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Your website continues to grow in its huge responsibility to your lodging industry business. More and more travelers are booking online and less are using travel portals like Travelocity and Orbitz. Consumers are using these sites to gather their research and the numbers of consumers booking at a hotels main website or brand website are on the rise.

The Market Metrix Hospitality Index, based on consumer interviews conducted each quarter, identifies offline and online indicators of the reservation experience. From this data, we can find some great information about the gain in industry website use and the consumer’s satisfaction.

There have been great gains in the amount of online reservations as a percentage of total reservations in the past few years. Consumers are continuing to turn to the internet to make their travel plans, and less are using central-reservations numbers or offline travel agencies. In the last three years, Best Western International’s online bookings have grown from 10 percent to about 40 percent and Choice Hotels International experiences about 60 percent of online reservations. These gains speak volumes on the growing importance of having a great website that will sell your property!

What’s even more exciting is the fact that those making online reservations are booking directly on the hotel or the brand’s website. This is a remarkable accomplishment in the industry given all the competition out there and less money now goes to the travel portals. The hotels have been able to create a lasting impression on the consumer and gain their business through their own site. All this was done by carefully considering their marketing, website design and functionality and a continuing effort to be the best possible way for the consumer to experience their property.

Information gained from an article published by Smith Travel Research. Read the article for specifics on customer satisfaction for 2006.

Jackie Binion - Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc.

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Categories: Travel Marketing.
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