Post Due Jan 4 - Cross Comments Due Jan 6

Over the holiday collaboration to explore Community sites - working in groups, compare the essential elements of communities.

The outcome of the exercise should be:

1. An understanding of community sites as a distribution channel

2. How a hotel can be present in a community site

Working in groups of 3 compare the following factors:

• Profile the community - membership, size, travel purpose
• Interactive services within the site
• What is the hotel booking source
• What type of hotels are best suited for the community

Group 1

TripWolf vs. Boo

Group 2

WAYN vs. TripWolf

Group 3

Virtual Tourist vs. WAYN

Group 4

Boo vs. Travellerspoint

Group 5

Traveldodo vs. Igougo

Group 6

Igougo vs. Gusto

Group 7

Iloho vs. Matador Travel

Group 8

Matador Travel vs. BootsandAll

Collaboration requirement - work in Google docs - PPT application. One person need to set up the PPT and share with other group members. Use annotated screen shots - not typed written slides.

You will have to show me the shared document.

Final product - upload in Slide Share on EACH member's blog

In Class Exercise - Comparative Analysis of HOtel Distribution

Exercise Outcome:

-An understanding of distribution options available to independent hotels

-Analysis of rates and value added offers in diverse channels

Group Work:

-Choose an independent (non-chain) hotel

-Research the hotel's visibility in 3 different 3rd party sites

-Create a comparison chart:

>>>rate

>>>offer

>>>booking conditions

>>>3rd party site profile - OTA, hotel portal, niche site, destination site, etc.

What is your conclusion - the best sites for your selected hotel's distribution.

Create a Slideshare and upload into each group member's blog.

Exercise Assignment for Class 10/12

Reverse Auction Sites

Outcome of the assignment - a good understanding of how a hotel can use 'reverse auction sites' to benefit their revenue and occupancy growth.

1. Research reverse travel auctions' history

2. Profile how they work, in general

3. Choose a reverse auction site - profile the types of hotels you found on the site

4. Research sites that give customers advice on using reverse auctions

5. List the key points

6. Conclusion - how can a hotel best participate in a reverse auction site, if at all.

Put your work in a Slideshare - post by the usual Sunday due date.

Include text links to the research sites that you used - place in the post, not in the Slideshare

Which OTA has the biggest impact?

In order to decide which IDS channels best suit their property, a hotelier has to know how 'strong' each OTA is, in each marketplace.

Here is a tool to help - compete.com

03/12 In Class Exercise

Create a list of the characteristics that define OTAs:

1. Customer reach

2. Customer communication methods

3. Types of products sold

4. Special Promotion capabilities

5. Online booking conditions + fees

6. Affiliate program - yes/no

7. Affiliate program payment structure

8. Info for hoteliers

Work in groups of 2 or 3

Create the list

Post in 1 group member's blog

Link to each group member's blog

Exercise for Class 3/12

We will start to examine 3rd party reseller sites with OTAs - online travel agents. In class we talked about Expedia, Travelocity, Ebookers and Opodo.

Your task-

1. Find an OTA to analyze

2. Identify their targeted customer group - do not say 'everybody'

3. What online customer services do they offer

4. How does your selected OTA's service differ from what can be found on Expedia

5. What types of customer communication methods does your OTA use

6. Who are the OTA's partners (not advertisers)

7. Put your response in www.slideshare.net and then embed in your blog.

OK, I look forward to seeing your concise, insightful presentations online by Sunday.

Net Profiles - New Customer Segmentation

Groundswell slideshow

You are what you click...write...refer...buy...share!

Pre-class Survey

Our E-Biz course will address both online topics + tools.

Kindly take this survey by 23/11 and we'll look at how the class's Net use matches the general public.

Click Here to take survey

Net use profile tool

Welcome to your Online Classroom

I look forward to receiving your blog links and survey results by November 23.

The course outline, grading and requirements can be downloaded here.

See you in class.

An interesting video interview with 2 top hotel industry executives - an outlook on the coming years' business.