During a break at Wyndham’s global brand conference in Las Vegas, President and CEO Eric Danziger said he wants to leverage Howard Johnson’s status in the pantheon of American nostalgia through an as-yet-unannounced refresh, writes HotelNewsNow.com’s Patrick Mayock.
“I’m not trying to create a new Howard Johnson,” he said. “I’m trying to bring back the old one.”
Within Wyndham’s portfolio, there are 451 Howard Johnson hotels in 13 countries.
While there’s no official word on the state of the refresh or what exactly it will entail, Danziger said the company is getting close to rolling out a new prototype.
He also discussed a number of new initiatives designed to drive value to franchisees during the company’s global conference. At the top of the list: an in-house review management system and new brand websites and mobile platforms.
Families across the country are taking advantage of the holiday weekend and the start of spring break for schoolchildren, according to forward-looking data from TravelClick.
Hotels in seven top markets across the U.S. are experiencing increases in advanced occupancy over the Easter and beginning of Passover weekend compared to last year.
• Washington, D.C.: up 5.6%
• San Francisco: up 2%
• San Diego: up 15.9%
• Philadelphia: up 8.8%
• Orlando: up 14.3%
• Miami: up 11.7%
• Boston: up 22%
(Data reflects occupancy levels for Friday through Sunday)
A national survey conducted by Radisson with Kelton Research is revealing the current travel habits of working Americans.
Americans are allotted an average of 18 vacation days per year but, in 2011, 48% opted not to take half or more of their vacation time because of mounting work pressures, according to the survey. The survey of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over, identified that workload and a reluctance to play catch-up were among the top reasons for not using all their vacation time.
In an effort to find vacation-like experiences without taking time off, business travelers increasingly are merging business with pleasure. According to the survey, approximately 63% bring family along on a business trip as a way to spend more time with them, and more than half say they look forward to the experience of staying in a hotel.
The top five amenities for business travelers were:
• Hotel restaurant or café (70%)
• Room service (51%)
• Hotel pool (46%)
• Hotel fitness center (44%)
Top amenities for leisure travelers were:
• Hotel restaurant or café (69%)
• Hotel pool (69%)
• Room service (43%)
• Hotel fitness center (39%)
Attribution is still in its early stages, but 72% of marketers surveyed by Google and research firm Econsultancy reported marketing attribution leads to better budget allocations.
“Marketing Attribution: Valuing the Customer Journey” provides insights into how advertisers and marketers can gauge the impact of customer marketing interactions on sales results while making more accurate investment decisions.
Top findings from the report include:
• Sixty-three percent of respondents gained a better understanding of how digital channels work together, and 58% had clearer insights into their audience.
• Although only 14% of respondents consider last-click attribution to be “very effective,” it remains common; most likely because marketers have yet to find or master the right attribution tools.
Read the entire report here.
Despite the immense popularity and relative newness of flash sale websites such as Groupon, Bloomspot, Jetsetter and Living Social, the jury is still out on the effectiveness and real value of these sites for a hotel's marketing plan, according to a recent survey from TravelClick.
Forty percent of the approximately 900 global hoteliers surveyed have used a flash sale website. Of the 40% who have tried these sites, 38% have found it less successful than they had hoped and do not plan to use again. Hoteliers believed that the sales gave up too much revenue to the site operator (25%), did not attract the right caliber of customer reflective of the brand (21.7%) and did not see enough return business from the promotion (21.7%).
Nearly 40% of those surveyed have not tried a flash sale promotion and have no interest in executing one in 2012, while 23% say that they will try a flash sale site for the first time this year. When asked which flash sale website hotels chose to use, 53.3% of hoteliers polled had partnered with Groupon.
Compiled by Stephanie Wharton.
