Category: Tips and Ideas

Today’s digital marketing activities are a necessity when it comes to making a difference in the competitive hotel industry. The accuracy of business listings, information, and directories are sometimes forgotten in the clutter of other problems to solve when it comes to hotels. You could be missing out on potential clients because somewhere online, your address and phone number are entirely inaccurate.

Here are the top 3 ways having wrong business information will hurt your hotel:

Potential Clients Lose Trust

Imagine planning a getaway. You decide to drive down to Florida for some solitude. It’s time to search for a hotel. You search through Google, find the hotel you are particularly interested in, and decide to book it. Before you call, you want to visit the website and see where it’s located. Google shows you one address, but the website states a different address. You try to call the hotel to speak with an employee but, “The number you have dialed is unavailable….”  Do you continue your search for this hotel or abandon it to check out other locations? BrightLocal states, “80% of consumers lose trust in local businesses if they see incorrect or inconsistent contact details or business names online.” Now imagine how many times this might happen a day, a week, or even in one year. Not only was a potential client lost, but they also won’t consider you for their next getaway because they have lost trust in your business.

Low Ranking in Google Listings

If you ever need to search for anything whether it is recipes, new cars, best pasta in town, Friday night activities, etc. Google is one of the significant search engines out there. But, do you ever wonder how it ranks individual listings over others. One of the critical factors is NAP: Name, Address, Phone Number. Google feeds and receives this information from the top data aggregators Localeze, Neustar, Infogroup, and Factual. These data aggregators are the gatekeepers. Think of them as your online search engine bureau. They make sure that the information that is received and sent out is accurate. Now if your listing is wrong, it could potentially overwrite CORRECT details about your business listing. Such as the name of a company that used to be at your location. It’s still listed as “Grey’s Papaya” instead of the hotel’s correct business name. If Google detects any inaccuracies, your listing will get demoted. If no changes are made to correct the information, it continues to demote the hotel’s business listing. This happens until it reaches a particular page or level that your listing is worthy of. Don’t let your hotel sink in rankings because of inaccurate information. Address the situation before you get buried on the second page.

The Competitor Wins

A potential client has one foot in the door. They see how amazing your reviews are. They love the location since it is a short distance from home. They love the look of the hotel, but there’s no information about the surrounding area, such as restaurants and activities. They go to visit your hotel to see how the surrounding neighborhood looks like, and your hotel is nowhere to be found. The address that was provided to them by the search engine is inaccurate. Completely upset with the time they spent searching they decide to book somewhere else, and it’s your direct competitor. The Local Citations Trust Report from BrightLocal states, “30% of consumers would go to a competitor if they couldn’t locate a business because of incorrect information found online.” Another potential client is lost because your address was incorrect when displaying in the search engine.

There are plenty of resources and tools to help you manage your business listings. It’s up to you to be on top of it, or we can help you. Check out how we can help you increase your leads and correct your business listings throughout the internet in places you would have never thought of searching. Put yourself in your client’s shoes. Would you stay at a hotel that had inaccurate information online?

If you are in search of best guest manager app then please contact us and know more details about it.

Imagine you’re an avid traveler, who is no stranger to luxury perks. With a passport that boasts stamps from destinations around the world, you’ve found yourself making a temporary home at countless hotels, each with their own unique appeal.

On a leisure trip to the Palms Resorts Casino, you check into the Empathy Suite; a room which, by any measure, marks the very epitome of luxury. The villa is recently redesigned, featuring sharks suspended in formaldehyde, a salt relaxation room, butler service and even a cantilevered outdoor pool, set across 9,000 square feet of prime resort real estate. The biggest perk of all? You’ve been granted a $10,000 credit to spend at the hotel just for being a VIP guest.

If this paints a rather far-fetched picture, it’s likely because the luxury described here comes at a cost. A steep one, at that. While the suite is surely a worthy backdrop to the ultimate Las Vegas dream vacation, it is currently the most expensive hotel suite in the world. $100,000 per night, to be exact.

Of course, extreme luxury offerings aren’t a new concept to hotels around the globe. From fragrance or soap butlers to personalized firework displays, private helicopter rides, or even access to a Rolls-Royce Ghost for a day, luxury perks are meant to truly ‘wow’ guests. However, in many cases, these luxuries are more of a costly add-on than a built-in amenity and, therefore, represent an experience that, although exceptional, may be largely inaccessible for many. With this in mind, modern luxury has become a redefined concept, especially as of late. After all, shouldn’t ‘luxury’ or rather, ‘share-worthy’ experiences be more accessible to all guests?

So, how can hoteliers redefine luxury experiences for the modern traveler? What high-touch services or amenities are accessible and easy to implement, but are still representative of exceptional, stand out service?

Unique and Personalized Service

Over the past few years, the demand for luxury has steadily shifted away from goods to favor experiences, instead. This, coupled with the subsequent rise in demand for personalization, has created a hospitality landscape in which those properties are offering inherently unique services and enhanced personalization.

