State of the Hotel Industry in Asia PacificSOJERN | FASTBOOKING STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 2 Table of Contents03 Introduction04 Part One: Search & Booking Trends and How Hoteliers Can Influence ThemUS to APAC Travel TrendsAPAC to APAC Travel TrendsUS to APAC Path to PurchaseMarketing TakeawaysAPAC to APAC Path to PurchaseMarketing TakeawaysSummary14 Part Two: Top Channels that Convert and How to Drive More Traffic to ThemWhat is Metasearch?Metasearch GuideWhat is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?Search Engine Marketing GuideSummary24 Conclusion26 About Sojern27 About FASTBOOKINGSTATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 3 SOJERN | FASTBOOKINGIntroductionPhocuswright reports that online hotel bookings in Asia Pacific (APAC) will double to $62.8 billion by 2020.1Hoteliers need to be ready for this surge of connected travellers. In particular, hoteliers need to ensure that theyre getting in front of all these new travellersno matter their trip motivation, party size, and lead timeon channels that deliver the best ROI. To help prepare hoteliers, Sojern and FASTBOOKING partnered to bring an in-depth look at the state of the industry. In this report, youll learn: Paths to purchase for inbound travellers from APAC and US The most effective channels for converting travellers How you can best engage with travellers to drive direct bookingsSOJERN | FASTBOOKING STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 4 Understanding how travellers search and book their rooms is essential to engage with them, nurture them through their path to purchase, and ensure they book directly with you. Sojern specialises in travel path to purchase data, and we use our 350 million travel profiles to find high-intent travellers and engage them with relevant ads across devices. Here we analyse high-level insights of travellers coming from both outside and inside the region to get a picture of the overall trends of the region as well as advice on how to turn these insights into actionable strategies. We also drill into the complexities of travellers paths to purchase by analysing one US traveller heading to APAC and another APAC traveller looking for an inter-regional getaway. These granular insights offer hoteliers a refined vision of the travel path to purchase, as well as unique insight into how to engage with travellers across lead times, trip motivations, devices, and more.Part1Search & Booking Trends and How Hoteliers Can Influence ThemSTATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 5 SOJERN | FASTBOOKINGUS to APAC Travel TrendsAccording to IPK International, US travel to Asia grew 5% last year, as Americans look to take more holidays and are increasingly turning to Asia to do so.2To understand more about these travellers, Sojern analysed what devices travellers from the US use to conduct their APAC travel searches across the days of the week.The Share of Searches by Device, by Day of Week0%5%10%15%SaturdayFridayThursdayWednesdayTuesdayMondaySundayDESKTOP MOBILE15% 11% 11% 11% 11% 11% 15%85%89%89%89%89%89%85%We find the share of mobile searches rise on the weekends. As people leave behind their work or home computers and hit the road running errands, they bring their travel dreaming and smart phones with them. When it comes to timing trends, 24% of US to APAC travellers search 90+ days out. Given the flight can be rather long-haul for US travellers, it makes sense to see such a long lead time. On the other end of the lead time spectrum, last-minute trips to APAC are still popular: 18% of trips from the US to APAC are booked 0 to 7 days in advance of travel. In order to reach these US travellers, you need a strategy that can nurture them through their longer lead time to conversion. Using display plus Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is key here: display or banner ads can reach travellers as they move across sites. Then, when theyre ready to look for more information on a search engine, your ad shows up at the top and drives them directly to your website.SOJERN | FASTBOOKING STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 6 APAC to APAC Travel TrendsWhile US travel grew by 5% to APAC, Asian travellers are showing an even stronger rise (14%) in travel within the region.3In order to get a new look at inter-regional travel, we analysed device usage across days of the week for APAC to APAC travel. We see another surge of mobile searches on the weekends, but the numbers are much higher for inter-regional trips. The Share of Searches by Device, by Day of Week0%5%10%15%SaturdayFridayThursdayWednesdayTuesdayMondaySundayDESKTOP MOBILE47% 37% 36% 36% 37% 38% 47%53%63%64%64%63%62%53%Whats more, about a quarter of all inter-regional travellers book their trips last-minute, 7 or fewer days before travel. Early bookers planning trips 90 or more days out make up 20% of all bookings and 26% of all searches. Given the high share of mobile searches conducted