buuteeq

Daily deals have proven to be profitable. Rice University reports that between 55% and 61% of businesses running daily deals make money with them.

There is no doubt that daily deals can be a powerful, profitable marketing tool. The challenge is to educate ourselves so that we use them shrewdly.

This free eBook offers 6 steps hotel marketers should take when crafting daily deals, and lists the major players in the industry to give you options for marketing your hotel.

Download the free eBook

BREAKING: Today, Google has promoted their knowledge graph carousel to appear in more search queries. While it previously appeared for a select few hotel queries, it now appears for many generic queries like “hotels near Seattle” and “cheap New York hotels”.

What is the Knowledge Graph?

In May of last year, Google announced the Knowledge Graph, which is a database Google keeps of static knowledge that rarely changes, such as historical events, accepted scientific theories like gravity, famous people, and physical locations like landmarks, points of interest, and hotels.

The goal of the Knowledge Graph is to give users more accurate, precise, and better written information about topics that rarely change, instead of relying on any random website to write about it. Google sources their information about topics in the Knowledge Graph from online encyclopedias like Wikipedia, and authorized profiles like verified Google+ Local Pages.

Google displays information from the Knowledge Graph in two places. For people, definitions, historical accounts, and theories and ideas, Google displays information in a box to the right of the SERP (search engine result page), in the same place where they show off Google Pages information.

For local queries, Google displays a black strip at the top of the page with results that users can flip through.

Why is this important?

Hoteliers gain a huge benefit from the Knowledge Graph because it takes focus away from online travel agencies (OTAs) and gives more prominence back to hotels.

Let’s take a look at the query “cheap hotels in new york”, seen in the image below. Before the Knowledge Graph, OTAs like Expedia dominated the SERPs, taking not only the top organic places, but also the top paid advertisement placements. Unless you had a very popular hotel or bucket-loads of money to spend on search engine marketing ads (SEM), you could never oust OTAs.

Now, traditional organic listings of indexed websites have nearly vanished, even when viewed from monitors with a very large resolution. As you can see in the image above, only 2 traditional organic results appear, both pointing to OTAs or directories. At the very top we find an organic listing of Google+ Local Pages. These are not OTA listings, and these are not paid SEM ads. These are organic results based on the verified Google+ Local pages that Google thinks best match the query. Thus, by simply creating a Google+ Local page and verifying it (which is free and easy to do, as I explain in this guide), hotels can oust OTAs and much of the competition, taking the top spots for popular location-based queries.

This is huge news for hotels that OTAs have traditionally drowned in the search results. This change gives even the little guy a big opportunity to gain more new guests based on the quality of their web presence instead of the number of backlinks their website has or the amount of money they can spend on SEM.

Also, Knowledge Graph displays more hotels on the page. On a very large monitor like mine (1920×1080), Knowledge Graph adds another 14 hotels to a 1st page result–more than Google’s famous 10-per-page SERP, and even more than the relatively new local block, which Knowledge Graph appears to have superseded.

While SEM ads do take up a prominent place of the screen (highlighted in the image above) organic listings appear first, at the very top, and a large map takes up the rest of the screen, with organic results users can click on to learn more.

Clicking on a hotel in the Knowledge Graph produces more detailed information about that hotel. If you have a website, it will appear as the first organic link, allowing you to gain more direct bookings. If you have a Google+ Local Page with photos, reviews, and good content, it will appear to the right with more information, including a phone number for easy phone reservations, and a button to plot driving directions. Phenomenal.

This is a welcome update from Google. If your hotel is taking full advantage of Google’s free products, it should appear fairly well in the Knowledge Graph.

Um novo guia turístico para smartphones foi lançado esta semana pela Embratur. O aplicativo, chamado de Brasil Mobile, traz informações das cidades-sedes da Copa das Confederações e dicas de passeios num raio de até 200 quilômetros de onde serão realizados os jogos. “Com isso, torna-se possível planejar totalmente uma viagem por meio do próprio celular”, disse o presidente da Embratur, Flávio Dino.

