Belize Web

There is so much emphasis on social networking and email marketing in Caribbean web marketing that one of the most important tools is often left out of the picture: Trip Advisor. This user friendly tool has come to play a pivotal role in a guest's choice of Belize hotel reservation that those who aren't using the tool, or aren't using the tool properly, are missing out on potential customers. Here are some simple tips and tricks to using Trip Advisor.

Use it!
This likely seems silly, but there are still resorts that aren't using Trip Advisor to help promote themselves. Guests take other traveler's reviews and opinions very seriously, and you want to have as many channels open as possible to support that feedback, both good and bad. Trip Advisor is a great way to respond to those guests who had some sort of negative experience with your resort and show that you genuinely care about your guests.

Be Honest
Put yourself in the shoes of the guest. You read a resort description that said "Olympic sized swimming pool and breathtaking views." Upon arrival, you are shocked to see that the "Olympic sized pool" is actually no bigger than your bathtub and the "breathtaking view" is of the hotel parking lot. No one likes to be lied to, especially when there's money involved. 

Be Unique
In the description for your Belize resort, focus on what sets you apart. Do you offer special tours? Packages for wedding parties or newlyweds? Have a great restaurant? Focus on these unique assets. Guests will be much more interested in these perks than the fact that your room comes with an AM/FM alarm clock.

Keep it Up
As your resort grows and changes, so should your Trip Advisor page. This is not a tool that you should create and then forget about; it should get as much attention as your social networking sites (which we hope are getting lots of attention). Post pictures of new features, update rates, and respond to comments on a regular basis to get the most from your page. On that same note, Trip Advisor is constantly coming out with new tools and features to improve their site (click here to read about their new direct email tool), so make sure you are staying up to date on all that is available to you through your business account.

What's your best kept secret about Trip Advisor? Share a comment below and help your fellow resort owners!

When American and Canadian travelers start planning their Belize vacation, the vast majority start by searching for Belize hotel website using Google, Bing, Yahoo or other search engines. They visit hotel websites looking for the right place at the right price. According to research conducted by Google, the average online travel shopper will visit 17 different hotel websites trying to decide which one will get their online reservation business.

You can improve your odds of gaining this business by offering your web visitors with the option to request information from you by email. Your "Contact Us" form should be clear and easy to use asking for only basic contact information like Name, Email Address and perhaps when they expect to travel. Don't make them fill out a long form asking for every detail of their interests. Make it easy to fill out and provide a big button to submit their request.

In addition, many Guest Caye clients provide an email sign up form right on the home page offering to send information and perhaps special email savings offers in exchange for filling out the simple form. We call this granting email permission to the hotel and this behavior provides an outstanding opportunity to turn that hotel looker into a lucrative hotel booker for your business.

Client Table Rock Jungle Lodge in Cayo, Belize has been using this technique for a few years now with outstanding results. In fact, Table Rock captured an average of two website leads every day in 2012. 15% of these captured travel shoppers leads decided to book their vacation with the eco-resort located along the Macal River near San Ignacio. The result was hundreds of room nights sold generating significant incremental business for the resort.

Guest Caye Resort Marketing provides an automated way to capture traveler leads on your website and automatically send them informative emails to help set your resort apart from their many other choices. Hotels that communicate best win the most online business. If you want to make online lead capture and email nurturing part of your Belize Hote; Marketing program, contact Dan at Guest Caye for a free demonstration.

Great News for all of our friends and clients in San Pedro Belize on Ambergris Caye!

TripAdvisor has just posted the winners of the Inaugural Traveler's Choice Islands Award, and Ambergris Caye in Belize was top on the list of the Top 10 Islands in the World!  The TripAdvisor Awards are based on the quality and quantity of the highly rated hotels, restaurants and attractions as determined by the traveler's opinions and reviews.  What this says to the world is that the wonderful folks on Ambergris Caye take service and hospitality to a new level in delighting their guests.  But we already knew that, as I've experienced first hand the joys of visiting Ambergris!  Well done!

