But are you taking advantage of that opportunity? Maybe you think you are – you’ve trained your staff and have procedures in place – but how do you know for sure? Call tracking services by VoiceTraker™ make it easy for a hotelier to maximize their opportunities on the phone.

What is VoiceTraker™

VoiceTraker™ is a service that allows you to track all calls that come in through a specified number. How it works: your new number transfers to an existing line, most likely your existing PBX or front desk number.  When anyone dials this new number it will record the call, giving you the opportunity to review the recorded calls and use them as training examples.

In addition, you’ll receive access to these other features:

• Tracking the type of business coming into you hotel by listening to your calls
• Calls transferred are also recorded, so you can test 3^rd party systems like Macro and Reach
• Uncover FAQs and themes which you can then add to your independent website and anywhere else you think the info might come in handy

The biggest battle hotels face is the commissions they pay through other channels. You’re gaining some of that business already by directing people to your independent website. Why not go a step further with call tracking by VoiceTraker™ and record phone revenue as well? Even though you can’t “hear” from your guests who book online, you get to be a virtual fly-on-the-wall when they contact the hotel using your specified voice-tracking number.

Our goal with your independent website is to drive as much business as possible, whether that be through a phone call or a package booking directly from your site.

Average commissions’ hotels pay to their brand is a range of 12-18% per booking. Over time this adds up to a ton of money that could be going into the hotel’s pocket instead of the brand. One of our clients in Chambersburg, PA is an excellent example of fantastic revenue from phone bookings. If they were to pay a commission of 15% that would have cost them $8,674 in 2011 and $9,339!

Below is a 2011-2012 comparison for the identical time frame.

2011 Stats

• Online Web Booking Revenue
• $30,232 March 2011-December 2011
• Phone Tracking Revenue
• $27,596 March 2011-December 2011

2012 Stats

• Online Web Booking Revenue
• $37,034 March 2012-December 2012
• Phone Tracking Revenue
• $25,229 March 2012-December 2012

VoiceTraker™ call tracking is very easy to use and highly recommended. Below is a snap shot of several recorded calls where you have the ability to sort by date, call duration and call location. After listening to calls, you then have the option to record the call revenue into the custom field at the end.

The post Is Your Hotel Losing Money Over the Phone? Call Tracking Solutions by VoiceTraker appeared first on Valet Blog.

Let’s discuss the hotly contested issue of Facebook and Promoted Posts, shall we? As Facebook began to seriously tinker with the now infamous EdgeRank Algorithm in 2012, more and more savvy social media marketers started looking for clever loopholes to slink through. But Zuck and company didn’t get where they are by being naïve. Facebook was able to get out in front of many of these issues when they began offering Facebook pages the opportunity to promote their most popular posts/content – for a fee, of course.

And so the backlash began…followed by advocacy…followed by confusion…

Opinions on Facebook’s introduction of Promoted Posts have really run the gamut – from, “I hate you so much right now!” to, “Just generate compelling content every time and you have nothing to worry about.” Many page owners feel that it’s unfair for Facebook to make them pay to reach people who have already liked their page, while advocates pretty much agree that the heart and soul of social media is content, content, content. And if your content is on-point you’ll have nothing to worry about. I fall somewhere in the middle – the more and more promoted posts making it into your newsfeed, the less the opportunity for my awesome, un-promoted post to fit in. No matter how fantastic the level of interaction.

For those of you considering the polarizing Promoted Post…

So if you’re looking to experiment with Promoted Posts you might be wondering what types of posts would get you the most traction, bang-for-your-buck, etc. The answer is quite simple really – go back through your insights and see which of your posts have generated the most interaction. Bingo. You even have the option to go back and promote a post you made days, weeks, even months ago. So if you’re lucky enough to have experienced one of those magical moments when your little-old post blew up in a way you never saw coming – try promoting that post to see what kind of response you get.

