As the Head of Global SEO, Valentine is responsible for driving organic growth at HomeAdvisor, the largest online local home services marketplace to match homeowners and pre-screened service professionals. He also consults and advises businesses to help them drive sustainable and profitable growth.

In this interview, Valentine provides insight and tips into how hotels can find success when it comes to building and maintaining a digital audience.

What are some of the hot, up-and-coming SEO trends?

On one hand, the basic principles of SEO have not changed much over the years. On the other hand, some aspects of SEO change so frequently that keeping up with those trends and staying ahead of the curve is a job in and of itself. For example, Google averages about 1-2 changes per day and are constantly testing many other changes. If you’re using Google, you’re almost certainly participating in one or more of their tests.

SEO is the art and science of being found where potential customers are looking.

That said, here is a summary of some recent SEO trends with links for more in-depth information:

1. Google continues to find new ways to eat its own search results, with sub-par products causing valuable search real estate to either disappear or be monetized by Google. This has been particularly noticeable in the travel industry (eg hotels and flights).
2. Google has made more algorithm changes than ever, resulting in Algo Sandwiches that make it more difficult for innocent webmasters to troubleshoot drops in traffic.
3. Google continues to expand the visibility of their own products, like featured snippets, which effectively scrapes content from other websites and re-packages it to keep users on Google longer.
4. Another obvious, but a recent trend is mobile. We live in a multi-device world and it’s becoming more critical to have a consistent and quality experience suited to various devices. Google even has a specific penalty dedicated to mobile-friendly (or unfriendly) websites.

What would you recommend to hotels looking to apply these trends?

To put it simply, make sure you have a presence on any popular sites where people might be searching for you. This is the essence of SEO, which I define as Search Experience Optimization. While you shouldn’t ignore the major search engines, SEO is the art and science of being found where potential customers are looking.
For example, many people skip the search engine altogether and go directly to their favorite travel website. If you’re not sure about the best way to approach this, you should work with a quality SEO consultant.

I recently read that some hoteliers have difficulty getting conversions through mobile websites, although many travelers use mobile for pre-travel planning and research. Do you have any recommendations for ways to improve in this area?

One of the best things you can do is test this process for yourself on popular mobile devices. Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer and try to book a hotel room through your mobile website or app and pay close attention to your experience. Make note of any pain points. Improve the experience by reducing these pain points. Rinse and repeat.

The more friction, the less likely a conversion will result.

 

The process should be as smooth and quick as possible. Generally speaking, the more friction you have the less likely someone is to convert. Test, test, test! You can also implement user testing where you can get feedback from actual users.

What are some of your personal favorite technologies to use when you travel? Does that differ when your reason for travel is leisure vs. business?

I always travel with my phone and almost always with my tablet and laptop. And I generally won’t stay anywhere that doesn’t offer WiFi.

Could you share an experience you had where technology played a big role in a hotel stay of yours?

If I’m traveling for leisure, I almost always research potential hotels via TripAdvisor or other online sites that provide ratings and reviews.

What’s some advice you would offer to hotels trying to figure out how to prioritize their cross-channel marketing efforts or where to focus in 2016?

I always start with what I call the PEG Framework, which identifies three core areas of focus that apply to almost every type of business or team. Generally speaking, focusing one-third of your time in each of these areas is a good rule of thumb, but how much you invest in each area will differ depending on the needs of the business, and in this case, the marketing department.

As you can see, there are lots of applications for this framework. How you prioritize each area should be driven by an analysis of potential marketing opportunities (enhancements and growth) and risks (preservation and maintenance).

MCD Partners is a digital customer experience agency that released results of a 1,000-consumer survey within three traveler segments—business, leisure, and family. The report indicated that, in return for improved mobile features and overall digital experience, the hospitality industry might gain increased customer loyalty.

To continue our 2016 Look Ahead interview series, John Caruso, creative director, and founding partner at MCD Partners, shared his thoughts on these findings and the overall state of the evolving digital guest experience.

Your company recently released a white paper on “the explosion of digital on-demand services.” How do you think that translates in the hospitality industry and how can hoteliers take advantage of this trend?

