Clarity, Microsoft’s revolutionary user behavior analytics tool, made a big splash several months ago as a way you can gain great insight into how your customers engage with your site. However, since launch we have heard very little about the platform.&nbsp; This doesn’t mean forget about it, it just means that there’s been a LOT going on in the world since it was first launched in October 2020.



Today we are going to discuss why you don’t want to forget about Clarity, secrets you don’t know about the platform, where it differs from Google Analytics, and how you can use it to drive revenue.



First of all, what is Microsoft Clarity?&nbsp; It’s a free, and very easy to implement, visual analytics tool that allows you to see click maps, screen recordings and more. What it’s not is a full featured analytics platform and is not something to take the place of Google Analytics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">4 Ways Hotels Can Use Clarity&nbsp;</h2>



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>Friction Finding Tools will help you find missed opportunities.&nbsp; These include three very helpful tools such as “rage clicks,” “dead clicks,” and “quick backs.”<ol><li>Rage Clicks &#8211; User rapidly clicked or tapped in same small area</li><li>Dead Clicks &#8211; User clicked or tapped on a page with no effect</li><li>Quick Backs &#8211; User navigated to a page and quickly returned to the previous one</li></ol></li><li>Screen recording gives you great insights and qualitative data to serve as a STARTING point for site optimizations.</li><li>Data-rich heatmaps show you where and how customers navigate your site.</li><li>Scroll maps allow you to see what data is shown on any given page and where your “average fold” is for consumers by device type.</li></ol>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">5 Powerful Secrets of Microsoft Clarity for Hotels</h2>



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>The filters are really awesome now and allow you to filter data down to referring sites, sources, mediums, or even specific campaigns. This is beyond the basics of pages, entry/exit locations, etc. Best of all, it uses Google’s UTM tags so you don’t have to do anything in advance to be able to unlock the insights.</li><li>You can filter data down to the individual user level.&nbsp; By knowing a unique user ID you can isolate and view a single user’s recordings, heatmaps and more.</li><li>It also allows you to view screen recordings based on a variety of filters including device types, operating systems, &amp; browsers. This can help identify UX issues associated with those filters and start a CRO optimization plan.&nbsp;</li><li>Clarity and Google Analytics can work together and allow you to get the most out of both platforms.&nbsp; By connecting your GA account with Clarity you are able to find anomalies in GA and then seamlessly jump to Clarity to see the event in action.</li><li>Developers can benefit from Clarity via the JavaScript error tool that shows (with recordings) where customers are having technical issues.</li></ol>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions About Microsoft Clarity&nbsp;</h2>



Is Clarity easy to install?



Incredibly easy.&nbsp; Clarity has a single code snippet that, once installed, does the rest.&nbsp; Since it relies on your existing GA UTM tracking there’s no need to do anything else to start using the platform.&nbsp; However, we suggest you integrate your Google Analytics and Clarity accounts to make the most of both systems.



How does Microsoft Clarity handle privacy?



Clarity does a pretty good job with privacy, even considering they are recording site engagement.&nbsp; All personal information is cloaked and all data entered in form fields are blocked from view.&nbsp; However, Clarity can go overboard and hide ANY information that could be seen as personal, including the phone numbers on your site, your property address, and more.&nbsp; Fortunately, this can be avoided with proper tagging of contact information in your code.



Will Microsoft Clarity replace Google Analytics?



No, Clarity won’t replace GA.&nbsp; While there’s great information in both platforms it is different types of data.&nbsp; We would think the bigger question is will Google Analytics create their own version of Clarity, probability named, “More Clarity.”



What’s the future for Microsoft Clarity?



That may not mean much to us hoteliers, but for developers this is huge and will allow the platform to grow much more organically and quickly to meet the needs of users.&nbsp; Think of WordPress as the most well-known open source platforms and how there are endless ways to tailor the system to meet your needs.&nbsp; If the analytics world leans in on Clarity it could create an amazing opportunity for data insights.



========================



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In The News:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>



50% Of Hospitality Workers Won’t Return To Fill Openings.



