The following is my summary of the IETS 2013 tourism summit
Hotelier Indonesia Magazine
Vol 14 - September 2013
The gathering allowed a perfect platform for online travel and hospitality
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| Hotelier Indonesia Magazine September 2013 |
The Summit started with a proper focus on Indonesia -- Its Current and Future Tourism Outlook. Setting the tone of the conference, speakers highlighted the strong growth potential for both Indonesia in particular, and Asia in general.
It was mentioned that though conflicts continue around the world, Asia continues to experience growth in tourism. On a global basis, US$ 1 billion was spent in international travel during 2012. 2013, with the 2013 numbers expected to rise to US$ 1.8 billion. One third of that coming to SE Asia.
With the world’s outbound tourism, a significant focus is on SE Asia. In the region Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia are experiencing the strongest growth in tourism.
In specifically addressing Indonesian numbers, arrivals from America and Europe have flat-lined. Strongest inbound traffic expected from China where there is a growing affluence. Sri Lanka has done well in addressing the influx of Chinese tourists. Indonesia however needs to enhance their marketing and social media efforts to address this growing affluence in China.
“Brand Bali” and “Brand Indonesia” are competing with Brand Vietnam, Brand Sri Lanka and Brand Myanmar. There need to be changes in the way hotels and resorts market their properties. The drive is in digital marketing. Indonesian hoteliers and travel directors must embrace the change.
Over the past two years, the increase in Bali arrivals as been from domestic tourists. Bali must improve their social media and overall international marketing to increase inbound tourists from international markets.
There must be increased efforts from Indonesia’s pristine areas, such as Komodo, Flores and Lombok. This will take a concerted effort between Government - Private Enterprise - Educational Institutions.
Airlines also play a valuable role in building the Indonesian Brand by developing capacity. The airlines are needed to bring tourists into the country. Tourism is currently handicapped by limited access by international tourists into the country.
IETS speakers also highlighted that at the turn of the century, Indonesia was projected to be the #1 tourist market around the world. Due to recession and political climate, the Indonesian market lost its way. With 27 different cultures and endless beaches on more than 17,000 island, the country has tourism assets that it must capitalize on.
A frequent highlight during IETS were the presentations by Ms. Indira Abidin, Managing Director from Fortune PR. Highlighting the Best Practices in Social Media, Ms. Abidin outlined the need for hoteliers and tourism professionals to engage in strong social media efforts. She often tweeted the highlights of the conference with the Twitter hash #IETS2013
In one of her early tweets, Ms. Abidin highlights a strong point by Tiket.com CFO, Dimas Surya Yaputra by tweeting: “Release early, release often, don't wait for the market to exist! Lead the change! @dimasphase #IETS2013 - totally agree! A powerful one.”
With Indonesia fourth in the world for using Facebook and Twitter, and Jakarta the top tweeting city in the world, these social media options provide a very strong channel for hoteliers to reach the domestic traveler. It also demonstrates Indonesia’s ability to embrace the latest technologies to reach beyond their borders.
Significant messages from a majority of the speakers revolved around engagement. Engage the customers with interactive social networking. Engage employees and have them as part of your overall social media plan. While having employees participate in your social networking, ensure they are clear on what type of comments are forbidden and which are acceptable. Ensure your employees on your side as brand evangelists.
Several IETS experts had outlined guidelines for hoteliers when they develop their Social Media Strategies. Specifics were provided on how the industry leverages social media to win during an economic crisis.
In developing any Social Media program, the hotel and tourism group must have a deep understanding of what they’re trying to accomplish. Specifically questions they’ve posed to hoteliers included:
- Which regions and audiences are most relevant for your brand?
- Where are you willing to invest and why?
- Where would you like your social search revolution to reach?
- Does Twitter matter? Does Facebook matter? Does Weibo matter?
During the process, ensure you monetize the social media effort. Determine how much time, money and labor you are prepared to invest. Justify a business case for social initiatives by demonstrating the tangible benefits and ROI.
Interact on the Internet. As part of your hotel marketing strategy, keep a presence on social sites such as TripAdvisor, Facebook, Twitter and Weibo. Don’t just set these up and ignore them. Monitor them frequently and respond to comments, questions, and re-tweets. Post exclusive social media deals and encourage fans to hit the “share” button.
Hoteliers must stay actively engaged with Social Media to protect against negative feedback that may arise in Facebook, Twitter and TripAdvisor. Transform potentially damaging negative feedback into a lucrative strategic sales and marketing tool.
Never respond to negative online reviews with more negativity. These posts and replies are in a public arena and last forever. A sincere apology and an offer will be more likely to win over dissatisfied customers while presenting a professional image to those you hope to have as future customers.
Several of the international experts at IETS highlighted methods to maximize a hotel’s distribution Strategy. A few of the highlights included:
Developing a strategy that clearly positions your property above the others. Tell future guests that the experience something is extraordinary and worth paying more for. With this, the hotel may set their prices a bit higher than the competition in order to bring in guests who are willing to pay more. This strategy can be profitable, but must be used cautiously, as guests will need to understand why they’d pay more to stay at your hotel.
Set pricing on par with the competition, but not necessarily for every rate. Set one rate comparable to similar properties and another slightly higher. This allows you to stay competitive for a majority of the market, yet doesn’t undercut the your competition.
Along with these pricing considerations was additional input that if the property's price is too low … lower than the competitive set, you will realize a boost in occupancies, but will also see a lower relative RevPar. The best strategy suggested is to maintain rate integrity and price above the competitive set. Though the property may take a slight reduction in occupancy, it will be more than offset by a higher relative RevPar.
For online bookers, it’s important that there is a recognized Parity of Experience. Offer Value-Added packages for events that are not available through an OTA. Though a room-only rate on the hotel’s website likely won’t dip below what was offered through an OTA, the overall value of the package can be much higher than room-only rate. During a month of promotion, the hotel can see a significant percent year-over-year increase in total visits to its website and a year-over-year increase in reservations through the website.
IETS 2013 was a worthwhile and informative event for the 100+ in attendance. With the growth they’ve experienced in the first four events, we’re looking at 2014 as an event not to miss.
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