Digital evolution

[L-R] Anita Markiewicz; Artour Severinov; Toufic Tamim; and Elaine Nettleton

In terms of maximising your department’s digital performance, what is your wish list of technology solutions you would like to invest in?

AM: There are so many things to buy — technology, marketing, advertising, positioning, connectivity tools etc. You can buy any of these because it’s new or your neighbours have it, but you have to consider is it always a wise purchase which will give a return on investment and will not be outdated soon after you have bought it? We have all the tools, technology and networks in place to maximise our performance — our teams are what will make the difference — and money to spend on advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) will of course be a bonus.

TT: I believe that more money should be spent on SEM and SEO and the optimisation of our website. Also on my list, although this is soon to be a reality, is the redistribution of our advertising spend into online media and electronic direct marketing (EDM) campaigns.

EN: I agree that more money should be spent on SEO and SEM but I also believe in the power of social media and this is where I would invest. This is probably more of a resource issue though as the whole social media arena is one that requires dedicated expertise — it is not just a ‘nice to have’ add-on to the communications department.

What environmental considerations have come into your desire to further the digital evolution and how will these save energy?

TT: E-marketing will replace traditional printing to a large extent in the coming years cutting down on print costs. We have phased out our newsletter, global directory and meeting planners and are now doing this online.

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Similarly, how will some of your strategies save revenue?

TT: I forecast that an efficient digital strategy may increase revenues through the various digital channels by at least 25% year on year. This is a bold statement I know but this has been the trend for the past four years and I believe it will continue. According to PhoCusWright, 2010 will be the first year in which online bookings will supersede the offline bookings in the USA. It will not be long before the same thing happens in our area. I believe that without a sound digital strategy, hotels will not be able to survive at all in the long term.

Can you summarise what you would like to achieve in terms of digital evolution in 2010?

AM: We are expecting to double the online revenues, not only due to cohesive and strategic distribution planning, fair pricing (best rate guarantee), relevant and accurate on-line content but also due to the natural on-line penetration of the Middle Eastern and Asian source markets as awareness of the Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts brand extends its digital reach.

AS: The digital evolution has changed our customers’ pre-booking research patterns and their actual booking behaviour. Adhering to their needs, we are aiming to increase our e-channels production by being more pro-active and efficient in utilising the current and emerging technologies. We will continue to build a solid knowledge base and expertise within our teams, so that they have got the tools to remain on the cutting edge of the industry.

EN: The immediate future is all about creating opportunities for people to engage with our brand and the company will use technology to do this. We will achieve this through social media, interactive email campaigns and through thought provoking online articles. We have already made significant inroads by monitoring our online media and consumer generated reviews and I see us expanding on this in the year to come.

TT: This year the company will be piloting seamless connectivity and we will also be launching a major SEO project. In addition to this, we are planning to improve our online request for proposal (RFP) process – an area that I believe definitely has room for improvement.