At the beginning of this year, an op-ed was published to Business Insider titled, “Luxury travelers want more than ever before, and hotels are borrowing a tactic used by Netflix and Amazon to keep up.” The article spoke to how rather simple personalization tactics commonly utilized by services such as Netflix and Amazon, can be replicated at hotels to delight guests. Much like Netflix takes note of what we watched last and crafts suggestions according to that information, hotels should make a note of guest preferences and act on them accordingly with personalized amenities or offers. This can be achieved in many ways, ranging from in-room settings (including pre-set temperature, lighting, entertainment and more) or complimentary services, to a chilled glass of a guest’s favorite wine, ready upon check-in, via Plum.

The Alfond Inn at Rollins, which was recently singled out as a top hotel in the Condé Nast Traveler 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards, has made a name for itself through the delivery of unique, memorable, guest-centric service. With the addition of in-room, on-demand wine for their guests, they can provide a unique, hyper-convenient luxury amenity with ease. The St. Regis hotel in Washington, DC has seen similar success, with their Director of Operations sharing that “The positive feedback we’ve received from guests since we first introduced Plum has been amazing.” Not only does this aim to delight new travelers, but it is also a service which can be leveraged to recognize and celebrate loyal, VIP guests.

In many cases, it’s the simple but meaningful gestures and amenities such as in-room wine and personalized touches, which help to bring special attention to each guest amongst a sea of travelers. This, in itself, is modern, tangible luxury. Ultimately, a hotel doesn’t have to go to extremes to differentiate their service. Instead, it’s about going the extra mile to get to know guests, recognize their preferences and provide them with a home away from home.

Tapping Into Authentic, Local Experiences

Guests today have a noted penchant for local experiences, often seeking out opportunities, amenities, and services which allow them to get closer to the culture of the area which they are visiting. Guests want to experience the world through a local perspective, in ways that aren’t to be defined as the status quo. To answer this demand, many hotels around the globe offer their guests in-depth destination guides or host their own locally-led tours and experiences.

London-based hotel, Leman Locke, does this especially well, offering guests a 5K running club every Wednesday that involves a scenic jog through the city led by the hotel’s running coach. Not only that, but guests can join a Saturday morning yoga club hosted by local yoga coaches Sabi and Danielle, and an atmospheric dawn tour of East London with London-based photographer Anthony Epes.

Many hotels are also relying on their F&B program to achieve this effect, with the help of locally-inspired dining and beverage menus. Even going beyond on-property restaurants and bars, The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills now offers guests in-room wine from the award-winning, local winery, J. Lohr and Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay. This allows guests to get a taste of premium, California wine culture without having to buy a whole bottle, and within the comfort of their hotel room.

‘Wow’ Them with Wellness Initiatives

Wellness enclaves are becoming relatively common across luxury hotels, as travelers express a growing desire for health-conscious programs and services. Hotels around the world are now finding creative ways to integrate wellness into their service model, from property design and amenities to daily operations.

The Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., took note of the rise in wellness travel and decided to cater to their prospective health-conscious guests with the creation of 13 new ‘Wellness Rooms.’ Each room is focused on one of the three elements of wellness: comfort, relaxation, and fitness, including amenities such as aromatherapy bath salts, showerheads delivering water infused with Vitamin C, desk wellness balls, yoga mats, sound + sleep machines, air purifiers, and more. These rooms are also conveniently located near the hotel’s recently renovated fitness center which features state of the art equipment and a full-service spa. While this may seem like a rather lofty investment into the wellness segment, consider this: The Global Wellness Institute calculated the global spend on wellness tourism at $639.4 billion in 2017 alone.

Of course, not every wellness program will require extensive renovations. Many hotels are tapping into this new kind of luxury by offering their guests health-focused dining options, saline swimming pools, fitness centers or incentives for local fitness offerings, in-room exercise or meditation guides via a Smart TV, bike-share programs, and so much more.

While certain extravagance and grandeur will always have its place in hospitality, many travelers are interested in a different kind of luxury today. For them, high-end service is not necessarily found in the Penthouse Suite, but can instead be accomplished through unique and personalized service, local experiences and wellness-focused amenities. Fortunately for hoteliers, luxury service doesn’t always need to be a far-fetched or costly concept. It can be achieved with something as simple as a personal gesture or touch in a hotel room, a fully stocked fitness center or, perhaps, a chilled glass of in-room wine. Here are many other ways to improve the guest experience and increase the direct bookings for hotels through apps like personal concierge app.

Comfort is a tricky thing. It allows you to feel safe and it gives you the assurance that everything is as it should be. Whether the assurance is real or fake, it is assuring alright! But every visionary who has dared to dream big, has insisted on giving up the need to always feel safe and vouched for the power of stepping away from and being cautious of the “comfort zone’.

“If you opt for a safe life, you will never know what it’s like to win.”
Richard Branson

Why am I telling you all this? Because in today’s digital age, it is fairly common for tech-solution providers to come across prospective clients who are sold on everything they provide, except for the fact that they are headquartered in a place that is not their own.

We are talking about those hotel owners who’d rather invest in an average local tech solution provider than in a world-class one that operates from another corner of the world. This preference is rooted in fears which are valid (to an extent) and multiple, like:

What if there are issues with the system?
What if their support isn’t good enough?

