The travelers' path to booking a hotel is influenced by a plethora of criteria along the way. Sullivan and 20|20 Research recently put out a report, "Where They Go. Why They Stay." that explores traveler decision-making. These are their findings in regards to criteria for choosing a hotel:

Value for money. Just like consumers purchasing in other industries, travelers want the best value for what they are paying. A proper pricing strategy is important for your property in order to stay competitive with other hotels that consumers are considering.

Location (proximity.) While some properties are much closer to popular attractions and landmarks than others, it is important for travelers to know what's nearby. Including information and images on your brand site and on third party channels about how accessible these places are from your hotel can aid in their decision-making.

Local experience (neighborhood.) Consumers want to know about the neighborhood their hotel is in for obvious reasons (safety, accessibility, etc.) Highlighting positives about the neighborhood your property is located in can help to paint a picture for those browsing for an accommodation.

Accommodation type. Although you can't appeal to everyone, appealing to the specific traveler that is looking for your accommodation type will go a long way to influence their decision-making.

Accommodation details. Including detail will set you apart from other hotels in the running during a consumer's decision-making process. The more they know, the more likely they will book a room. This is very important for hotels delivering their images to OTAs – your listing will look more appealing to consumers if there are more images representing these details. Not to mention, having more images will boost the ranking of your listing in OTA search results.

Ease and reliability of booking. A quick and efficient booking process can make the difference between one accommodation or another. After all of the effort that goes into enticing consumers to book a room at your hotel, booking should be simple in order to seal the deal.

Consumers validate these criteria by referrals, ratings/reviews, past experience, special offers/deals, cost, written description and images.

Founded: Founded in 1997 as World Travelvision. Renamed ICE Portal in 2003.

Website: www.iceportal.com

Founder: Henry Woodman, President

Contact Information:

ICE Portal 


A: 3595 Sheridan St.

Suite 200

Hollywood, FL 33021

United States

P: +1-954-893-6778

F: +1-954-893-6779

E- US: [email protected]

Products and Services:

Rich Content Production, Management and Distribution

micro Traditional high & low resolution photography

micro Hi-Definition virtual tours - 360°panoramic imaging

micro Flash Web Show – a video-like montage of still photos

micro Digital Brochures

micro eBooks

¹ Video optimized for streaming on the Web

Content Management

ICE Portal's Content Management System (CMS) allows customers to easily view and manage their content and obtain a multitude of custom reports on content distribution. Other features include:

micro Updating photos

micro Property indexing by GoogleÔ

micro Turning seasonal images on and off

Content Distribution

ICE Portal enables travel suppliers to not only improve the rich media content on their own websites but also on the thousands of other travel sites, search engines, portals and GDS's that they may have distribution relationships with and/or strategic partner Leonardo. ICE Portal ensures that rich media content is delivered correctly for all of the following:

micro Formats

micro Size

micro Speed

micro Bandwidth

micro Language

micro Within specified SLA's for the worlds major travel websites

ICE Portal Supporting Data:

ICE Portal's Research indicates that hotel properties that effectively integrate rich media into their online marketing strategies, including distribution of their content to 3rd party intermediaries (TPI's), realize the following benefits:

micro Total Unique Visitors increase an average of 13%

micro Rich Media generates click-through rates up to 8% more than for static images.

micro Rich media generates post-impression activity rates twice those for non-rich media and 46% more sales for those activities compared to non-rich media.

micro The initial Abandonment Rate (Number of Unique Visitors abandoning the site before viewing hotels) improves by more than 5 percentage points.

Industry Findings:

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, more than 50% of the US population will watch video online next year.

Current research indicates that rich media, such as Virtual Tours, generate 46% (percent) more bookings than still images.

Rich media has a greater influence on purchasing decisions than do traveler reviews.

The PhoCusWright Travel 2.0 Consumer Technology Survey

When it comes to making travel-purchasing decisions, most American travelers would rather see the options for themselves than simply act on the recommendations of others. In fact, travelers want to view the options in detail via pictures, online maps and video.TravelDailyNews.com, 2008

2007 was the first year in which more travel was purchased online than off-line in the U.S., with 51% of U.S. travel being booked online. Online travel purchases are expected to increase to 56% in 2008 and 60% in 2009.PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey 2008

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