This honor will open the doors to thousands of new online travel shoppers taking a look at Ambergris Caye and its many Belize hotels and resorts. Be sure that your Belize resort marketing plan is in place to take full advantage of this honor. Consider working with Guest Caye Resort Marketing to ensure your Belize web site and hotel reservation system is ready to meet the expectation of American and Canadian online travel shoppers. Need help? Give us a call.

 

 

 

Smart hotel and resort marketers in Belize and other developing tourism markets have discovered how powerful adding Social Marketing, such as Facebook and Twitter, can be to increasing hotel bookings, driving higher revenue per guest, and prompting higher levels of word of mouth recommendations.

According to a recent industry survey by eMarketer, online travel shoppers who are exposed to messages across multiple channels such as online advertising, email, and social media SPEND MORE on average than travel shoppers only exposed to one communication channel.

To quote the article, "The study found that when consumers were exposed to social media in addition to other online ad formats or marketing channels, such as search, email and display, the average revenue per order for US advertisers was $280.71—more than double the order size compared to the average of all digital channels.

This has important implications for Caribbean travel and tourism marketers. Aligning messages in social media with campaigns running on search engines, travel portal websites or email marketing campaigns can be made more effective by lining up all messages to reinforce one another. The one-two punch of cross channel marketing gives consumers added reasons to choose your hotel and to spend more money once they do so.

Have you coordinated your web marketing and social media marketing so that all messages are reinforcing one another? If not, there is good opportunity to improve the results from your online marketing by doing just that.

Contact us at Guest Caye Resort Marketing in Belize or at our home office in Loveland, Ohio USA and we would be happy to assist you making your Hotel Marketing Strategy work harder to build your sales and profits. Call us at +513 444 4000 or email dan@guestcaye.com. 

Today TripAdvisor released the results of their annual 2012 Travel Trends Forecast research study with more than 2,700 respondents answering questions about their upcoming travel plans and ambitions.

Key Finding for Belize Resorts and Hotels: Despite the current economic climate, 31% of Travel Shoppers anticipate they will spend more on leisure travel next year, while 49 percent expect to spend the same amount as they did in 2011.

1. Beach Travel is planned by 44%, while 42% want travel with Cultural Experiences. (This fits in well with Belize Tourism as more Americans discover the great beaches and amazing cultural, historic and adventure travel options in Belize.
2. Americans are planning more international travel in 2012. 68% say they will travel outside the U.S. with 52% of those saying they will travel to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean and Central America region. (Great news for Belize as one of the only English-speaking countries in the North American tropics.)
3. More people are planning to stay at B&Bs/Inns, Vacation Rentals and All-Inclusive Resorts with fewer choosing standard hotels. (People want something more than a room with a bathroom these days, so your property must deliver that remarkable experience that makes people talk when they get back home.)
4. 12 percent select their accomodations based on how "eco-friendly" a hotel or resort is overall. Green credentials are becoming more and more important to an upscale segment of the American travel market. Most eco-concerned travelers are not that impressed by merely putting a card in the bathroom about reusing the towels. They seek substantitive evidence that the hotel, Inn or Resort is really environmentally friendly and focused on sustainability.

“U.S. travelers will be spreading their wings far and wide in 2012, with 68 percent planning international trips,” said Karen Drake, senior director of communications for TripAdvisor. “Sun and sand remain an enduringly popular choice, but the coming year will also see a renewed interest in cultural trips, as Americans seek to combine precious downtime with enriching experiences.”

To read the full report, visit Trip Advisor Travel Trends Report here.

Guest Caye Resort Marketing provides the industry leading marketing and online reservation solution for independent hotels, resorts and B+Bs in Belize and Caribbean web marketing.