What if they hold hands till the implementation and then go missing in action?

What if they don’t cater to the geo-specific needs of my business?

What if…

The Decision to invest in the right PMS is not an easy one… and rightly so, considering how many options there are in the market today, and how not all of them will cater to your specific business requirements. So, to make the right decision you need to ask the right questions and consider all the factors that will impact your business.

Therefore, it is crucial for you to get a deeper understanding of all the available options, whether local or global, before you settle for the easiest one. After all, successful businesses aren’t always run on convenience. So, find out everything you need to know about a PMS and understand the key factors that you need to consider before investing in one, regardless of whether it is locally based or not.

Note: If you are in the process of selecting a PMS, make sure you understand how to go about making the decision of choosing the right PMS for your hotel business.

But here’s a quick look at the most important factors you need to consider before investing in a Cloud PMS:

• Implementation – A good cloud-based PMS provider should help you with an easy and quick implementation process, not taking more than a month. Smooth and thorough implementation takes time, so watch out for any system that claims otherwise!
• Data-security – Cloud-based PMSs are hosted on the cloud, as the name suggests. That means that you no longer have to worry about downtimes, loss of data, etc. Consider which cloud-based server the PMS provider works with and take a call accordingly. Some of the best cloud servers are Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
• Integrations – Your PMS provider needs to empower you to integrate with the powerful third-party solutions to manage other areas of your hotel business like channel management, revenue management, accounting, business intelligence, reputation management, etc.
• Distribution – It doesn’t matter how many channels a PMS claims to connect with, hotels only connect with the ones that make most sense to them. So, go for a PMS provider who connects with Channel Managers/OTAs who cater to your target audience. Don’t get carried away by the sheer number of channels the system connects with.

Support – This is an underrated feature that not many PMS providers like to focus on. What you need is a PMS provider who is willing you to go all the way to provide you with round-the-clock support to address any issue in real-time.

Note: Yes, it is psychologically a feel-good factor to have a person come in personally, talk to you and address your issues. But, in the hotel business, time is money and so responses like, “We’ll send in our customer success representative by Monday” will not do. Dedicated Account Managers and round-the-clock support is what will work. Data and Insights: You need a PMS that will arm you with all the data you need to run a successful and sustainable business. Hotelogix PMS gives you access to over 100 reports that brings you up to speed on all the insights you need, across all functions, so you can be informed about every aspect of your business, no matter where you are.

Note: A PMS’s job isn’t just to help with reservations and online distribution. In fact, those are the fundamentals. A good PMS should enable you to manage all aspects of your business under one roof – end-to-end, that is.

The Do’s and Don’ts of the decision:

Dos:

1. List out your criteria before setting out to explore the options. Set your expectations right, lay out your goals in as much detail as possible and establish a clear output that you wish to achieve from the investment. What works for one hotel need not always work for the other.

2. Invest time in thoroughly evaluating at least a couple of PMS providers before taking the plunge. You don’t want to regret making the wrong choice within a month or two of investing in a system.

3. Look for automation of daily tasks which will help you increase staff productivity, staff efficiency, save numerous man-hours, improve guest experience and thereby your online reputation and your revenue.

4. Keep yourself updated when it comes to hospitality technology. No matter what challenge you are presented with, there is a tool out there to help you overcome it! A good PMS provider will accommodate integration requests as far as possible and make sure your business doesn’t suffer.

Don’ts:

1. Do not get carried away by familiarity. In this day and age, it shouldn’t matter to you where the provider sits out of, as long as the product is powerful, dynamic and efficient. Get out of your comfort zone and see what the world has to offer you in terms of tech solutions- you’ll be amazed!

2. Do not confuse a basic system for an easy-to-use system. Go for a system that will make your staff’s lives easier, while at the same time deliver on its promise of improving your hotel business. A basic system can be easy to use but can never give you elaborate results. Whereas, a robust system can be both easy-to use and efficient.

3. Do not settle. Ever. You have every chance in the world to build a thriving hotel business with technology on your side. If you don’t strike gold with whatever system you opted for, remember that there are other world-class players out there who could give you that extra push and put you back on track. But don’t ever settle for a sub-standard PMS or choose to run operations manually because that is a much worse problem to have!

4. Do not invest in a system before doing a thorough research of customer reviews. Read customer success stories or case studies and user-generated content/reviews on as many platforms as you can, as these are things that will give you the real feel of what you are signing up for.

“Coming out of your comfort zone is tough in the beginning, chaotic in the middle, and awesome in the end…because in the end, it shows you a whole new world !
Make an attempt.”

We get it. We’ve been around for well over a decade and we cater to big and small hotels across a hundred countries. In fact, we are familiar with most of these fears since we have ourselves helped several hoteliers overcome these fears and seek value in our product successfully. And, we are here to address this pressing issue for you and all other hoteliers like you, who are skeptical to be associated with a global PMS provider. If you are in search of best concierge app for hotels, then please contact us and know more details about it.

Everyone, by virtue of being human, makes mistakes.

Some mistakes have worse consequences than others and depending on the industry, backlash can range from minor to cataclysmic. The type of mistake you make will also have an impact on this. Did it just affect you, or did it also affect your customers?

