Optimize Hotel Marketing for Millennials Booking Travel Online

SEATTLE, Dec. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- What is your hotel doing to meet the needs of Millennial travelers? The Millennial generation (ages 15-34 and 79 million strong) is three times larger than Generation X, surpassing even Baby Boomers in number. They are the largest American generation, ever, and by 2030, Millennials will outnumber non-Millennials, as reported by the Boston Consulting Group. Considering Millennial travel spending rose 20 percent and continues to grow as they get older, it's more important than ever to ensure your online hotel marketing efforts are capturing their attention from just looking, to booking travel online.

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Studies show that you have four seconds to capture an online user – if a site doesn't engage (or load) in that timeframe, your reservation is lost, and Millennial travelers in particular are quicker than others to jump to the next option. On average a Millennial will check at least 10 different sources before booking travel online, so your website needs to not only be quick to load, but informative and easy to navigate. Hotel marketing needs to include special amenities, killer deals, quirky local attractions and eye-catching photos - and they should all be front and center, especially in the mobile browsers accessed by smartphones.

A robust mobile site is absolutely critical. If a property's website is not optimized to help these location-specific, smartphone-wielding consumers quickly find what they need - Millennials, or not - hotel seekers, especially last minute bookers, will choose your competitor. Consider the following statistics:

• A recent survey published by Expedia reported that 32 percent of business travelers 30 and under use a smartphone and 20 percent book on a tablet; in addition, 38 percent of leisure travelers use a device to access the internet for travel planning.
• Millennials also typically book an average of 18 days closer to their stay than older guests, making easy last minute booking options especially important.
• Both Orbitz and Travelocity believe that more than 60 percent of mobile hotel bookings are from last minute travelers (booked within 24 hours of a stay).
• Google suggests that by the end of this year, more people will book from mobile devices than from PCs.

In addition to a responsive mobile site, a hotel's website design should be refreshed every year - if not quarterly - and the content itself should be updated often to reflect new services and promotions. It's also important to be integrated with your social media channels and keep them active, as 63 percent of Millennials keep up with brands this way, preferring direct online interaction over advertising.

With a technological landscape that's continually evolving along with consumers, staying on top of hotel marketing efforts can feel like a daunting task. buuteeq's leading cloud based digital marketing service helps properties quickly and efficiently optimize for both today's and tomorrow's travelers, with up-to-date, responsive web designs, rich customer insights, and online marketing tools that meet the needs of Millennials and beyond. To learn more, visit www.buuteeq.com

About buuteeq
buuteeq is the world's first Digital Marketing System (DMS) for hotels. Its offerings fuse technology ingenuity with online marketing savvy to improve a hotel's presence on the web, mobile devices, and social channels, driving direct engagement with prospective guests that leads to higher hotel occupancy and reduced booking fees. buuteeq's Cloud DMS includes a content management system, multi-channel digital marketing, content publishing, integrated business intelligence and the ability to leverage a property's existing Central Reservation and Property Management Systems. More than 6,000 hotels worldwide have adopted buuteeq's solutions since the company's public launch in January 2011. www.buuteeq.com 

Media Contacts:
Carly Bonora, Duo PR for buuteeq
[email protected]  
206.456.3433

SOURCE buuteeq