The Week in Review

So just to be different I decided to stay away from the Hotel Topic and talk about the week in Review. Let's start with some Fantastic results in Football, Man Utd lost two big games and now the door is open for Arsenal to climb the table. Utd lost the rails against Chelsea than were totally outplayed by Liverpool. It was a real pity Arsenal couldn't take advantage and were held to a draw by the gallant Sunderland.

In other news of worth, England lost a thriller to Irelan, joyous news I say, however they did bounce back with a nice win against South Africa (this is cricket btw). I  had a delicious helping of Hokkien Mee, it was lovely.  Looking forward to the New Zealand game now and hoping to get a nice win against the Pakis today.

There is a Franchise show or exhibition this week and Apple Hotel in Jalan Alor has entered in hoping to grow the Hotel. The first budget to Hotel in Malaysia to think outside the box, great Facebook Page as well. Stabucks has been a great place for me as life without internet is not great. All Black Caps time to secure that place in the quarters.

Hotel Magic

A little magic can go a long way into making your Hotel more than just another Hotel. What do I mean by magic? By Magic, I mean do something a little different, be creative with branding or simply use your marketing skills to think outside the square. 

The hotel market in Kuala Lumpur is very competitive. Most Hotels struggle to survive and the one's with the big budget usually win. How can a small Hotel compete in such a big market? The first step I would suggest is going Niche. 

Why Niche? When Niche, it makes it easier to compete for the keyword or the phrase you are after. A hotel should aim to dominate at least one key search phrase in any given market. The Phrase may actually be there own brand eg Apple Hotel. It is a well searched phrase, and if you type in Apple Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, they have done a great job of dominating the first page results. 

Other things to consider are the Facebook Page. Apple Hotels has once again set a standard here in Kuala Lumpur. They have a landing page and are one of only a few to do that in Malaysia. Only the 5 Star Hotels seem to be taking this step seriously. Facebook as far as we are concerned is a goldmine for engaging fans and pulling in new customers. 

Twitter and why twitter? Most people don't relize the SERPs benefit on Twitter but even better is the fact that you can plug into what people are saying. This can lead to a key generation of business. 

SMB's need to start looking into these little ideas to stay ahead in the very competitive business world. 

Rising cost of PPC for Hotels

In terms of Marketing, Hotels are always looking for more effective forms. Pay Per Click (Adwords) is generally  just one of the methods utilised by high end companies. Even some budget hotels are getting into the act of doing Adwords.

However with the marketing budget of a big 5 Star Hotel like Sunway or Hilton, it is very hard to compete on that platform. You are not only competing with the big gun hotels but also with major OTA players like Agoda, Booking.com. The cost of PPC is anyhere depending on the words your after from 1USD to 6USD and even more in some cases.

Take into account the clicks are not sales but a click through to a landing page. Now I have just opened another can of worms here with landing pages. We won't discuss that today, and stick with PPC costs. A efficient method is looking for longer tail keywords.

Know the enemy as I like to say and do your homework and research, Plan, Plan and Plan. The keywords like Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, is simply not a converting keyword for most Hotels. It is A; too generic, and it doesn't fit the bill of the end user. This is where the research is comes in. Are people searching via narrow locations eg using suburbs.

I have recently been engaged by Apple Hotel in Kuala Lumpur who have a modest budget for this however our performance outranks the big players due to research and finding the right converting keywords. Keyword tools from google is great for research however other tools are available and don't forget the Ad copy. Write a few and monitor to find the best.

In Malaysia, Adwords is still under utilised in most markets however in the Hotel market, you need do a lot of research to get this right. 

Boutique Hotels in Kuala Lumpur

The trend is boutique and Budget. The two big B's of the hotel world. Why Boutique and why budget you ask? Let's start answering that with a Budget first, price point is always the key point for any traveller. Be it a family or a solo person. Hotel's are either offering promotions to entice customer or slashing down the rack rate to make sure the room is occupied.

The hotel would rather have someone in that room even at just over break even point than not at all. Budget Hotel trend can be credited to the likes of Tune however another Hotel making big waves is Apple Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Which brings me to the point of Boutique. Apple Hotel is a boutique hotel with all the bells and whistles offered in great branding.

The Hotel has rattan chairs designed in the apple shape, basins, light all shaped by the brand. The place is clean and comfortable. The rooms are a bit small but is reality,  it's no frills accommodation for the busy tourist. I appreciate the qualities as all we are after are the two Cs, clean and comfortable. The price point is in between a guest house and a Hotel which it self may be seen as bridging a market.

