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It is important to understand that there are some differences between presenting and marketing your hotel online, and doing so elsewhere. One of the most important of these differences is that the way your hotel is perceived online is very different from how it is perceived in other ways.

When an individual looking for a hotel room goes to the Internet, they will first use either a search engine, or a travel intermediary. In both cases, the first results of their search will be a list of hotels that will (hopefully) include both you and your competitors. The same thing happens when a travel agent sends a booking to your hotel via the GDS system. The agent will search the GDS system using certain criteria. And again (hopefully) your hotel will pop up on the list among your competitors.

It is important to realise that, in the online world, initially, to the customer, your

In the online world, initially, to most customers, your hotel is just basic information on a list. Those lists are very important.

hotel is just basic information on a list. Almost everybody who finds you online will, at one time or another, be confronted with a list in which a very basic description of your hotel sits among similar descriptions of your competitor's hotels.

That's a very important list to be on, and while the information and descriptions of hotels are basic, they can be very important to the person looking for a hotel. There's the name of the hotel, the number of stars it has, perhaps a list of facilities and features, and maybe one-sentence emphasising a key point. And that's it. Except for one other thing - price.

If you were faced with several descriptions of what looked to you as identical or very similar hotels, how would you make a decision? Probably on price. In a list of hotels that all look quite similar, all things being equal, you'll pick the lowest rate. What this means is that, if your hotel appears on a list with similar, competing hotels, you are likely competing on price.

There's only one alternative to competing on price in the online world - and that is to manage and expand your hotel's online presence, while paying attention to the very important details, like what shows up on the search engine, travel site, and GDS lists. To differentiate your hotel from the others on the list, you have to show the customer that you're different, and make it as easy as possible for them to chose you.

In the online world, the only alternative to competing on price is to compete on presence - in the search engines, on the GDS systems, and on the travel sites.

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