Google maps are now on BedandBreakfast.com

You asked, and we delivered! Wherever in the world Google maps are are available, you can now find them on BedandBreakfast.com's city and property pages. These are a great improvement over the previous maps. Advantages include:

• They're interactive. Guests can zoom in, zoom out, expand the map, and scroll.
• Guests can select a map, satellite, or a hybrid view.
• Data is current, and Google updates it regularly.
• Google maps are familiar to many consumers, and they already know how to navigate through them.

Guests can still click from city maps directly to your property page. If your listing does not have a Google map, it's because Google hasn't created one for your area yet. Google is working now to add maps for other countries, and as they do so, we will add them to our site.
 

Travel Trends

Travel costs expected to rise: “Corporate travel buyers should expect a 6% to 8% overall increase in published travel costs, according to the National Business Travel Association's 2008 U.S. Business Travel Overview & Cost Forecast report. The report shows expectations for published airfare increases in 2008 of between 6% and 10%. NBTA’s study forecasts published hotel rate increases of 5% to 7%. In the face of the price increases, buyers plan to tighten their policies. According to the survey, 8% are reducing nonessential travel and a similar amount plan to do so in 2008. Additionally, 16% of respondents will restrict business class travel, a jump from 7% in 2007.”

Consumer online reviews strongly influence purchase decisions: “According to a recent survey by Deloitte's Consumer Products group, consumers are turning to online reviews in large numbers, and those reviews are having a considerable impact on purchase decisions. 62% of consumers read consumer-written product reviews on the Internet, says the report, and of these, more than eight in 10 say their purchase decisions have been directly influenced by the reviews, either influencing them to buy a different product than the one they had originally been thinking about purchasing, or confirming the original purchase intention.

“All age groups are reading and acting on online reviews at significant rates, says the report. Seven in 10 of the consumers who read reviews share them with friends, family or colleagues, thus amplifying their impact.”

Make travel-generated content work for you: “Today's online marketing buzz is all about social media marketing. For travel professionals though, there is only one kind of social media worth tapping into - Traveler-Generated Content. TCG refers to all travel-related reviews and blog entries posted on the Internet for fellow travelers to read. Experts agree that the content is not only being read, but it also has become a trusted resource that travelers rely on during their purchasing process.

”In a survey conducted by Compete Inc, 56% of respondents considered consumer-generated content (regarding travel) to be credible, while only 36% said they trusted descriptions created by a hotel or other travel suppliers. According to Forrester Research, about a third of American travelers who research trips via the Web read reviews written by fellow travelers. Of those who book hotels online, one-third have changed plans based on other travelers’ comments. 'Travel products and services were identified as the sector most at risk from negative comments on social networks, with 58% of  respondents saying that negative comments would lead to them abandoning a purchase,” as referenced in the 2007 Social Media for Brands Report by Tamar.

“Since more and more travel websites now offer TGC in the form of reviews, you should establish a plan to consistently monitor a variety of websites for TGC related to your properties. Once you have the information, you can analyze it on a regular basis and make informed decisions. By consistently analyzing TGC and comparing it to historical TGC data, you can uncover patterns and common themes concerning your hotels. These insights can be used to make important operational changes and uncover new marketing opportunities.” Read the entire article to learn how to monitor the reviews your inn is getting.

Make your photos show up in searches: “To capitalize on growing searcher interest in vertical content such as images, news and video and to improve the search engine user experience, Google and the other search engines have begun blending vertical results into the main search result page. This phenomenon, ‘universal search,’ is advantageous for searchers, as it gives instant access to many types of files on the same search result page.

“For sites that are rich in images, universal search provides new opportunities for prominent display of these images in search results. To optimize your images for online search: Use meaningful names that suggest what the image represents. For example, name the image of a pineapple “pineapple.jpg.” Avoid naming images with numerical sequences that are only meaningful to you. Use the ALT attribute. For all images, in the ALT attribute include short descriptive text of the image content. Include captions. Google uses the image caption (among many other factors) to identify its content, so employ keyword-rich image captions. Be sure the caption describes the image — cute but distracting captions may hinder your chances.”