More good options for Facebook Promoted Posts

• Photos and Videos – If you’ve been actively managing a Facebook page for any amount of time you’ve probably come across an article (or 100) touting the virtues of visual content. And they wouldn’t be wrong. We’re human. We like shiny, flashy, moving parts, etc. Visual content is golden for generating interaction among your fan base and great for testing out Promoted Posts.
• Offers – If you’re lucky enough to be able to hand out a few social-media-specific offers to your loyal Facebook fans, well then more power to you. Offers are perfect Promoted Post fodder because once one of your fans claims the offer, their friends see and claim it (hopefully), and then their friends see and claim it, etc. – drawing big-time page interaction and engagement. Promoted promotions – give it a whirl.
• Exclusive Events or News – Social media is all about the human side of things. People want to be entertained, to have fun and to (gasp) socialize. Build a relationship with your fans by letting them in. Post pictures of a team-building outing. Post video of the company softball game. Is your business doing charitable works in the community? Let people know. The stronger the connection you can build with your fan-base the better. Promote away!
• Questions – This option falls much into the same vein as “exclusive events” or “news”, in that we are once again showing a softer side and letting fans know that we value their opinions and feedback. So – ask questions. “Have any of you tried our (enter product/service here)?” “How do you feel about ….?” Not only have these sorts of posts proven to draw huge engagement and interaction, you also are able to obtain some truly invaluable nuggets and insights from your fans. How do you feel about Promoted Posts?

No matter where your opinion falls in regards to Promoted Posts and Facebook – it really does all boil down to a few key ingredients. Be strategic about the content you’re posting. While yes, we want every piece of content to blow our fans’ minds every single time, it’s simply not always possible. You have to try new things. Experiment. But if you’re promoting worthless content it could very easily blow up in your face and seriously turn people off. Content is King! And don’t forget, it’s called “Social Media” for a reason. Be fun, conversational and responsive. Consider every complaint an opportunity. Have fun – in the end, isn’t that what life’s all about?

The post The Polarizing Promoted Post – Facebook appeared first on Valet Blog.

It all started by us each decorating a cookie and competing for 3 prizes.  The three divisions were; Craziest, Most Creative, and Nicest. See for yourself if you agree on the winners below.  I was the judge and I have to say it was a very hard decision to decide who won.

The second half of the event required that we work in teams.  I personally think that a few teams had an unfair creative advantages, but oh well .  I am not the most creative person in the company, so I have to apologize to my team members for not bringing my game to the decorating contest.  Seems like IT, SEO, Social Media, and I are not the best combo.  See all of the images of our day and get some ideas for you and your teams……

The post Tis The Season…. appeared first on Valet Blog.

With Windows 8 you can more or less forget everything you have learned about the previous versions of Windows. From the login screen to the desktop, the entire user interface has been overhauled.

Starting from the login screen you will quickly notice there is a new way to enter your password. Picture password allows you to trace a password from any picture on your PC. Once you are logged in you will notice the start menu and task bar are no longer hanging around at the bottom of the screen, and your desktop is now the start menu.

The new design is clearly geared toward tablet users, but I found the layout works just as well with mouse and keyboard. On the desktop your applications are laid out as tiles similar to that of an iPad, easily navigated with a mouse or swipe of the finger. When you launch an application, the app takes up the entire screen, and the menu items are hidden. A swipe gesture will bring up the tool menu and show you the options for the app, another swipe will hide them.

You can also swipe your finger from the right side of the screen to bring up a new Windows 8 signature feature: charms. The nice thing about charms is if you are working on an application or website you can pull up the charms and quickly share the information with others without leaving the page or application. It’s convenient, and because it’s consistent throughout all applications, it allows for increased ease of use, especially for the less technical users.

Should you take the plunge into Widows 8? Overall, I like what Microsoft has done with the new operating system. It’s clean, attractive and built from the ground up for touch devices. Dare I say, it’s actually fun to use. On the other hand, there’s little gained out of the gate for tech savvy users. Windows 8 is appreciably neat, but the upgrade can probably wait for your next machine.

The post Windows 8: First Glance appeared first on Valet Blog.

The Joy of Giving

We set lofty goals for ourselves in regards to donation amounts – but hey, we know what we can achieve when we come together and this will be no exception. We are aiming to collect 150 pounds of food on-site. Everything from beans to peanut butter, pudding cups to granola bars and any other health-conscious item. Our online goal is a hefty $750 with each dollar donation providing three meals to North Texans in need. Donate an extra $30 in honor of NTFB’s 30^th anniversary and you’ll provide 90 additional meals to those less fortunate. For anyone and everyone who might be interested in helping us reach these goals, please visit our Virtual Drive to make your donation. ‘Tis the season, folks!

Snow Angels

The NTFB organization and volunteers have selflessly dedicated themselves to helping the hungry in North Texas since 1982. Donated, purchased and prepared foods are distributed through a network of nearly 1,000 hunger programs across 13 North Texas counties. Through advocacy, education and partnerships, the NTFB passionately supports the nutritional needs of children, families and seniors. Along with holiday drives, NTFB offers countless other programs and services including the Charitable Produce Center, Food 4 Kids program, Mobile Pantry and much more. Valet Interactive would personally like to thank this truly charitable organization for all the amazing work they do in our community.

