Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

In this episode of Suite Spot, we uncover which processes hoteliers can put in place to impact their reputation. Host Ryan Embree is joined by Jason Lee to discuss how at the heart of the matter, it’s still all about service. Jason was a hotel GM for a number of years before joining Travel Media Group, where he now serves as the senior director of online product and technology. In the What’s News segment, Ryan shares some insightful new research from TripAdvisor that found that 98% of hoteliers say that reputation management is important to their business. He’s joined in the Suite Spot by Jason, who discusses what this means in the day-to-day operations of a hotel. He shares key insights that he has uncovered from analyzing data from thousands of hotels to pinpoint which reputation processes will make the biggest impact on a hotel’s online reputation. In the Q&A segment, we answer questions about the future of reputation management, how to effectively collect feedback from guests, and what review website metrics are most important to pay attention to. To submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. Resources: https://tripadvisor.mediaroom.com/2018-07-26-Online-Reputation-Management-Mobile-Experience-and-Driving-Direct-Bookings-Critical-Areas-of-Focus-for-U-S-Travel-Businesses-According-to-New-TripAdvisor-Ipsos-MORI-Study https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/97-hotels-say-online-reputaion-important-thier-business-jason-lee/ Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Ryan Embree: Thank you for joining me today. My name is Ryan Embree. I am the host of Suite Spot. Today we are going to be talking about reputation and the importance that it has on hoteliers and their revenue and we’re going to actually be joined by someone with quite a bit of experience in the operation side of hotels. We’re going to share some best practices on the growing influence of reputation and how to get some more positive reviews. So let’s go ahead and jump into our What’s News segment today, where we are looking at an article on the 2018 Hospitality Sector Report, which was produced by TripAdvisor. And in this report it has some pretty staggering statistics on hoteliers’ thoughts about online presence and reputation. Really what we want to focus on today is a reputation management part of this article and these statistics and metrics that it gave for reputation, I think really gives a good baseline of where the hospitality industry is today. Ryan Embree: In this article, 97 percent of those surveyed say online reputation management is important to their business and these are hotels speaking. Ninety eight percent say online reviews are important to their business and 92 percent say social presence is important to their business. So I think what we can take away from this article is we’ve heard over the past decade the growing influence that these reviews and social media can have for a business are going to have for business and we kept hearing that in future tense, but through this article and statistics, we can say that this stuff is already here. Almost 100 percent of hoteliers know the value that reputation management plays in their business and what and how it can translate to revenue and what social presence means for a hotelier, because they know this is the way that travelers are now searching for hotels and basing their decisions. Ryan Embree: So in saying that today, we thought it would be insightful to bring somebody that’s been on both sides of the front desk. Jason Lee, who’s our director of product and technology. He’s been on the podcast before. He was in operations for a long time before he came to us, so he’s got a really great perspective on reputation management and how hoteliers can really manage all of this user generated content out there. Jason in fact wrote an article on LinkedIn that got a lot of traction speaking directly to these statistics. So today we’re going to give him an interview and you know, he’s going to share some insight with us from both sides of the lobby. Thank you for taking the time, Jason. I really wanted to bring you in here and interview today about that amazing article you wrote on Linkedin, [that] like I said, got a lot of traction. I wanted to first start by, We obviously know what you do here at Travel Media Group, but I would like to ask about your background on the operations side of the hospitality industry, before you started here. Jason Lee: Yeah, I think like a lot of people in hospitality, I started in an entry level position. Started