No pay increase or incentive would make these workers return to their previous workplace, according to a poll of about 13,000 job seekers during the second quarter from Joblist, an employment-search engine.&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>52% want a different working environment</li><li>45% want higher pay</li><li>29% better benefits</li></ul>



========================



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">60 Seconds To Success:</h3>



SEO Tip: Use this regex in Google Search Console queries:



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-08/half-of-u-s-hospitality-workers-won-t-return-in-job-crunch ">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-08/half-of-u-s-hospitality-workers-won-t-return-in-job-crunch </a>



Google Search Console has typically only allowed for “contains” or “does not contain” type filtering.&nbsp; This is incredibly limiting when considering misspellings, multiple variants, or if you are unsure of a specific term.&nbsp; Google has just rolled out regular expression, or regex, as a search option.&nbsp; Regex is a string of characters that specifies a rule to perform advanced search such as the below.



^(who|what|where|when|why|how)[&#8221; &#8220;]



This isn’t just nerdy searches/filters.&nbsp; Consider using regex searches when reviewing your performance to find insights that may be hidden.



========================



Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/_travelboom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.



<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>

Hotel Marketing Podcast Episode 194: Is Microsoft’s Clarity The Secret To An Improved Hotel Conversion Rate?

Testing is one of the most important aspects of running a successful PPC campaign. Even if your campaigns are meeting your advertising goals, if you are not testing, you’re likely losing bookings and revenue to OTAs and competitors.&nbsp;



In today&#8217;s podcast we dissect an article with all the details of PPC ad testing by sharing three tests that can (and should) be run by every hotelier.



You can read the original article at <a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ppc-ad-testing/">https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ppc-ad-testing/</a>. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Three PPC Campaign Tests For All Hoteliers:</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Testing Ad Copy</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Target KPI =&nbsp; CTR</li><li>When testing ad copy you are truly only focused on CTR because the goal of the test is to see which ad variation gets more people to click through to the website.&nbsp;<ul><li>It would be nice to see higher CR or ROAS but you can not directly attribute those metrics to the thing that changed</li></ul></li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Testing Landing Pages</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Target KPI = CR</li><li>We focus on CR for landing page tests because we already got the person to click on the ad, now we want to see whether or not they are more likely to convert whether they land on one page versus another.&nbsp;</li><li>There are different types of landing page tests. One is to alter the landing page you are using. The other is to change the landing page to a different page on your site.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Testing Extensions</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Target KPI = CTR (with some CR exceptions)</li><li>Ad extensions can be extremely effective at taking up more SERP real estate and increasing CTR, but using the right extensions and testing the content of each extension, is how you maximize performance.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Important Testing Best Practices</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Test ONE element at a time</li><li>Test variations simultaneously</li><li>Document everything about your test</li><li>Adjust &amp; repeat</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other Advanced PPC Tests You Can Run</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Testing bidding strategies</li><li>Testing targeting</li><li>Testing device types</li><li>Daypart testing</li></ul>



========================



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In The News:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>



Study Shows Hotels Must Address The Trust Gap To Speed Recovery:



<a href="https://www.hotelsmag.com/Industry/News/Details/99963">https://www.hotelsmag.com/Industry/News/Details/99963</a> 



========================



Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.twitter.com/_travelboom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@_travelboom</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;info@travelboommarketing.com.



<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a><a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/hotel-marketing-podcast/">&lt; View All Podcasts</a>

Hotel Marketing Podcast Episode 193: 3 Easy PPC Tests To Run Now!

Are you ignoring a major segment of your audience, and a vast majority of the true decision makers who hold your future in their hands? If you’re a resort destination, family-friendly, or offer kid-friendly amenities you may very well be giving the cold shoulder to your most important consumer.



While parents may choose when to vacation, the kids hold the key to where that vacation will take place. Engaging with kids to help them nudge the parents is easy, particularly when you remember one golden rule: Kids are actually little people, and like to be treated as such.



If you’re a family property and if kids are an important part of your market segment there are countless ways you can differentiate yourself to stand out to the youngest of your guests. These five tips will help you connect and win with your youngest guests.