A ação do instituto vem no momento certo. Os smartphones são cada vez mais utilizados por turistas para buscar informações de viagens e hotéis. Segundo a publicação eMarketer, este ano 20% das reservas em hotéis realizadas por norte-americanos deve ser feita desde um celular. Até 2016 essa cifra deve chegar a 32,5% das reservas.

Os hotéis, sendo assim, deveriam acompanhar a evolução tecnológica adotada pelos turistas. A otimização dos sites para aparelhos móveis já deixou de ser um serviço oferecido adicional para se tornar um serviço obrigatório. Segundo um estudo do Google feito em 2012, a principal razão para um turista deixar de realizar uma reserva através de smartphones era a dificuldade para ver ou navegar no site, o que acontece quando não há otimização.

Se a página do hotel está em Flash, então, pior é. Os aparelhos móveis da Apple, como os iPhones e iPads, não reconhecem o software da Adobe. Resultado: os sites com esse recurso visual sequer podem ser vistos nesses celulares. E, assim, os hotéis deixam de ganhar mais hóspedes.

Quer o site do seu hotel otimizado para aparelhos móveis? Entre em contato com nossa equipe ou veja mais informações em nosso site.

I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to a total of 24 countries prior to 2013 and was ecstatic to add Cambodia as my 25th this past April! There is a very particular charm about Southeast Asia and the level of hospitality is unmatched anywhere else in the world (that I have been to).

I spent two weeks traveling with a friend, having time to both drink Angkor beers in a hammock on the beach and to experience sunrise at Angkor Wat – the largest religious structure in the world. In between, I was able to meet with various property owners to better understand the Cambodian travel industry – one that is in its relative infancy due to the country’s horrific recent history.

Arriving in the capital of Phnom Penh, I found the city relatively quiet as it was in the middle of the Khmer New Year. Finding transportation to the coast proved difficult due to the holiday, but we ended up in the beach town of Sihanoukville shortly before midnight. The Cambodian travel industry is growing rapidly, with small beach towns turning into lucrative tourist destinations. The backpacker friendly Mushroom Point, even in the off season, was the temporary home to travelers from North America, Europe and Australia. Our time in Sihanoukville was spent mingling with said travelers, laying on the beach and eating copious amounts of fresh seafood.

Wanting to escape to even more remote beaches, we traveled south to the island of Koh Russei. The beachfront bungalows of Koh Ru are all there is to find on the island, providing an immaculate private beach to guests. Once we arrived, we could not have asked for a more relaxing ambiance, yet the journey was far from relaxing as our boat ride was during a storm that left us both terrified and drenched upon arrival. The week that we were at Koh Ru marked beginning of the one month countdown to when the property was going to be closed, as a result of the entire island being bought by a Russian company. Soon enough, the island will be scattered with larger resorts – a sign of a growing Cambodian economy, but bittersweet to those like myself who have been lucky enough to enjoy the rustic quaint setting. Much of the conversation around the restaurant in the evenings was about the changing landscape of the country. We heard stories of other nearby islands were also being purchased by foreign companies, eager to take advantage of the growing popularity of Cambodia as a travel destination.

Not quite ready to leave the beach, we headed to Koh Rong Samloem for two more days of crystal clear waters, striking sunsets, morning coffees with sweet milk (guilty pleasure) in the hammock and jumbo shrimp feasts in the evenings. We stayed at Lazy Beach, which felt nearly private as again, it was low season and sighting another guest was infrequent. The kitchen at the property allows you to request any seafood you want and will deliver it fresh the next day – hence the jumbo shrimp dinners.