Instead of extra add ons, it offers convenient location with a food trail to boot. A great place to stay and the staff all speak english.

I will give this place a thumbs up any day.

Boutique Hotels in Kuala Lumpur

The trend is boutique and Budget. The two big B's of the hotel world. Why Boutique and why budget you ask? Let's start answering that with a Budget first, price point is always the key point for any traveller. Be it a family or a solo person. Hotel's are either offering promotions to entice customer or slashing down the rack rate to make sure the room is occupied.

The hotel would rather have someone in that room even at just over break even point than not at all. Budget Hotel trend can be credited to the likes of Tune however another Hotel making big waves is Apple Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Which brings me to the point of Boutique. Apple Hotel is a boutique hotel with all the bells and whistles offered in great branding.

The Hotel has rattan chairs designed in the apple shape, basins, light all shaped by the brand. The place is clean and comfortable. The rooms are a bit small but is reality,  it's no frills accommodation for the busy tourist. I appreciate the qualities as all we are after are the two Cs, clean and comfortable. The price point is in between a guest house and a Hotel which it self may be seen as bridging a market.

Instead of extra add ons, it offers convenient location with a food trail to boot. A great place to stay and the staff all speak english.

I will give this place a thumbs up any day.

Hotel Marketing with converting Keywords.

Recently we came across a project from a budget hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The project consisted of us helping increase traffic through SEM , SEO and Social Media to the company. Most people who are in my shoe would have to admit Keyword research is a very time consuming task.

Generic keyword research can lead to low conversions and also from a SEO & PPC point of view, high costs. Now i wasn't at the first meeting however, the bloke meeting my business partner was the official e-commerce expert. He claimed to know SEO and he was a specialist is OTA marketing. However he turned out to be a man that steals ideas. He did know OTA but when he supplied us with keywords, well let me give you a example, "hotel", "Bookings" Those were the keywords he was actually wanting us to chase.

We did have a good laugh at first, than we decided to get down to business. The important factor in keyword research is using a funnel methodology to find the most converting.
eg. Hotels Kuala Lumpur, Thou is massively searched is not really relevant.

Let's look at something more in line :- Budget Hotel in Bukit Bintang , Now this is a lot closer to what we want however it is still someone shopping around. Branding may help you get a better conversion but let's jump a little closer.

Budget Hotel in Jalan Alor , now most experts may consider this a not well searched phrase however, this will have a 75% chance of converting (results based on Google analytics). Directing the traffic to the correct URL is also very important. These things aren't taken into consideration when doing research and it is a pity. The success or failure of your business may on day depend on the smallest detail.

Two very Different Types of Apples

I recently read about two different types of apples. You would say apples, what is new about this. There are many types of apples in this world, but what I am talking about is two types of hotels. Both seem to be vying for Budget Hotel in Kuala Lumpur market, however, as there are standards, so is there class by one has the feeling of security and comfort and one has a feeling more rotten.

I begin my visit to the Apple Inn Jalan Pudu. I started using Google to re-read the reviews before going there just to give me the idea. Google Places and Booking.com have some reviews, and not one was very friendly, so I went to find out for myself. First of all, green used here didn't quite seem to catch the cool atmosphere of the owner was after.That doesn't say much.

I booked a room and was told to go upstairs, Fine so far, however upon entering the room, I knew i was in trouble. The room was small which is consistent with Budget Hotels in Kuala Lumpur. But it was dirty. I can safely say the person who cleaned the room did not change sheets. Not impressed at all. Upon talking to the reception bloke, he said the room was made and no further explanation was needed. Brilliant.

Next on my stay was Apple Hotel in Jalan Alor. Again I went through the evaluation process, before checking into the hotel. The website states that the hotel takes into account travel budget and the rooms are a bit small. It is very true, but for the price I felt it was a good deal. The first thing you notice is that this hotel in Kuala Lump is very clean. The decor matched the mark very well and reached the green to give the brand a bit of freshness. I can easily understand why critics were so good when entering the rooms. It seemed that everything was very new, however, be a new hotel, I'd expect it to be. Each room has a bathroom and think that the owners had really given this hotel some thought. Once again, the convenient location makes this place ideal for a customer visit.

So between the two apples in Kuala Lumpur, I would say that the price difference is very similar and Apple Hotel in Jalan Alor is by far the best option. As we all know, no one likes a rotten apple and if it is not your choice of food I suggest staying away from the Apple Inn.