We focused on the rise of digital on-demand services, defined as service requests made online (computer, tablet, mobile) that can be immediately fulfilled. With the rise of on-demand digital services that focus primarily on customer experience – i.e. Uber and Airbnb – the hospitality and travel industries are experiencing significant disruption. So they’ve started to offer digitally connected on-demand services to attract and retain customers at a time when the digital experience is an essential differentiator.

Hoteliers should use insights gathered through qualitative research (like our report) and quantitative customer data to adapt useful, intuitive technology that will enhance:

Communication: These features make communications as efficient and effortless as possible with instant messaging, a virtual concierge, in-app requests, etc. They also work to eliminate questions before they’re asked via proactive communications – like the ability to set room preferences and make personalized requests online before arrival. And many hotels are experimenting with key sensors and location services, so they can provide messaging that’s relevant to the traveler’s location.

Convenience: These are services that make the traveler’s entire journey simpler, smoother, better – eliminating wait time between request and completion (i.e. automated check-in to bypass the front desk, late check-out request, scheduling a car, ordering room service/amenities)– all without having to pick up a phone.

Connectivity: These offerings ensure a seamless experience, from check-in to check-out – and everything in-between. Many hotels have created proprietary apps or connected app ecosystems, so that the visitor’s smartphone can order the car to the hotel, check-in, open the room door, order room service, stream content to the television, request an extra toothbrush, find nearby activities, request a late check-out, and order a car back to the airport. That increasing connectedness – one device, doing it all – is the new customer expectation.

Your company released a report, “Seeing Returns,” that explored how receptive modern travelers are to connectivity and technology. Were you surprised by the results? What did you learn from the survey?

We found that 70% of travelers were influenced to book a stay based on a hotel’s website and app; travelers often feel that a hotel’s digital offerings will reflect the quality of the hotel. Business travelers were most influenced by customer experience; they were also most likely to rebook at the same hotel based upon positive previous experiences, as opposed to pricing or rewards points. This also makes them more receptive to add-ons during their stay.

Family travelers were most attracted to hotels that help them efficiently manage their trip; any assistance in coordinating activities and eliminating stress was highly appreciated.

Leisure travelers largely wanted to disconnect, unplug, unwind – but they were eager to seek out new experiences. Hotels can engage with these travelers via digital tools that help them discover new activities and places in their destination, should they opt-in.

And efficiency was a primary factor across all types of travelers. 74% of total travelers wanted hotels to proactively enhance their visit, and 80% wanted the opportunity to set personalized preferences online. Other areas of high interest included easily accessible information like amenities and hours (80%), engagement with maps of the areas they visit (78%), automated check-in (73%) and late check-out requests (73%).

In your opinion, which traveler segment, business, leisure or family, benefits most from the innovation explored in that report?

We found that business travelers were most receptive to all digital offerings, ranging from informative to transactional – using a mobile device to access information, as a mobile key, schedule transportation, make requests, and pay the hotel bill. Since experience is largely the primary differentiator for this segment, digital offerings seem to be the most effective in terms of increasing loyalty and digital investment returns.

 

Consumers want access to information that is fast, simple and streamlined.

That said, leisure and family travelers showed high interest in – and can benefit the most from – digital tools that help them know what’s available nearby, and to help them make plans and stay organized. While device connectivity might be less of a priority, even the smallest shortcuts and easily accessible information would go a long way in terms of appreciation – and advocacy.

Which technologies do you enjoy or benefit from using most during your own travel?

While I find many of the new travel technologies exciting, I often benefit most from access to basic travel needs. For family trips especially, I seek out easy ways to catalog or access all of the information we’ll need—locations, hours, contact information, tips—so that we can spend more time doing and less time planning. Anyone with young kids knows this is a huge win.

In fact, this idea—finding better ways to serve the most basic needs—was one of the biggest standouts in our hospitality research. Consumers love new and exciting, but above all else, they want access to information. And they want it to be faster, simpler, and more streamlined than ever before.

What would you say is the biggest impact technology has had on the hospitality and travel industries within the past 5 years?

One word: Airbnb. The mobile app has significantly affected the hospitality industry by connecting hosts with travelers, fostering communications and relationships between the two, enabling community sharing, and providing seamless online discovery and booking.

