Emarketer just released a study that doesn’t have many surprises:

Nearly 96% of Google clicks come from the first page

Google owns the world with 74% of search referrals:

Exciting news came from Escapia last week when they released their Vacation Rental 2010 Annual report.

After about 18 months of bad news, it appears that the industry is looking up!  While numbers were down for 2009, they clearly were trending up during the fourth quarter.  This is partly due to the comparison to an absolutely miserable 4Q of 2008.  Nonetheless,  it looks like the market has stopped falling and is holding steady (at worse) and even improving a bit!

Here is their month-to-month comparison for 2009 VS 2008 bookings:

This report is a must-read for any student of the Vacation Rental industry.  They offer a free download with over 20 pages of data.

Thanks Escapia for making this data public!

Escapia is an industry leading provider of property management software, bookable websites, web distribution and yield management for the vacation rental management industry.  With over 300 active users, their on-demand software offerings are among the hottest in the VRM industry.

The Times has published a list of the five most expensive hotels in the world.  The top was the Hotel Martinez in Cannes, France at $37,000 per night.  Ouch.

Here is what $37,000 gets you:

Situated on the famous seafront boulevard, the “Croisette”, Hotel Martinez (pictured above) boasts a Michelin starred restaurant, piano bar and “vast” private beach. Not that you will need to mix with the hoi-polloi if you book the luxurious and very expensive Penthouse Suite. You’ll have a sitting room, dining room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms with hammam, shower, a spa bath, dressing room and sauna at your disposal as well as a huge terrace that overlooks the sea. Can I move in please?

The Four Seasons Hotel penthouse suite in New York City was the only US hotel to make the list.  I think the 10 Weirdest Hotels in the World is more my style!

This is guest post from Ben Johnson of Logoinn, custom logo design service provider based in UK.  It is timely for us here at Blizzard because we have been actively working to redesign our logo:

Clicking on this link is an indication that you are doubtful of your logo. Don’t fret! Time and again, many organizations have realized that their logos have become stale and out dated.  They realize that a logo is the foundation for any business and if there is something wrong with the foundation, disastrous could be the consequences. We all have different tastes and preferences for designs, colors, flavors and so forth. So, naturally when it comes to selecting a logo, business owners would choose the ones which suit their personal tastes. I see nothing wrong with that, in fact, to an extent I believe that following this route results in logo designs, which are truly a representation of their moods, people, and culture of their company.

Hmm! Now that’s quite understandable, however there are still, certain guidelines and criteria that every logo design should comply to. What are those guidelines, we’ll tell you because we don’t want your logo to fall into the category of logos that suck! If your logo already does not comply with these guidelines, you can consider a redesign. Your logo:

1. Should be describable
2. Should be memorable
3. Should be scalable
4. Should depict your company
5. Should be unique

Your Logo sucks if:

Business owners can analyze if their logos fall under the category of bad logos.

It is not describable

You need to ask yourself whether your logo is describable or is it ambiguous. Is it communicating any tangible brand attribute or not? Many companies struggle in describing their logos and their connection with the company’s goals and objectives due to a weak or vague logo that portrays a different image than what the company is actually about. In this case, no slogan line, any suggestive image, or color element help much.

It is not logo memorable (more…)

Looking for some tips on recession busting?

This powerpoint is for today’s webinar.

Here are some other resources you may want to check out for ideas or inspiration:

The 10 Most Ingenious Travel Offers

Travelers Find it Pays to Wait for Late Deals

Peter Yesawich’s March 2009 Insights on Travel Trends

Online Hotel Marketing Tips for a Recession

Hear is a video by Matt Cutts from Google talking about how to help Google see your images and using alt tags.

Of course, you may want to refer now to our recent post on How to Find Who is Stealing Your Images.

Check out the 10 Weirdest Hotels in the world over at www.MatadorTips.com.  My favorite was the sewer tube:

Das Park Hotel, Ottensheim, Austria. Photo by Foam.