1. -­‐
Guide
1
for
Hoteliers
–
Overview
of
the
Way
to
Get
a
Hotel
Visible
Online
By
Emilie
Alba,
extract
of
thesis
“The
Online
Competition
Between
Hoteliers
and
OTAs”,
September
10th,
2012.
 What
does
“building
one’s
online
presence”
mean
for
us,
hoteliers?
First,
it
consists
in
being
present
and
active
on
at
least
3
interrelated
touch
points:
-­‐
Social
Media
-­‐
Website
-­‐
Search
Engines
Each
touch
point
requires
specific
and
diversified
knowledge,
which
implies
the
know-­‐how
of
different
persons.
Then,
it
consists
in
enlarging
a
hotel’s
web
presence
through
the
use
of
another
touch-­‐
point:
local
directories.
Maintaining
coherent
business
information
among
all
these
touch
point
is
essential
for
successful
SEO.
(More
about
this
topic
on
the
next
“Guide
for
Hoteliers”)
 How
to
maintain
a
hotel
visible
online?
It
works
the
same
way
as
any
other
businesses,
except
that
for
hotels
much
importance
is
especially
given
to
Social
Media.
As
hotels
sell
intangible
services,
they
have
to
communicate
a
lot
about
their
brand
and
the
experience
they
provide,
if
they
want
to
get
online
reservations.
Social
media
platforms
like
Twitter,
Facebook,
Pinterest,
Youtube,
Tumblr
etc.
are
therefore
essential
to
encourage
potential
customers
to
make
reservations.
Look
at
the
map
below,
you
will
get
it!

2.
Each
touch
point
embodies
one
or
several
specific
role(s),
which
explains
their
position
on
the
pyramid:
1-­‐
Social
Media
is
positioned
on
the
top
because
good
management
influences
the
number
of
visits
on
a
hotel’s
website,
which
influences
top
ranking
on
Google’s
search
engine.
2-­‐
A
hotel’s
website
is
located
at
the
center
of
the
pyramid
because
it
influences
and
is
influenced
by
both
the
activities
on
Social
Media
and
Google.
As
a
result
the
website
also
needs
to
be
perfectly
optimized
to
exert
an
influence
towards
the
top
and
the
bottom
of
the
pyramid.
3-­‐
Google
is
the
base
of
the
pyramid
because
its
tools
and
features
will
influence
the
visibility
of
a
hotel’s
website
and
social
media
sites,
which
will
increase
the
number
of
visits
on
the
website,
and
finally
result
in
a
better
ranking
on
Google’s
search
engine
for
the
website.
 Do
the
3
touch
points
influence
one
another?
Yes,
they
do!
And
it
creates
a
vicious
circle
that
is
at
the
origin
of
whether
online
performance
or
online
disaster.
This
means
that
if
a
hotel
is
performing
well
on
each
touch
point,
then
the
hotel
will
be
visible
online.
On
the
other
hand,
if
a
hotel
encounters
a
problem
on
only
one
touch
point,
then
the
two
others
will
be
affected
and
the
hotel
will
loose
online
visibility.
 Why
is
Google
the
base
of
the
pyramid?
2

3. Google
indeed
embodies
the
role
of
a
“provider
of
tools
and
features”
(Google
maps,
G+
pages,
G+
Local,
etc.)
that
exposes
your
hotel
to
the
public
eyes.
But
Google
also
embodies
the
role
of
a
“policeman”,
with
its
algorythms
that
access
all
your
social
media
accounts
and
websites,
before
deciding
whether
or
not
a
hotel
deserves
to
be
visible
on
the
Internet.
This
explains
why
web-­‐marketing
strategists
give
much
importance
to
Google.
 *-­‐/?..°?**,
So
what?
Google
is
indeed
the
beginning
of
the
launch
of
a
“wheel”
that
is
going
to
turn
until
the
hotel
is
visible
on
Google
Search
Engine.
The
launch
of
the
wheel
consists
in
setting
up
Google
accounts
for
each
of
its
main
tools.
Then,
so
the
wheel
can
continue
its
rotation,
a
hotel’s
website
needs
to
be
optimized
(web-­‐developers
have
to
intervene
on
this
step).
To
finish,
so
the
wheel
can
keep
turning,
social
media
accounts
need
to
be
created
and
regularly
updated.
At
this
step
the
“wheel”
is
turning,
and
to
give
it
speed,
hotels
need
to
be
active
on
social
media.
It
will
create
more
visits
on
the
website
and
a
better
ranking
on
Google
search
engine.
 OK,
this
makes
sense…
What’s
next?
The
obstacles
that
prevent
the
“wheel”
from
turning…
So
far,
we
clearly
understood
that
to
get
a
hotel’s
website
reaching
more
visibility
online
and
getting
more
visits,
the
wheel
has
to
turn
in
the
right
direction
(from
right
to
left
on
the
graph).
But,
the
wheel
is
heavy
and
therefore
takes
time
before
turning
on
and
on
towards
its
goal.
3

