Hotel News For March

This weeks blog is an accumulation of key statistics and consumer trends provided by top Online Travel Agency (OTA) sites Hotels.com and Expedia.com. Get valuable insights into statistics that will help your property better position itself against the competition this year. Get the upper advantage with price comparisons per city, travel advertising trends, and mobile travel behaviors provided by Expedia Media Solutions!

1) Hotels.com Hotel Price Index™ 2015

For the top 50 destinations in the United States, only four cities had modest price falls. Overall, U.S travelers were willing to spend more on their hotel stays in 2015 than any other year before. It's important to be aware of average price changes in your area to be able to strategically position your property amongst competitors. Staying current with local music events, sporting entertainment, and local attractions will allow you to better judge allocation of resources throughout the year. Plan ahead! If your city is a host to the NCAA Tournament this month, open your doors to basketball fanatics!

• First Round (March 15-16)
  • Dayton, Ohio
• Second Round (March 17-20)
  • Providence, Des Moines, Raleigh, Denver, NYC, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Spokane
• Sweet 16 and Elite Eight (March 25-27)
  • Louisville, Anaheim, Philadelphia, Chicago
• Final Four (April 2-4)
  • Houston

2) Travel Advertising: Which Trends Are Taking Off?

Expedia Media Solutions provides a valuable infographic breaking down the hospitality landscape, trends, key drivers of change, and the challenges occurring within the travel industry. See which social media platforms generate the most brand awareness and which drive leads! [caption id="attachment_3762" align="aligncenter" width="571"] Take Your Social Media + Advertising Above The Clouds[/caption]  

3) Mobile Travel Trends and Behavior

Understanding the traffic flow to your guest rooms is important for predicting volume. Expedia Media Solutions has another infographic that researches the time of day consumers are making mobile bookings, the top mobile booking destinations, and the mobile user demographics. [caption id="attachment_3784" align="alignnone" width="1662"] Source: Expedia Media Solutions[/caption]

4) The American Travel Consumer: The Role of Content Among Different Buyer Segments

"Learn how your travel brand can leverage the right content to reach and engage your targeted consumers as they move through the travel purchase path." An ebook publication from Expedia Media Solutions examines three distinct segments of travel consumers:

• Air-only shoppers
• Hotel-only shoppers
• Air + Hotel shoppers

Specifically, they provided research data on characteristics of buyers, what influences them most, and which content is the most influential to get buyers to purchase.

5) Marketing Research

Explore all of Expedia's custom research, infographics, and articles to help inform your properties marketing strategy. With resources and the internet, you have the power to become an expert. Check out all the resources, here.