In this episode of Suite Spot, we concentrate on the rise of voice search in the hotel industry. Amber Wojcek, content manager at Travel Media Group, joins host Ryan Embree to study the impact of voice search in the industry and where it might be heading. In the What’s News segment, Ryan speaks to several reports with some powerful statistics on the growing trend of voice search. The report shows the increase over time of voice and its projections for the future. In The Suite Spot, Ryan and Amber start by defining the difference between voice and traditional search. Next, Amber gives hoteliers tips on what they can do to optimize their websites for voice search and shares best practices on voice search traffic conversion. Ryan and Amber also predict what hoteliers can expect in the future of voice search in regards to reservations and guest experience. In the Q&A segment, we answer a hotelier who questions if he should shift the majority of their focus and time from traditional desktop bookings to mobile bookings. As a reminder, to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. Resources: http://www.digitalhotelier.com/blog/everything-need-know-voice-search-hotel-bookings/ http://www.travelmediagroup.com/optimize-voice-search/ https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Research-Updates/2018/Voice-Still-Unskilled-for-Travel-Planning/ https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3482117/ Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending and hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of the Suite Spot. I am your host, Ryan Embree, and today we are going to be talking about voice search, a very popular subject and trend in the hospitality industry. And we’re going to be reviewing some statistics. We’re going to be reviewing, how travelers are using voice search and we’re actually gonna go into the future of voice search. So let’s go ahead and jump right in. We’re going to go into our What’s News segment and for today’s What’s News segment. We’re going to be looking at two different reports that were published on think with Google. And in these reports they gave some pretty powerful statistics as far as what’s happening right now with voice search and the trends year over year. Ryan Embree: So the first statistic that that is mentioned in this report has to do with the percentage of searches that are now done by voice and this report published that according to Google, 20 percent of all searches are now done by voice in 2018. That’s a pretty incredible stat. That’s one out of every five times that someone goes on Google, they’re actually searching via voice rather than typing. And this trend is gonna continue to grow according to these statistics. Another interesting fact that Google published was the popular phrase in “near me,” right? We’ve seen that very, very popular in the hospitality industry, the hotel industry when travelers are searching for “hotels near me,” near attractions. Ryan Embree: But that phrase “near me” grew more than a hundred and 30 percent year over year. So travelers are now asking for more information about their location and what’s around them. Uh, so that is ultra critical for hotels to know when they’re looking to attract these travelers that are doing these searches. So not only are we going to be looking at the stats and voice search as it is today, but also we want to prepare our hoteliers for what voice search holds in the future. So in saying that, another article that we wanted to bring to your attention was actually an article published by Gartner Inc, which predicts that in 2020, 30 percent of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen, which is a pretty incredible stat when you think about that. So this is a fast growing technological trend that hoteliers need to be prepared for. So what better way to prepare for this then bring in our very own Amber Wojcek who has done some extensive research on voice search, she’s written some blog articles about the subject and in today’s Suite Spot we’re going to be interviewing her and talking about what this is all about and what the future holds for this growing trend. Hello Amber, thanks for joining me. Amber Wojcek: Thanks for having me back. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Um, so let’s go ahead and get [started]. Just start off pretty simply. You know, what’s the difference when we talk about voice search and traditional search? Amber Wojcek: Yeah. So if we’re going back to basics searches generally when y

In this episode of Suite Spot, we focus in on the independent hotel segment of the hospitality industry. Host Ryan Embree teams up with the leaders of Travel Media Group’s sales team, Diane Elderkin and Edwin Pomales. In the What’s News segment, Ryan reacts to an article displaying the recent growth in the independent hotel segment. The article breaks down independent hotels’ performance in relation to market size and which markets investors are targeting for future growth. In The Suite Spot, Ryan, Diane, and Edwin share their thoughts on the cause for this performance boom for independent hotels. Diane and Edwin share, from a marketing perspective, what advantages and disadvantages independent hoteliers face in comparison to a branded property. They give different recommendations on how an independent hotel can best share its story to travelers. In the Q&A segment, we give a hotelier advice on what to do first as they make the switch from a branded hotel to an independent. To submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. Resources: http://lodgingmagazine.com/independent-hotels-see-higher-adrs-and-faster-growth/ http://lodgingmagazine.com/marcus-millichaps-q2-2018-national-hospitality-research-report/ Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Hello and good morning everyone. Happy Friday. This is your host, Ryan Embree, as always here on the Suite Spot. Got another exciting episode for you this morning. Today we are going to be focusing on independent hotels. So let’s go ahead and get started and we’ll jump into the What’s News? So today in our