Eager to learn more about Cambodian culture and to spoil ourselves a bit after some hot nights without air conditioning (in 100+ degree weather), we flew north to Siem Reap, most well known for its proximity to Angkor Wat. Siem Reap reminded me of other small cities in Thailand and Vietnam and it was a wonderfully familiar feeling. We stayed at the luxurious Tara Angkor Hotel (a buuteeq customer!) where we were pampered with an extensive buffet breakfast, massages at the spa, warm showers(!), and fresh fruit smoothies by the pool. Hands down one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at, the staff at Tara Angkor offered the epitome of excellent service.

Apart from being treated like royalty at Tara Angkor, we spent plenty of time riding through the city on tuk-tuks and perusing the street markets – buying souvenirs while passing by stands of snails and crickets (which we chose not to indulge in). The sun and heat wore us out fairly quickly and we had a 4:30am wake up call to explore Angkor Wat the following morning.

Angkor Wat at sunrise has been on my bucket list for many years and it was even more spectacular than I had imagined. The architecture is mind-blowing as is the sheer size of the now-abandoned city. The early rise was well worth it.

We spent our final day in Cambodia back in the capital of Phnom Penh, spending a somber day at the “killing fields” where the Khmer Rouge regime executed prisoners in the 1970s. Although being faced with the reality of a terrible time in Cambodian history was difficult, it was important to my understanding of the country and its people. I am excited to see how Cambodia continues to grow and change over the next decade, but am grateful that I was able to experience such a gracious, dynamic, inspiring country at this point in time.

I consider myself so lucky to be part of a company like buuteeq that values travel in such a special way. The most defining moments of my life have been associated with travel and like other countries I have been to, Cambodia left me feeling enlightened, challenged and motivated.

Forest and Cynthia sit down to chat about buuteeq’s company culture and how TinyPulse allows employees to easily and anonymously voice their concerns to management. A fascinating glimpse into how young, innovative tech startups function.

Transcript

Forest:                   Hi I’m Forest Key, the CEO of buuteeq.

Cynthia:                 I’m Cynthia Mason, the VP of H.R.

Forest:                   We are both enamored, we were talking about this product called TinyPulse that we use a lot for our culture and our H.R. processes here at the company. We thought we’d do a little plug for TinyPulse because we’re big fans, and talk a little about our culture along the way. We were introduced to TinyPulse I think about nine months ago now that we have been using the product. It’s basically a weekly survey that goes out to our entire team of about 90 employees today. It gives you an eye and some of the other managers of the company great insights into what’s going on with our culture, and how we as a management team and as a team defining the culture for a start-up can really make an impact.

Specifically, one of the first things that the tool revealed to us is that one of the questions that came from TinyPulse was about our culture, and whether with eyes closed, hands tied, ears covered could we recite from memory what our mission statement was, and our corporate values were.  I myself as a founder had spent a lot of time writing such a thing but I couldn’t remember off the top of my head. So we went off and created this cute info graphic, and since then the company has this Sigpi concept which is an acronym that we use to remember these values. It seems like a small thing, but it actually has been relatively transformative because it has given us a way to rally around the very specific best practice for a company like us. I think the key thing is it creates a dialogue between every employee, and every other employee, and with management and back and forth that’s completely anonymous. People are able to bring ideas that they otherwise might not feel comfortable mentioning to the manager directly, or in a public meeting, and all hands meeting, but they feel much more comfortable doing it anonymously, and really as a result we get very thoughtful very actionable feedback. Cynthia, why don’t you give us some examples of the many quantitative things we have done as a result of some of the requests.

Cynthia:                 Yeah sure. We had many requests for to add to our benefits, and we’ve added several new benefits as requested such as a 401K plan with a matching [inaudible 01:50] percent which happened relatively instantaneously which is great. Something as simple as vegetarian options for Monday lunches which we provide for the employees bring it to the office, and we had quite a few vegetarians that we were not catering to and so just simple things like that I think it really gives our people a voice.