4.
Moreover,
during
the
launch
of
the
wheel,
hoteliers
will
encounter
many
obstacles
that
will
slow
down
the
launch.
Look
at
the
map
below!
The
main
problems
hoteliers
are
currently
encountering
come
from
G+
Local
(the
merging
of
G+
and
Google
Places)
and
from
the
under
or
over
optimization
of
their
websites
and/or
social
media
sites.
 Don’t
go
too
fast;
briefly
explain
the
problem
with
Google!
The
main
actual
trouble
with
Google
is
to
get
the
Google
+
Local
page
created
from
the
successful
merging
of
a
hotel’s
G+
business
page
and
Google
Places
Listings.
4

5.
The
launch
of
Google
+
Local
is
confusing
for
hoteliers
because,
even
before
the
merging
of
the
2
tools,
a
temporary
G+
local
page
is
generated.
Hoteliers
are
therefore
facing
two
G+
pages
(the
business
one
and
the
temporary
local
one)
and
don’t
not
know
what
is
going
to
happen
next.
They
are
wondering
whether
the
final
merging
would
automatically
get
done
or
whether
there
is
something
to
do
to
get
it
done.
Once
the
merging
was
done
for
some
businesses
(hotels
included),
many
of
them
noticed
data
inconsistencies
(wrong
business
name
or
phone
number,
photos
missing,
etc.)
on
their
G+
Local
Page,
or
saw
their
hotel
disappeared
from
the
G+
Local
listing.
These
problems
are
due
to
the
merging
and
will
be
discussed
in
more
details
on
the
next
“Guide
for
Hoteliers”.
 What’s
wrong
with
the
hotels’
websites?
The
problems
with
the
websites
usually
come
from
an
under-­‐optimization
or
an
over-­‐
optimization.
5

6.
When
a
website
is
under-­‐optimized,
it
doesn’t
have
a
performing
content
(wrong
key
words,
not
enough
pictures,
links
missing
or
pointing
toward
under-­‐optimized
websites,
business
information
not
updated,
etc.).
On
the
other
hand,
a
website
can
not
perform
well
when
it
has
been
over-­‐optimized
with,
for
example,
too
long
meta-­‐tag
description,
excessive
use
of
the
same
key
words
or
links
pointing
toward
other
sites
of
the
same
owner,
etc.
 What
about
Social
Media?
Too
many
independent
hotels
miss
to
update
their
social
pages
or
to
regularly
post
new
content.
This
can
directly
have
a
negative
influence
on
the
ranking
of
a
hotel’s
website,
in
that
Google
can
consider
as
“abandoned”
a
site
linked
to
social
media
accounts
(Facebook,
blogger,
etc.)
that
are
not
regularly
updated.
 Ok,
What
are
the
consequences
of
accumulated
“obstacles”?
A
hotel’s
website
will
register
less
visits,
which
generally
results
in
a
loss
of
direct
reservations
on
a
hotel’s
website.
And
in
the
end,
the
website
will
lose
rankings
on
Google’s
search
engine
and
will
be
less
visible.
 And
OTAs
will
benefit
from
it…,
I
got
it!
Exactly…
because
when
a
web-­‐user
types
for
example,
“Hotel
San
Francisco”
in
Google
Search,
the
first
results
that
are
going
to
appear
are
results
from:
-­‐
Google
Hotel
Finder
-­‐
Local
Directories
(ex:
TripAdvisor)
-­‐
Online
Travel
Agencies
(ex:
Expedia)
6

7.
See
the
screenshot
below:
As
a
result,
web-­‐users
are
more
likely
to
make
a
reservation
on
an
OTA’s
website
than
on
a
hotel’s
website.
 Time
to
sum
up!
It
is
highly
recommended
to
have
each
touch
point
optimized
by
getting
rid
of
the
problems
when
they
show
up.
It
is
not
a
step-­‐by-­‐step
process;
hoteliers
have
to
maintain
their
presence
on
each
touch
point
as
regularly
as
possible.
Optimizing
one’s
online
presence
doesn’t
consist
in
dealing
with
Google
for
one
month,
with
the
hotel’s
website
the
following
month,
and
then
with
the
social
media
sites
the
month
after.
It
is
dealing
with
the
3
touch
points
altogether,
by:
1-­‐
solving
in
priority
the
most
important
problems
(whether
they
appear
on
a
Social
Media
site,
Google
account
or
a
hotel’s
Website)
2-­‐
updating
the
hotel’s
information
as
soon
as
mistakes
are
noticed,
and
renewing
the
content
as
regularly
as
possible.
7