At a time when we are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of content we are exposed to across a range of online channels throughout the day, is it time to ask the question – does email still have a place in today’s marketing plan or are they obsolete?

Local councils are already putting the Christmas decorations up, supermarkets have released their Christmas ham ranges, our inboxes are being inundated with festive holiday themed content and bookings - yes, you now must book - have opened to have a photo with Santa.

The countdown to the Christmas and New Year summer holiday period has officially begun and now is a great time to double-check that you are ready for the summer rush.

While the use of third-party sales channels can assist in building awareness of your property - particularly to those who are not familiar with you - the ability to convert those guests to book directly with you on their next stay is the ideal outcome. 

“Artificial Intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, is the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. It involves the creation of intelligent systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and problem-solving.”

In Tripadvisor's Top Travel Guidance Resources in 2023, 36% of the 5618 travellers surveyed identified travel review websites as the second most popular resource used when planning their travel experiences.

Author: Adam Kerr, Digital Specialist - RevenYou

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the position of a website in search results pages (SERPs). The higher a website ranks in SERPs, the more likely it is to be seen and visited by users. For businesses, good SEO can lead to a significant increase in website traffic, leads, and sales.

What will SEO be like in 2024?

As some of you maybe aware, Booking.com has been experiencing significant issues with hackers accessing its extranet.

A number of hacks have occurred that you need to be aware of:

Blogs can be an extremely important marketing opportunity for your business - creating engaging and informative content that positions your business as an expert and builds trust with your audience.

A blog is defined as ‘a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.’

It is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive from our clients – what to look for in a property management system, or PMS. Changing to a new PMS is not a quick fix and there is a lot of work to be undertaken.

In our latest blog, Navigating the PMS Maze, we guide you through the various phases; whilst providing you with a check-list that we hope will help you to navigate through the process of looking for a new PMS.

"Accessible tourism is the ongoing endeavour to ensure tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities or age." - Tourism Australia

“True succession planning takes time – it is a process, not an event.”

We all dream of the day when we can retire – whether it is to spend more time with family and friends, volunteer, to travel, take time to sit on the beach and read a book, play golf or to simply have more available time to enjoy life.

But, when you own your own business, there is a lot more involved than handing in your resignation letter, collecting your last pay check and exiting stage left. Planning for this moment often begins long before you can start enjoying the benefits of more time.

Genuine sustainable and responsible tourism is more than recycling paper and glass, only including seasonal produce in menus or using electronic key card systems that ensures energy usage only occurs when a room is occupied.

GOPPAR or Gross Operating Profit per Available Room is a metric that compares hotel revenue with expenses.  It benchmarks your monthly profitability as it includes all expenses incurred within the month.   

The attraction of identifying the one ‘big idea’ to implement within our business to achieve immediate success is frequently the pathway that many owners choose to take and, whilst it can have the desired outcome - more frequently than not, it can be establishing unrealistic objectives on yourself, your team and ultimately your business.