But this is not necessarily an end-all threat to hotels; instead, it’s a constructive challenge to traditional institutions to incorporate the appealing aspects of Airbnb. That means more in-app communications; personalized ‘matchmaking’ to different hotel offerings; and a curated end-to-end experience, with more local expertise. A large part of Airbnb’s appeal is its immersion within local communities; hotels can often feel isolated, a sanitized version of the surrounding culture. While this might appeal to some, the option should exist for travelers (especially those in the leisure segment) who want to discover, explore, and share experiences, aided by the hotel itself (and, of course, easily accessible via digital platforms). This particular trend, the desire to immerse oneself in the neighborhood, will only continue to grow in 2016.

How greatly do you think the impact of technology on the travel journey differs depending on age?

We’ve found that in general, most digital on-demand services are decreasingly popular as participant age increases. This could potentially be due to comfort in existing patterns, and unfamiliarity with newer technologies.

However, that finding doesn’t necessarily apply across all travel segments. Age doesn’t seem to be a factor with business travelers seeking efficient trips; according to US Travel Association, the average business traveler is 45.9 years old; 53% of all business travelers are age 45 and older.

 

The desire for authentic experiences within a local community while traveling will continue to grow in 2016.

The average leisure traveler is 47.5 years old; 55% of all leisure travelers are 45 and older. If a digital offering is intuitive and easy to navigate, it should be appealing to all ages – for adult leisure travelers, who want to unplug and unwind but also want nonintrusive assistance in discovering new excursions, and for parents traveling with families, as an organizational, time-saving aid.

What are your predictions for trends or changes that will improve or impact customer experience in 2016 (with a particular focus on hospitality or what these will mean for hotels)?

As we move into 2016, we’ll see more hotels launching customer experience-focused technologies, and we’ll see this merge with the payments space. That’s the next big frontier for hotels to tackle—better integration of mobile payment options—and the technology is there.

I also think we’ll see Instagram advertising becoming more ubiquitous and more relevant. That’s not always something you get to say about advertising. But Instagram seems to be getting it right, and empowering customers to influence the ads they see only makes it stronger.

Then, the natural evolution of this is that we’ll see more experimentation with brand messaging within platforms like Snapchat—content like branded keyboards, brand chats, campaigns, and even customer service—especially targeted towards millennial travelers.

To kick off our 2016 Look Ahead interview series, we spoke with Norm Rose, an analyst and consultant focused on emerging technologies and how they impact business practices in the travel industry.

Norm leads Travel Tech Consulting, Inc., a firm that partners with Phocuswright to provide technology consulting to travel companies. He’s also been an analyst with Phocuswright since 1999 and is the author of numerous publications and articles including Phocuswright’s Mobile: The Next Platform for Travel. From 1982-1988, he held sales and marketing management positions at United Airlines and, from 1989 to 1995, was a corporate travel manager for Sun Microsystems.

Here’s the second part of Norm’s interview discussing the impact of self-service and mobile technologies on the hospitality and travel industries.

What advice would you give to hotels that are looking to start embracing mobility or self-service technology?

I think the important thing to keep in mind is that whether you want to deny the change or resist the change, it’s happening all around you and you need to come to speed. You need to identify which points during your process have the most friction and look to see how mobility can help ease that friction.

Don’t necessarily do what every other hotel does because every hotel may not have the same guest profile you do. I am very much inclined not to say just go and do automated check-in, mobile key room entry, and room service.

The absolute wrong approach is going with a company that says, “Here’s our mobile app. Just add your logo.” As a consultant, my company says, “What’s the problem you’re trying to solve, and how can mobile help,” as opposed to focusing on features, saying mobile can do this or that. You have to ask which are relevant to your guest population. You have to step back and say, “What am I trying to fix?” Everyone is still in a competitive environment.

Speaking as someone who’s traveled a lot, a lot of hotel rooms are the same. What differentiates are the services connected with that. One of my pet peeves on the business traveler side is the whole thing with free Wi-Fi. The hell with free Wi-Fi, I want good Wi-Fi. And I’m willing to pay for really good Wi-Fi in the room and a good Internet connection. Understanding how important something like that is, it’s quite different from, “We have to give away free Wi-Fi because everyone else is doing it.”

Don’t necessarily do what every other hotel does because every hotel may not have the same guest profile you do.