Tidbits from a marketing forum: The president of PAII, Jay Karen, recently attended the TIA's Marketing Outlook Forum. Click here to read some of the information he brought back, including date about consumer reviews, posting rates online, and the value of a B&B stay.

U.S. online travel double-digit growth continues: “U.S. online travel commerce continues to experience double-digit gains, according to comScore's U.S. e-commerce spending figures for the third quarter of 2007. comScore, Inc. released U.S. e-commerce spending figures for the third quarter of 2007, showing that retail e-commerce increased 23% over a year ago to $28.4 billion. During the first nine months of 2007, total e-commerce spending surpassed $143 billion, putting it on pace to reach $200 billion by the end of the year. Retail e-commerce accounted for nearly $84 billion, or 58% of the total, while online travel spending came in at nearly $60 billion.

Travelers predict ‘08 trends: “TripAdvisor announced the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 2,500 travelers from around the world. Top trends identified in the survey are concerns about germs, the growth of green tourism, and opposition to cell phone use on planes. Some of the results:

• Eighty percent of respondents are concerned about germs, bacteria and viruses when traveling. Airplanes are the most germy, according to 28% of those polled. Public transportation was next, followed by restaurants, hotels, and airports. Fifty-five percent of travelers said they tend to wash and disinfect their hands more often while traveling. In keeping with the germaphobia trend, 27% of Americans either bring their own disinfectant and cleaning supplies, shower shoes, pillows, towels or linens, when going on a trip.
• Forty-five percent of travelers said their worst experience at a hotel was a dirty bathroom or dirty sheets, and 17% said their worst experience was the presence of vermin.
• Fifty-four percent of respondents from outside the U.S. said that favorable exchange rates will inspire them to travel to the U.S. more in the next 12 months. But 41% of Americans said the unfavorable exchange rates will either prevent them from going, or limit their travel to Europe in the coming year.
• Thirty-two percent of travelers (and 34% of Americans) are planning to engage in educational activity on vacation this year, such as a cooking or art class, up from 25% (and 28% of Americans), last year.
• Fifty-three percent of travelers said it takes them less than a day to unwind when on vacation, while 35% take 1-2 days to relax.
• Travelers will average about three vacations in the coming year. 64% plan to vacation to a beach this year, compared to 59% last year. Florida is the most popular U.S. state that worldwide travelers intend to visit in the next 12 months, and internationally, 34% of Americans are planning to visit Europe in the year to come.

TIA forecasts modest business travel growth: “Travel spending by domestic and international visitors in 2008 is forecast to increase 5.2%, to $778.2 billion, up from projected full-year 2007 travel spending of $740 billion, which would be a 5.7% increase over 2006. Other statistics from the TIA:

• Business travel is expected to achieve a modest 0.4% annual increase in 2008, following a three-year drop in the market.
• Domestic leisure trips are expected to continue an upward trend of modest growth in 2008, climbing 2% to 1.6 billion trips.
• International travel (including visitors from Canada and Mexico) to the United States is expected to rise 3.7% in 2008 to 55.6 million visitors, following a projected 5.1% increase for 2007. Overseas travelers, primarily from Western Europe and Japan, represent the United States’ top inbound visitors and spend the most money. Although overseas travel is expected to increase slightly in 2007, it has yet to surpass the 2000 level, despite the weak dollar making the U.S. a travel bargain.”

Holiday shopping will be up, but not by much: According to NRF's 2007 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, shoppers still plan to spend more on the holidays this year than last, but consumers say their spending will be a bit restrained this holiday season. The NRF forecast for the upcoming 2007 holiday season predicts that sales will rise 4.0% this year to $474.5 billion.

U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $816.69 on holiday-related shopping. In addition, these shoppers will spend an additional $106.67 on special "non-gift" purchases by taking advantage of special promotions and discounts to treat themselves.

