FuturePACE gives hoteliers the ability to make decisions regarding pricing, availability, and marketing in a proactive way that will increase the revenue that a hotel will see in the short term.  Without this information, a hotel may not be maximizing the opportunity for revenue because of a poor pricing strategy or unsound marketing plan.

While using the FuturePACE data to impact future revenue, Hotelligence gives the hotelier the ability to track and monitor the success of decisions made using the FuturePACE report.  In addition, using Hotelligence and FuturePACE together allows hoteliers to learn from historical booking patterns and understand new dynamics as they present themselves.

Some of the factors to consider when selecting a competitive set include average daily rate of potential competitors, geographical proximity of potential competitors, star rating, and positioning within the market (convention hotel, business hotel, resort hotel).

It is not recommended that a hotel include more competitors than truly make up their competitive set just to see increased performance. Doing this will devalue the information and the user of the report will not be able to identify valid market opportunities.

Most consumers when confronted with too many choices will become confused, frustrated and will abandon the purchase. Many hotels with a broad room offering, experience very low conversions on the web and an unusual high call volume. You should consider bracketing your multiple room types into a manageable number, such as five or six. Consider similarities, such as the number of beds (room capacity), location, or rates and regroup your room types. Another suggestion is to create specific web pages addressing specific room types (e.g. one page for cabanas and villas, another page for guest rooms) and from those pages, jump to a specific booking engine merchandising those specific room types.

An interface between both systems provides the hotel with many advantages, however its acquisition and implementation need to be considered in the same way you consider any capital expense at a property. Some issues that might indicate to you that an interface is needed include:

1. The level of reservations being delivered from your CRS is such that your reservations team is spending most of the day entering those reservations manually into the PMS,
   
   
2. You are experiencing errors in the way reservations are being manually entered into the PMS,
   
   
3. Your reservations team is limited in size or is non-existent,
   
   
4. Your CRS is delivering reservations over the weekend (or at night) and there is no one available to capture the e-mails/faxes being sent to enter them in the PMS. Guests are arriving early in the morning with confirmed reservations that cannot be found in the PMS,
   
   
5. And lastly, you want a system that is fully integrated to achieve a peace of mind, as well as efficiency and accuracy.

The amount of Web Booking Engines available today is mind numbing. You can power your website with several different kinds of Web Booking Engines, such as a GDS Web Booking Engine, a branded CRS booking engine, a PMS booking engine, or a third-party Web Booking Engine. There are several points to consider when shopping for a Web Booking Engine:

1. Ease of use for your guests: Everyone interacts with the Internet in different ways. The booking engine should be intuitive, friendly to use, and provide extensive information to help travelers make decisions. A step-by-step, page-by-page booking process was acceptable when booking engines were first created, but today's environment has changed. Research indicates that web travelers do not want to be subjected to a booking process that requires multiple pages to complete. It’s like filling out paperwork.
   
   
2. Merchandising Capabilities: Today, booking engines are more than an application to capture online reservations. They need to be merchandising tools that display rich information (such as multiple photos of a specific room as well as marketing-driven rich room type descriptions); and available dates and available rates without having to start the booking process over when the guest can't find what she wants. Your booking engine needs to provide the same level of information and merchandising that a guest would receive if she called your reservations department.
   
   
3. Personalization Capabilities: Not all guests are alike. Your booking engine needs to allow the guest to customize their stay and create a personal experience. Your booking engine needs to be able to offer dynamic packaging capabilities. It should also be able to provide products and services, (other than just a room), that a guest may choose at the time of booking when they’re most excited about your property to make their stay truly a unique experience.

Research shows that globally, travel agents select/recommend a hotel 38% of the time whereas the client selects the hotels only 24% of the time. About 37% of the time, both the agent and customer collaborate to select a hotel.
Source:  2005 Global GDS study done by Phoenix Marketing Institute (PMI)

Over 99 percent of qualified search transactions are generated directly from page one results. 
Source: KPMG Study, Sabre Hotel Spotlight / TravelCLICK proprietary research.

Research shows that travel agents across the globe are virtually unanimous in their belief that GDS systems should offer rate parity. Over four-out-of-five U.S., travel agencies (88%) and international travel agencies (80%) said it was very important to see the same rates available on all platforms.
Source:  2005 Global GDS study done by Phoenix Marketing Institute (PMI)

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is very important to the success of your Internet marketing strategy.  Optimizing your website consists of identifying and using keywords that best reflect the positioning of your hotel within the local marketplace.  When done correctly, an optimized website will rank high on search engine browsers when specific terms are typed in by a user.  A high ranking increases your visibility to consumers and the likelihood the user will visit your website, and ultimately make a booking.

A well-designed website that has been search engine optimized can affect the revenue of your hotel.  A website should contain numerous conversion points and strong merchandising capabilities, highlighting packages and opportunities for the consumer to up sell themselves.  This can help increase your stay value and ADR.  The design must be attractive and intuitive, making it easy for users to navigate the site, find what they are looking for, and make a reservation.   Search Engine Optimization will enhance the ROI of your website through prominent rankings for targeted keyword terms in the major Internet Browsers, increasing your hotel’s visibility and ultimately its occupancy rates. 

Your webmaster or service provider should be able to present you with traffic reports showing the number of visitors, pages visited, session length, etc.   Your online booking engine should also provide reports showing you the volume of business and the revenue that is being generated through your website.  To maximize online booking performance, assess your website to make sure it is intuitive and features ample and easy to see conversion opportunities. 

Creating websites is a unique discipline that requires specific understanding of the demands of the Internet.  The creative requirements and best practices are unlike those used to create brochures or print ads.   Due to the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry, you need a website design firm that understands the complexity of hotel marketing and revenue management.  Therefore, you need to look for a company with award-winning website design plus a proven history of servicing the hospitality industry.