What’s News segment, we’re going to be looking at uh two articles done by Lodging Magazine recently that had to do with the trends that have to do with independent hotels versus branded hotels. In this article, this is a trend that’s actually been happening since 2014. We’re seeing the rise of these independent hotels and how they’re outperforming as far as ADR in comparison to branded hotels. They look into a report that Expedia did in Q1 of 2017, which shows the independent hotels ADR growth has increased at twice the rate of ADR growth for branded properties. Ryan Embree: Dives a little bit deeper into theories of why this is and the study also looked at how customers and travelers were booking with these independents and actually had found a very interesting point in that mobile-savvy customers are increasingly booking independent hotels and overall mobile demand growth for independents outpaced branded properties and four of the five largest markets. Another thing that this report is going to look into is the market segments in which this has been happening because it actually looks both into small markets in large markets with the larger markets Las Vegas, Manhattan, Miami, Orlando in Los Angeles, these independents have been growing at a substantial amount and these are actually the most popular large markets that independent bookings are being seen. But recently this trend is actually been overflowing and spilling into the smaller markets as well. In one case study, the article actually dives into a city Central Valley North. In California, where independent hotels have increased nearly 110 percent year over year. Ryan Embree: So we also looked at another article that had to do with the investing side of hotels and again speaking to independent hotels, private investors are now targeting more and more independent hotels, especially in smaller markets. We know that our hoteliers are always looking for that competitive edge and I’m sure this article you know and seeing this ADR growth and independent hotels have a lot of people’s heads turned and trying to figure out, you know, how they can grow their own ADR. So that being said, let’s go ahead and transition into our Suite Spot where we’re going to bring in a couple of our experts here at Travel Media Group to kind of show off the advantages and disadvantages to marketing for independent hotels. So let’s go ahead and bring in our guests for our Suite Spot today. Ryan Embree: That is going to be Diane Elderkin, who is our digital sales manager and Edwin Pomales, who is our assistant sales manager. Good Morning Diane and Edwin. How are you doing? Diane Elderkin: Good. Doing real good. Edwin Pomales: Doing Great. Glad to be here. Thanks for the invite. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. So today we are going to be talking as you know, about independent hotels and kind of what that approach looks like. All right, so Diane, I’m going to go ahead and start with you and point this question towards you as, as we just heard in our. What’s new segment, you know, the rise of independent hotels is a fast grow

In this episode of Suite Spot, we reflect on the recent changes to the TripAdvisor algorithm. Host Ryan Embree is joined by guest Patrick O‰’Brien, Digital Product Manager and head of the reputation solutions at Travel Media Group. In the What’s News segment, Ryan discusses the changes to the ranking factors for the TripAdvisor algorithm. InThe Suite Spot, Ryan and Patrick break down the timeline of the TripAdvisor algorithm change and how Patrick and his team are communicating the changes to hoteliers. Patrick walks us through the known factors of the TripAdvisor algorithm and the newest factor released in the change. He also shares his analysis of the impact that the change is having on a hotel‰’s overall city ranking. In the Q&Asegment, we give tips on the best ways to take on this algorithm change in stride and also weigh the decision of wiping your TripAdvisor page. To submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. Resources: http://www.travelmediagroup.com/tripadvisor-algorithm-updates-impact-city-rank/ http://www.travelmediagroup.com/delete-tripadvisor-business-account/ TripAdvisor Hotel Marketing Overview Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending and hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Ryan Embree: Okay. Hello, and good morning everyone. Welcome to another episode of Suite Spot. I am your host, Ryan Embree, as always. In case you missed last week’s episode, we actually had a special edition where we recapped the 2018 HITEC conference in Houston and had a couple of our colleagues here at Travel Media Group from our product and development team give their key takeaways from that conference. So please check that out if you haven’t yet. So in today’s episode, we are going to be talking about the recent TripAdvisor algorithm change. We’re gonna be looking at the news coverage surrounding that. I know a lot of hoteliers out there, have a lot of questions concerning the change. They’ve seen some changes in their ranking and just wondering kind of what we know so far about this change. We’re going to be looking and talking to Patrick O’Brien who’s our product development manager for our reputation programs here at Travel Media Group. Ryan Embree: He’s going to give us some insight