Please join the Valet Interactive team in our mission to spread holiday cheer to those less fortunate in North Texas. Our food drive will be in full effect through December 31, 2012. We want to wish you a Happy Holidays and thank you ahead of time for your contribution.

The post Driving Out Hunger in North Texas appeared first on Valet Blog.

Fa la la la la la la la la. I can’t believe November is here. Hotels are actively trying to finalize budgets to present to ownership so that they can be on track to hit the ground running in 2013.

Below are some things to consider….

1. How strong is your presence online vs. your competition? Do you need to step up your game and increase your budgets for online marketing?

2. How does your website stack up against your comp set? Is it time to upgrade?

3. Are you active enough in social media? Is it time to consider having someone do that for you on a day to day basis?

Here are some good rules of thumb-
1. PPC Campaigns can be very effective if you set aside the right budget and target high converting keywords. Consider putting aside between $500-$1000 month to use for those low demand period.

2. If you site isn’t stacking up to the competition or you have new hotels in your market and need to re-position, see us about a quote. You’d be surprised how reasonable a new site can be and how quickly you can get a return.

3. If you are in a destination market, Social Media is a key component to building loyalty. Consider having someone on your team take on that challenge, or if you can’t, see us about a social media package. It’s a worthwhile investment in active markets that you won’t regret.

Have fun the rest of the year – I know we are!

- Linda

The post ‘Tis the Season to do budgets…… appeared first on Valet Blog.

The Winning Team

Halloween is always special at the Valet Office, and this year is no exception. Our Interactive Marketing team coordinated this year’s event with a “Build-a-Halloween Scene” contest where each team was given 30 minutes to put together a scene based on a bucket of props plus anything else they wanted to bring in from home. Our teams each brainstormed their scenes the day before and worked on their ideas in preparation for the contest the night before, making it a challenge for each to outdo the other!

To my surprise (or maybe not), the IT/Admin and SEO teams really went all out and created elaborate scenes that would rival any haunted house. To be honest, I am glad I had lunch before walking into the IT/Admin room – they added raw ground meat and worms to the brains of their hand carved pumpkin then dressed up as killer butchers covered up in blood. They took it a little too seriously I think – it must be all of that information overload that made them splatter blood all over. Maybe that’s how their brain feels after a long day of coding…..

The SEO team had a Haunted House theme, with sound effects and a scary graveyard. The only thing missing was a live ghoul, that really would have made us all jump with fear!

Our Interactive Marketing Team wanted to be all hipster with a skeleton dressed up like a rapper- it was very “Tim Burtonish”. I think they were trying to teach him how to Tweet – Tammi is looking for a buddy to team up with.

And then there were the ISMs— too busy strategizing and training to create a crazy scene- they ARE scary task masters as it is – who needs props?????

Everyone have a great Halloween—– Linda

The post Valet Style appeared first on Valet Blog.

The Slippery Road Forward

Google entering the travel industry will certainly create challenges for everyone in the space. According an article in the New York Times, it may even lead to anti-trust lawsuits or inquiries from the congressional antitrust committees, but until all that drama plays out in the distance future, travel related businesses need to start positioning themselves for some major changes in online travel search including the following:

1. Loss of market share to aggregators in the short term – According to the Aymia SEO Travel Industry Review 2012, “The battle is being won hands-down by the travel aggregators and price comparison websites in the UK and US, whilst long-established brands [both for hotels and airlines] wobble on the ropes.”
2. More crowded travel SERPs in the long run – More paid advertisements and especially Google travel promotions will start to crowd out organic search results in the above-the-fold (ATF) space of Google SERPs, pushing organic search results lower down the page and diminishing the descriptive content available to searchers.
3. Paying for placement – Hotels and airlines may eventually find themselves facing the prospect of brokering paid relationships with Google in the future just to be a leader or even included in their growing dominance of travel content that displays on SERPs.

Will Google Eventually Own the Travel Space?

While Google is without a doubt positioning itself to be a major player in online travel, they don’t actually own airlines and hotels, at least not yet. Furthermore, Google has proven to be quite astute in its approach to new business ventures. While the company is not new to the accusations of engaging in business practices that competitors and online publishers sometimes feel violate anti-trust regulations, they have been quite successful in defending those practices in lawsuits, especially in the US. Whether Google opts to keep pushing those boundaries or take a less aggressive approach in the future, only time will tell. From the trail of algorithm changes, new travel promotion features, and asset acquisitions, the safe bet would be on some serious boundary pushing, at least in the highly-competitive travel space.