Practical items are the most sought-after gifts on the consumer wish lists this holiday season, which include:

• 53.8% of consumers want to receive a gift card or gift certificate as a holiday gift
• 50.1% want clothing and accessories
• 50.8% wish for books, CDs, DVDs, videos and video games
• Consumer electronics or computer-related accessories (36.4%)
• Jewelry (23.8%)
• Home décor or home-related furnishings (22.0%)

Consumers will shop at a variety of places:

• Department Stores will see the most traffic (58.2% vs. 61.6% last year
• Grocery store Christmas shopping traffic to be 44.6% in 2007 vs. 49.3% in 2006
• Online shoppers expected to be 44.3% of shoppers in 2007 vs. 47.1% in 2006
• Consumers, on average, plan to do 30.2% of their shopping online compared to 28.9% in 2006.

Hotels trying to keep up with technology: ”Many hotels are trying to catch up with a population that is more comfortable with technology than ever. The $133-billion lodging industry's cutting edge sees a business opportunity in traveling lawyers pining for high-speed Internet access, twentysomethings looking for a place to plug in their iPods and vacationers preferring YouTube over the boob tube.

But although the trend is gathering steam, it's a tricky proposition for the industry. In a survey of business travelers this year, 58% said free high-speed Internet access was "very" or "extremely" influential in determining where they stayed -- triple the proportion from five years earlier. Though location, price and overall reputation still matter more, ‘what's really remarkable is that the amenities that have risen fastest in terms of consumer preference are all technologies,’ said hotel marketer Peter Yesawich, whose Orlando firm conducts the annual poll. "There's an expectation that what people have in their home, they will find when traveling.'

”Most major technology improvements have required substantial investments by hotels. The current round of upgrades is driven by two big constituencies: Guests want Net access. And hotels want flat-screen televisions, which goose in-room movie sales. Independently owned hotels are leading the charge into the future. Their competitors are following, worried about losing customers.

hotels.com adds interactive rate calendar: “hotels.com unveiled a new room rate calendar feature that helps travelers quickly identify the best room rates available at the property of their choice. This tool is available for the full hotels.com selection of lodging options, including hotels, resorts, vacation rentals, and bed and breakfasts.

"The rate calendar, which appears on the ‘Rooms & Rates’ tab for each property on the hotels.com site, is color-coded to give users a quick, at-a-glance view of pricing levels for each day. In addition, the calendar displays the actual price for most properties, so that users can compare specific cost differences among different dates. hotels.com provides calendar data for six months into the future.

“In addition to the new rate calendar, hotels.com continues to offer side-by-side comparisons, photos, virtual tours, user reviews, detailed property descriptions, and mapping capabilities to help travelers find and book the right hotel for each trip. The company’s Flexible Booking program enables customers to change or cancel bookings without any fees from hotels.com.”

U.S. RevPAR growth to slow down: “PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) recently announced that it has updated its forecast for RevPAR growth based on new research. The company is now predicting a slowdown in the pace of annual RevPAR growth for the next few years, with increases of 5.5% expected in 2007 and 4.2% in 2008. Average room rates (ADR) will continue as the primary driver of RevPAR gains, with occupancy expected to remain flat to slightly higher for the period.

“For 2007, occupancy is forecast to rise slightly (0.1%) as average room rates increase 5.4%. For 2008, PKF-HR is forecasting U.S. national occupancy to be flat, with a 4.2% gain in both ADR and RevPAR. The last three years, RevPAR increased at an average annual rate of 8%.

“Among the chain scale segments, midscale hotels without food and beverage are forecast to achieve the greatest gains in RevPAR (6.5%) in 2007. Conversely, economy (3.3%) and midscale with food and beverage (2.2%) properties are projected to achieve the lowest growth in RevPAR for the year.

“PKF Hospitality Research is projecting a 3.5% increase in the supply of hotel rooms in the nation in 2008. This influx of new competition will contribute to moderating occupancy. PKF-HR is forecasting occupancy to remain at 63.4% in 2008, the same level achieved in 2007. Fortunately, with occupancy still above the long-term average, ADR is expected to continue to grow above the pace of inflation during the year. In 2008, PKF-HR is forecasting at 4.2% rise in average daily room rates. Therefore, RevPAR will also grow 4.2% in 2008.”

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