There are a number of great hotels and resorts in Belize with easy access to scuba diving and snorkeling at fair prices and amazing experiences. Here are a few recommendations from Guest Caye Marketing:

• Cayo Espano is an upscale island resort that is out of this world.
• Huracan Diving is located very near the world famous Blue Hole on their private island, Long Caye with only 4 rooms. Perfect for small groups of experienced divers.
• Caye Casa on the beach in San Pedro offers laid back luxury at a very good price. Perfect for divers traveling with non-divers, close to town and other tour offerings.

Across the Caribbean there are diving destinations that can take your breath away with their natural beauty and sea life. But Belize must be counted among the best, so book a diving in Belize trip soon and enjoy the unspoiled beauty of the Caribbean Sea.

If you own or operate a resort hotel or diving operation and need help with online marketing, web design and booking more guests, check out Guest Caye Resort Marketing. We can help.

The Lodge at Chaa Creek is perhaps one of the best known Belize Resort Hotels and that is not surprising when you consider how much effort Chaa Creek puts into online marketing for their hotel. The folks there do a great job at developing relevant content that helps keep thier website at the top of Google and other search engine rankings for Belize Web.

One example of the good work Chaa Creek does is the use of press releases sent via PR Web that contain keywords that many consumer online travel shoppers may be using while looking for vacation or honeymoon destinations.  This is a wise strategy because not only will these press releases be indexed by search engines, but the resulting traffic back to the hotel's website will drive leads, many of whom will end up booking their trip at Chaa Creek. Smart.

This method of gaining more web traffic is relatively easy to do. Start with a good story idea and develop a list of target keywords around that topic. See Chaa Creek's Release about Romantic Travel to Belize as a good example. Next, write your press release using the target keywords and put some effort into making the story interesting, easy to read and with some good pictures to support your story. Now you are ready to release the news to the Internet. PR Web is one of many available services that will distribute your press release for a small fee. Don't try to do an online release on your own, there is simply too much competition for you to show up anywhere. You are much better off paying the small fee to a service so that your news actually reaches the global audience you wish to stimulate. Try it for your Belize Resort Hotel, you may be surprised at how well this works.

Internet Marketing Belize :: Caribbean Marketing Ideas :: Social Media Marketing

According to Forrester Research on Travel Trends, over 60% of travel shoppers use a general search engine like Google, Bing or Yahoo when planning travel. Globally, organic search is the most influential marketing channel for online resort marketing followed by paid search, then good old email marketing, social media, meta search and lastly mobile marketing. So what’s a resort or small hotel owner to do?

The Internet was used by approximately 90 million American adults to plan travel during the past year with 76 percent of online travelers planning leisure trips online. Most online travel planners are somewhat or extremely satisfied with their experiences in using the Internet to plan their trips. Importantly, most see the Internet as a very useful or essential tool for planning most aspects of a trip including where to stay overnight, planning travel routes, potential places to visit, attractions to visit, as well as learning about what to do.

Is your hotel software reservation system set up to handle incoming search traffic to maximize booking conversions?

The primary tools online travel shoppers use for travel planning are online travel agency websites (like Expedia and Hotels.com), search engines, hotel websites and destination area websites. Airline tickets, overnight lodging accommodations and car rentals are the dominant travel products and services purchased online by travel planners. (Source: Travelers’ Use of the Internet, 2009)

Google recently reported that 64% of leisure travellers and 65% of business travellers use search engines to begin their travel planning, exemplifying just how key search marketing is. (tnooz - talking travel tech, September 2010)

To be found on the Internet, every independent belize hotel and small resort must define the precise keywords that identify it to the search engines, then make sure your website and inbound links use these keywords, sometimes called “metatags.” Search Engine Optimization has become a billion dollar business, but the core ideas for effective search engine marketing are simple and easy to implement. Don’t fall into the trap of paying thousands of dollars for SEO services that promise top search ranks and can rarely deliver the hype.

Instead, know who you are and what keywords people will use to find YOU. To discover the right keywords for your business, you must begin by thinking like your guest and what they care about most. What words or phrases would they enter into a search engine to find “exactly your hotel?” How would you start a web search to find a similar property to yours located on a different continent?

