TripAdvisor has just published the results of its latest Accommodation Owners Survey, which polled US-based hoteliers, B&B owners and innkeepers to gain better insight into their mobile marketing strategies and how consumers respond to that which is presented.
According to the findings revealed, owners cited online marketing: SEO, SEM and banner advertising (63 percent); social media (39 percent); mobile (27 percent); email marketing (22 percent); and paid listings on user-generated review sites (17 percent) as the top areas in which they would prefer to increase spending.
With mobile marketing a major focus for owners, 84 percent of survey respondents said it is important to offer a program that allows travelers to book their inventory using mobile devices. However, the results varied by property type: 92 percent of hotel owners, 77 percent of B&B owners and 77 percent of innkeepers said a mobile marketing program is important.
Not surprisingly, TripAdvisor also discovered that social media is being deployed like never before to both attract and assist everyone from habitual road warriors to the occasional vacationer.
“Of the survey respondents with a social media program, the majority (60 percent) said that TripAdvisor is the most effective social media site for marketing their properties,” the company said in a subtle but still obvious self-plug. “Facebook (22 percent) and Twitter (16 percent) were the next most effective sites for marketing their properties, according to owners taking the poll.”
The top reasons owners cited for using social media were posting deals and special offers (54 percent), answering customer care questions (48 percent), promoting events (40 percent), sharing general industry news (26 percent) and promoting contests (18 percent).