So what is the independent hotel or even the well-established travel brand to do? At Valet Interactive, we have put together a short-term plan that will continue to evolve as changes take place.

Our strategy and tactics include:

1. Diversifying marketing strategy by combining SEO with PPC and other marketing channels to ensure balance and diversify opportunities to find and engage with travelers.
2. Implementing a local strategy by claiming top local listings (Google+ Local, Yahoo, Bing Maps, etc.) with consistent contact information both on-site and in the local listings and directory citations to build trust.
3. Updating and managing social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc) to improve branding efforts and engagement.
4. Participating in reputation management efforts through PR activities, BBB listings, social media channel feedback, OTA and travel review sites, and setting Google alerts for the business’s name.
5. Creating PPC advertising campaigns that work in conjunction with organic traffic keyword strategies and promote timely travel-related events.

As the whole travel/search situation evolves, additional strategies will be implemented and existing strategies updated. As long as hotels and other travel service companies continue to provide valuable services and information to travelers, they will have a place at the online marketing table.

The key will be in monitoring changes in online travel search and developing tactics that are ready to implement when the time is right.

The post Google Takes on the Travel Industry, Part 2 appeared first on Valet Blog.

Google’s Shrinking Real Estate

Google’s search has been serving up travel results for a long time, but recent changes in the layout of their SERPs (search engine result page) as well as software and other acquisitions suggest a travel search evolution in the making at Google.

1. The most recent change involved a test in the reduction of 7 organic results from the previous 10 on some result pages for some keywords. The 7 result display appears to be most common for keywords that have a strong authoritative site ranking for it: something that is common in the hotel and travel industry.  While this test means that websites will potentially have fewer opportunities to make the page 1 list, it also means that sites ranking well have an opportunity to truly stand out from the competition.
2. Google is now experimenting with a “Tourist Attractions Bar” when certain keywords are searched such as this one for “things to do in dallas”:
3. Over time Google has also allowed some brands to dominate the first page of search results, including many travel related searches.

4. Also important to note is the loss of “above-the-fold” organic search results due to PPC ads, local Google map promotions, and Google’s hotel finder tool.  Check out the results of a search for the keyword ‘chicago hotels’:

These recent and rapid changes by Google have certainly left the remaining real estate on travel related SERPs scarce, and something for sites optimizing for brand or high-level travel keywords to consider in their overall marketing and SEO strategy.

Google’s Growing Shopping Cart

Google also may be positioning itself to be a major online travel broker by making several major acquisitions in the travel space:

• Google announced in May 2007 the acquisition of Panoramio. The site which allows users to upload geo-located photos and associate with them the physical location where the photo was taken was already well integrated with Google’s Maps and Google Earth at the time of the acquisition, so it seemed like a logical addition to the Google portfolio. However, this purchase, in hindsight, may prove to be the beginning of a much larger plan for Google.

• In the summer of 2010, Google struck a $700 million deal to acquire ITA Software. The ITA software is the leading provider of flight data to airlines, travel agents, global distribution systems, flight comparison sites and technology companies such as Bing Travel, TripAdvisor, Orbitz, Kayak, Hotwire and CheapTickets.

• This summer, Google also purchased Frommers deep database of information about hotels and sights covering over 4,000 destinations. While publishing new editions of the long-time travel guide favorites may prove too costly, Google could certainly use the content in the future to enhance the information they offer related to travel searches.

• Ultimately the goal may be to integrate the content acquired from Frommer’s with Zagat’s extensive database of reviews of restaurants, hotels and nightclubs in cities around the world. Zagat was another $151 million purchase Google made in September of 2011.

The thought that Google has the potential to start dominating the travel space becomes clear when viewing these recent acquisitions as whole. Of course this doesn’t mean that businesses in the travel space will not have opportunities to win online. With all these acquisitions the greatest threat seems to be to the aggregators of travel information and online travel agencies.

Tomorrow in Part 2, we’ll look at the slippery road forward and what Valet Interactive is doing to continue securing success for its clients.

The post Google Takes on the Travel Industry, Part 1 appeared first on Valet Blog.

Included in SEOMoz’s 2011 Search Ranking Factors report is a pie chart of ranking factors that shows an increase from 2009 to 2011 in the importance of page-level social media factors on search algorithms. The report also indicates that many experts in the SEO field believe that social media’s influence on search algorithms will continue to increase in the coming years.

For those who want more organic search traffic to their hotel site, social media may be a good return on investment if they are willing to do it right and make the 6 to 9 month upfront  investment it takes for their efforts to show a return.

