Big news was announced last week – Yahoo Search is officially powered by Bing’s organic search results.

There have been clues that this would happen including evidence of testing throughout the summer, but now it’s official.

Bing!

There is also chatter that Yahoo’s paid-advertising platform will be powering Bing’s ads this fall.

It only makes sense that the both organic and paid ads would be driven by the same product…stay tuned!

The Owner Community blog over at HomeAway had a great article in their newsletter about 11 types of travelers that might rent vacation homes in the fall.

I’d argue that these tips aren’t ONLY for vacation rental managers; hotel and resort managers could hop on the bandwagon also.  Keep in mind, in many locations “Off-Season” is longer than “On-Season” in this economy; the lines between seasons are blurry.

Here are some tips for maximizing your fall, and the possibility of turning your “slower” season (between summer vacation and holiday getaways) to your busiest. The ideas here can be developed for nearly any location, although some do require Mother Nature’s help.  You can’t peep at leaves in Palm Springs!

1)  Leaf Peepers – This is big business in the Northeast, but some locations have great color but not a lot of recognition – get the word out if you’re a great destination for seeing the fall colors.

Read the rest of this entry »

I read a great article today over at StateOfSearch.com on optimizing images for search engine rankings.  It was put together nicely and a great resource for “how to” tips on making your images rank in Image and Universal search.

The tips aren’t all that different from what we’ve been saying for awhile now, validation is always nice, but putting all the tips together makes the underlying theme of image search apparent: ALWAYS use keywords where you can.

As with most things ranking – keywords are king – and should be chosen for images with as much thought as they are for the content on your page.  Start your image optimization with fresh keyword research.  I’d take this a step further and see if anyone is searching for your keyword AND image keywords appended together, such as {Keyword} + photo, photos, pictures, pic, pics, image, images, etc.

Once you’ve found your keywords, assign them to the images you have on your website.  You don’t want to overdo it – so maybe one or two keywords per image.  After you’ve assigned them – you can do this by listing the URLs and the photo descriptions in Excel – start optimizing the photos.

Here are the steps according to the comprehensive article cited above: Read the rest of this entry »

Compete released some interesting data yesterday about how consumers view traveling off-peak in light of the current economic conditions.

The data was pretty interesting; most surveyed said they were more likely to travel off-peak in 2010 vs 2009, more than 50% were looking at traveling when the deals could be had and the destinations might be less packed.

What does this mean for hotel, resort and vacation rental managers? It means your off-season might not be as quiet, and your on-season might be a bit slower because your normal visitors are waiting for that off season deal to hit their social network or email box. Read the rest of this entry »

iPads usage in hotels and resorts is starting to take off.

As a followup to our April 13th, 5 Ways to Use an iPad at Your Hotel’s Front Desk, here is some good reading about iPads in hotels:

• Will Hotels Begin Offering the Apple iPad in Rooms? (We Can Only Hope) (written in January by Hotel Chatter)
• iPad: Hotel hype or help?
• Best iPad Apps for Hoteliers by Josiah Mackenzie
• 10 Innovative Uses of the iPad By the Hospitality Industry
• InterContinental Hotels & Resorts first to equip concierge teams with Apple iPads
• The Plaza Hotel Launches First Virtual Concierge App on iPads
• iPad Replaces Menu in Hotel Restaurant
• Top 10 Green iPad Hotels
• London Hotel Gives Guests an iPad for the Duration of their Stay
• Pavilion Hotel Offering Complimentary iPad Use to Guests
• Posh Hotels offer iPad Newspapers While Publishers Demand in-App Subscriptions…
• Six Hotels With iPads You Can Touch
• Where to Find Hotels With iPads

Blizzard received an exciting reward last week: We were named the 13th best small company to work for in Colorado.

Susan, myself and our whole management team are very excited and satisfied by this recommendation.  We have worked hard over the last few years to not just provide a great service to our customers, but to also make Blizzard a great place to work.  As you know, a company is only as good as its employees.  And Blizzard has a great bunch of employees!

Did you know that our average employee has been with us more than 5 years?  Some of the key things our employees enjoy:

• A healthy work/life balance
• Constant professional development opportunities
• Great health, dental and vacation benefits
• Profit sharing
• Annual rafting and skiing days
• A dog-friendly environment
• 2 or 3 monitors per employee

Here is a copy of our press release: Read the rest of this entry »

For years Blizzard has been advising our clients to respond to reviews placed at websites like TripAdvisor, Yelp and Yellowpages.  Until today – reviews left at Google Maps (now called Google Places) were the stepchildren that didn’t offer this feature.
Belabor the fact no more!

Announced today at the Google Lat Long blog, Google now offers verified business owners the ability to respond to reviews made directly on their Google Places page!

Responses will be featured below the review:

At Blizzard, we recommend everyone: 1) be aware of all reviews made of their business, 2) respond to reviews in a public forum where appropriate; and 3) understand that all feedback is valuable.

Google agrees with this stance and gives some helpful tips for responding to reviews:

1) Be Nice - This isn’t just a guideline – it’s a good idea.
2) Don’t Get Personal – Remember that you’re replying to feedback about an experience, not about you as a person.
3) Feedback is Helpful – Both positive and negative feedback can be good for your business and help it grow.

If your business listing isn’t verified, we advise you to do that as soon as possible.  If it is verified, start responding to reviews  – both negative and positive – to engage with your audience and ensure future viewers of those reviews see you care about each and every guest.