In the hospitality industry almost everything revolves around the customer, and they’re the quickest party to point out any flaws. There’s also plenty of times where you might simply self-sabotage and fail to get the most out of your business.

Human fallibility prevents us from eliminating all our mistakes, but you can certainly look out for the some common errors to avoid. Here’s our top 10.

1. Failing to provide basic contact information

A beautiful looking website with a fancy design and stunning features means nothing to the customer if they can’t find your address or phone number on the homepage. The basics are something every hotel must get right before anything else.

Travellers have all kinds of queries and many of them want to call to get instant clarification, and often people will be calling to make a booking so your phone number is an absolutely essential piece of information.

2. Website scarecrows – autoplay videos and music

Many people book holidays between the hours of 9am – 5pm, i.e work hours. The last thing they need is for their computer to start blasting commercials or ditties around the office. The first thing they’ll do is close your website and it’s unlikely they’ll return.

3. Incorrect use of social media

It’s great to use social media as a marketing avenue but it’s important you use it in the right way. You want traffic to be directed to your website and booking pages, not away from them. A common mistake hoteliers make is sending website visitors away to their social media channels immediately after a visitor has landed on the homepage.

How many people are going to be coming back once they’ve been redirected to YouTube for instance?

4. Poor quality photos

There’s really no point in investing in a great website design if the photos you integrate into the theme are lacking quality. Travellers want to see what they’re paying for and if what they see is a grainy, blurry, or poorly framed image they won’t be racing to open their wallets.

Paying for high quality photography is worth every penny and you should update your images every couple of years, or every time you refurbish.

5. Downloads for simple information

Does anyone actually enjoy downloading a PDF to their phone or computer? The answer is probably no so why would you make a prospective guest do this? If a traveller wants to view the menu of your hotel restaurant for example, they should be able to do it on your website. Making them download documents is a conversion killer.

6. Connecting to the wrong distribution channels

When you connect to online travel agents manually or via a channel manager, it’s still important to do some research. You have to look beyond the four or five biggest channels and find partners that most suit your target market.

7. Ignoring the potential of the local area

Guests are simply buying a hotel room when they come to stay at your hotel. For them, they’re paying for an experience delivered by the destination. It would be silly for you not to take advantage of this.

Make sure you partner with local businesses and run promotions and packages around local events and attractions.

8. Closing your ears (and mouth) to feedback

Reviews are one of the most important aspects to get right for your hotel. Customer satisfaction and brand reputation are vital if you want to keep the bookings coming in.

The worst thing you can do is stay silent online when people leave reviews and feedback on sites like TripAdvisor or your social media pages. You need to respond diligently to both positive and negative reviews.

9. Not paying close attention to seasonality

The price people are prepared to pay for the hotels room will depend on the supply and demand trends over time. Seasonality matters, and you’ll have to change rates a number of times during the year to reflect buying behavior and market conditions. This, together with the date and timing release of packages and promotions forms an integral part of your sales and marketing plan.

10. Lacking attention to detail in housekeeping

One of the most common complaints from guests is about dirty rooms or general uncleanliness of the hotel. There should never be any shortcutting when it comes to housekeeping and cleaning. Not only is it a healthy and safety issue, but you open yourself up to a flood of negative reviews.

Of course, there are plenty of other pitfalls that could hit your hotel so you have to be constantly diligent and find ways to optimise your processes, reducing the risk of mistakes that could cost you money.

Develop your hotel mobile app to delight your guest quick and easy. It helps you empower your sales team to sell immediately.

Let me start by stating the obvious. There are a lot more than just four key components to being a successful manager in the hospitality industry.

I know that!

However, these four components, that I am going to focus on, are important to me and have played a critical role in my career thus far and they are essential elements of my management style. I believe that if you incorporate these four components into your regiment at work they will have a positive influence on your team and they will help you to achieve your customer service objectives.

MBWA – Manage By Walking Around

Get out of your office and get off your phone & computer and walk around your hotel. Walk through the lobby and the restaurant, at the peak meal periods, the banquet areas (if you have any) or simply just be in the common guest areas. Meet and speak with your guests. Get to know them and ask how they are enjoying their stay or, and more importantly, if they are having any issues or problems because that gives you the opportunity to resolve them.

Walk the floors. Speak with your Room Attendants and get to know them. Housekeeping is the hardest working department in a hotel and sometimes the most overlooked because they are downstairs in the basement. Interact with them and build on your relationship with them. They are important parts to your customer service strategy. They see and interact with guests on a very different level. The relationship they have your guests’ is not transactional, as it is in the restaurant on even at the Front Desk, it is intimate and personal. They see your guests when they are going to the office, enjoying a day or two off work or taking their family on a tour of the city. They have a great opportunity to positively affect your guests stay.

Walking the floors also gives you the chance to inspect your guest floors and to be another set of eyes to look for any deficiencies. Things as simple as a burnt out hallway light or a small stain on the carpet or wallpaper will leave a negative impression on your guests’ overall view of your hotel and they are so easily avoidable.

LBE – Lead By Example

This sounds simple and it is.