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Kid Friendly Staff</li><li>Kid Friendly Rooms</li><li>Kid Friendly Amenities</li><li>Kid Friendly Community</li><li>Kid Friendly Marketing</li></ul>



There are countless more ways you can cater to your younger guests, including enhancing what you are already delivering to younger visitors.&nbsp; However, before you make any changes, audit your own property by looking at it through a kid’s point of view.&nbsp; Better yet, enlist your kids, or your staff’s kids, into a little forced labor to experience the property and share their recommendations.







========================



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Listener Feedback:&nbsp; &nbsp;</h3>



Hey! Just listened to your 2018 podcast on TripAdvisor. We&#8217;ve got a top rated restaurant in Ecuador that has failed to receive any attention from TripAdvisor awards, etc. yet restaurants around us, including some who have had little to no reviews over the last year, have been award &#8220;Travelers Choice&#8221; etc. When I try to contact TA through the owners portal it does everything it can to avoid giving you anyway to actually contact them. 



It was finally revealed that they removed us from the list of awards, downgraded our popularity, etc. all because of one review *suspected* to have been from someone affiliated with our restaurant. I&#8217;m doing all I can to get this figured out and corrected, but I tell ya, they&#8217;re not making it easy. We&#8217;ve worked hard to become one of the top restaurants in the country. 



TA feels like one of those organizations that just got too powerful over the years and needs to get disrupted. I think Google is the logical choice, but unfortunately we do still see a lot of traffic in the restaurant from TA recommendations, so it&#8217;s a necessary evil.



Saludos, 



Signo



 <a href="https://www.somos.rest/">https://www.somos.rest/</a>



========================



Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/_travelboom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.



<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>

Hotel Marketing Podcast Episode 192: How Kid-Friendly Can Be RevPar-Friendly For Hotels

Many hoteliers have relegated display ads as something that doesn&#8217;t work or is of dubious impact on putting heads in beds. We&#8217;re here today to say you need to reconsider the errors of that thought process. In fact, the importance of upper-funnel, demand generation campaigns can not be overlooked. Consider our earlier article, <a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/the-hunter-hotelier-driving-their-own-demand-succeeding-in-todays-market/">This is the Hunter Hotelier strategy.</a>&nbsp;



We recommend that our clients consider display campaigns to capitalize on prospective guests that are actively looking for their property but also create the demand that gets those searchers into the funnel.&nbsp;



Display ads can be shown on both hotel-specific platforms (OTAs &amp; Travel Sites) and non-hotel-specific platforms (Airline websites, GPS Navigation apps, Social Platforms (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.)



In today&#8217;s podcast we are going to cover just a few considerations in building a successful display demand generation campaign for a hotel, which includes:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Targeting&nbsp;</li><li>Tracking&nbsp;</li><li>KPIs</li></ul>



Overall Campaign Success



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Did you increase the demand for the hotel?&nbsp;</li><li>Did the increase in demand increase the overall number of bookings and revenue?&nbsp;</li></ul>



<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/how-to-analyze-the-performance-of-display-demand-generation/"> Get the full story on Display Demand Generation at our article here.</a>



========================



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"></h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In The Newsaroos:&nbsp; &nbsp;</h3>



Post Pandemic Marketer Insights from HSMAI:



<a href="https://americas.hsmai.org/insight/how-hospitality-marketers-are-managing-post-pandemic-business/">https://americas.hsmai.org/insight/how-hospitality-marketers-are-managing-post-pandemic-business/ </a>



========================



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Stat Of The Week: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>



Travel &amp; Hospitality CTR Averages:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Search: 4.68%</li><li>Display: 0.47%</li></ul>



<a href="https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks">https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks</a>







========================



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Correction Of The Week:&nbsp; &nbsp;</h3>



Solomon was the wise king in the biblical story of two mothers claiming a child.&nbsp; We said Samson, which is totally wrong.&nbsp; Samson was another biblical judge who had great strength, but to the best of our knowledge did not submit an Amicus curiae brief on the case of Solomon v Two Mothers.