on what he has found about this TripAdvisor algorithm change and how it has affected some of our current partners reputation-wise. And then lastly, we’re going to be actually answering some questions regarding the TripAdvisor algorithm change that hoteliers might have. So in the, What’s News segment today, there was plenty of news coverage about this TripAdvisor Algorithm, algorithm change when it first was released. Hoteliers were talking about it, owners, everyone really in the industry, but specifically we’re going to hone in on our blog post on Travel Media Group site after the statement was released from TripAdvisor that there was a change. We wrote this blog as a guide and a blueprint for hoteliers on kind of what to expect. So in the past, the way that TripAdvisor had ranked it’s hotels was really based on three main factors that was review Quality. Ryan Embree: So the star rating of the review. Quantity, which is the number of reviews and Recency. So with those three factors, TripAdvisor had used this to rank it’s hotels historically. Now with this change, they actually introduced a fourth factor and that’s Performance Over Time. So is this factor that a lot of hoteliers are pointing to as they’re seeing substantial moves in their city rank. Now, although TripAdvisor is not going to share, you know, its formula or algorithm publicly, it has gone out and made a statement that these four factors do determine really a foundation of how it ranks its hotels. So it reputation experts in the industry. We felt, you know, it was our obligation, our duty, you know, to really kind of help hoteliers make sense of this new change and maybe put a strategy together to kind of help them. We know how critical it is being, you know, in the top five of your market versus the bottom five of your market. Ryan Embree: So a change like this could obviously have a huge, huge impact on revenue. But with that being said, we’re going to bring in our own reputation expert at Travel Media Group, Patrick O’Brien. You might remember him from the HITEC episode recently and he’s going to help us kind of make sense of this. And we’re going to hopefully kind of guide you through this change. Ryan Embree: Hey, good morning, Patrick. Patrick O’Brien: Good morning. Ryan Embree: Thanks for coming on

In this special edition episode of Suite Spot, we discuss the recent 2018 HITEC conference in Houston, TX. Host Ryan Embree is joined by several members of Travel Media Group‰’s product and development team and attendees of this year‰’s HITEC conference, as they give their key takeaways from the innovative technology conference. Hear from Patrick O‰’Brien, Joey Schuster and Jason Lee as they discuss the future of technology in the hospitality industry. Learn about the rising use of AI and what that means for the customer experience. Plus, dive into blockchain and the potential for hotel data integration. This episode serves as a great technology blueprint for the modern-day hotelier. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending and hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. This is your host. Ryan Embree. Again, welcome to Suite Spot. Thank you for listening. Today’s Suite Spot episode. We have a very special edition. We are going to be diving into and dissecting the most recent HITEC conference that happened in Houston, Texas, and we’re going to be talking with some of my peers here at Travel Media Group who had the chance to actually go out to Houston and we’re going to get some of their key takeaways and see what they got out of this conference and how this can be useful to listeners like you. So before we get started, HITEC is one of the world’s largest hospitality technology expositions. So this conference is all about hospitality industry technology or HITEC. Ryan Embree: At the conference. There are many educational programs with some of the industry experts and [they] even have a global showcase of different hospitality technologies. So again, what we decided to do today for this episode is to talk with some of our team members that attended the conference and share some of the cutting edge new innovations that are coming up in the hospitality industry. Okay. So we have with us today, Patrick O’Brien, one of our digital product managers here at Travel Media Group. A Good Morning Patrick. How are you today? Patrick O’Brien: I’m doing well. How are you doing? Ryan Embree: I’m doing great. Thank you for being on the show with me today. I wanted to get started. You know, we had talked off air about this HITEC conference and sort of shift that you saw from years past to this year and I wanted you to kind of let our listeners know what you meant by that. Patrick O’Brien: Sure. So I think probably for the last five or six years at least the conversations have always been geared around mobile, millennials, and big data. Those were the buzzwords that you heard at all the conferences and people trying to figure out how to, you know, obviously to capture the millennial audience and how to be more integrated in mobile. And use the opportunities in technology that’s available with mobile and then ultimately, you know, big data and there was this idea that I’ve got all this data and now I should be able to make everything happen and curate content for everybody automatically and create this great experience. Um, that