Forest:                   Yes, there’s a pulse a monthly question how happy are you at the company, and what’s interesting about that is we see a trend over the months of that happiness volume. It’s been pretty consistent for buuteeq. As we see someone voting with a lower score on a scale of one to 10 we get once in awhile we get a four or five and that’s really interesting to Cynthia and I. We try to dig in and see through the anonymous information that we can see what kind of feedback was given with that score.

Often we will see some thoughtful feedback saying this aspect of the workflow isn’t happy for me, or I’m not enjoying this aspect of my job or communication style. These are things we can jump on and do something about. We might not be able to fix it immediately but it gives us very actionable feedback that we otherwise generally would never see. You and I were recently having a conversation about doing our first kind of formal annual reviews and having conversations with, we’ve been having conversations one on one with almost everyone in the company. We’re starting to get some feedback from the individuals that we want to take to management, some of the team managers.

What we wanted to do to augment that was to have TinyPulse get some anonymous data to go with that one on one data that you have, so that you have a more complete picture. We were literally five minutes before filming this video we were glued to the screen, and seeing that data coming in real time. Incredibly thoughtful data points. All that are anonymous none necessarily traceable back to a specific manager. In some cases we’re able to pivot the data departmentally, so we are able to understand that this is some feedback that should go to the head of product organization or the head of the sales organization.

Cynthia:                 For us digging in on it, having the one on one’s with the employees, and getting feedback so that we can customize the questions like that it really digs a little bit deeper because they’re not saying it’s me which they feel comfortable with, but when it’s anonymous they feel completely comfortable. The feedback is actually pouring in which is fantastic. For me it’s like having my own personal trusted employee relations manager that’s just out there constantly asking our employees “What can we do to improve your experience?”

Forest:                   Like an outreach communications person which is a lot of work to do. There you have it a little bit about TinyPulse which we are big fans of, but also about our culture. Hopefully along the way, you heard a little bit about how we think about our culture, and thank you for visiting our H.R. website, and please apply for the many jobs we have open. We are always hiring sales people, and customer success people that’s a constant need for us. If you’re interested in hospitality and a company like buuteeq we look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much.

Casi la mitad de los turistas extranjeros que visitaron Chile durante el año 2011, ocuparon internet como medio de información para planificar su viaje. Según los datos más recientes del Sernatur (Servicio Nacional de Turismo), el 46% de los viajeros que vinieron de vacaciones al país en el 2011 se conectó a la red para buscar datos y hoteles. Esa fue la principal fuente de búsqueda, superando, por ejemplo, a Parientes/Amigos, Guías Especializadas o Agencias de Viajes.

La investigación del Sernatur presentó otro dato importante. De todos los turistas extranjeros que llegaron al país por vacaciones en el mismo período, un 80% utilizó hoteles o similares como alojamiento. En el caso de los viajeros de negocios, el porcentaje es aún mayor, llega a un 93%.

Los números del informe del Servicio Nacional de Turismo indican la necesidad del rubro hotelero de invertir en su presencia online. Así, podrán alcanzar a más viajeros y convertirlos en huéspedes. Incluso, investigaciones muestran que los hoteleros deberían preocuparse de ofrecer sus sitios web optimizados para aparatos móviles. Una encuesta hecha por TripAdvisor con turistas brasileños, por ejemplo, señaló que el 61,6% de ellos ocupó smartphones para organizar sus viajes, lo que incluye buscar alojamiento. ¡Eso significa mucho!, sobre todo si consideramos que Brasil está entre los tres países que más emiten visitantes a Chile.

buuteeq - Es en esta área que buuteeq actúa para potenciar el marketing digital de los hoteles. El sistema creado por la compañía transforma el sitio web de los hoteles en una herramienta de ventas capaz de generar más reservas directas. La tecnología fue estudiada y desarrollada por expertos, ex-ejecutivos de Microsoft y Macromedia, con el fin de estimular el tráfico en el sitio web, mantener a los visitantes en la página y convertirlos en reservas, excluyendo la necesidad de intermediarios.