If you expect your team to smile and acknowledge every guest they interact with, then do it! If you want your Front Desk Agents to acknowledge, smile and greet every guest who walks by the front desk or walks off your elevator, then do it! If you want your guests to have a more personalized experience then you need to engage with your guests on that level.

No matter what your customer service philosophy is, if you do not live it and use it with every interaction you have with your guests why would you expect your team to do the same.

Hire the Passion & Train the Skill

I cannot say it any more clearly than this. The hospitality industry is a people business. Look for and hire those who have a passion to serve or a passion for customer service. You can train anyone for almost anything but you absolutely cannot train passion or personality.

I appreciate that this is a challenge in some markets. However, when we are too focused on experience and work history we tend to look over the cornerstone of our industry, which is the personal element. If someone has no FOSSE, OPERA, ONQ or PMS experience that should not automatically exclude them from the hiring process. Which is what AI applications do by the way. The hospitality industry is a people business and we need people who can relate and interact with other people. The obvious exception to this is when you are looking for a candidate with specific and required experience or knowledge like an Engineer or a Cook. Nevertheless, even with those positions, the personal element needs to be taken into account.

We can train individuals to use whatever property management system our hotel has and we can explain and review the operating procedures and policies. However, we cannot train people to be empathetic, compassionate, authentic or personable.

Always Celebrate

Birthdays, work anniversaries, Trip Advisor comments, guest survey mentions, guest comments, “going above and beyond”.

There will always be a reason to celebrate so do not ever miss an opportunity to celebrate with your team. If your customer service philosophy includes personal and memorable experiences then live by example and make sure you personalize that experience with your team. There are many other ways to improve the guest experience and increase the direct bookings for hotels through apps like guest manager app .

What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is the world’s driving cloud based CRM programming that enables your business to develop into an increasingly streamlined, successful and effective association over all bases. Having been in the market since late 90s, Salesforce has developed into a standout amongst the most creative and extensive CRM arrangements, fit for tending to the majority of your business needs.

How can it help you in your business?

Here are ten essential reasons why Salesforce merits your consideration and thought. How about we get this show on the road.

1. Simple to Utilize

Salesforce is as simple to use as the sites you visit each day. You can sign in from anyplace, team up with your associates and view and update client information at whatever point you need.

2. Simple to Redo

Regardless of whether you need to include modules or fields, make deal procedures or change work processes, it’s everything only a tick away with Salesforce Customization.

3. Cloud-Based

Salesforce takes adaptability to the following dimension. You can utilize it anyplace and whenever. It has spearheaded a protected and refined cloud framework and offers unparalleled cloud answers for Deals, Promoting, Backing, and Examination.

4. Productive Announcing

Salesforce offers an amazing suite of announcing instruments which help spare your time, cash and enable you to give your business the consideration it merits. The revealing office in Salesforce is adjustable, empowers contract the board and offers continuous reports and examination.

5. Multi tenant Stage

All Salesforce clients share a similar framework and occurrence of the product. This takes into account programmed and synchronous updates for all clients on the stage, while keeping their information secure. This implies you’re getting the best in class highlights with programmed, consistent redesigns three times each year.

6. Joining Alternatives

The Salesforce stage has a vigorous and an all around reported open Programming interface which makes for all intents and purposes any Salesforce mix conceivable. This gives you a chance to delineate business forms onto Salesforce all the more adequately and lifts efficiency.

7. App Exchange Environment

App Exchange in Salesforce enables you to create and advertise your very own application or gain admittance to a huge number of valuable, verified and confirmed applications and mixes worked by different clients.

8. Versatile CRM

Salesforce was one of the most punctual CRMs to go versatile. Presently regardless of whether you are on get-aways, you can understand the maximum capacity of Salesforce utilizing your cell phone.

9. Client Achievement Stage

Salesforce lets you productively bind together extraordinary key elements of your business so you can make client progress. You can sell, administration, advertise, team up, know your clients, and manufacture applications on a solitary stage.

10. Assorted People group

The people group at Salesforce is constantly prepared to help and bolster you. They likewise give customization administrations and help organizations access a pool of rich designer ability.

The Reality!

Since its discharge, Salesforce has helped a substantial number of business to all the more likely deal with their clients and develop. On the off chance that you also are searching for the ideal CRM for your business, look no further. Online concierge app is focused on greatness and with its extraordinary highlights, it will begin paying profits right away.

App reviews are a key driver of app success.

On one side, positive or negative reviews can either attract or deter new users, effecting acquisition goals and app store visibility. On another side, reviews can also give us insight into the user experience and sentiment, helping guide and prioritize fixes, functionality improvements or new feature development.

However, when we’re only looking at our own reviews, the practice of gathering insight is, for the sake or argument, reactive. Users provide their feedback and we react – but how can we flip the switch and better anticipate their needs and expectations? The answer may be as simple as employing some good old fashioned competitive analysis with a bit of review mining!

What is review mining?

Review mining is the process of digging into competitor app reviews in search of qualitative data that can help you increase your app’s visibility or quality. In short, it’s a way to proactively look at user feedback, in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Looking at competitor app reviews gives you access to huge amounts of customer opinion to inform important decisions about your app. For example, review mining can unlock insights about features and functionality that your market expects. You can also learn from your competitior’s negative feedback to avoid making the same mistakes – especially when it comes to pricing and features. Finally, review mining can help you optimize your own app store profile thanks to the incredible amount of data you can use for keyword generation.