shift, you know, you, you still heard some people talking about, but really the big focuses, now we’re on blockchain and artificial intelligence and AI and how those concepts really will be changing, you know, the way that hospitality industry does business. Patrick O’Brien: Um, I did think it was kind of funny as well that there was one speaker talking about if you are, um, as a company looking to innovate on millennials and their needs, um, you’ve missed the boat. You’re too late and you really need to be looking at eight-year-old kids because they were, they are the first generation of users that have had all the content for them curated through Pandora, through Netflix. And um, you know, my kids don’t understand when they go to their grandparents’ house that they can’t get any song or any TV show or anything that they want on demand. And so it really is a shift in what people are looking at. And this was really the first year that you’re starting to see people move away from those traditional themes. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And hoteliers – you know, we’ve talked about this before – need to be more intuitive to guests needs and the guest’s expectations are going to start rising and rising and hoteliers need to be ready for that. So from a revenue management standpoint, those trigger words that you mentioned, blockchain and AI, you know, how, how does that implement into revenue management? Patrick O’Brien: Sure. So I think, um, both of the

In this episode of Suite Spot, we examine the growing impact of vacation rentals and private accommodations on today’s hotel industry. Host Ryan Embree is joined by guest Amber Wojcek, Marketing Coordinator at Travel Media Group and author of many of our blogs and white papers. In the What’s News segment, Ryan and Amber react to a recent article from Tnooz reporting the year over year growth of vacation rentals and its overall share of global room bookings. In The Suite Spot, Ryan asks Amber what is driving vacation rental popularity and growth from the modern day traveler. Amber also recognizes the drawbacks to private accommodations and uncovers places where hotels have the advantage. In the Q&A segment, we answer a question from a hotelier on how to better position their hotel to compete with local Airbnbs and other private accommodations. To submit a question for future episodes, call or text (407) 984-7455. Resources we mentioned: https://www.tnooz.com/article/private-accommodation-travel-bookings-to-reach-106-billion-by-2018/ How Hotels Can Compete with Rentals [White Paper] Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.åÊ Ryan Embree: Welcome to the Suite Spot where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending and hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting episode of Suite Spot. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and today it’s my pleasure to introduce Amber Wojcek. Amber is our marketing coordinator at Travel Media Group as well as the author of many of our blogs and white papers. Good morning, Amber. How are you doing today? Amber Wojcek: I’m doing great. Thanks for having me. Ryan Embree: Let’s jump into our What’s News segment. Today we’re going to be looking at a recent article on Tnooz, which forecasts that private accommodations and vacation rentals are expected to hit almost 20 percent of the overall share of global room bookings in 2018. That is significantly higher than previous years. In 2014, that number was 16 percent and in 2016 that grew up to 18 percent. So since private accommodations are taking almost a fifth of the market share, major travel resources like OTAs and TripAdvisor or making space for them on their websites and making them a priority. So Amber, what I want to talk about today is about the recent changes that we’re seeing when it comes specifically to TripAdvisor and vacation rentals. Amber Wojcek: Yeah. I think a big indicator of this trend coming to stay was when Expedia purchased HomeAway back in 2015 and now we’re seeing that TripAdvisor is making some big moves to make it easier to search for private rentals when people are looking for hotels. We’ve learned that now and TripAdvisor, when you search for a hotel, you might also see B and B’s, hostels inns, and other kinds of accommodations in the results along with hotels. We’re seeing this display differently when we tried different searches. So I think they might be testing the ways they want to show this, but I wouldn’t be surprised that they start integrating vacation rentals section even more. Ryan Embree: So you’re saying when a user would go to TripAdvisor and input a city or region, now B and B’s and rentals will appear in the main feed along with hotels. Amber Wojcek: Yes, exactly. So there some filters on the side that change how you search for things, but we’re also seeing them just showing up along with the hotels. And another thing I think is worth considering is that a big barrier that people have had to booking rentals has been that you need to submit a request and wait for an owner to approve it. We’re hearing now that Booking.com is making rentals instantly bookable soon, like a hotel which could have a big impact and I would assume that other OTAs would follow suit. So basically now if you’re a hotel, you’re not only competing for visibility and reservations with all the other hotels, near you, but also with other accommodation types. Ryan Embree: So this article really gets into how competitive hotels are. Now we’re going to have to be against these vacation rentals and with the influx of and, and other rental properties gaining more and more exposure to travelers. There’s a huge potential for significant visibility change for your hotel. And it could be positive or negative with the rise of sites and apps like Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO, and other vacation rental platforms. Travelers have more options than ever, but unfortunately for hoteliers, that means there’s more competition than ever, which is actually a great segue into today’s Suite Spot topic. Today we’re going to focus on hotels going head to head

