Hotel Online Marketing – Thoughts on 2009 Introduction 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 2009: This year may well go down for some as the year that the worst recession since World War II hit the world economy …and threw travel off-balance. Others may remember this year for the exciting challenges posed, opportunities seized and progress made towards a brighter, more profitable and tech-savvy future. Whichever way you chose to remember it, there’s no denying the fact that as travel and hospitality professionals, we’ll all have to break some moulds, get creative, optimize use of resources and collaborate like we’re never done before! This document was inspired by a similar effort in the field of Online Social Media, initiated by Peter Kim, where prominent bloggers and authors collaborated to share their thoughts on the future developments they saw in 2009. My natural reaction was… collaboration should be a natural fit for the hospitality industry right? After all, we’re all about people! Thus this initiative was born…and I set out to seek the knowledge, thoughts and advice of prominent industry leaders and bloggers, on what they saw as important developments and tips in the field of online hospitality marketing this year. Of the 18 or so people contacted, 5-6 were kind enough to respond and share their remarkable thoughts. Common themes that seem to emerge include: It’s time to get back to basics and cover these well There will be an increasing reliance on online technology in the year ahead We’ll have to work together, both offline and online, for the best results Utilization of mobile and on-the-go marketing will increase moving forward There will be a renewed focus on internationalization and destination marketing ROI measurement and analytics will become keystones to online success A better understanding of our customer needs, niches and experiences will be required There will be an increasing use of rich media and online PR in hospitality The Hospitality industry will start experimenting with social media in earnest Creativity and common sense will reign supreme (or so it ought to!) A big Thank You to those who’ve taken the time to share their thoughts, ideas and insights in this document. This just wouldn’t have been possible without you. The purpose of this work is to spark discussion, debate and refinement. So please feel free to share this document as needed and do give credit to the thinkers represented here when their ideas are redistributed or republished. Jitendra Jain / JJ (http://www.HoteleMarketer.com) ALBERT EINSTEIN: It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.