Senior marketing delegates from across The Americas and the Caribbean will convene 2-3 June in Miami to discuss the latest key trends in online marketing including mobile, social media and advances in behavioral targeting.

Published: 12 May 2010

Senior marketing delegates from across The Americas and the Caribbean will convene 2-3 June in Miami to discuss the latest key trends in online marketing including mobile, social media and advances in behavioral targeting.

EyeforTravel’s Online Marketing Strategies for Travel conference sees online marketing and e-commerce professionals from top travel brands such as Hilton, IHG, Marriott, LAN Airlines, Expedia, Despegar, Atlantis, Carlson, Hyatt and more meet to discuss how to use mobile, online advertising, social media, web analytics, behavioral targeting more effectively to boost travel sales.

“During the last 18 months it has been all too easy for travel companies to put innovation on a back burner as ‘all hands to the deck’ were put in place to fight the downturn” says Event Director, Gina Baillie. “However, during this time consumers have become increasingly more demanding and it’s become clear that those travel brands who understand how to intelligently engage customers via innovative online marketing techniques are inching ahead of their competitors”

In the last year, social media has reached milestones never thought possible and although the jury is still out on the exact ROI, the evidence suggests that it is playing an increasing influential role in the decision-making process. Facebook reached an important milestone for the week ending March 13, 2010 as it became the most visited website for the week.

“There are some really exciting developments in the travel industry particularly in mobile and social media. The good news is they don’t have to cost a lot to implement” says Event Director, Gina Baillie from EyeforTravel.

In a recent interview with EyeforTravel, Hilton Worldwide’s Dustin Bomar said “These social sites have a huge, engaged audience and determining their place in the booking process and within the overall marketing universe will continue to help us define the nature of our presence on these social sites. Also, social media is continuing to evolve with Twitter ads, booking engines on Facebook pages, etc. further helping advertisers engage their audience in the right way”.

The importance of social media is reflected in the Online Marketing conference program this year. So much so that, a whole afternoon will be dedicated to social media case studies, presentations and roundtables discussion groups.

Mobile is a much talked about area of innovation and also takes a prime position in the event program as it continues to prove too important for travel brands to ignore. Whether 2010 is the year of mobile or not, the number of customers accessing travel websites via mobile devices is certainly increasing. PhoCusWright projects mobile bookings to reach $160 million in 2010 alone.

Bill Keen, Director, Product Management, InterContinental Hotel Group “Location is the holy grail of the mobile experience. If you know where customers are in your vicinity and you know a little about their travel preferences, you can yield at an optimal price”.

It goes without saying that key changes in US consumer behavior are also vital to watch and more importantly adapt to. For example, it’s been commonly found that booking windows are increasing and the number of sites visited before a purchase is made is on the up.

Dustin Bomar said that because of the global economic crisis, user behavior has changed to a longer booking window, more comparison shopping, more research, etc. Travel brands need to be aware of this and adapt.

Dustin Bomar and Bill Keen are just some of the leading speakers who will be presenting at EyeforTravel’s Online Marketing Strategies for Travel conference. The event will take place in Miami, 2-3 June and sees an impressive list of both small and large travel brands in attendance.

For further details contact –

Gina Baillie
VP Marketing & Events
EyeforTravel
+44(0)207 375 7197
gina@eyefortravel.com