As technology leaders in the hospitality industry, your friends at Fuel Travel, Flip.to, and StayNTouch joined forces to conduct an extensive study of hundreds of hoteliers and suppliers with a goal to learn where the industry can improve from a technology perspective. The results are compiled from 358 respondents, all of whom are involved in the process of purchasing or selling technology within the hospitality industry.
<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/2018-hotel-tech-study/">DOWNLOAD THE 2018 HOTEL TECHNOLOGY STUDY</a>
If you like what you hear, please leave a comment below, share it with your friends, and also leave a review.
========================
SHOW NOTES
<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/2018-hotel-tech-study/">FOLLOW ALONG AT HOME BY DOWNLOADING THE STUDY</a>
======================== 
In The Newsaroos
Expedia Travel Research Shows Packages Perform Better 
<a href="https://www.tnooz.com/article/expedia-says-packages-are-better-for-hotels-than-room-only/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.tnooz.com/article/expedia-says-packages-are-better-for-hotels-than-room-only/</a>
Chrome To Begin Listing Sites as Not Secure This Month: 
<a href="https://searchengineland.com/effective-july-2018-googles-chrome-browser-will-mark-non-https-sites-as-not-secure-291623" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://searchengineland.com/effective-july-2018-googles-chrome-browser-will-mark-non-https-sites-as-not-secure-291623</a>
========================
Follow Us on Twitter:
@_travelboom 
@stuartbutler 
@makavanagh 
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<hr />
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Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 92 – 2018 Hotel Technology Study Reveals Surprising Alignment Between Hoteliers and Vendors

Google My Business is a free and often overlooked opportunity for hotels to gain more search engine visibility. In this episode, we look at 8 thinks that you can Do Right Now to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
If you like what you hear, please leave a comment below, share it with your friends, and also leave a review.
========================
SHOW NOTES
<ol>
<li>
<h3>Claim Your Business &amp; Verify!</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Claiming and verifying your GMB listing can be advantageous for your property
<ul>
<li>Local SEO: Greatly enhances your search presence.</li>
<li>Reach new guests; builds confidence in guests to book with your property.</li>
<li>Your listing points back to your site/social profiles</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>You must verify your account before it can show in Search, Maps, and other Google services</li>
</ul>
<ol start="2">
<li>
<h3> Make Sure the Knowledge Panel Is Displaying the Correct Information</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Your GMB listing is like the front door to your business, all of the information (phone #, website URL, address, etc.) should be accurate.
<ul>
<li>If not, make these changes ASAP</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>You can also manage the services/amenities your property offers (pools, restaurant, non-smoking, etc.).</li>
<li>All of this info should match universally</li>
</ul>
<ol start="3">
<li>
<h3> Answer Questions Asked by Searchers/Potential Guests</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Humanizes your business and gives you the opportunity to interact with potential guests.</li>
<li>Frequently check your listing for questions.
<ul>
<li>Respond promptly, professionally</li>
<li>Avoid generic “yes” or “no” answers</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Also a good way of dropping a valuable keyword or two into your listing.</li>
<li>You can even upvote questions for more visibility.</li>
<li>Note: ANYONE can answer a question on your listing, this is why you need you should be frequently checking your listing.</li>
</ul>
<ol start="4">
<li>
<h3> Create Your Own Custom FAQ List Within Your Q&amp;A Section</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Get ahead by answering the questions you receive the most from guests.
<ul>
<li>Makes life easier for potential guests and makes less work for you (win, win!)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Still, it’s best practice to manually check your listing for unanswered questions frequently.</li>
</ul>
<ol start="5">
<li>
<h3> Encourage Guests to Leave Reviews</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>68% of people left a review after a local business asked them to (Bright Local, 2017). The odds are in your favor!
<ul>
<li>Upon guest checkout; Email remarketing; Social media; Subtle prompts in rooms</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Online reviews can impact search rankings (Guests love reviews → SERPs love reviews).</li>
<li>If they leave a review, leave a response; it shows that you place value in your guests’ input.</li>
</ul>
<ol start="6">
<li>
<h3> Add High Quality Photos and Video to Your Listing</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Give potential guests an inside look at your property.
<ul>
<li>Showcase what makes your property unique.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Select a Preferred Photo: this will display next to your business name on Google Maps and search. However, it’s not a guarantee that Google will use this photo.
<ul>
<li>Stay away from using logos as a preferred image</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Choose high quality images: exterior photos, room interiors, amenities, images of employees assisting guests, food and drink, etc.
<ul>
<li>Room Interior Images: these can be make or break for potential guests. Use well-lit, wide angle shots.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Optimize your photos for SEO: file name &amp; alt tags
<ul>
<li>No keyword stuffing</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Note: Guests can also post photos</li>
</ul>
<ol start="7">
<li>
<h3> Message Directly with Potential Guests</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Text with searchers through SMS or a messaging app to directly answer questions.</li>
</ul>
<ol start="8">
<li>
<h3> Claim Your Bing Places for Business, Too!</h3>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>You can now import your Google My Business information to your Bing Places for Business</li>
</ul>
<h3>The Things to Avoid</h3>
<ul>
<li>Follow Google’s guidelines so you don’t get penalized.
<ul>
<li>Multiple listings for the same location</li>
<li>Keyword stuffing</li>
<li>Using the wrong address</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
======================== 
In The Newsaroos
Google Tests Hotel Search Filters Using Highlight Icons 
<a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-hotel-search-filters-using-highlight-icons-25948.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.seroundtable.com/google-hotel-search-filters-using-highlight-icons-25948.html</a>
Google Adwords Changing to Google Ads 
<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-is-retiring-the-adwords-doubleclick-brands-in-a-major-rebranding-aimed-at-simplification-301073" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://searchengineland.com/google-is-retiring-the-adwords-doubleclick-brands-in-a-major-rebranding-aimed-at-simplification-301073</a>
========================
Follow Us on Twitter:
@_travelboom 
@stuartbutler 
@makavanagh 
@pdimaio 
@pforiska
<hr />
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Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a>.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 91 – 8 Ways Hotels Can Optimize Google My Business