Además, todo el contenido del sitio web se ve optimizado en smartphones, tablets y Facebook. Otro beneficio es que la plataforma es autoadministrable, en otras palabras, el hotelero puede hacer todos los cambios que desee en su página web cada vez que quiera. buuteeq también ayuda el hotel a posicionarse de manera eficaz en sitios de búsqueda.

¿Quieres conocer mejor los beneficios que puede traer a tu hotel el sistema de marketing digital de buuteeq? ¡Pida una demonstración!

Having a website is simply not enough anymore.

The use of mobile devices to make travel plans and book rooms is increasing every day, while desktop Internet use will soon be supplanted. Online transactions are an important part of a hotel’s revenue stream, and increasingly, these transactions are made from mobile devices. Because of this, hotels need to optimize their digital marketing presences for mobile and tablet devices quickly in order to be ready when mobile Internet use overtakes desktop use. Those that don’t will be unable to compete in online market arenas.

buuteeq’s Cloud DMS software allows hoteliers and hotel marketers to create, customize and publish mobile optimized hotel websites that conform to or exceeds all modern mobile website standards and performance expectations, delivering high-quality and attractive hotel marketing content to guests in a way that encourages increased direct reservations and last-minute mobile bookings.

►Download the Free Whitepaper

México ha hecho buen provecho de las redes sociales para promover el turismo en el país. Es lo que señala el ranking eTourism Monitor. De acuerdo con la investigación, el perfil VisitMexico en Facebook tenía en mayo 885 mil seguidores, solamente bajo Australia, con 4.6 millones y Reino Unido, con 1.1 millón. El número, sin embargo, sigue creciendo rápidamente. En la primera semana de junio la suma ya llegaba a 945 mil seguidores en el perfil mexicano.

El eTourism Monitor mide el número de personas en las páginas de Facebook de las organizaciones de turismo de cada país. El estudio depende del Instituto de Turismo de la Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas de Suiza Occidental Valais. El buen puesto ocupado por México en la red, superando a potencias del turismo como Estados Unidos, indica los esfuerzos del país latinoamericano para promoverse en la web.

La estrategia tiene sentido. Una encuesta hecha por TripAdvisor en enero de este año a turistas de todo el mundo mostró que Facebook es la red social más usada para planear viajes. Un 76% de las personas consultadas dijo haber ocupado esta popular red social para realizar búsquedas sobre el destino, mientras sólo un 40% lo hizo en Google+ y un 21% usó Twitter. Así como las organizaciones de turismo invierten para promocionarse en Facebook, los hoteles deberían hacerlo, ya que las búsquedas realizadas en la red social también incluyen opciones de alojamiento.

buuteeq ofrece una aplicación creada especialmente para hoteleros, que se instala en la página de su hotel en Facebook, asegurándole más potencia comercial en la red. La herramienta incluso posibilita que la reserva sea realizada online directamente en Facebook. Sin embargo, este es solamente uno de los benefícios de buuteeq.

El sistema creado por la compañía transforma el sitio web de los hoteles en una herramienta de ventas capaz de generar más reservas directas. La tecnología fue estudiada y desarrollada por expertos, como ex-ejecutivos de Microsoft y Macromedia, con el fin de estimular el tráfico en el sitio web, mantener a los visitantes en la página y convertirlos en reservas, excluyendo la necesidad de intermediarios.

Además, todo el contenido del sitio web se ve optimizado en smartphones, tablets y Facebook. Otro beneficio es que la plataforma es autoadministrable, en otras palabras, el hotelero puede hacer todos los cambios que desee en su página web cada vez que quiera. buuteeq también ayuda al hotel a posicionarse de manera eficaz en sitios de búsqueda.

¿Quieres conocer mejor los beneficios que puede traer a tu hotel el sistema de marketing digital de buuteeq? ¡Pida una demonstración!

