Previous year was quite successful for some hotels. In general, the global economy remained in its recovery mode. This has helped hotels to move from “budget scaling” strategies and pay more attention to marketing. Of course, price remains a significant factor, but this is not the only aspect that interests travellers. In 2012 we can expect hotels to become even more integrated into socialization and offering more services online. What does it mean for consumers? It means you will be able to book rooms faster and easier, and expect more personalized services.
The buzzword SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile), may become the key trend for this year. In their attempts to attract more visitors, hotels will be more integrated with social networks. Guests will be able to send feedbacks simply by using their accounts. Location-based services are another popular trend. There is a proven result from using such services as Foursquare. Hotels may also want to include them into search listings of Goggle Places, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local. Websites of hotels become more sophisticated. These are already not simple flash-powered websites consisting mostly of pictures. Modern hotel websites get their own reservation system and offer various geo-location services. The rise of popularity of smartphones has opened new era in mobile e-commerce. All popular hotel chains launch their own applications that provide customers with additional information about hotels and fee rooms, and allow making a booking.
Coupon websites and websites like Groupon may attract the attention of more hoteliers and they will offer their promotions and discounts using these platforms.