From more than half a million votes submitted by hoteliers across 127 countries to Hotel Tech Report’s annual awards, Sojern is thrilled to be recognized as one of the best in Metasearch and Ad Tech category. In addition, we are proudly branded with the Hotel Tech Report’s “certificate of excellence” which signifies vendors who build products and services their customers love.  Why We’re Excited About This  At Sojern, we understand how important it is for hotels to utilize metasearch in their multichannel marketing strategies. This is because nearly three-quarters of travelers are be ..read more

In our last blog, Preparing Your Data for the Cookieless World, we shared tips on what data you should collect, how you can collect it, and how to get it into a database. In this blog, we’ll look at how to activate data in a cookieless world. The key is activating with a full-funnel, multichannel approach.  Targeting travelers online can be complicated. Travelers have over 500 touch points during their research for a single trip, and can do so across both desktop and mobile environments. As a travel marketer, you need to engage with them throughout that journey from “dream to destination ..read more

As consumers long requested better privacy, control, and consent, major internet browsers are no longer going to support third-party cookies. The largest of those, Google’s Chrome, will be in 2023. Firefox and Safari have already taken measures to decrease the use of third-party cookies. With 87% of consumers using browsers that will no longer support third-party cookies, marketers must find new ways to understand, engage, and convert travelers online, and data is at the core of this change. Collect the 3 Pillars of Data Three main data sources will help drive performance moving forward. The f ..read more

Brand Consistency Beyond Your Site  Keeping a consistent brand experience helps build awareness of your business and instills trust in your brand, and this goes beyond just the branding on your website. Your branding should remain consistent across social media and your advertising. Then, utilizing these avenues to drive more relevant visitors to your site is an absolute must.  Showcase the Best of Your Business on Social Media  Social media is a great way to draw in potential guests. Share all the great photos and videos that highlight your property, especially if you aren’t ab ..read more

Increase Your Website’s Readability in 3 Simple Steps In our last blog, 4 Ways to Simplify Your Website Design, we discussed the importance of simplicity in design, such as keeping your branding consistent across your website, using the right images, optimizing your website to avoid long load times, and implementing an easy booking process.  Here, we’ll share tips to increase your site’s readability to drive more conversions. Travelers want a friction-free experience. The content you provide and how you display it determines how easily a visitor can navigate the page, get the right inform ..read more

Whatever travel vertical you operate in, it’s important to have a high-quality website where travelers can find information and book directly. Attractions are requiring pre-purchase tickets online more than ever, hotels are sharing information on which amenities are open, and destinations’ websites are sharing things to do for local staycationers.  When someone finds your business for the first time, it’s critical to set a good first impression. Virtually all (94%) first impressions about your website are related to its design. Here are some simple things you can do to improve your websit ..read more

On October 13th, the US announced that land borders will open to vaccinated visitors from Canada and Mexico. Prior to this announcement, visitors from both countries could arrive by air. However, given that most visitors from both countries typically arrive to the US by land, this announcement marks a massive boon for US tourism. Basic facts about Canada: 2019 statistics show that 75% of Canadian visits to the US were by car (roughly 32 million trips).   Two-thirds of Canada’s 38 million residents live within 60 miles of the land border. Basic facts about Mexico:  In 2019, 85 ..read more

2021 Showing Strong Holiday Travel Searches and Bookings Good news for travel marketers, 2021 travel planning has returned to a similar pattern as 2019. Despite the various uncertainties in the world, Americans’ appetite for travel has not diminished, and in fact, continues to grow. Even better news released this week, the Biden administration announced they would ease travel restrictions for all vaccinated air travelers worldwide beginning in November, putting an end to an 18-month ban. With this news we can expect to see more searches and bookings to the US in the near future. In fact, airli ..read more

By Allegra Medina (SHR) and Christy Jobman (Sojern)  The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel lockdown has level-set many of the hospitality industry’s expectations. Whether, and when, things will “return to normal” is no longer applicable – both owners and operators must adapt their strategies to compete in the current environment and future-proof their organizations to remain relevant long term. One of the most impactful strategies hoteliers must revisit is how they acquire customers. Travelers are shopping in different ways and looking for new kinds of experiences. Hoteliers are acu ..read more

Global travel marketers rose to the challenge as the world went into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. From moving to “stay at home” messaging, to refocusing on local communities and drive markets, to using innovative ways of reaching their audiences at home, we saw countless ways the travel industry came together to make it through. Thus, we partnered with Worldwide Business Research to survey 300 travel marketers around the world. We wanted to know how they were thinking about their future strategy, and how they are allocating their budgets across channels. We asked questions about the ..read more