Hotelier's 2003 Top Ten Internet Resolutions
How can hoteliers deal successfully with today's challenges and
emerge as winners from the present travel and economic downturn?
PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts full-year 2002 U.S. hotel
occupancy at 59.5%, one of the lowest rates in the last 75
years. RevPAR for the year is expected to be down 2.3 percent
and ADR will decrease for a second year in a row, the first such
consecutive decrease since the Great Depression. For 2003 PwC
expects only a modest recovery. RevPAR will increase by only
3.5%. ADR is forecast to increase by 2.5% in 2003, while
occupancy is expected to recover 0.6 percentage points and reach
60.1 percent.
Whether you are an independent or branded hotel, a major hotel
chain or hotel management company, you can stay ahead of your
competitors and capture new market share with an effective
Online Distribution Strategy. Utilized properly, your online
distribution strategy and especially its direct-to-consumer
component, can play a major role in softening the effects of the
travel and economic slump and will, over longer-term, define the
winners in these trying times. But hoteliers should remember
that the Internet in 2003 can be your best ally or your worst
enemy.
As part of your 2003 Internet resolutions, here are the Top Ten
Questions you should urgently consider:
1. I will make Direct-To-Consumer Online Distribution the
centerpiece of my Internet strategy, because I know the Internet
is the ultimate