Blog

As I write my first article during a global pandemic, my title inspiration comes from the Columbian literary superstar, Gabriel García Márquez. COVID-19 has rapidly decimated … Read More

As social media marketing continues to evolve and grow, one of the questions hotel owners/managers consistently ask me is whether or not it makes sense to … Read More

When it comes to hotel conferences and trade shows, I will go ahead and show my age by saying I have been to almost all of … Read More

  An interesting trend has been brewing in the travel business. Quietly but surely, Google Reviews has been expanding their online review market share for brick … Read More

On January 20, 2017, I booked a hotel in Seville, Spain. That is also the day that Meliá Hotels & Resorts got my email address. The … Read More

When TripAdvisor was founded in February 2000 in a small office above Kostas Pizza on 315 Chestnut Street in Needham, Massachusetts, I don’t think anyone could … Read More

Almost every other day, I see a headline about the latest trend that is going to have a massive impact on hotels and travel. Some might … Read More

Contrary to what you might have heard, people still read. We read quiet a lot actually, but much of our reading has moved over to a … Read More

Marketing success today can be measured using many diverse metrics. Analytics programs let you measure everything from who and where your website visitors come from to … Read More

My work revolves around travel. Every night away from home is spent at a hotel or Airbnb property. I was recently asked about my hotel brand … Read More

Hotel email marketing has become more important than ever. The cost of click- and impression-based marketing on search engines and social networks continues to rise, not just for … Read More

2016 was a very interesting year and will surely be a memorable one. I have had the opportunity to grow and flourish personally and professionally thanks to … Read More

Throughout my career in revenue optimization for the hospitality and travel industry, I have always stressed the importance of owning your digital assets. This means having … Read More

Hotel website design, like any kind of design, is subjective. Nothing is more painful than a website design “discussion” where stakeholders talk for hours about colors, content … Read More

Analytics metrics have evolved over the past few years. In my last article, I discussed the dinosaur metrics that have fallen in value since the last … Read More

Marketing is evolving as I am typing this sentence. I’m here to make sure you are not wasting your time, energy and marketing budgets by focusing on … Read More

Almost every other week, there is an article about how hotels are trying to “embrace” the Millennial traveler. Basically, anyone born from the 1980s to the early … Read More

2015 was a phenomenal year for my site. I would like to thank all of my subscribers for participating, sharing, and spreading the “Words.” I love writing for you … Read More

Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood is great news for investors, but unfortunately not for Starwood hotel guests and employees. The quote that sums up the reasoning behind this deal came … Read More

When I’m on Twitter, I’m usually catching up on some of my favorite comedians (mostly comediennes) and posting my own material. But every now and then, some … Read More

Over the past few months, there has been a lot of talk about the imminent “end of hotel rate parity” and what it means for the hotel industry. … Read More

It’s amazing how much time and energy gets poured into deciding the price of a hotel room. There are STR reports, RMS Reports, and booking engine … Read More

Last year, Priceline.com made a splash when it acquired Buuteeq, a digital marketing and website “cloud-based system” for independent hotels, for what looks like $98 million. … Read More

Every time Google issues an update, hotel marketing agencies have a field day writing articles and trying to give you a reason to panic about your online presence. … Read More

Hotel marketing types love trends. Every day there is the same old story about a new thing that changes everything. It’s always a thing that, if the hotels … Read More

Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz walk into a bar.  “We do not serve second and third rate Online Travel Agents here,” says the bartender. “Well, they are … Read More

Big hotel brands have seen unprecedented growth over the past decade. Even when the global financial engines slowed down, they grew exponentially in global markets (ie, … Read More

It’s time to say goodbye to 2014. It was an epic year for me, and I especially loved sharing my thoughts about the industry with a wonderful … Read More

How much is that boutique hotel in the window? Well, it’s around $430 million. Yes, that’s the price InterContinental Hotels Group (one of the biggest hotel … Read More

This Thanksgiving holiday in the US was an eventful one for the hospitality industry. What got my attention was the Black Friday offer of $7 rooms … Read More

Want to increase your profitability, while improving your online reviews at the same time? Then start paying more attention to an area that’s too often overlooked when … Read More

I am often asked, “What is the most important factor in a good hotel marketing strategy?” One of the top factors (that no one likes to talk … Read More

Everything digital, including marketing, changes rapidly. Hotels know that online marketing is crucial, yet they take a back seat on innovations. Most of the hotel owners/managers I’ve met … Read More

One of the most crucial aspects of running a hotel or a lodging business is asset management. The same efforts and energy should be used when … Read More

The hotel marketing and distribution world was recently shaken when Priceline Group (aka, The #1 Lodging Online Travel Agency in the World) acquired Buuteeq for an undisclosed … Read More

  I was recently interviewed as part of the Euromonitor International Interview Series conducted by Michelle Grant, Euromonitor’s Travel and Tourism Manager. Here’s the article that was … Read More

I have had a front row seat to the hotel pay per click (PPC) world for the past decade. PPC is not new, but it’s rapidly … Read More

One of the trends I have been noticing is that hotels continually generate hype instead of value. Hyper-marketing on social media platforms has led to a race … Read More

A Tale of Two Brands (based on a true story) Once upon a time in December 2012, there was a hotel asset. It lived in a … Read More

Hotels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rentals are all competing for their market share of today’s travelers, who are armed with multiple devices and tools to … Read More

We have entered a new year of awesome possibilities. The hospitality and lodging business is poised for more disruption, innovation and growth. I would love to … Read More

This has been an amazing year for the Words of Vikram blog. I remember publishing the first post on a beautiful day at Kaaawa Beach Park in … Read More

In April, I wrote one of my first ever articles about Airbnb’s impact on the hotel industy. It started as a response to the Euromonitor report … Read More

Marketing is evolving, especially the Internet kind. Website analytics have come a long way in the past decade. We have access to more information than ever … Read More

Analytics is an amazing and powerful tool. Voltaire/FDR/Stan Lee (depends who you ask) has said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” This is particularly relevant to Analytics users in … Read More

Hotel search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most debated online marketing techniques in our industry. That’s because its efficacy is hard to prove, and … Read More

I recently completed another round-the-world trip and got to experience a few different airlines and their cultures. It always amazes me how different things are when … Read More

How many times have I heard the hotel brands say they are going to “fight and win” the Internet battle against the big bad OTA wolves? … Read More

I recently finished reading Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky. To be clear: I am not writing a standard book review. A book is going to … Read More

The hotel industry has always been a target for misinformation about new, emerging, and especially open-source technology. It feels like the industry is stuck in a … Read More

I recently read an article on Airbnb on Euromonitor that declared: “Airbnb.com Poses Only a Small Threat to Hotel Industry.” The truth is, Airbnb is not … Read More

“Nice try kid, but it looks like you brought a knife to a gunfight.” This line from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull … Read More

This is not my first blog/dance/party/luau. It’s the fourth blog that I’ve launched since 2006. The other three blogs were focused on topics ranging from Online Marketing … Read More