Search results and search engine optimization

     How to top Expedia, Google search results


        The Cornell School of Hotel Management recently performed a search result study with the St. James Hotel in Red Wing, Minn. The hotel wanted to see and make sure that they appeared on the first page of search results. We all know that that first page listing can make or break a business, therefore careful search engine optimization, and website design are crucial. Expedia says that 95% of the transactions occur on the search result first page, meaning that most people never make it to page two of the search results. Page two and beyond is considered no man’s land.

     There are some things that you can do to help the web crawlers index you high. Proper keywords so you can be placed high in the organic search results. You bid on keywords which if you are the high bidder you will be placed on the first page of the sponsored search results but this can become very expensive because every click may cost you a dollar or more. That is why high organic search results are what everyone tries for. Web page organization is also very important. Web sites should be designed with layout, content, and text in mind. Major search engines use web crawlers to go over these sites, and through the internet to see relevant links from other websites to your website and not links from your website out to the internet. Mobile apps are now the wave of the future, Hilton and other travel search sites have developed mobile apps for mobile users.


                                           
Posted On: 2/22/2011

How to Top Expedia, Google Search Results By Glenn Withiam, Director of Publications, Cornell Center for Hospitality Research

http://hospitalitytechnology.edgl.com/home

Best Practices in Search Engine Marketing and Optimization: The Case of the St. James Hotel

Vol 10 No 16
By: Greg Bodenlos, Victor Bogert, Dan Gordon, Carter Hearne, and Chris Anderson Ph.D.
http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/abstract-15320.html
         
                                          Reflection


      The foreign language and science of search engine optimization is something that is very hard to do unless you have the education to do it. I have had websites and done basic web designing but SEO (search engine optimization) is something that I have not been able to figure out. You have to learn about Google’s search algorithms and properly use keywords in order to index properly. I had a retail business which I just sold and I tried to properly set up a store website. I could not do it by myself so I ended up scaling the website down to a basic five page informational website. I contacted various webmaster to try and design a website and have it properly optimized but the cost was too great at the time for me to implement. If you are a major business and have an online presence it is essential to be properly optimized and index in the search result. If you come up on any other page beside the first page you will see very little business if any at all.

The Hotel Room of the Future

Hotel Room of the Future!

The hotel room of the future; what does it have and what does it do? In Germany they are actually researching this and putting together mock designs of what guests and hotel operators may want. The project manager Vanessa Borkmann says that the research has been going on for two years thus far, and the hotel of the future may have voice command, pressure sensitive floors, a bed that may rock you to sleep, sliding walls, ambiance lighting, infrared lighting etc. Many of these upgrades are very costly so it is not expected that we will see many of these changes any time soon. The hotel rooms may be mood and temperature sensitive, meaning that the “Sensifloor” may the one of the most interesting features in the hotel room of the future.

Some of the upscale hotels may start converting a floor or two to see if there is demand yet for a room of this type. It is not cost effective to do a complete renovation to this type of room because the technology is very expensive. So converting a few upper level rooms or a floor may increase revenues and attract those technology buffs.

Works Cited

Boulden, J. (2010, 08 09). Hotels future foretold? Retrieved 18 2011, 02, from www.cnn.com: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/08/10/boulden.hotel.future.cnn

Reflection

Being a technology buff, I am intrigued by the hotel room of the future.  Technology in hotels is finally starting to show up. I think the industry has fought the technological trends because of the cost to implement them. The industry cannot ignore these trends anymore. I feel that they need to spend the money to upgrade their hotel or the hotel will fail. That is why we are now seeing even low end budget hotels implement these technological upgrades such as advanced reservation systems, green programs, even wifi. I believe that some Budget Inns now offer wireless internet.

As far as some of the advances that this video showed I don’t know if I will be lining up to stay in a hotel designed like that. I know it is a mock design but I cannot and will not stay in a plain white walled hotel. I know that this is how everyone views the future in white but I need some color. The voice command system sounded a little creepy hopefully they will be able to make that sound a little more human.  Hopefully the bed doesn’t rock every time you lay in it. I look forward to seeing the hotel room develop for the future and look forward to working in the industry as these ideas become realty.