Each year, hoteliers and suppliers from around the world gather for the annual HFTP HITEC conference and tradeshow, which is accompanied by HSMAI’s ROC event. Your Fueligan friends were in attendance and we break down what we learned at this year’s event.
If you like what you hear, please leave a comment below, share it with your friends, and also leave a review.
========================
SHOW NOTES
The big trends:
<ol>
<li>Improving the guest experience through technology</li>
<li>Solving the integration and data challenges facing the hotel industry
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.snapshot.travel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SnapShot</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thenavisway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Navis</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.siteminder.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SiteMinder</a></li>
<li><a href="http://hapicloud.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hapi</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.stratifyd.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stratify</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Old-school PMS companies modernizing</li>
</ol>
Interesting companies:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.heymojo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">HeyMojo</a> &#8211; Chatbots for hotels</li>
<li><a href="https://theguestbook.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Guest Book</a> &#8211; rewards for booking direct.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.jibestream.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">JibeStream</a> &#8211; property visualization data</li>
<li><a href="https://www.getimpala.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Impala</a> &#8211; single source PMS integration</li>
</ul>
Favorite: <a href="https://www.trayaway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TrayAway</a> &#8211; one click room service removal
Weirdest &#8211; Real-Time Pest Monitoring
Coolest Name &#8211; <a href="https://www.beekeeper.io/en/hospitality" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BeeKeeper</a> &#8211; internal communication tool
BEE NEWS PHOTO:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-6296" src="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/waxmoths-768x1024.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="1024" srcset="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/waxmoths-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/waxmoths-225x300.jpg 225w, https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/waxmoths.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />
======================== 
In The Newsaroos
Alexa For Hotels Is Here! 
<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/19/amazon-launches-an-alexa-system-for-hotels/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/19/amazon-launches-an-alexa-system-for-hotels/</a>
9 Travel Marketing Trends to Watch in 2018 
<a href="https://blog.advertising.expedia.com/9-travel-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://blog.advertising.expedia.com/9-travel-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2018</a>
========================
Follow Us on Twitter:
@_travelboom 
@stuartbutler 
@makavanagh 
@pdimaio 
@pforiska
<hr />
<div></div>
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a>.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 90 – Secrets from HITEC 2018 Revealed

Your hotel’s marketing programs have big problems! And odds are, you don’t even know it. Today we are going to go through the 10 most common issues any hotel will find with their marketing efforts and how to fix each one.
If you like what you hear, please leave a comment below, share it with your friends, and also leave a review.
========================
SHOW NOTES
Inspiration for this episode cam from our otiginal Blog Post:
<h2 class="post-title entry-title"><a title="Permalink to These 10 Things Are Probably Broken With Your Hotel Marketing" href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/you-broke-your-hotel-marketing/" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener noreferrer">These 10 Things Are Probably Broken With Your Hotel Marketing </a></h2>
======================== 
In The Newsies
Google Posts Ads New Post Types 
<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-posts-adds-products-and-offers-299759" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://searchengineland.com/google-posts-adds-products-and-offers-299759</a>
Airbnb launches Travel Stories 
<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/24/airbnb-travel-stories/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/24/airbnb-travel-stories/</a>
========================
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@pforiska
<div></div>
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a>.

