Getting it right
While the experts agree that there is still a great deal more hotel companies can be doing to embrace the opportunities offered by technology, there are some that are making strives forward.

“There are a few brands and individual properties that are starting to wake up and take matters into their own hands,” asserts Singh.

“Over the past five years, the major hotel brands have choked their individual properties by setting too many restrictive rules and regulations for online marketing.
Now they are starting to realise that each market is going to have to customise their strategy to meet the needs of their target consumer — so, they are starting to loosen the reins a little.”

Singh believes Starwood is a great example of a hotel group that gives individual properties some room to market themselves effectively, and cites IHG as a chain that is “starting to make some great moves for both the brand and individual properties”.

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Starwood Hotels & Resorts vice president marketing Europe, Africa & Middle East (EAME), Steven Taylor, says the company is embracing the evolution of the online world: “Our branded online channels have seen fantastic growth over the last few years.”

“Social media has been placed at the very core of our organisation to ensure that we are delivering value to our guests,” he continues.

Starwood currently boasts an impressive 1.5 million Facebook fans and has recently launched the new ‘state-aware’ SPG iPhone and iPad application to enhance personalised guest experiences.

Taylor admits it is a challenge to keep on top of an online world that is constantly evolving; but that “huge opportunities” makes it worthwhile.

In fact Starwood has repositioned its marketing budget so that 75% of total spend is on digital media.

But he is quick to add that it is not just a case of throwing money at online to make it work.

“Engaging guests through social media isn’t simply a case of repositioning budgets. Social media has been placed at the very core of our organisation to ensure that we are delivering value to our guests throughout their stay,” he says.

“We continuously review our education and training structure, and internal communication to ensure we take advantage of the opportunity that social media represents.”

Starwood’s mobile revenue has increased by more than 300% year-over-year. It has also noted that the patterns of travellers using mobile devices to book are markedly different from traditional web bookers.

“For instance, two-thirds of mobile bookings are within 24 hours of the stay, triple that of web bookings. Mobile represents the next paradigm shift for marketing and consumer engagement and we plan to be at the forefront of this trend,” Taylor adds.

The future
By the time the ATM sessions are over, there will no doubt be a new technology trend that everyone has to get to grips with, but there are some issues that hoteliers must be addressing now to be relevant in the future.

Singh believes that websites will be getting smarter by beginning to segment the guests that visit and serve them more targeted content. “This is important because personalised search results will deliver much more targeted search traffic than ever before,” he adds.

Longhurst says the battle for customer retention is going to “really hot up” over the next 12 months.

“Hoteliers need to work even harder to win and retain customers, but now they have so many more tools at their disposal,” he says.

“They have always had personal contact with their customers during their stay but now they can engage with them before and after their trip. So mine your database of customers and communicate with them in the most relevant ways to build long-term brand loyalty.”

For Richer, the exciting trend that is being driven by the widespread consumer take-up of mobile is very last minute bookings.

“Hotels will increasingly have the opportunity to fill those last few empty rooms, maybe within minutes of the customer arriving,” he explains, and in doing so brings up the topic of mobile technology again.

Mobile technology appears to be the area set for the largest amount of growth and, while it is still in its infancy, those who are already testing and researching mobile capabilities will be ahead of the game.

After all, with technology, it’s the only place to be.

Singh’s top tips to increase revenue
1.Do strategy first, marketing later.
2.Make analytics your best friend.
3.Constantly improve your website’s usability.
4.Understand that good content is the key to driving the right traffic and then converting that traffic on your website.
5.Test often and fail quickly.
6.Less meetings… more action.