by travellers within APAC, reaching and converting inter-regional travellers requires a strong mobile strategy. You need to ensure that your display and SEM ads reach travellers on their mobile phone as they are spending a significant portion of their time there, searching for their travel. Further, the strong inter-regional travel trends suggest theres huge opportunity to find and convert travellers closer to home. When setting your budgets and targets, then, consider focusing your efforts in Asia to capitalise on the increase in inter-regional travel.STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 7 SOJERN | FASTBOOKINGUS to APAC Path to PurchaseAccording to Skift, US travellers are set to drive serious tourism dollars in Asia-Pacific through 2020spending a projected $257 billion4. Engaging with these US travellers is key to ensuring the vitality of the hotel industry in APAC. Even more so, is ensuring that these international travellers book direct.Lets analyze one traveller, pseudonym “Michael,” on his path to purchase from the US to APAC. This unique individual lives in Dallas, Texas and heads to Singapore for business frequently. On his most recent trip, hes enticed into adding some additional leisure days. This traveller is a heavy desktop user and an avid travel researcherensuring he has the best price and the most adventure-packed trips. Lets take a look at the specific path to purchaseSOJERN | FASTBOOKING STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 8 Dreaming Planning BookingDec 26Jan 1 After booking, continues to visit Luxury Brand As page while also visiting tourism siteDec 22Dec 24While in-destination, simultaneously searches for Luxury Brand A hotels and flights to Kuala LumpurDec 22Searches hotels in Kuala Lumpur on Luxury Hotel Brand A and competing segments, conducting 15 searches in 24 hoursDec 25 Books Luxury Hotel Brand A for his Kuala Lumpur trip on Jan 711Dec 1Books an upscale hotel catering to business travellers for a stay from Dec 21Jan 12Dec 21Arrives in Singapore, he searches for a trip to Kuala Lumpur for January 711Jan 2 Compares different amenities on Luxury Hotel Brand As site, including their health club and spaJan 6A day before his trip, he downloads a Kuala Lumpur travel guideNov 11Back home in Dallas and planning his next business trip to Singapore, he hits Luxury Hotel Brand As pageSep 1 While in Singapore for business, he is inspired to look for travel for a local sporting event and hits Luxury Hotel Brand As homepage“Michaels” Path to Purchase“Michael” jet setting for business inspires a leisure getaway from dreaming through planning to booking.STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 9 SOJERN | FASTBOOKINGMarketing TakeawaysOver the course of 127 days of planning and travelling, “Michael” has 162 travel touchpoints, meaning he hits homepages, bounces over to amenity sites, conducts searches, and more. For this traveller, 16 of those are for his flight, while a whopping 127 are for his hotel. Given the high volume of searches for hotels, APAC hoteliers need to work hard to reach and engage travellers, like this one, while they are in-market for accommodation. Retargeting is a great tactic to ensure this traveller, as he works throughout his business and leisure planning, returns to your brand and website. With retargeting, an ad is served to a traveller who has already visited your website and shown an interest in you. This ad can be customised to the traveller, reflecting his particular search preferences. Moreover, you engage with a traveller at the right time with a creative that will add value to their shopping journey and inspire them to book with you. Whats more, the research stage of “Michaels” path to purchase is a long one. Even after booking and while in-market, he continues to search and book. Staying top of mind for this traveller is key to ensuring that during all this searching, he returns to your brand.If this traveller knows about you and your brand, which a good researcher would, he is going to search for you through search engines. You want to ensure when he clicks on those SEM (Search Engine Marketing which is also called PPC = Pay Per Click) ads at the top of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), those clicks direct straight to your website. Third parties can and do bid on your brand name, so it is crucial that you actively work to ensure those clicks and that booker go straight to your brand.SOJERN | FASTBOOKING STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 10 APAC to APAC Path to PurchaseThanks to a wealth of different cultures, foods, sights, and experiences so close by, not to mention the prominence of low-cost carriers (LCCs) offering affordable flights, inter-regional travel in APAC is big business. According to a recent Google project, the number one destination for Vietnamese travellers is Thailand, with a 45% increase in interest year over year. Taiwans top destination is Japan, at a 