That’s the mentality people have about mobile. “We have to do that because everyone else does.” But you have to ask yourself is that what your customers really want or do they want the ability to book at your spa before they arrive at the hotel because your spa books up? That’s more important than opening up a hotel door with my phone.

You can’t go into the mode that this is the thing to do, or this is what everyone wants. Have you done the research?

How close do you think we are to technology being able to deliver the “total travel experience” that connects the travel journey from end to end?

Everyone is driving toward it but few have succeeded yet.

There’s a lack of total journey integration due to technical barriers, but also because of the silo thinking that the different industries have, such as lack of cohesion between airlines and airports.

Travelers think of it as one experience, not that they’re in the airplane versus in the airport. They think of being at the destination, not just being in the hotel versus at the destination. It’s a function of sharing information and losing silo thinking. We’re a ways from it, unfortunately.

What are some predictions you have for where self-service technology will develop in 2016 or the near future?

I think we’re moving from an environment where the self-service is “I’m going to reach out and do something” or “I’m searching for something” to an environment where things are going to be delivered to you based on your personal preferences. Things will be brought to you rather than having to search for things. It’s a pretty significant shift in the way the environment has been for a few years since the introduction of search and mobile.

We’re moving into a hyper-local environment where information is targeted based on your micro-location, using Beacons and so forth. Millennials are willing to exchange personal information in order to receive personalized service.

We’re moving to an environment where things are going to be delivered to you based on your personal preferences.

Not everything needs to be self-service. I’m referring to the automation of the concierge function and the services outside the hotel property. It’s not where you stay necessarily or how you get there; it’s also about what you do in the destination. Being able to deliver on that with a combination of high tech and high touch is the challenge because there are a lot of different applications that offer discounts. But really what consumers want is a certain degree of expertise and being able to curate the content to a level that meets their needs. That’s what you expect from the concierge. The reality is there needs some curation, which could be electronic if you understand the preferences of the individuals, but could involve some electronic messaging or chat from a person who can deliver knowledge and provide curated suggestions.

I think that believing that you’re just going to outsource the concierge role entirely to self-service, I’m not sure that’s the whole story. Unless we get intelligence to receive relevant information, it doesn’t make sense. I think we need that high touch within self-service, particularly about what to do in the destination, and I haven’t seen anyone fully solve that.

To kick off our 2016 Look Ahead interview series, we spoke with Norm Rose, an analyst and consultant focused on emerging technologies and how they impact business practices in the travel industry.

Norm leads Travel Tech Consulting, Inc., a firm that partners with Phocuswright to provide technology consulting to travel companies. He’s also been an analyst with Phocuswright since 1999 and is the author of numerous publications and articles including Phocuswright’s Mobile: The Next Platform for Travel. From 1982-1988, he held sales and marketing management positions at United Airlines and, from 1989 to 1995, was corporate travel manager for Sun Microsystems.

Here’s what Norm had to say about the impact of self-service and mobile technologies in the hospitality and travel industries.

Which self-service technologies are you most excited by or interested in?

There was an article I was reading today saying that shoppers want more personalization. I had an airline send me four to five emails, and I finally said, “Forget it, I don’t want your emails. They’re generic and don’t pertain to me and what I want. You have no insight into where I’ve been, what I’ve done.” And I think the consumer is being trained to expect something more personalized.

Everything is mobile. Everything has to be focused on mobile. But I really encourage hoteliers in particular not to just try to automate existing processes but think how they can use solutions to deliver new services.

If I stay at the Four Seasons and I always get a massage, they should know that. You should enable me through a smartphone app or tablet, but also use these to proactively offer something like that to me, which is kind of the Four Seasons way even offline. But certainly, the luxury segment is being enabled by this type of ability to deliver proactive services that really meet your personal preferences.

The balance between high touch and high tech is something that people have been talking about for many years, and I think reaching that right balance is key.

What would you say is the biggest impact self-service technology has had on the hospitality & travel industries?

I would hope it would be in easing the friction that exists in travel. I think the idea is reduced friction and there has been some reduction. If you can avoid check-in at the front desk and can go straight to your room and use a phone to open the door, I think you’re in an environment that approaches that.

I’m always traveling from West to East Coast, so I’m hungry when I get into a hotel. Being able to order food while still in the taxi or the Uber is helpful.