========================



Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/_travelboom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.



<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>

Hotel Marketing Podcast Episode 191: How To Analyze The Performance Of Display Demand Generation

This is an exciting two part podcast. The 20 minutes is about a big announcement from Fuel. The second 20 minutes is a must-listen discussion on deconstructing the hotel conversion funnel.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Part 1: You Can Call Us TravelBoom</h2>



Big, big changes are afoot here at Fuel… or should I say big Booming changes.&nbsp; Today we’re announcing a major change in our little part of the hotel marketing world.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Many people know that we have always offered both software services and marketing services to independent hoteliers. On the podcast we typically focus on marketing strategies and tactics, but on the software side we had the Fuel booking engine, mobile app &amp; digital key, CRM systems and more.&nbsp;



Well, that’s all changing today.&nbsp; We have made the decision to spin off our marketing services to a stand alone entity known as TravelBoom.&nbsp;&nbsp;



You can read more at <a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/fuel-travel-marketing-services-has-become-travelboom/">https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/fuel-travel-marketing-services-has-become-travelboom/</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Part 2: Deconstructing The Hotel Conversion Funnel</h2>



If you’ve had any experience in the website industry, there is no doubt you have had many conversations regarding conversion rate on websites. In the hotel industry, we typically look at conversion rate of either visits or unique visitors into bookings. We’ll get into the difference in those two metrics in a little bit, but right now, I’d like to bring into light the various parts of the hotel funnel, as there are so many places potential customers can fall out. Additionally, each of part of the funnel conveys a different hurdle in the booking process, not to mention the fact that different types of traffic enter the funnel at different points. Let’s take a look, shall we? <a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/deconstructing-the-hotel-conversion-funnel/">Read the full article here</a>.



========================



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">In The Newsaroos:&nbsp; &nbsp;</h2>



Fuel Travel’s Marketing Services Are Now TravelBoom:



<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/fuel-travel-marketing-services-has-become-travelboom/ ">https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/fuel-travel-marketing-services-has-become-travelboom/ </a>



========================



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Stat Of The Week: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>No stats this week, check back for more in episode 191</li></ul>



========================



Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/_travelboom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.



<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>

Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 190 – We Are Now TravelBoom & How You Improve Your Hotel’s Conversion Funnel

Email is quite likely your number one converting tool in your marketing toolbox.  If it’s not, you’ve got some work to do to hone your email collection, targeting, and messaging strategies.  Even if your email is already converting well, there is always room for improvement.  Today we’re going to review three email tests you can run right now as well as look at real world improvements.
Before we kick off the tests we suggest you run, the most important piece of advice is to always, and we mean always, be testing.  Never should an email be sent without some form of test to improve performance.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1054727719&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=false" width="100%" height="166" frameborder="no" scrolling="no">﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿</iframe>
<h2></h2>
========================
<h2>In The Newsrooms:    </h2>
Research “reveals” negative effects of hotel app adoption on customer spending. 
<a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/uom-rrn051321.php">https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/uom-rrn051321.php</a> 
========================
<h2>Stat Of The Week:     </h2>
<ul>
<li>No stats this week, check back for more in episode 190</li>
</ul>
========================
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.
<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>

Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 189 – Email Insights: 3 Tests To Run Right Now and 3 Pitfalls To Avoid

Google Ads has released their new Auto-Apply Beta that allows you to choose “optimizations” that Google can do for you automatically. On the surface this would seem like it would help streamline PPC efforts and utilize Google’s machine learning to apply changes that would improve your campaigns. In reality, many of the automatic optimizations could actually hurt your campaigns. We’ll take a look at some of the items Google wants to Auto-Apply for you and explain why you should maintain control.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1050296827&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=false" width="100%" height="166" frameborder="no" scrolling="no">﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿</iframe>
<h2></h2>
========================
<h2>In The Newsaroos:    </h2>
16 States Reject Federal Unemployment Benefits, removing $300/week
<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/states-pulling-the-plug-on-federal-unemployment-benefits-could-be-disappointed-consumer-spending-may-take-a-hit-11620936454">https://www.marketwatch.com/story/states-pulling-the-plug-on-federal-unemployment-benefits-could-be-disappointed-consumer-spending-may-take-a-hit-11620936454</a> 
&#8212; or &#8212;
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2021/05/13/at-least-16-states-dropping-300-a-week-federal-unemployment-benefits/?sh=56a499df3835">https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2021/05/13/at-least-16-states-dropping-300-a-week-federal-unemployment-benefits/?sh=56a499df3835</a> 
========================
<h2>Stat Of The Week:     </h2>
<ul>
<li>No stats this week, check back for more in episode 188</li>
</ul>
========================
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.
<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 188 – 12 Things You Shouldn’t Let Google Automate