How can I mine reviews?

There are several data mining techniques that you can employ to gather insights from competitor reviews. While you can pay for review insights from ASO platforms like Sensor Tower, Mobile Action or App Tweak, you can also mine reviews on zero budget. Here are the steps you can use to perform a manual audit of your competitors’ app reviews:

1. Set up a tracking sheet

Before you start reading through your competitor reviews, set up a tracking sheet where you can record the data. The best way to do this is to create a sheet in excel where you can track keywords occurrences (or phrase matches) across app star rating. By doing this you can get an idea of sentiment (negative vs. positive) for select keywords, as well as keyword groups that may pertain to specific app features or functionality.

2. Mine the reviews

If you’re competitors don’t have many reviews you can do this simply by reading through the reviews of the App Store and/or Google Play. However, if you are analyzing several competitors that have many reviews, or want to segment reviews by app versions, country, or date, you can use a platform like App Annie to copy and paste reviews into excel where you can breakdown the data into more manageable pieces. With App Annie you can filter reviews from star rating, as well as reviews that are critical or favorable.

3. Analyze the results

Understanding which terms and lingo people use to describe positive app experiences can help you generate new keywords to add to your app store list and description. Furthermore, quantifying the quality or sentiment of groupings can help you benchmark your own efforts against competitors, as well as guide improvements and feature roadmap decisions. For example, if you want to zone in on pricing sentiment, track keywords across a couple of your competitors and benchmark your own results. In the example below, this app publisher may want to rethink their pricing strategy, drawing insight on what app A is doing wrong and what app B is doing better.

Similarly, by analyzing critical reviews you can learn what users dislike and make changes to your own app to avoid these mistakes. Likewise, favorable reviews can help you learn what users will expect from your app, helping you make the necessary improvements to ensure customer satisfaction.

Final thoughts

While manual review mining can be a bit time consuming, developing a tailor made tracking tool can meet your individual needs without spending much money. However, DIY review mining doesn’t necessarily scale well, especially when we start thinking about various languages. For this reason, larger app developers may want to consider looking into some of the enterprise review analysis tools offered by the app store optimization services mentioned above. Mobile app for hotel is the best app for hoteliers to know about the reviews of guests about their hotels and they can improve their services according to the customers.

Scanning a ticket with an event check in app Fast and Efficient Ticketing App Guide You have access to all of the latest event registration software, and you’re using the most cutting edge event check in app. But at the end of the day, none of this is going to matter if you’re not ensuring that everyone is properly trained and aware of how to best use the event check in software for your event! Read on to find out how to best use your phones and tablets to check in guests and avoid misfortunes! Wifi: Seems simple, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, we’ve seen events that have everything set up amazingly with the exception of a solid Wifi connection. All guest check in apps require a Wifi connection in order to work properly and to sync with other tablets. For best results, we recommend using a closed network so that just your tablets and phones can use it to check in. For example, when there’s 10,000 people coming to your event, a closed network moves from something ideal to something required. The last thing you want is your Wifi network getting overwhelmed! On-Site Team: You need to ensure that you have a proper ratio of staff to guest ratio for the quickest possible check ins. Although there’s no tried and true number here due to how varied events are, look at past events you’ve thrown with analytics derived from your ticket scanning apps to see if there were any bottlenecks and how quickly eventgoers were checked in. Also, in order to keep track of all tablets, we recommend having some sort of collateral to make sure that none of them go missing. Little Things: Sometimes, the little things can add up to become very big things. Here’s some things that you should make sure that you’ve checked with all your tablets and phones:

• Password Protected: We recommend you turn this off just for efficiency reasons, but if the tablet/phone is password protected, make sure it’s simple and that the staff members know it
• Auto Lock: For the same reason as above, we recommend that this is turned off for efficiency.
• Most recent version of the ticket scanning/ guest check in app is loaded: This is very important for ensuring perfect sync across all devices.
• Proper Brightness: If it’s too bright out or too dark, ticket scanning apps will have issues in registering QR codes from guests. This one is killer if you don’t prepare for it. We recommend testing the area that guests will enter. On an unrelated note, check that all phones and tablets have a proper brightness so that your staff can read properly!

Use The Ticketbud App: If you want the fastest and most efficient guest check in app out there, look no further than the Ticketbud app. It’s completely free to use, and works on almost all Android and iOS devices. It’s one of the best guest list apps that allows you to check in guests manually or via a QR code, and you also have access to back-end analytics! These analytics can tell you how long each check in took, the amount of people currently at the event, and even more.

One of the most challenging roles for the app developers today is to optimize the mobile app ranking in the app store. If you are an Android App Developer, then this task becomes even trickier as the numbers of mobile applications on Google Play Store according to a statistics of December 2017 have already crossed 3.5 million.

When the customer retention and engagement is very important to keep your app on the top, you need an acute strategy to deal with your competitors. However, the users can churn your app within no time and this would be a major setback to boost your app ranking.