The balance that’s difficult is reducing headcount versus reducing friction. The real battle is hoteliers assume, “We’ve automated things, now we can reduce headcount,” but that ends up opening a new can of worms because sometimes you do need to talk to someone, even with automation available.

In your opinion, who is benefitting most right now from self-service technologies – airlines, hotels, travelers, or another party?

Every segment benefits depending on how much they reduce the friction for the traveler, but the benefit should be for the traveler always.

Certainly, the airlines have benefited from mobile boarding passes and such efficiencies. I can go through the airport process and not have to deal with a human being, which helps reduce both friction and headcount. The problem they still haven’t solved is what happens when something goes wrong.

Who is winning in this space? It’s pretty clear that the OTAs are winning on mobile, which is very frightening considering the hotel push-and-pull relationship with OTAs from a booking viewpoint. The OTAs aren’t doing much within the on-property experience, but they’re winning as far as booking. There’s still a lot of room for interesting competition.

I hear a lot of comments from hoteliers that are worried that self-service technology doesn’t have as much of a place in their hotel because their guests tend to be in the 50-and-up age range. Do you think self-service technology is only beneficial for younger generations of travelers?

I would disagree with that statement strongly. I think if hoteliers did an actual survey, they would find that their 50-plus travelers have smartphones. The issue goes back to the question what’s the balance between high touch and high tech? I think maybe more affluent older travelers still want some high touch, the feeling that there is personal service, not just personal digital service.

Hoteliers need to figure out how to combine digital with the human environment to deliver superior service. It’s not an either/or. Everyone has a smartphone now, and the correlation between smartphone owners and travelers is higher than the general population.

If you’re a hotelier, you should recognize that Airbnb is not just a competitor for lodging but is also a travel service, and is offering not just accommodations but a local experience. A certain segment, maybe not 50 plus, wants that experience. That is an angle that is going to be a need and it’s a big disruption that’s coming. Airbnb is affecting hoteliers.

I think the concern is that tech is driving and enabling big disruptions, and it’s happening as we speak. Therefore the only way to fight that is to understand your customers, understand where the friction is, and deliver an experience that is both high touch and high tech.

In this day and age, many businesses are embracing mobile as the Force that provides them with new capabilities to drive success. While these don’t necessarily include masterfully wielding a lightsaber, there are a number of benefits that should encourage you to embrace training and go from a Padawan to a digital Master.

For those in the hospitality industry, learning to successfully channel this technological energy can help address disturbances in the Force caused by dissatisfied guests, competition from other hotels or Airbnb, and increased booking revenue sharing with OTAs.

Here’s a guide to what you can expect as you embark on your mission to join the ranks of such greats as Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Initiate

Your path to becoming a Master begins with the realization of the need for the Force in your life. Statistics and research all support the significance of mobile and technology in the travel and hospitality industries:

• More than half of all online travel bookings will be made via mobile in 2016
• Three-quarters of guests want mobile connection with hotels to enhance their stay
• Nearly 7 in 10 travelers say they’ll use a smartphone every day while traveling

Once you’ve accepted that technology is a vital part of your future and embraced that you hold the potential to harness this tool within you, it’s time to begin your actual training.

Padawan

It all begins with learning the basic principles of the Force that will guide your mobile future. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the information available, especially if you’re not particularly tech-savvy, but getting started is simple if you’ve got the right Master to guide your training.

Partnering with the right mobile Master, such as the expert team available at INTELITY, offers you the opportunity to learn quickly and leverage their experience to grant yourself access to more advanced capabilities. They can help you navigate some of the pitfalls and tests associated with the implementation of new technologies in order to seamlessly integrate digital features into your offered guest experience.

For instance, you can avoid wasting substantial internal resources on digital maintenance and focus on other important aspects of guest service delivery. You can also easily figure out the degree to which technology should play a role in your guest experience to determine the perfect balance of high touch versus high tech.

Jedi Knight

As you graduate to higher levels and expand your familiarity with the abilities of mobile technology, you’ll be able to learn how to more expertly wield your tech powers to not only complete basic engagement with guests, but also extend benefits to the back-of-house to improve your operational efficiency.

