Lodging Interactive Blog

Introducing: CoMMingle Social Media Marketing Agency for Hospitality

We're so excited about CoMMingle, our new Social Media Marketing operating division!  Just launched today. Full turnkey social media marketing for hotels.

Read press release: CoMMingle press release.

Visit CoMMingle Social Media Marketing for Hotels.

Six Social Media Trends for 2010 - Conversation Starter - HarvardBusiness.org

In 2009 we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year? In no particular order:

via blogs.harvardbusiness.org

Monetising Social Media

There are different options of recruiting samples and each Social Network Site (SNS) represents different key demographics, ie Facebook for US 18-24 year olds, MySpace for specific key markets (Music), and LinkedIn for SVPs of Human Resources from Fortune 500 companies.

Some networks are exploring selling sample directly to researchers, although banner ads and pop-ups are the most common way to source sample. On networks such as Facebook, purchasing traffic directly from application/widget developers is also possible (PeanutLabs was early in leveraging this opportunity). Others, including Anderson Analytics, have developed their own proprietary applications/widgets to survey or recruit sample.

via www.tomhcanderson.com

Hotels getting creative to keep rooms booked - The Boston Globe

Hoping to keep its 119 rooms filled, the Hotel Erwin on Venice Beach is offering an unusual promotion for its countercultural clientele: an “Ink and Stay’’ package that includes $100 toward a tattoo and a bottle of tequila to numb the pain. At the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, guests who get the “Hard Rock and a Hog’’ deal can roll through the city on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that comes complimentary with two nights’ stay.

via www.boston.com

Eye Tracking Without The Eyes - AttentionWizard.com Beta - Search Marketing News Blog - Search Engine Watch (SEW)

Eye tracking studies can be a very valuable tool that can help identify significant problems with your website or landing page. Unfortunately eye tracking requires expensive and specialized hardware and software to be used, and live test subjects to observe and measure.

via blog.searchenginewatch.com

Metasearch, review and nontransactional is increasingly where the action is. - PhoCusWright Connect

The days of straight forward travel booking on either an OTA or supplier site are rapidly coming to an end. The latest PhoCusWright report on Online Traffic and Conversion deals in great detail with this ever more complex landscape of what is also called the pre-booking phase. While the booking focused sites still dominate the market in terms of visitor traffic, a growing number of their present customers are expecting to be better served in their search for the most suitable trip options. The resulting gap between higher customer expectations and service provider functionality offered, needs to be addressed. It already is the focus of attention by a number of new market entrants attempting to close that gap. These developments are a further sign of the steady evolution of the travel industry and the move to the Web for more complex tasks that in the past were handled offline.

via connect.phocuswright.com

How Will Twitter Integration Into Google, Bing Affect The Tweecosystem?

AllThingsD reported yesterday that Twitter was in independent discussions (which have happened before) with both Google and Microsoft “in which the companies would license a full feed from the microblogging service that could then be integrated into the results of their competing search engines.” Reuters also picked up the story.

via searchengineland.com

SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » Search Engine Strategies – How To Increase Your Search Engine Ranking

The methods employed to increase your search engine rankings may seem like rocket science to you, so you have probably avoided dealing with this issue. I am here to tell you—the time has come to face your website! A high search engine ranking for your website is so essential that if you have the slightest desire to actually succeed in your business, there is no way you can continue to avoid this issue.

via www.sitepronews.com

Want Better Web Design? Watch Real Users

I’ve been in web development since 1995. For me, and many of you, it’s easy to forget that people don’t have the computer equipment to use the web sites and Internet applications we build. I’ve always found it interesting that TV show web sites are Flash based and loaded with images and video. It’s as if they are built for an elite group of TV watchers and everyone else doesn’t matter.

via searchengineland.com

GDS reservations up by 7% in September, according to Pegasus

Pegasus data indicates average daily rate for global distribution system transactions has reached its highest point to date this year at $162 in September. The report also shows booking lead times remain short in both corporate-driven GDS and leisure-driven alternative distribution system transactions.

via www.hotelmarketing.com

Yahoo! Search Filters Now Shows Sponsored Ads - Search Marketing News Blog - Search Engine Watch (SEW)

If you're conducting a search on Yahoo! and use one of the filters on the left hand side to narrow your search, you may now see Sponsored Ads. The ads will appear on filtered results for selected sites who are also Yahoo! advertisers. Here's an example.

via blog.searchenginewatch.com