Expedia rep shares tips for growing Savannah hospitality industry
More and more people are turning to their computer or mobile device when planning a trip instead of picking up a telephone, and chances are you're one of them.
In the 20 years since the online travel brand Expedia began, services such as tours, hotel rooms, rental cars or cruises booked online through the company or one of their partners has grown to 56 percent and those booking through a mobile device for same-day reservations registered at 35 percent in 2014, according to Nick Kaczar, associate market manager for Expedia.
On Thursday at the Tourism Leadership Council's monthly meeting Kaczar shared tips on how tourism industry members can take advantage of those growing numbers, boost their presence and gain customers through a partnership with Expedia.
Kaczar encouraged hotel staff to add high-resolution photos of rooms and amenities and keep them up to date to draw in more customers.
"With more photos, more people are willing to book," he said.
Discounted rates or event promotions, like a St. Patrick's Day deal, are also a great way to market to potential customers and move your hotel closer to the top of returned site searches, he said.
"You can do anything you want. We have plenty of promotions on our end, but anything you're willing to run on your website, we can run the same thing on our website... People are driven to thosekinds of promotions."
Once you've secured the guests the next step is making sure they're happy, which helps to weed out negative reviews, Kaczar said. About nine out of 10 people use reviews to determine the quality of a business or service - millennials being the bulk of that group.
Often times dissatisfied customers are more inclined to leave negative reviews, but Expedia has a real-time feature that allows guests to rate small things such as whether the rooms has enough towels and their check-in experience. The tool helps hotel staff take care of minor inconveniences before they become a bad review.
And unlike some sites all of the reviews on Expedia are verified - the reviewer must book through Expedia or one of its affiliates to write a review.
"You never want to see reviews on there for stuff that you left hanging and realize that you could have prevented it beforehand," he said.
"... We want to look at how we can maximize Savannah's partnership with Expedia and how we can grow everything from the airport to activities and events. It's a booking engine, but it's also a great marketing tool for discovering a new destination."
In other news
The Tourism Leadership Council graduated six advanced and 13 certified concierges as part of their Coastal Concierge Association.
It was the third graduation class and certified members completed three months of courses training in areas such as technology, customer service and communication. "The Coastal Concierge Association helps to advance their skills in order to serve 13.3 million Savannah visitors each year and heighten their experience," said Molly Swaggler, vice-president of TLC.
The advanced members had previously completed three months of training and returned for an additional three months.