Need help driving more guests to your website and converting them into newly registered guests? Contact Guest Caye for a free initial consultation at dan@guestcaye.com.

Google has published a study and a series of insightful video presentations that makes a strong case for marketers to focus on what they call the "zero moment of truth."

For travel marketers, this idea is a very important one that recognizes that most consumers use Google and other search engines to seek out travel destinations and hotel options. They go through a process of discovery, making choices, and narrowing down to the options they most prefer. How marketers help these travel shoppers with pre-choice online research can dramatically impact booking results.



The way we shop for travel has changed forever and most resort marketing strategies are simply not keeping pace. Whether we're shopping for corn flakes, concert tickets or a honeymoon in Belize, the Internet has changed how people decide what to buy.

Today we're all digital explorers, seeking out online ratings on TripAdvisor, social peer reviews and photos on Facebook, reading tweeted blog posts by travel writers, or exploring Belize videos on YouTube.  People look all over the web as they seek in-depth details about their destination choice. Gathering information as they move down the path to purchase. Marketing has evolved and resort marketing strategies have to evolve with the changing shape of online travel shopping.  (Paraphrased from information on http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com)

Unfortunately, many online consumers are disappointed by what they find at hotel and resort websites which generally look good but many fall short in providing the modern travel shopper what she expects most: a secure online booking engine with real-time pricing and availability.

Guest Caye experts surfed dozens of Belize hotel websites to better understand the various reservation systems and online sales approaches used by hotel owners to win business directly from travel shoppers. We found a wide variety ranging from "Send Us An Email" to "Book and Pay Widgets."  While hiding the names to protect the innocent, here are several examples of how hotel booking is handled on Belize hotel websites.

The Good
Resort owners that understand what online travel shoppers want have added online technology and email communications to their website. This allows motivated site visitors to book directly with their credit card, recieve an instant and detailed reservation confirmation, and enable the choice of extras and add-on services such as transportation and tours. There are several good systems being used in Belize, though some have weaknesses that may cause some consumers to think twice before completing their online booking.

While many Belize hotels have online reservation systems, there is a lot of room for improvement in the way that online booking is presented to consumers. For example, one site had only one button on their site that takes a visitor to the reservation widget.  Why not place "Book Now" buttons on the rates page and near content about making a reservation.

Once your website visitor actually books a reservation, what happens next? Sending an auto-generated email that is not customized to your business is a mistake. Nearly every online booker will anticipate, open and read your booking confirmation email. Have you taken the time to write an email that reflects your resort's personality? What opportunities for upselling tours or other services are you missing with this all-important guest email?


The Bad
Far too many resort marketing programs fail at the most important stage of the purchase cycle: actual booking of the reservation. Thousands of dollars are spent trying to bring potential guests to a website, but then when the customer is most ready to buy, they find they must fill out a long form or place an international call to a reservation service.

In one case, we called the reservation number only to hear "We are sorry but the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected." Ouch! Even if the reservation service had answered and taken my booking, how much commission do they get for doing something most consumers would rather do directly with you. Don't give your profit margin away to third parties if you don't have to.

We saw many sites displaying large BOOK NOW buttons on their home pages. This is good, but what happens after you click is button is bad in most cases. Instead of seeing the rooms a visitor might book or a calendar to select dates, instead its a big ugly form to fill out. Yuck! These visitors must be thinking, "I wanted to book now like the button said and now I have to do work. I am out of here!" Guide your web visitors to a booking process that includes NO PAIN, NO HASSLE, NO WAITING and NO CONFUSING DEADENDS.

The Ugly
Some resorts seem to think that the World Wide Web is just a fad. They must have decided that the 114,000,000 Americans that go online to plan travel each year are not good prospects. These resort owners have failed to keep their website current which may cause visitors to click to see empty pages or worse, incorrect information. To be competitive, every resort website must have all of the basics covered with a good looking and complete presentation of the property, rooms and prices.