So, don’t fall a prey into the pit and just look forward to improving your mobile app ranking in the Google Play Store.

How Does Google Play Store Rank the Apps?

Well, you must have heard about website ranking on the various search engines; similarly, the apps too are ranked in the Google Play Store. The Google Play Store uses different algorithms and some determining factors to rank the app.

These may include the total number of downloads by users, the app ratings and reviews, the app retention time on the Smartphones, how quickly is it getting uninstalled after the download and whether or not it is connected with social media links.

The Role Played by App Store Optimization (ASO)

You know that App Store Optimization or ASO is very important in determining the success rate of your app. In fact, according to a study, 50% of the downloaded Android Apps were discovered through app store searches. So, it becomes imperative to pay attention on the ASO and if you miss out that your ranking would certainly decline.

Undoubtedly, ASO has been identified as the essential marketing channel and here the same process is followed as like someone searching for a keyword. Thus, keyword holds the key. The App Store Optimization also has the potential to attract large set of targeted audiences. It is cost effective too. It also helps in building the trust factor of the users and increases your conversion rate as well.

While you are targeting the audience via keyword, it is important to select the right keyword. You need to focus on the relevance, difficulty and traffic while defining the keywords. You have to search for lower difficulty score in order to rank your app higher.

Choosing the App Title or Name that Fits Best

You already have become aware of how vital the search is so as to optimize your app; and so to further improve the chances of app discoverability, choosing a perfect name or title for the app becomes crucial.

Remember, the users will find your app by typing the initial keywords and so it must be selected wisely. Moreover, it should also clearly define what your app is all about even before a user downloads it.

You need to use the main keyword in the app title so that finding the app becomes easier. However, don’t go for similar sounding names of the popular apps that are already ruling the market. This will decrease the chances of discovering app as Google will direct the user to the popular app in place of yours.

Paying Attention to the App Rating Review and UX

The app ratings and reviews hold a key position when it comes to boosting the rank of your app in the Google Play Store. According to a statistic, about 92% customers read the reviews today before downloading an app as compared to 88% in 2014. So, it cannot be ignored at any cost.

Every android app developer tries to build an app that receives 5 star rating from the audiences. But only handfuls are successful. This is because in order to get best rating you have to focus on offering compromising product and service with unmatched User Experience.

Adding Description of the App

So, when you are adding the description of your app, make sure to be precise and short. You need to make your description relevant and at the same time make users aware of what your app does.

Please take the note that Google takes the vital keywords from your description and not from the keyword bar in the Google Play Store.

Another important fact to keep in mind is that Google allows you a maximum of using 4000 characters only. So, ensure to make the best use of the available space. However, you need to note that your description is not keyword stuffed. You can use it twice or thrice.

Lastly, remember that the first 167 character of your description is actually the meta description for search engine. Make your description attractive and appealing to the audiences.

Give Due Importance to Screenshots, Graphics and Videos

The screenshots and the app designs are optimal techniques one can adopt to get higher ranking on the Google Play Store. It actually shows a glimpse of your app to the user before the final download. So, it needs to be ensured that you are uploading and using High Definition Screenshots comprising of all sizes to boost visibility and bettering the app ranking.

With Google App Store you can also exhibit the details of the app through the videos and inform about the highlighting features of the app. So, the users can get a pre-idea of the app.

Graphics too plays a pivotal role in improving the ranking and you have to be very careful while designing it. The app icon is another important tool that will instantly draw the attention of the users.

Getting Across the Right Set of Customers

If the app needs to get a higher ranking, then the developer has to get across the right set of targeted audiences. You would have to take into account which age group people would use your app maximum and define your strategies accordingly. So, the job in hand is to find the right potential audience.

Focusing on App Promotion

App promotion is one of the best ways to get more visibility on the Google Play Store. There are different ways through which you can promote your app. You can add videos and also send notifications.

But the best tool is of course, using the social media platform such as the Facebook, Google+, Twitter or Instagram etc. You can use teasers and also pitch for the blogs to make more and more people aware about your app.

Some other Strategies to Follow

In addition to the given techniques, the app developer can make use of other viable strategies so as to upgrade the app ranking on the Google Play Store.

• Firstly, he needs to pay attention to the app responsiveness. This means that the app should run seamlessly on all devices namely the smartphones, tablets etc.
• Secondly, he needs to consider the size of the app. Make sure that you are designing the size of the app according to the memory. Ideally, it should be smaller.
• If your app contains internal links, it helps to improve your ranking.

Conclusion

The mobile app industry is rapidly transforming and becoming steeper as the competition continues to grow further. Putting your hotel concierge app on the top of the list is certainly a daunting task for the developers because of the large number of other competitor apps.

However, he needs to focus on the techniques and also incorporate his ideas to boost ranking of the app in the Google Play Store.

In this digital world, it has become very important to market your business innovatively to attract more customers and for making more sales. This is the case for every industry which is out there. 

Innovative marketing strategies are important for most of the industries, especially airlines. Without some unique and never seen before marketing tactics, you can’t survive in this competitive world.

People are daily reading news about the flight delays, bad customer service and those significant additional charges. 