Why is Social Media Important to SEO

• Influencers: Active and high profile social media participants are people who like to talk about their experiences and have large networks of fans/followers. They often become vocal brand ambassadors through social media when they feel they have a valued relationship with a business. Because these high-profile participants have such vast networks of fans/followers, their endorsements, shares, and mentions often carry more weight in search algorithms than people with smaller networks.

• Citations: Citations are mentions of a site on other sites with or without a link and are used as ranking factor in search. Often found in social media communications, citations are an excellent source of information to search engines about the popularity of a site and in what contexts. In addition, any citations that do contain links can increase the number of quality back links to a site.

• Social Media and Search Integration: New search engines, like Blekko and DuckDuckGo, are making social media a bigger part of their search results from launch by integrating social media right into the results. Even traditional search engines are following this trend. For example, Bing is currently integrating Facebook data into its search results, and Google includes Google+ data in their results. Both search engines include Twitter posts on search result pages making social media yet another opportunity for a site to be surfaced in search. Read more about how Google+ and Twitter content are affecting search results.

Most Popular Social Media Channels

• Facebook – Facebook is the biggest social network by far with over 800 million users. The Facebook demographic is quite varied but leans toward females in their 40 and 50s who have high levels of engagement with the site. Facebook offers hotel site owners more options for reaching users than most other social networks including the opportunity to provide incentives and conduct contests, to share long-form content, images and videos, to purchase advertising, and to create and distribute Facebook Apps.
• Twitter – Twitter is the most utilitarian of the major social networks with its deceivingly simplistic purpose (sharing thoughts in 140 characters or less) and its ability to keep up with a world communicating in rapid fire conversations. While Twitter users tend to be younger, male and more tech-savvy, it too boasts a broad user base. On Twitter, hotel site owners can take advantage of trends as they happen by participating in relevant Twitter streams and keeping followers abreast of news related to its hotel and the surrounding area.
• Google+ – Google+ is Google’s response to the enormously popular Facebook social network and allows users to add both people and organizations to their circles, create online hangouts and chats, share information, and integrate seamlessly with other Google services like Google Docs and of course search. While it is still a fairly new social network, at only 1-year-old it has approximately 150 million active Google+ users who tend to also be more technically inclined and search engine savvy.
• Pinterest – Pinterest is the newcomer to social media that allows people to build personalized bulletin boards of images they find or place online. Pinterest users are predominately female in their 30s and 40s, and like Facebook, tend to be very active on the site. It is a great social media tool for businesses that have an extensive collection of images and can emphasize its offerings through visual appeal. For example, large and luxury hotel sites are an especially good match for Pinterest since they rely heavily on great imagery to attract potential guests for vacation stays, weddings, business conferences, parties and more.
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the business side of social networking where people maintain extensive profiles of their professional skills and experience. The social aspect of LinkedIn is in a user’s ability add co-workers, supervisors, vendors, and other work-related contacts to their network and to participate in groups who share a common professional interest. LinkedIn’s demographic is mostly young, well-educated professionals who are building their careers. For hotel sites that cater to business clients, LinkedIn can be a great way to find people wanting to book business meetings, conferences, conventions and other events.

5 Quick Social Media Tips to Get Started

1. When first getting started with social media, pick no more than 2 to 3 of the most relevant social media channels to focus on first and build an audience for before expanding to other channels.
2. Listen, ask and respond to followers/fans because engagement is important for authenticity in social media. Fans and followers are more likely to become brand ambassadors for a hotel that they feel listens to and interacts with them.
3. Offer incentives like special offers, contests and exclusive information through social media channels to keep the audience engaged. This is an especially effective tactic on Facebook where followers have grown to expect exclusive content and offers from the business they follow.
4. Cross post useful new site content on social media channels. For example, posting about upcoming events near or at the hotel, news about local attractions, updates on hotel services and amenities, and even bragging about the beautiful local weather can be a good way to build quality links back to the hotel site and get people thinking about a change of scenery.
5. Include social share buttons on the hotel’s site and encourage visitors to share. These social “votes” are clear indicators to search engines that the site has built an audience who is willing to share it with their followers and fans.

While sites that engage in well-designed and executed social media marketing efforts generally do enjoy more search traffic to their sites and better search rankings, social media marketing should not be undertaken for the sole purpose of increasing a site’s search rankings. Businesses can benefit directly from strong social media strategy in a number ways including personal referrals, improved guest relations and increased name recognition.

That said, since building a social media marketing strategy does take time, resources and a commitment to a long-term outcome, getting started sooner rather than later is not only worth the effort for better marketing today, it could be essential to a site’s search success down the road as social media’s impact on search algorithms grows.

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