Em conversa por Skype, o diretor comercial do Mar Palace Copacabana, Raphael Pazos, falou sobre a experiência do hotel com o sistema de buuteeq. “Realmente a gente está muito satisfeito”, disse.

O Mar Palace começou a usar a plataforma digital há aproximadamente seis meses. Desde então, o site do hotel já recebeu mais de 50.000 visitas, milhares delas feitas a partir de aparelhos móveis. Resultado: mais reservas feitas diretamente pela página. “Nós estávamos em busca de uma plataforma dessas”, disse. “Quando vocês falaram que não teríamos que pagar comissão pra ninguém, fariam uma reformulação do site e ele ainda seria adaptado para iPhone, Andoid e iPad eu falei: ‘É isso o que eu quero’.”

A otimização da página do hotel para aparelhos móveis, aliás, é um dos fatores que Pazos destaca entre os benefícios que sistema buuteeq oferece. “Devido justamente ao nosso site já ser inserido no iPhone e iPad, o que nos diferencia dos outros hotéis, é que nossas vendas aumentaram. Todo mundo hoje usa smartphones. Ou a gente se adapta, ou fica fora.”

Durante a conversa, Pazos também comentou o curto tempo para a entrega do site na plataforma. “Vocês prometeram tudo pronto em 20 dias. Em 14 me entregaram.” E finalizou: “buuteeq, na verdade, é como se fosse uma agência de turismo do próprio hotel, onde a agência não ganha comissão”.

Veja no vídeo mais da conversa com o diretor comercial do Mar Palace Copacabana. Aliás, aproveitamos para agradecer ao Raphael Pazos por seu depoimento. Obrigado! Queremos que você esteja sempre satisfeito com nosso sistema de marketing digital.

No menos que cinco millones de visitantes extranjeros espera recibir el Perú en 2021. Esa fue la meta establecida por el Plan Estratégico Nacional de Turismo (Pentur) del gobierno peruano. Alcanzar ese número significaría lograr un crecimiento de un 42% en comparación a este año, en el que la estimación es tres millones de viajeros.

Mientras más gente visite el país, mejor es la expectativa con el ingreso de divisas generadas por el turismo receptivo. El gobierno peruano ya hizo los cálculos. Si para 2013 la suma debe llegar a US$ 3,641 millones, para 2021 se estima que los extranjeros dejarán US$ 6,800 millones en el Perú. Frente al optimista pronóstico del Pentur, el rubro hotelero comenzó a prepararse. Según la Cámara Nacional de Turismo (Canatur), Cusco, por ejemplo, recibirá US$ 250 millones de inversiones en infraestructura hotelera en los próximos tres años.

Sin embargo, depende de los hoteles innovar para atraer a los viajeros que llegarán al país. El informe anual de turismo del Perú indica una de las mejores formas de hacerlo: internet. De acuerdo con el informe, 82% de los turistas extranjeros que llegaron al país en 2011 ocuparon la red como medio de información para planear el viaje, lo que incluye buscar alojamiento.

buuteeq - Es en esta área que buuteeq actúa para potenciar el marketing digital de los hoteles. El sistema creado por la compañía transforma el sitio web de los hoteles en una herramienta de ventas capaz de generar más reservas directas. La tecnología fue estudiada y desarrollada por expertos, ex-ejecutivos de Microsoft y Macromedia, con el fin de estimular el tráfico en el sitio web, mantener a los visitantes en la página y convertirlos en reservas, excluyendo la necesidad de intermediarios.

Además, todo el contenido del sitio web se ve optimizado en smartphones, tablets y Facebook. Otro beneficio es que la plataforma es autoadministrable, en otras palabras, el hotelero puede hacer todos los cambios que desee en su página web cada vez que quiera. buuteeq también ayuda el hotel a posicionarse de manera eficaz en sitios de búsqueda.

¿Quieres conocer mejor los beneficios que puede traer a tu hotel el sistema de marketing digital de buuteeq? ¡Pida una demonstración!