2008 will see further innovative growth in online marketing. Companies who are not able to leverage the power of the internet to carry their message to consumers will be left behind.

Here is a funny and informative video from Travelclick titled - So, you wanna be a Hotel eMarketer? http://www.longtail-yeah.com/

Travelclick has successfully created a viral effect through an interesting and innovative approach to this theme…ensuring that this message will be distributed far and wide.

While capsule hotels are a type of budget hotels that are already commmon in Japan, of late they have been of interest to european hoteliers. Check out this great video of a capsule hotel from the Roppongi district in Tokyo

A few companies have ventured further into this concept in Europe most notable among them being Yotel (from the founder of Yo Sushi). Compared to the Japanese model, the european versions incorporate a few more luxuries.

An initiative of the Convention Industry Council that is bringing together all stakeholders in the development and implementation of industry-wide accepted practices to create and enhance efficiencies throughout the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry.

While this initiative has its fair share of critics, there will be no going back and the meetings industry is going in for more and more standardisation

Areas of standardisation include terminology, RFP’s, Contracts etc. With ROI in Events assuming an increasingly important place for Meeting Planners, it follows that this can be achieved only through more and more standardisation.

Which in turn means of course that you will only hear more and more about APEX and hotels should be better prepared for the standardisation which is expected!

For more information please visit http://www.conventionindustry.org/

The phenomenon of Web 2.0 has seen an increased level of interaction between the consumers and businesses. In the business world, this took the form of blogs (web logs) where business experts and users commented on various topics and these were primarily based on their experiences. Tripadvisor.com used this concept of capturing feedback to build one of the most powerful travel advisory websites in existence today. Web 2.0 also took the form of RSS (Really simple syndication) which made it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner. Travel networking sites like WAYN.com (Where are you now) have used the power of Web 2.0 social networking software to get millions of travel enthusiasts to link and network with each other.

Further developments in this area now bring forth the next generation of interactivity provided by technology giants such as Microsoft and Google. An example would be a customer searching for a hotel in a city – finds the reviews, photos and videos of people who have been to that hotel, is able to talk to them about their experiences, and take it to the next level by talking to guests who are the hotel at the time…..this level of interactivity is brought about by joining the power of social networking and the latest technologies.

Has Web 3.0 arrived?

The hotel industry is fascinating – there is glamour, good living, great food and all this in varied destinations around the globe. The possibility therefore to work in these establishments has always attracted many. The combination of a tangible product for eg: a guest room with an intangible one eg: service in hotels makes it a challenging and at the same time an exciting one. And for the same reason, the sales and marketing function in hotels is also one of the most intrinsic and fast evolving areas.

And in today’s hospitality world, pure sales skills alone aren’t enough; strategic thinking and selling are critical. A clear knowledge and understanding of sales operations is critical. This blog is about individuals and teams trying to understand and leverage the different aspects of sales to maximise impact.

It leans away from discussing how to achieve a sale – primarily because this is covered in thousands of books and is common across several industries. The focus here is on understanding the product on sale – in this case a hotel which is a complex product.

As technology now permeates every aspect of the industry, sales operations have taken on added importance. The area of hospitality sales is constantly evolving. In this changing environment, understanding the strategic aspects of sales, along with the ability to adapt and sell differently through new and different channels, is critical.

No talk about sales is useful without acknowledging its ultimate purpose. The primary aim of all sales departments is to increase and optimise revenue generation.

For more information please visit http://www.hotelladder.com/ which offers you the choice to learn new areas of hospitality and enhance existing skills quickly.