<div class="sc-type-small">
Below are our top picks for getting the most actionable insights from your analytics data on a daily or weekly basis. For the full details, view the blog post here: <a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/analytics-data-points-hotels-need-to-look-right-now/">https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/analytics-data-points-hotels-need-to-look-right-now/</a>
</div>
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<h2>Critical Analytics From Your Hotel&#8217;s Booking Engine Custom Data:</h2>
You should be tracking some critical data that comes from what website visitors are searching AND what they are booking. If your booking engine doesn’t make this possible, it’s time for a new booking engine. We’ll talk more about best practices for data capture of these items in a bit.
1 &#8211; Searched Arrival Date
2 &#8211; Booked Arrival Date
3 &#8211; Searched Booking Window
4 &#8211; Confirmed Booking Window
5 &#8211; Length of Stay
Other Options:
Depending on exactly how you are using this data, and how important it is, you can also look at things like day of arrival or departure (what day of the week), number of adults, number of children, etc.
How to Collect the Custom Data:
In order to collect the custom data on bookings, the best method in Google Analytics is to use custom dimensions. You would use one dimension for each item you want to report on.
CAUTION: The free version of Google Analytics has just 20 custom dimensions available. You should very carefully plan exactly what information is critical to track here.
Once you have your custom dimensions set up, you’ll need to build custom reports in Google Analytics to see the data within the interface. For booking data, you will choose Transactions, Revenue, and possibly Quantity, as your metrics.
Search data collection method can be more your personal preference. This information can either be stored in a Google Analytics event, or in a custom dimension, as we did with the booking data. Depending on how many custom dimensions you used for the booking data (and any other information you are already collecting there), may dictate whether you use events or the dimensions. One advantage of using events is that you don’t need to build a custom report to see the data&#8230;it’s already there in the events report. However, in terms of implementation, if you are tracking several different dimensions, you’ll need a separate event tag for each one of them vs. firing one tag with all of your custom dimensions.
<h2>Critical Analytics From Your Hotel&#8217;s Standard Data:</h2>
6 &#8211; Landing Pages
Why are landing pages important to look at regularly? You may find some nuggets of information you weren’t aware of before, or that have changed due to consumer behavior. For example, we have been seeing on a very regular basis in the last few months, that pages like hotel policies, FAQs, or COVID-specific information are seeing more entries from natural search than before&#8230;AND they are converting. You’ll want to keep an eye on lower level pages to catch any change in behavior, and make sure your user experience, and content is optimal for those pages that might suddenly be getting attention.
7 &#8211; Location by City
Because various feeder markets are in a constant state of flux in terms of quarantine status, it is important to keep an eye on both who is looking at the site, and who is actually booking. This can help you spend your targeted marketing dollars in the most effective way.&nbsp;
Possible Reporting Techniques:
<ol>
<li>Export the data from Google Analytics to a spreadsheet</li>
<li>Set up an automated email in Google Analytics</li>
<li>Build a spreadsheet template, and copy/paste data into it</li>
<li>Use a data aggregation tool like Supermetrics in a spreadsheet</li>
<li>Build a report in Google DataStudio</li>
</ol>
========================
<h2>In The Newsaroos:&nbsp; &nbsp; </h2>
Hilton Reports Significant Increase in Bookings &amp; Occupancy
<a href="https://www.costar.com/article/1813575645/hilton-reports-%E2%80%98significant-lift%E2%80%99-in-forward-bookings-and-occupancy">https://www.costar.com/article/1813575645/hilton-reports-%E2%80%98significant-lift%E2%80%99-in-forward-bookings-and-occupancy</a>&nbsp;
Surprise, Surprise.. Microsoft Ads Copies Google Yet Again. Rolling BMM into Phrase Match&nbsp; 
<a href="https://searchengineland.com/microsoft-advertising-to-treat-phrase-match-the-same-way-google-ads-does-348411">https://searchengineland.com/microsoft-advertising-to-treat-phrase-match-the-same-way-google-ads-does-348411</a>
<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-177-secrets-to-optimizing-your-hotel-website-conversion-rate/">We covered this in depth in Episode 177 when Google announced it back in February</a> (minute mark 10:00 &#8211; 20:10)
========================
<h2>Stat Of The Week: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>
<ul>
<li>No stats this week, check back for more in episode 188</li>
</ul>
========================
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.
<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 187 – Are You Missing The Boat With These 7 Data Points?