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 89 – 10 Simple Fixes For Your Hotel Marketing

In this week&#8217;s episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we dig into the gaps that exist between marketers and revenue managers courtesy of Marco Benvenuti from Duetto
If you like what you hear, please leave a comment below, share it with your friends, and also leave a review.
========================
SHOW NOTES
This episode was less scripted than our normal, partially-scripted, episodes. Below is the synopsis of our discussion with Marco.
<ul>
<li>Intro to  Marco Benvenuti, co-founder and Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Duetto (5 mins)</li>
<li>Newsies (10 mins)</li>
<li>Revenue management top tips from Marco (10 mins)</li>
<li>The gap between revenue management and marketing (15 mins)</li>
<li>Duetto Whitepaper: The Blueprint for Taking Business Back from OTAs &#8211; <a href="http://go.duettocloud.com/hotels-reclaim-business-ota" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://go.duettocloud.com/hotels-reclaim-business-ota</a> (10 mins)</li>
<li>Chit chat and outro (10 mins)</li>
</ul>
Learn more about Duetto at <a href="http://duettocloud.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://duettocloud.com/</a>
======================== 
In The Newsies
Wait, did TripAdvisor really influence 10% of global tourism spending in 2017? 
<a href="https://www.tnooz.com/article/tripadvisor-travel-influence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.tnooz.com/article/tripadvisor-travel-influence/</a>
How organic search is becoming ineffective for hotels on Google 
<a href="https://www.phocuswire.com/Google-SERP-online-travel-agencies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.phocuswire.com/Google-SERP-online-travel-agencies</a>
========================
Follow Us on Twitter:
@_travelboom 
@stuartbutler 
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<hr />
<div></div>
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a>.

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode  88 – Revenue Strategy Secrets Revealed Courtesy Of Duetto

Increasingly, travelers are turning to voice search on their smartphone or voice assistant for the answers to their queries. In this week’s episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we break down these changes, what it means for your hotel, and give you some proactive tips to ensure that you’re prepared for the SEO-volution.
With all of the changes that Google has made over the past 5 years, SEO has been dead more times than Kenny from South Park but it’s still driving significant traffic and revenue to our hotels. With that said, the latest calls for the demise of SEO may have a little more credence because this time, it’s not about SERP changes, it’s about a definite shift in consumer behavior.
If you like what you hear, please leave a comment below, share it with your friends, and also leave a review.
========================
SHOW NOTES:
<blockquote>“The destiny of Google&#8217;s search engine is to become that Star Trek computer, and that&#8217;s what we are building.” &#8211; Amit Singhal, the head of Google’s search rankings team</blockquote>
<h2>Fun Facts About Voice Search:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Nearly<a href="https://searchengineland.com/report-nearly-60-percent-searches-now-mobile-devices-255025" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> 60 percent of searches are now performed on a mobile device</a>., according to Hitwize.</li>
<li>82% of mobile users regularly perform a search for local business</li>
<li>18% of local searches result in a purchase within 24 hours</li>
<li><a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/792598/worldwide-smart-speaker-unit-shipment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In 2017, 20 million smart assistants were shipped</a>. Amazon and Google made up the majority.</li>
<li>Voice labs found that there were a total of<a href="http://voicelabs.co/2017/01/15/the-2017-voice-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> 33 million voice-first devices</a> in circulation.</li>
<li>Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that<a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-reveals-20-percent-queries-voice-queries-249917" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> one-fifth of the queries on Google are voice searches</a>.</li>
<li>Chinese search engine Baidu’s Andrew Ng speculates that by 2020, approximately 50% of all searches are going to be made via voice recognition technology</li>
<li>Voice search is more conversational and natural as opposed to the keywords guest may type into a search engine. This often makes the queries longer than text queries.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What Is The Semantic Web?</h2>
Google launched a major algorithmic update in 2013 called Hummingbird. It was a major enhancement in Google’s ability to consider the user intent and contextual meaning of queries. This was great for good marketers, because it favored folks who focus on providing outstanding content and penalized keyword-stuffers. Voice technology takes this to a whole other level with the innovations in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to attempt to infer information about the true meaning of what the searcher is looking for,
<h2>Ranking Factors For Voice Search</h2>
BackLinko <a href="https://backlinko.com/voice-search-seo-study">analyzed 10,000 Google Home search results</a> to correlate 11 factors with the voice search rankings.  Here are the key takeaways:
<ol>
<li>PageSpeed appears to play a major role in voice search SEO. The average voice search result page loads in 4.6 seconds (52% faster than the average page).</li>
<li>HTTPS websites dominate Google’s voice search results. In fact, 70.4% of Google Home result pages are secured with HTTPS.</li>
<li>Google prefers short, concise answers to voice search queries. The typical voice search result is only 29 words in length.</li>
<li> Schema may not play a key role in voice search rankings. 36.4% of voice search results come from pages that use Schema (which is only slightly higher than the worldwide average of 31.3%).</li>
<li>Authoritative domains tend to produce voice search results significantly more than non-authoritative domains. In fact, the mean Ahrefs Domain Rating of a Google Home result is 76.8.</li>
<li>Content with high levels of social engagement tends to perform well in voice search. In fact, the average voice search result has 1,199 Facebook shares and 44 Tweets. </li>
<li>Simple, easy-to-read content may help with voice search SEO. The average Google voice search result is written at a 9th grade level.</li>
<li>We found that very few voice search results had the exact query in their title tag. Therefore, creating individual pages for each voice search query doesn’t appear to be an effective voice search SEO strategy.</li>
<li>The average word count of a voice search result page is 2,312 words. Therefore, Google tends to source voice search answers from long form content.</li>
<li>Content that ranks highly in desktop search is also very likely to appear as a voice search answer. In fact, approximately 75% of voice search results rank in the top 3 for that query.</li>
<li> Appearing in a Featured Snippet may help you rank in voice search. 40.7% of all voice search answers came from a Featured Snippet.</li>
</ol>
<h2>How To Optimize Your Hotel For Voice Search</h2>
<ol>
<li>
<h3>Claim your Google My Business listing</h3>
Many voice search are local in nature, which means that the results page will often feature the Google local listings. It’s essential that your Google My Business page is claimed and optimized.</li>
<li>
<h3>Make your website mobile-friendly 
</h3>
The majority of relevant voice searches for hotels will be performed on a mobile phone as opposed to a voice assistant. The logical next step for the traveler is to visit your website. Make sure it doesn’t suck.</li>
<li>
<h3>Be sure that all the relevant NAP information is visible 
</h3>
We know that most voice searches are looking for local information such as directions, opening hours, etc. Be sue that your name, address, and phone are highly visible, as well as check-in, check-out times, opening hours at the spa, etc.
Bonus Tip: Utilize AdWords’ Location Extensions or Google Maps Local Search Ads to target “near me” type queries.</li>
<li>
<h3>Use Conversational Keywords 
</h3>
Start writing down the questions that people actually ask your reservationists and front desk staff and be sure to use the same language and nomenclature in your content strategy.</li>
<li>
<h3>Build Kickass FAQ pages 
</h3>
Use the questions from #2 as a starting point to build out comprehensive information that covers all of the potential questions. Be sure to group these answers in relevant categories. 
 
