Hotel Directories - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

One thing that makes internet marketing for the hotel industry different from the majority of other sectors is the large number of hotel, bed and breakfast and guesthouse directories.

 

These directories come in a variety of shapes, sizes, styles and quality. Despite the varied formats they have fundamental effects on the way in which potential guests find establishments.

 

• they make up a large amount of the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP's)
• it is difficult for most hotels to compete against these directories for anything but the most specific search terms
• many guests bookmark and return to directories time and again

 

When looking for a hotel or bed and breakfast via search engines, the fundamental difference is that the majority of the results generated will be directory listings as opposed to the actual hotel or bed and breakfast website.

 

FACT : Directory listings = better exposure = increased profile, rankings and visitors

Different types of directories

Free directories

These cover both free directories and those that offer free as well as paid inclusion options.

Paid directories

These offer paid options which often have a varied level of inclusion options. Some also offer an online booking service which is usually on an commission basis.

Chain directories

A large number of directories are run by or on behalf of the major hotel chain booking agents.

General hotel directories

Most hotel directories fall into this category covering a wide range of establishments across specific countries, continents and even worldwide.

Niche directories

Specfic directories dealing with either a certain type of establishment (ie bed and breakfast), a certain area (ie the Yorkshire Dales) or a certain common factor (ie local to airport).

 

Making the most of what is available

Step 1 - Decide on a budget

The first thing to decide before you commence submitting your details to any directory is your budget. It is important to remember that if there is no budget there is still plenty you can do to promote your site. Within Hotel-Traffic.com's Hotel Directory Database there are over 30 hotel directories that offer FREE inclusion options.

 

You also need to decide if you have the time to do this work yourself or you would like professional assistance, Hotel-Traffic.com offer a wide range of directory listing / link generation packages.

Step 2 - Collate all details

Before you approach the directories you need to have all the relevant details regarding your establishment to hand to allow you to quickly and easily copy and paste the information onto the submission forms. This should be done as a Wordpad document (NOT Word) and should contain the following information:-

 

Your details

Name -

Username -

Password -

(not all directories require a username and password - please note DO NOT use the same username and password you use on SECURE sites such as banking etc., create new ones that you will use for all directory sites)

Email -

(again if possible DO NOT use your normal email address, create a new one purely for submissions if you can)

Company Address -

(if different from the establishment)

 

Establishment Details

Establishment Name -

Address -

Phone -

Fax -

Website -

Email -

Short Description - (between 50-100 words)

Long Description - (between 200 - 500 words)

(you will also require other information ie. number of rooms, prices, ratings etc. It is easier to fill these in rather than copy across)

Step 3 - Submit to FREE sites

Now you have all the information you should begin approaching the free to list directories. You need to visit each site and find the appropriate page to submit to then copy the information needed into the relevant form sections. If any of these directories have a paid option that might interest you, leave them until step 4.

No time to do this yourself? Let us do it as part of our Supermembership! ONLY £50

Step 4 - Evaluate the paid options

Once you have completed the free listings you need to look into the different paid options. Taking in account cost, what you get, competition in your area, is it an one off payment or annual subcription etc you can then approach your chosen sites and create listings with them. (Always remember how many rooms you would need to sell in order to pay for the inclusion).

Not quite sure? Let us have your budget and we will do it for you as part of our Supermembership

Step 5 - Monitor the results

After you have completed your submissions it is important to monitor the results of them. This can be done through most internet statistics software. If you do not have a way of tracking the visitors to your website then it is something you should STRONGLY consider (this will be covered in more detail in next months main article). Hotel-Traffic.com recommends WebCEO's excellent HitLens statistics. Regardless of which software you use to monitor your results you should keep an eye on the referring websites to see which of your listings are bringing in the most traffic and which are not worth the investment. It is also worth keeping an eye out for any of your free listings that are generating a large amount of visitors and whether those directories have an option to upgrade to a better paid inclusion.