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The first four months of 2021 have been a whirlwind.  It began as a struggle to find guests to fill hotels and has shifted to a major struggle to find the staff to satisfy the guests now that they have shown up.  The number one conversation in nearly all of our client meetings over the past two months has been how to find new employees and keep the existing ones a hotel has.
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The COVID pandemic has created a very unusual circumstance, in the US in particular.  Employees who are currently receiving unemployment benefits that often exceed what a position at a hotel might pay. The national average unemployment state benefits are $345.53 per week, plus an additional $300 per week from the federal government.  This equates to $33,568/year income.  This equates to a $16.14 hourly rate.  For a hotel to fully staff, they must first match the value of unemployment benefits and then offer enough to make it worth the employee to lose their benefits.
As unemployment benefits expire, more people will make their way back into the workforce, but how do we staff up in the meantime?  In today’s podcast, we are going to cover six strategies that will help you identify, attract, hire, and keep great employees.
First and foremost, you must look at your employment strategy the same as you would look at your marketing strategy.  You’re selling the opportunity to work for your property by highlighting the benefits, overcoming the objections, creating affinity for your brand, and building a system that makes it easy to do business (or get employed). 
<h2>ONE: First and foremost: Keep your people loyal</h2>
Keeping your staff happy and loyal is the first and most important way to ensure your property is staffed to its fullest potential. This goes beyond just offering a competitive hourly rate or salary, though that is a must.  Properties must also create an environment where the staff feels welcome, is fulfilled, and sees themselves as part of a close-knit team.
<ul>
<li>Employee appreciation events</li>
<li>Property branded apparel (that’s not ugly)</li>
<li>Access to some amenities at free or reduced rates</li>
<li>Create comfortable space to relax while “off the clock”</li>
<li>Make sure your employees have motivation to stay or have skin in the game.</li>
<li>Create a clear path for growth in the organization.</li>
<li>Praise employees for good reviews, service.</li>
</ul>
<h2>TWO: Create a strong referral program</h2>
The best way to grow your staff is to rely on the staff you currently have.  If you have created a great culture and have loyal employees, it will be much more likely that their friends and family will also want to join the team.  However good feelings only go so far, you have to put programs in place to create an incentive.
<ul>
<li>Simple pay bonus for referring new employees</li>
<li>Referral contests and drawings for referring leads</li>
<li>Providing tools to make it easier for staff to refer their friends</li>
</ul>
<h2>THREE: Provide hiring incentives to get and retain new employees</h2>
Hiring incentives have always been a somewhat controversial means of getting employees in the door. If you offer a hiring bonus will you just get a bunch of people in the door that immediately leave?  The obvious solution to this is to offer incentive steps based on achieving specific milestones such as a signing bonus, followed by a 3 month bonus or end of season bonus.
<h2>FOUR: Ensure your jobs are listed everywhere</h2>
This recommendation is basic and hotels are already making good use of hiring services and listing sites.  However, it is important to understand the competition and make your job listing 10x compared to other listings.  Think of your listings as your Google My Business profile and optimize it accordingly.
<ul>
<li>Job sites such as indeed, ziprecruiter, SimplyHired and others</li>
<li>Social channels such as Facebook and Nextdoor</li>
<li>Also, consider paid social strategies to maximize your social reach</li>
<li>https://jobs.google.com/about/</li>
</ul>
<h2>FIVE: Look to the community for assistance</h2>