• Communicate with guests at all stages of their travel journey
• Capture more direct bookings through proprietary booking channels
• Perform yield management
• Minimize human error with reduced manual actions and data input
• Monitor request fulfillment and service operations digitally

Putting your training into practice allows you to become more comfortable with using the Force to accomplish goals and employ it more creatively in the future to position it as a competitive advantage.

Jedi Master

At this level, you are finally at a point where you’ve unlocked much of the potential of the Force and can fully use your knowledge to inspire and benefit others.

A word of warning: with such great powers, you might find yourself tempted to cross to the Dark Side and begin misusing your capabilities. Some practices that could lead you to lose your way and following the tradition of the Sith Lords include:

• Not providing a secure, private digital experience for guests
• Sending guests impersonal, spam-like communication that provides no benefit to personalizing or enhancing their stay
• Being reckless with information that guests trust you to safeguard, such as their name, preferences or payment data
• Implementing technology that fails to serve a purpose or is difficult to use for both guests and staff

Becoming a Master in mobile technology is a challenge that can provide continuous returns on your investment if you seriously dedicate yourself to learning and implementing the appropriate innovation for your hotel or brand. Commit to expanding your use of technology in 2016 to unlock rewards that will help you remain a relevant player in an increasingly competitive market.

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT

This post provides insight directly from a member of our executive committee, CEO & President David Adelson.

I wanted to offer a few tips on using technology this holiday season to capitalize on opportunities for revenue intake.

To start off, revenue management is defined most simply as selling the right thing to the right customer at the right price and time. It’s a newer science, but one that is necessary with recent changes to the landscape of the hospitality industry. It’s harder than ever to know who customers are, what they want, and what price they’re willing to pay for it.

But what if guests could tell you exactly what it was they wanted? What if you could get reliable information pertinent to building a robust revenue management strategy fed directly to you?

Before many of today’s technologies became available to hoteliers, a lot of revenue management was manual and difficult to track. Most hoteliers lacked the resources to effectively track all of the factors that play a part in knowing how to maximize revenue. Now, digital systems can provide more information than ever, and they can do it quickly and without the same amount of manual effort.

It’s something that was never before possible.

As one example of a digital system providing such benefits, INTELITY’s platform offers simple tools that combine digital access to hotel services with features designed to provide information about guest activity and preference to improve a hotel’s operations.

Guests can place food and beverage orders through a mobile interface on any variety of devices, from mobile guest apps and in-room tablets to laptops, and these are communicated directly into a back-end platform accessible by authorized members of the management or staff without a need for manual data re-entry. Guests can also make reservations at any of the property facilities, such as a restaurant or spa, feeding more behavioral information into the system for hotelier review.

Being able to access insight about guest demand and resource usage is invaluable to a hotelier looking to increase profits. In fact, all of the business intelligence available through the INTELITY Staff platform is easily accessible and potentially beneficial to increasing revenue and adjusting strategy to better anticipate demand, which consequently increases satisfaction.

Here are two general tips for using technology to enhance revenue opportunities this holiday season:

1. Pay attention to guests

Most people use technology as a way to connect, and there’s no better way for a business to connect to its customers. Participating in conversations with guests via digital channels is important all year, but more than ever during the holiday season, which is one of the peak seasons for the industry.

Make sure to have staff assigned around-the-clock to monitor and engage with guests on all channels, from online review sites to your social media accounts. It’s a stressful time of year, so you want to make sure your team is providing enhanced customer service in the right tone to alleviate your guests’ concerns or thank them appropriately if they offer appreciation for you making their season a little brighter.

2. Offer gifts

It’s better to give than to receive, and who doesn’t like gifts during this time of year? And there are plenty of gifts that your guests would love. Don’t just limit this to special room rates, although those are always appreciated. Discounts to use at the property during a stay is another great offering. A percentage off a mistletoe martini or a room service delivery of roast turkey is an offering that will have guests in good cheer.

It adds value for you to make these special offerings through your website or mobile app to increase traffic and number of app downloads. It also provides an incentive for your guests to actively engage with you via mobile technology to establish a long-term connection beyond their stay.

I wish everyone a successful holiday season, and if you want more ideas on increasing revenue all year long, schedule a demo with my team to get information about the latest innovations in hospitality technology, from mobile keyless room entry to in-room guest service tablets.