Note: For visitors of your site, this entry is only displayed for users with the preselected language English/English (en)

How Long is This Current Economy Going to Last and How Do I Prepare a Strategic Plan for 2010? This is the question we hear most these days. Incoming calls from hotels, resorts, DMOs and many others in the travel industry are planning for next year, but not sure what they should be planning, especially online. While DMOs, airlines, hotels and suppliers in the travel industry are trying to develop a 2010 strategic plan for marketing and advertising the economic uncertainty and the upcoming shoulder season are not making it any easier. Economists forecast that lodging will see a bit of an upturn in the Q3 of this year, but occupancy levels and ADR are expected to remain below last year’s levels, maybe as much as a 16 percent decrease in room revenue per available room. DMOs experience this hit as reduced funding for their destination marketing programs, creating a vicious circle of reduced budgets meaning reduced marketing resulting in reduced business for the destination. So what advice are we giving? 1) Examine all parts of your marketing plan, both offline and online for maximum performance. Is your program truly integrated? We have expertise in both offline and online and that becomes critical when it pays to lead with online marketing but offline tactics must be aligned. 2) Be wary of working with any advertising agency or consulting group who is too small or too inexperienced to do the best job in this crisis economy. If your agency is outsourcing to freelancers, or to other companies who are fulfilling separate parts of the contract behind the scenes, you are paying too much and getting too little. 3) Listen to your team. Those people in your organization who are on the front lines know what it’s like out there…. If you are trying to sell meetings pay attention to front line business developers in your organization. Hear their problems and then ask the marketing experts to solve them for you. 4) Don’t cut marketing and advertising budget. We see vast opportunities to steal market share while your competition is afraid to spend and we have hundreds of examples of our clients spending wisely with the right strategy for great return on investment. They outperformed their competition who held back or had no real strategy. We have fine tuned the art of using online/offline advertising to put heads in beds in this economy… realizing a return measured by hotel clients of a 15 to one in terms of profit realized. Yes, it’s a tough time, but things are getting better. This economy has had some positive effects. It has made everyone work smarter. Till next time, Leah