In the first episode of Suite Spot, we explore the state of millennial travel. Host Ryan Embree is joined by guest Anne Sandoval, Marketing Director at Travel Media Group and adjunct instructor of Social Media at UCF. In the What’s News segment, Ryan and Anne discuss a report by Travelport which forecasts that millennials will spend more on vacations than other age groups in 2018. In The Suite Spot, Ryan identifies four primary social networks hoteliers use to reach millennials. He also asks Anne to provide insight on how hotel marketers should approach each social network. In the Q&A segment, find out our top suggestions for engaging Facebook posts for hotels. To submit a question for future episodes, call or text (407) 984-7455. •ÈÀ•ÈÀ Resources we mentioned: https://ehotelier.com/global/2018/05/22/u-s-millennials-likely-take-spend-vacations-year/ http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/ http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-as-a-brand-platform-2014-11 http://www.travelmediagroup.com/infographic-10-engaging-social-media-topics-for-hotels/ Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending and hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. I want to welcome everyone to our first ever episode of Suite Spot. I’m super excited that you are listening today and today we’ve got a very special guest and I am personally super excited because we have Anne Sandoval with us. She is our marketing director here at Travel Media Group as well as an instructor at the University of Central Florida where she teaches social media. Good morning, Anne. Anne Sandoval: Good Morning Ryan. I’m so happy to be here and join you on this podcast. Ryan Embree: Absolutely, and we’re super excited to be launching this new Suite Spot podcast. So since it’s our first episode, I’ll go ahead and give a quick rundown of how each episode here at Suite Spot is going to work. First we’re going to go into a segment called what’s news? This is what’s trending in the hospitality industry. Next we’re going to move into our Suite Spot. This is the main subject that we’re going to be focusing on for the majority of the episode. And then lastly, we’re going to follow that up with a Q&A segment where we take questions from hoteliers and listeners like you and answer those live on air. All right, so let’s go ahead and get started. So in today’s, what’s news? We’re gonna be looking at a recent study that was conducted by Travelport and in this study they took a look at different age groups and their traveling trends. And one of the age groups that they found particularly surprising were the millennials. Anne Sandoval: That’s really interesting, you know, a lot of hoteliers may think of millennials as really young folks who aren’t really ready to invest in vacations, but millennials span ages 18 to 34. So it’s not just people who are right out of high school, but it’s also people with young families and people who are young in their careers. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And what this study also found is not only are they more likely to go on vacation, but they’re also more willing to spend on vacation than any other age group. The Gen Xers and the baby boomers, there are actually 34 percent of millennials plan to spend more than $5,000 on upcoming vacations this summer. Anne Sandoval: You know, that number is really interesting because millennials in this age group, they may not have a lot of extra money to spend, but they’re willing to invest $5,000 a year on vacations, so that means that they must really be prioritizing travel and they’re looking for those experiences. Ryan Embree: So the study really went in depth on some of these traveling trends and found that nearly half of the respondents had traveled for either business or leisure within the last year. But again, the age group that kept coming up was millennials which had traveled to most in the past 12 months. Anne Sandoval: It also found that millennials who have grown up using digital technologies are more likely to use a travel agency to book travel if there’s a mobile app with customized notifications available. Ryan Embree: So when we analyze these studies and we look at it and we say, you know, we ask why is this important for hoteliers to know if hoteliers know what age group is more likely to vacation and travel, then they can really tailor and customize their marketing strategy accordingly and with millennials traveling and spending more, there’s a huge revenue potential there for hoteliers out there. Anne Sandoval: With almost