The community around you is a great resource for finding employees.  Are there organizations that you can tap to help fill your employment needs?  A perfect example of how some destinations think creatively and involve the community is bussing in staff from neighboring areas. This not only serves a great need in the community to provide work and transportation but also solves a portion of staffing problems.
<ul>
<li>Chamber/DMOs</li>
<li>Local unemployment office</li>
<li>Local organizations that could provide staffing such as universities, clubs, etc</li>
</ul>
SIX: Adapt to having a smaller workforce
The one reality that is clear is we have a reduced workforce, at least for the time being. Hoteliers are going to have to adapt to delivering the experience guests demand with a smaller staff.  Therefore, how can we make the most of the staff we have?
<ul>
<li>Cross train your existing staff to the fullest</li>
<li>Automate systems where possible</li>
<li>Outsource services that will alleviate your internal staff, such as laundry</li>
<li>Ask your guests what services they actually need/want.</li>
</ul>
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The lack of workers is a temporary problem, though one that may last quite a while.  The best strategy possible is to get creative and think of new ways to solve the problem.  A perfect example of getting creative, which goes back to pre-COVID days, is a client that would charter a flight to bring in workers to a destination and house them for the season.
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<h2>In The Newsaroos:    </h2>
 Biden Opening Up More H1B and H2B Visas
<ul>
<li><a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-economy-589dc17501502479e3ee57a4b711ca41" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-economy-589dc17501502479e3ee57a4b711ca41</a></li>
<li>The Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. would approve an additional 22,000 H2-B seasonal, non-agricultural worker visas on top of the annual limit of 66,000 set by Congress.</li>
</ul>
Google Offering New Travel Tools
<ul>
<li><a href="https://blog.google/products/flights-hotels/helpful-tools-when-youre-ready-travel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://blog.google/products/flights-hotels/helpful-tools-when-youre-ready-travel/</a></li>
<li>When searching for hotels/flights/things to do Google will let you know about travel restrictions right in the SERP. Things like mandatory quarantine or proof of test results or vaccination record. Can choose to get an email if these change</li>
<li>Filter by type of trip (beaches/skiing/outdoors)</li>
<li>Road Trips &#8211; with a starting point and destination set, you can now see hotels/parks/campgrounds along the way. You can set specific stops. This can be transferred to your Google Maps app on your phone</li>
</ul>
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<h2>Stat Of The Week:     </h2>
<ul>
<li>More than two-thirds of people collecting unemployment earn more than they did at their old jobs
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unemployment-benefits-boosted-economy-cares-act-coronavirus-make-more-jobs-2020-7#:~:text=Markets-,More%20than%20two%2Dthirds%20of%20people%20collecting%20unemployment%20earn%20more,did%20at%20their%20old%20jobs&amp;text=Two%2Dthirds%20of%20workers%20earn,at%20the%20University%20of%20Chicago." target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.businessinsider.com/unemployment-benefits-boosted-economy-cares-act-coronavirus-make-more-jobs-2020-7#:~:text=Markets-,More%20than%20two%2Dthirds%20of%20people%20collecting%20unemployment%20earn%20more,did%20at%20their%20old%20jobs&amp;text=Two%2Dthirds%20of%20workers%20earn,at%20the%20University%20of%20Chicago.</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fueltravel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@_travelboom</a> or info@travelboommarketing.com.
<a href="https://admin.travelboommarketing.com/downloads/">IN ADDITION TO THE PODCAST WE HAVE A BUNCH OF WHITEPAPERS AND STUDIES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD HERE</a>
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Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 187 – Are You Missing The Boat With These 7 Data Points?

Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 186 – Six Strategies To Finding Staff For Your Hotel

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