Hospitality Consulting Update 02-21-11 from the Mgmt Experts at PGI

Three key stories reported in HotelNewsNow.com that we follow as part of our hospitality consulting focused on China’s economy, independent hotels in the Internet age and Google’s new distribution strategy that may affect how hotel rooms are booked online. Here are the full article links followed by our take on the impact: China Overtakes Japan as World’s No. 2 Economy Independent hotel segment shows resiliency, strength Google will change your distribution strategy World MapAs it concerns China economy now being second to the United States, the growth in discretionary income amongst the Chinese bodes well for their population to travel more here. This also provides a new market for limited-service and lower priced hotels to target as the Chinese tend to travel in groups and prefer to spend money on site seeing activities as opposed to wanting a lot of room amenities at a higher rate. Regarding the independent hotel segment, the Internet has long been a marketing channel to level the playing field among non-branded hotels and their franchised counterparts. Those independents that have strong sales and marketing programs interfaced with a proactive Internet distribution channel stand to gain more in terms of future market share than those that rely on traditional sources of business, such as travel agents, directory advertising and cold calling potential clients, from a hospitality consulting perspective. On the Google front, hotels will need to be more diligent in staying abreast of what changes lie ahead in terms of how they get found and getting their rooms booked online direct. It seems one of the changes in Google Places is where different OTAs (i.e. Expedia, Travelocity) are given priority in the price listings over the hotel’s own web site. If you are an owner or operator, what is your take on the above issues and how will it affect your hotel? What one takeaway can we share with our readers from a hospitality consulting standpoint that will impact your lodging business either positively or negatively??