Food for thought: Mad men of Amazon, Toxicity and startups in hotels, McKinsey says time for Analytics in Hospitality and more
Hello ,
Two things made me think in these last couple of weeks, the increasing hotel marketing costs and more ideas on how hotels should start using their hotel data better. I didn't find them related in any particular way (yet). But both are topics that hoteliers can and should be looking to improve. The marketing costs are unfairly being attributed solely to OTAs, I think there's a lot more to it than that.
Have a great read.
Best,
Martin at Dryven.co
Note: I'm publishing this newsletter every two weeks. The other week (the one I'm not publishing) Charles from Dryven publishes Tell in French with different articles and viewpoints. We've worked it out this way as it is easier on us, and a lot easier on your inboxes too. If you want to sign-up for Charles' newsletter, it's here.
FRENCH TELL
Food for thought.
Why are Hoteliers obsessed about OTA costs?
The cost of marketing varies per hotel and area, but this study pulled out a figure of about 6-10% of the overall revenue. It seems about right depending on hotel size and so forth. The problem is that those costs are also the ones rising the fastest. Between OTAs, Meta-search, Adwords (to protect one's brand name) and many other little things, marketing a hotel is becoming a bigger and bigger piece of the pie. In my opinion OTAs are just the biggest line item, but the little things are probably growing a lot faster.
BEATING THE DRUM
Getting Advanced Analytics to Hotels
McKinsey recently published a very insightful article on how hotels can use analytics and data better. The article is particularly good because it lists a lot of ideas, gives some examples and wraps up with a series of action items that deserve serious consideration. Not every hotelier will see the benefit of creating a data lake, and even more will have no idea of how to do it. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. Take the time to read this.
MCKINSEY ON HOTEL DATA AND ANALYTICS
Startups in Hospitality, is it toxic?
Innovation in the hotel sector takes a while. In many ways that's because it is capital intensive. Changing every TV in the hotel, door-lock, soap dispenser etc. It's not like upgrading a software (and that can be ridiculously expensive too). This article about how difficult it is to grow a startup in Europe versus Silicon Valley and hot toxic the European environment is to innovation made me wonder if there are parallels in our industry. It is always a lot easier to interpret what is happening elsewhere than in one's own house.
Amazon the advertising channel
We rarely view Amazon as an advertising channel, but with over 2 billion visitors to their website every month and most of them coming to buy something (i.e. purchase intent) the audience is quite qualified. Is it possible to advertise travel alongside products and expect an ROI? Maybe not without some help, but the truth is we do need more ways to reach future travellers at the inspiration stage and Amazon is an interesting option.
What can we do with Hotel Data
Some time ago at the Young Hotelier's Summit at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne interviewed myself and several others on ideas of what could be done with hotel data, and what should be done about hotel data. Check the video out.