If any airline really wants to dominate the industry, then focusing on the right marketing strategies is the primary thing. After knowing these strategies, executing them without any error can take an airline company to the next level. 

In this article, we are going to discuss the five innovative marketing strategies used by airlines. So, let’s have a quick glance at all these strategies. 

1. Create your own loyalty program:

An Airline’s loyalty program can help in reaching new audiences and converting them into potential customers. 

Airlines can create a loyalty program in which they can give customers specific points for free, which they can later use for various trips. 

Due to these reward points, a customer will always travel with that airline company. This strategy can help an airline to increase its customer base as well as to retain its existing customers. 

Along with the loyalty program, offering customers a free seat upgrade, airline meal can enhance the reputation of an airline company.

If you talk about the other side of the above strategy, then an airline may have to face a lot of challenges in executing this technique. 

But, once you can attract more customers then, there will be cash flow in the business. And this cash flow can help any airline to run a profitable loyalty program. 

What other things that an airline should take care while creating and offering its loyalty program?

• Be creative and unique.
• Think about the customer and then, about the profit.
• Your customer is your business. If an airline can give a better in-flight experience with the reward points, then the customer is going to be with them forever. 

2. Impact:

In any type of marketing, creating an impact on your targeted audience is a must. The worst thing that airlines do is not make a unique place in the customer’s heart. 

So, how should an airline create an impact on the customer?

The answer is by helping society, which then becomes your loyal customer.

American Airlines sends free food samples and packets to the people living near New York City. 

It is evident that people who have read about the work done by American Airlines in New York are going to respect their company, and building this respect is the most crucial part of any marketing campaign.

This respect then turns into trust. 

It is a fact that customers who trust any company will always buy a ticket from it even though that company is charging them additional money. 

So, reach to the people through offline as well as online mode. Share them what you have done and let them know that you are a good company in the business. 

3. Start stunning social media campaigns:

We are living in a world where people spend most of their daily time on social media. 

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube are all major social media platforms that you can use to reach your audience.

Now, you can start paid advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. With paid ads, you can target people in specific locations. Through these social media platforms, you can get intensely targeted customers. 

But many companies also run paid ads to get customers but, what differentiates any airline company from others?

Customer satisfaction and value for money. 

The value that you offer to your customer is directly proportional to the profit you make. So, an airline can start giving the real value to their customer via these social media sites. 

You may be thinking, what are these values in practical life?

In practice, an airline, can create content on a topic like “what are the things that you should take care during your first flight?” An article written on this topic is helpful for all those who are travelling vial flight for the first time. So, if people read your content then, they are definitely going to book a ticket through you. 

So, sell less and give value more. 

An airline can also create videos and post them on YouTube to create brand awareness. By posting such videos and helpful guides about air travel, the brand value of any airline is going to skyrocket. 

While talking about the advertising, we would like to suggest that stop any promotional campaigns that an airline is running on TVs or radios because those old ad strategies do not work in today’s world. 

4. Focus on the existing customer:

The airline should focus on their customers first. 

Existing customers of the airline are going to benefit the airline companies more than the new customers via mouth publicity. 

So, how to give a better experience to travellers?

The airline can provide entertaining in-flight experience by offering quality means, super-fast internet connection and by allowing users to watch TV shows, movies on flights. 

For rising above all your competitors, you have to give more comfort to your existing users.

There is a tremendously big market of untapped travellers who are currently travelling via your plane. But there is no point in spending money in targeting the audience who might travel via plane. 

A $20 OFF coupon on the next flight can bring you more sales than any other marketing techniques. So, the airline should be committed to retaining their customers.

Giving more legroom and charging fewer ticket fees is another critical strategy that any company can implement to make their user’s journey easier and comfortable.

Furthermore, if anybody is looking to book their next flight with your favourite airline that too availing some offers on air tickets, visit Faremart which provides different deals and special offers on flight booking, thus, helping you reduce your airfare.

5. Use the power of influencers:

Influencer marketing is currently booming. All major industries are looking at influencer marketing as the best way of getting a better ROI.  

The airlines should also implement effective influencer marketing strategies. There are many benefits of influencer marketing strategy that can help any airline in boosting their business. 

As influencers have millions of fans, people love the things that those influencers promote. Also, due to the extreme trust of the influencers, people are likely to trust you as well.

You can also apply the storytelling formula to increase airlines brand awareness. 

Adding transparency in the airline’s pricing structure and transportation rates is another simple task that airline can do.

What about the hidden fees?

People get annoyed whenever airlines charge them hidden fees. So, avoid any such fees. 

Many people like to travel with their pets, but some airlines don’t allow pets while some have stringent restrictions. 

Due to this, many savvy travellers avoid travelling via such airlines forever. So, having pet-friendly rules and guides can ultimately give you more potential customers. 

Final Words

That ends our list of the five best innovative marketing strategies used by airlines all over the world. 

The airline industry is very competitive nowadays. You just can’t implement regular strategies to reach your customers.  Thinking unique and studying the customer mindset can be better ways to survive and grow in the airline business. 

If you are in search of travel concierge app then please contact us and know more details about it.