Bonus-tip: Also, be sure to add these FAQs on relevant pages throughout your site. This will help improve your conversion rate.</li>
<li>
<h3>Use Structured Data 
</h3>
Use structured data markup from schema.org in order to make it it easier for search engines to accurately understand your content.</li>
<li>
<h3>Build out 10x content for the most frequent questions 
</h3>
When a question cannot be answered within a paragraph, take the time to build out robust and useful content that earns the right to rank top of the search engine results page by being 10 x better than everything else that’s currently available.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Content Recommendations</h2>
<ol>
<li>Natural questions will be more effective than traditional keywords. Example: a text search may be “Hotels near me” as opposed to a voice search, which may be “What are the hotels near my current location?”</li>
<li>Write in short sentences and small words to make it easy for quick visual scanning on a mobile device.</li>
<li>Use descriptive headlines that are succinct and meaningful</li>
<li>Use white space and organize the content to make it easy to digest at a rapid pace.</li>
<li>Avoid using fluffy/filler content. Get to the point.</li>
<li>Look at how people are finding your site within Google Search Console to see how they describe your product</li>
</ol>
======================== 
In The Newsies
Google’s Duplex AI Making Real Word Calls 
<a href="https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/duplex-ai-system-for-natural-conversation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/duplex-ai-system-for-natural-conversation.html</a>
PII Identifier for GA: <a href="https://online-metrics.com/pii-google-analytics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://online-metrics.com/pii-google-analytics/ 
</a>Hint &#8211; look for page URLs with email addresses or other identifiable attributes passed as variables
========================
Follow Us on Twitter:
@_travelboom 
@stuartbutler 
@makavanagh 
@pdimaio 
@pforiska
<hr />
<div></div>
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a>.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Hotel Marketing Podcast

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 92 – 2018 Hotel Technology Study Reveals Surprising Alignment Between Hoteliers and Vendors

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 92 – 2018 Hotel Technology Study Reveals Surprising Alignment Between Hoteliers and Vendors

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 91 – 8 Ways Hotels Can Optimize Google My Business

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 91 – 8 Ways Hotels Can Optimize Google My Business

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 90 – Secrets from HITEC 2018 Revealed

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 90 – Secrets from HITEC 2018 Revealed

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 89 – 10 Simple Fixes For Your Hotel Marketing

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 89 – 10 Simple Fixes For Your Hotel Marketing

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 88 – Revenue Strategy Secrets Revealed Courtesy Of Duetto

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 88 – Revenue Strategy Secrets Revealed Courtesy Of Duetto

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 87 – Is Voice Search Finally Killing SEO?

Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 87 – Is Voice Search Finally Killing SEO?

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