10% increase year-over-year.5To get a better picture of inter-regional travel planning, lets see a second traveller on a path to travel purchase, pseudonym “Felicia.” Our second path to purchase is a Singaporean native looking for a luxury getaway in the region. Using primarily desktop for search, this traveller is no stranger to taking to the skies, as she frequently travels for business. Lets take a look at the specific path to purchase.STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 11 SOJERN | FASTBOOKINGJan 31 After her business trip, she searches for Mauritius beach trip on Luxury Brand As site againJan 1719 Visits Taipei for business and stays at Luxury Brand ADec 12Converts on desktop for a three-day business trip to Taipei for Luxury Brand A in JanDec 6Hits Luxury Brand As Resort site 16 times, considering a staycation in Singapore over the holidaysNov 1021Makes searches on competitive Luxury Brand As Resort for a holiday in ChinaNov 1Searches hotels for a Taipei business trip in JanThen considers Luxury Brand A for her business trip Oct 7 Hits numerous amenities pages and room rates over and over on Luxury Brand As Resort siteSep 2 Dreams about a Mauritius Beach trip and visits Luxury Brand As Resort site, repeatedly watching their homepage video“Felicias” Path to PurchaseDreaming of the Ultimate Luxury Singapore Vacation Returns to dreaming about a Mauritius Beach trip, visiting Luxury Brand As Resort site 34x in 24 hoursDreaming Planning BookingSOJERN | FASTBOOKING STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 12 Marketing TakeawaysThis path to purchase spans 213 days and 735 touchpointssubstantially more than our international path to purchase featured previously. Also unique, though not surprising, to this path, is that “Felicia” knows where she wants to goshe begins her travel planning on a specific brands website, watching the video on their homepage. As “Felicia” moves to book business trips, the original brand stays top of mind, and she ends up booking at a different location but same brand as the initial search.Our inter-regional path to purchase illustrates the importance of knowing your individual travellers and ensuring youre customising your campaigns to their intent signals. One might think, for instance, that its the international traveller who spends more time and more touchpoints before making a purchase. But here, in these two examples, we see the opposite occur. It is only through deep data, and the data science necessary to understand and reach travellers, that such nuances can be grasped. And, its this type of knowledge and engagement that will reach, inspire, and add value to the traveller across their path to purchase. Whats more, though the length of time for “Felicias” path to purchase isnt extensive, the number of searches is. For example, we see her conduct 34 searches for one hotel in 24 hours. As travellers bounce not only from all their hotel searches but also to other non-travel related searches, you want to ensure that your property is top of mind. Set a strong search strategy, where your brand appears at the top of SERPs, and also ensure that youre reaching them with display ads tailored to your property and offering. Going multi-channel allows you to nurture travellers through their path to purchase and ensure you engage with them across channels and devices to book directly with you.STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 13 SOJERN | FASTBOOKINGSummaryTravellers paths to purchase grow in complexity as they jump across websites and devices. And without knowing a travellers trip motivation, origin, spending patterns, and more, you could waste advertising spend on a traveller who isnt in-market for your offering.At Sojern, we understand what makes travellers tick, and we work with independent hoteliers to ensure we reach travellers on the right device at the right time with the right message. We use our deep data and state-of-the-art data science to serve travellers ads that are relevant to them at the right timewhen they are searching for your destination. Driving direct bookings and reducing wasted ad spend has never been easier.SOJERN | FASTBOOKING STATE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 14 It can be challenging for smaller players in the travel industry to compete with the more established rivals in the hospitality sector, but the competitive landscape is always shifting in new and interesting ways.Consumers digital habits are always evolving, and this has challenged the hospitality industry to keep pace and compete within the online community space.FASTBOOKING provides a complete e-commerce and distribution solution to properties in more than 90 countries worldwide. It maximises direct sales for hotels and enhances the visibility of their brand through online and mobile channels with a simplified and integrated system which is the key to efficiency and productivity.For hotels to compete in this space, an effective Di