Five brands from four major hotel companies rank in the travel industry’s top 10 brands for “digital competence” in a study that measures the value of website design, digital marketing, mobile efforts and social media campaigns.
Delta Airlines takes the top spot in the first L2 Digital IQ Index for the travel industry. Authored by New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway, in partnership with the George Washington University School of Business and integrated marketing agency ISM, the ranking scores brands on more than 350 qualitative and quantitative data points.
The top 10 travel brands for digital competence are:
1. Delta Airlines
2. Southwest
3. American Airlines
4. W Hotels
5. Hilton Hotels & Resorts
6. Westin Hotels & Resorts
7. Continental Airlines
8. Lufthansa
9. Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts
10. InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
The report also calls out three hotel brands—Regent International Hotels, Park Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and Orient-Express Hotels for “faltering online.”
“Digital aptitude will separate winners from losers. This ranking aims to provide an actionable metric that travel companies can use to determine where they will achieve the greatest return on incremental investment in digital,” says Gary Leopold, president of ISM.
Among the key findings from the report:
* Only 28% of travel brand sites incorporate social media sharing. Only 9% include user reviews, and only 60% incorporate video.
* Facebook is the new preferred online platform of the travel industry. While traffic to brand sites in the study was down 8% in March from a year ago, travel industry Facebook pages grew 20% in the first quarter of 2011, and 78% of the brands registered Facebook as a top-eight source of referral traffic.
* Apple’s iPhone is the portable electronic device of choice, as 56% of brands studied host a mobile site and 48% have an iPhone application.
* There is a relationship between the “digital competence” of hotels and growth in ADR. In a recession that has led even high-end hotels to drastically cut prices, those that are excelling digitally are better poised to rebound and recover rate.
The complete study can be accessed at http://www.L2thinktank.com/digitaliq/travel.
Delta Airlines takes the top spot in the first L2 Digital IQ Index for the travel industry. Authored by New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway, in partnership with the George Washington University School of Business and integrated marketing agency ISM, the ranking scores brands on more than 350 qualitative and quantitative data points.
The top 10 travel brands for digital competence are:
1. Delta Airlines
2. Southwest
3. American Airlines
4. W Hotels
5. Hilton Hotels & Resorts
6. Westin Hotels & Resorts
7. Continental Airlines
8. Lufthansa
9. Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts
10. InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
The report also calls out three hotel brands—Regent International Hotels, Park Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and Orient-Express Hotels for “faltering online.”
“Digital aptitude will separate winners from losers. This ranking aims to provide an actionable metric that travel companies can use to determine where they will achieve the greatest return on incremental investment in digital,” says Gary Leopold, president of ISM.
Among the key findings from the report:
* Only 28% of travel brand sites incorporate social media sharing. Only 9% include user reviews, and only 60% incorporate video.
* Facebook is the new preferred online platform of the travel industry. While traffic to brand sites in the study was down 8% in March from a year ago, travel industry Facebook pages grew 20% in the first quarter of 2011, and 78% of the brands registered Facebook as a top-eight source of referral traffic.
* Apple’s iPhone is the portable electronic device of choice, as 56% of brands studied host a mobile site and 48% have an iPhone application.
* There is a relationship between the “digital competence” of hotels and growth in ADR. In a recession that has led even high-end hotels to drastically cut prices, those that are excelling digitally are better poised to rebound and recover rate.
The complete study can be accessed at http://www.L2thinktank.com/digitaliq/travel.