We hear from many hotel owners that it takes a personal touch by phone or email to convince travel shoppers to book at their resort. "People want to ask questions and negotiate for a better deal," one owner told us. That may be true for some guests. However, giving people the tools and information they need to put your resort on the short list should NOT involve needing to contact you by phone or through your contact form. Here is a clip from one unfortunate website....this literally drives online buyers away.


Resorts that take reservations by phone or email only are missing a huge segment of the travel market that prefers the convenience and flexibility of shopping online.

Guest Caye is an innovative online marketing and booking platform that enables small independent resorts, hotels and lodges to gain increased bookings and higher income per guest through web reservations, automated email marketing and superior guest communications.

Interactive marketing technology has come a very long way in the last few years bringing it within reach for small businesses, including Belize hotels, resorts and other Caribbean destinations wanting to improve business results using the Internet.

This video presented by ExactTarget.com, the world's leading email marketing platform, features Guest Caye founder, Dan Heimbrock discussing how ExactTarget technology enables clients to grow sales, attract more new customers, and stay in contact with people to boost word of mouth referrals.




Key points to take away and apply to your resort marketing program.

1. Smart businesses can craft a one-to-one relationship with their customers.
   
2. It can be difficult for business owners to grasp what is working and not working in thier interactive marketing campaigns. You need to see and understand your data in real time.
3. The best thing you can do to improve email and social media results is to know your winners and losers and adjust accordingly.
4. Everything about online marketing can be improved, if you know what is working.
5. Hotels and resorts can create game changing results by applying knowledge and online marketing tools based on ExactTarget technology.

Caribbean web marketing including social media, email marketing, hotel reservation systems and website booking engines are just a few of the important online marketing tools you need to be a successful Belize hotel or resort.

Guest Caye is an innovative online marketing and booking platform that enables small independent resorts, hotels and lodges to gain increased bookings and higher income per guest through web reservations, automated email marketing and superior guest communications.

1. Create Brand Synergy. Utilize your current brand elements to create a cohesive online brand experience. You should reflect the look and feel of your website.
2. Watch your Image and Text ratio. Images may look really good, but too many divert attention from your message and may cause your email to be too large for and blocked from some email inboxes. Images should balance and complement your text content. And every image should contain alt-text because some email clients default to NOT showing your images unless the reader clicks to display them.
3. Use Tables. For consistent display and better control of your email layout, use tables when writing your HTML or when formatting your content within Guest Caye's Email Editor. Check out these resources on Coding HTML for email vs. websites.
4. Format Your Images Well. Use photo editing programs to edit images to proper size and save the edited images in your email images portfolio. For best rendering results use JPEG or GIF file types.  Most images should not be larger than 300 pixels by 500 pixels....the ideal size may be 250x250.
5. Use Plain Text and Web-Safe Fonts. Text from websites or word processors include formatting that cause rendering issues when pasted into your email. Copy your text into a Plain Text Editor such as Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac) and format your text using web-safe fonts.
6. Send Clear Messages. Before you begin writing, think about what goal you have for the reader's behavior. Use a Call-to-Action to encourage a response from your subscribers.
7. Optimize Your Content. Adding background colors to images and including styled "alt" tags will allow your subscribers to experience your content when images are blocked.
   
8. Design for the Subscriber Experience. Organize your content so readers can grasp your message and take action. If your copy doesn't add to building strong reasons for taking action, cut it and write it again.
9. Be CAN-SPAM Compliant. Laws are in effect in the United States and Canada that govern what you can and cannot do with email marketing. Read up on these important rules here.
10. Test Every Email Before You Click Send. Errors can reduce your message's effectiveness and your brand's credibility. Here's a testing checklist.

BONUS TIP: Get Social. Integrate social media into your email design.

Thank you to our business partners at ExactTarget for this excellent information.