The development of technology changes ways of doing business in the tourism industry, as is the case with any other industry. All methods used in the periods when technology did not change business life this much are now considered to be “traditional”. It can be argued that the benefits of technology are changing the traditional approach, especially in the area of marketing. Companies taking advantage of digital marketing channels can now access their potential customers from all over the world easily.
Websites, enabling properties to be present on the Internet, are one of the biggest advantages that technology provides for hotels. Websites do not only provide the possibility of making direct online sales, they also offer a wide range of opportunities such as recognition by potential guests, improving existing customer satisfaction and customer services.
However, websites are just but one of the advantages offered via technology for hotels. Here is a short technology guide for properties in the digital world.
Online sales and marketing opportunities offered by the Internet
Online sales is the most important benefit the Internet provides for the accommodation industry. Those old days when travel agencies used to be the only channel for the accommodation industry are now over. While agencies still remain as an effective sales channel for hotels, businesses now have the option to build their own sales channels by developing specialized strategies. What is more, agencies are increasingly coverting to the digital realm.
Apart from providing hotels with the opportunity of making sales, the Internet is also an important tool for developing marketing activities. The recent developments show that the Internet is the medium where most of the customers are present. Hotels can become more profitable by benefiting from this potential of the digital world.
Social media
As one of the most effective digital marketing channels, social media makes it easier for hotels to access Internet users. The advantages offered by social media can be compared, in the sense of traditional marketing, to a company opening a store in a shopping mall. Shopping malls enhance stores’ recognition, thus increases their sales and accordingly their customer potential. Similarly, social media is also an effective channel that helps hotels be recognized more and earn more.
It is critical for hotels to handle this professionally to benefit from all these opportunities offered by digital media. In addition to a website that enables them to make online sales, they should also maintain an integrated social media management appoach.
Low costs, increased profitability and customer satisfaction
By deploying technology systems to carry out innumerous different operations like accepting bookings, filling guest information forms and offering quotes, hotels become capable of carrying out these processes much faster than their staff do, and therefore cutting their costs.
Hotels can use their resources more efficiently, by carrying their large majority of campaigns which are currently executed under significant budgets to ensure customer satisfaction to the Internet.
When hotels constantly stay in touch with their guests, they can be aware of any possible problems instantly and create solutions in a short time. In the long term, this makes it easier to determine the problems that customers often experience. It is critical to eliminate such problems, which is fundamental to build customer loyalty.
HotelRunner collects all these needs under a single roof for Turkish companies to become stronger in global competition and keeps serving the accommodation industry through customer oriented continuous improvement. If you want to reach your customers through digital marketing channels, you can create your free HotelRunner account and start using the features offered by HotelRunner immediately.
