "who owns the content?"?!@#$# THE AGE of the internet where music and videos and movies are "freely" distributed - left, right and center? You may legally own certain content, but once you put it on the web, good luck in enforcing that ownership.

1) We are in the hotel business. We sell rooms (oh and "experiences"). And we use content (words, pictures, videos) to sell our rooms (and "experiences"). The more people see them, the better (as long as they are positive of course). AND we are stuck on the ownership of the content issue? We are not recording labels, not movie production studios, and not struggling artists/actors. Content is not our core business.

2) Everyone in the chain - hoteliers and OTAs - need to provide their own UNIQUE content. Yes we may borrow from each other, but hoteliers know how to market their hotels better than anyone (they should anyway) and OTAs offers the choice, information and value that consumers look for. So hoteliers go and keeping on pushing out regular unique content about their properties and OTAs go get traveler reviews, city guides, etc. that will bring in traffic. If we all offer the same content (and if we can agree who would own it), then what's the value in each of us to the consumer? (P.S. Google hates duplicated content in case anyone has not noticed.)

3) And lastly, what kind of "solution" can HEDNA hope to come up with? Not a technical one for sure. A policy perhaps? One that all HEDNA members must abide by? What about non-HEDNA members? What about the 100,000 websites that are "affiliates" of HEDNA members? The entertainment industry is still battling with Digital Rights Management (DRM)... And THAT'S their bread and butter.


Marc Charron, MD Europe @ Trip Advisor:

Consumer generated content, which is more and more in demand, is all about a traveler’s experience, explains Marc Charron

ARGHHHH!!!! "Experience!@#$!#$@" I used to work for Discovery Channel, and back in 2000, our branding team all agreed that the word "experience" is overused and should be retired from our advertising and promotions campaigns. Almost a DECADE ago.

OK OK. Marc is talking about travelers posting up their adventure, exploits and challenges - after the fact. He is not talking about trying to promote an "experience"... OK.. I am calming down.

There’s an incredible reluctance by hotels to post consumer generated content, fearing that it will be negative. However, most people that take the time to write have positive comments about their travel experience.

Well we don't mind putting up the positive experiences, but we don't like the negative ones. You know it seems to go against our Marketing 101 course to put up product defaults or negatives feedback right next to the product that we are trying to sell. You don't see that at a retail store - except for warning labels on pharmaceutical products and cigarettes.

We are totally ok with OTAs having CGM on their sites, but yes, it should be within the hoteliers' responsibility to monitor and respond to feedback and comments properly. By "properly", I mean in an official capacity as the GM, EAM, or whatever. Treat these people as if they were standing in front of you. And if you are really confident in your ability to manage the CGM on TripAdvisor, or VirtualTourist, then - by all mean - link to them from your site. But beware that you do not want they to book from those sites (TripAdvisor = Expedia and VirtualTourist is everyone's affiliate).

Save that 15+% commission!!!

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Oh that was a fun post.... definitely an "experience".

Joe. Out.