Marketing

📣 Google's Performance Max for hotels, an AI-based Google Ads campaign, maximizes direct booking opportunities across 7 Google channels: Hotel Ads, Search, Gmail, YouTube, Discover, Display, and Maps. Benefits include more direct bookings, audience expansion, direct customer relationships, and simplified management. Notable results show a +33% increase in bookings, +194% in revenue, +215% in conversion rate, and +120% in value per booking. Source: Nozio Wolf Business Intelligence. Use Performance Max to enhance direct sales with AI-powered ad campaigns visible across all relevant customer journey touchpoints.

📧 Sojern has introduced a fully managed email marketing service for hoteliers as part of its Commission Multichannel Offering. The service aims to simplify marketing, increase direct bookings, retain guests, and decrease reliance on online travel agencies. It leverages Sojern's AI marketing platform and combines their Guest Marketing Suite with the expertise of email designers and copywriters. Noreen Henry, Chief Revenue Officer of Sojern, highlighted that 90% of consumers expect personalized experiences from brands. The service provides targeted and branded content to enhance engagement, direct bookings, and customer loyalty.

📱 RHC Group launched their new website, in partnership with Blastness, showcasing full-screen videos of their hotel and resort locations including Rome's Palazzo Montemartini, Taormina's La Plage Resort, and two options in the Amalfi Coast: Hotel Raito and Paradiso Relais. The site offers detailed services for each property, from room types to dining, events, wellness, and local experiences like guided Etna jeep tours, wine tastings, boat trips, trekking, and exclusive museum visits in Rome. Rhcgroup.it also features direct booking with special deals and a dedicated section for job opportunities, following a rebranding to improve market positioning and visual identity.

📂 In 2025 at ITB, Yannis Simaiakis of Google revealed that 15% of the last year's searches were unprecedented, indicating a post-pandemic surge in traveler curiosity. Google is enhancing its search experience with text, image, video searches, and Lens. They're developing new page layouts and scrolls for complex, long, and specific queries. With 60% of users open to new experiences, these targeted results could lead to more bookings for destinations and businesses.

🌿 13 days of slow tourism between Easter and May 1st, promoted by Airbnb and evidenced by a YouGov survey. 25% of Italians prefer slow tourism, 50% choose rural destinations with Tuscany, Sicily, and Sardinia as top choices. Italy has 11.8 million slow tourists, with 30% nearing burn-out needing to slow down. Popular Airbnb stays include restored barns and villas, with Italians favoring 'Amato dagli ospiti' (over 2 million hosts) collection. 58% of Airbnb guests plan at least 7-day rural stays for the upcoming spring break to avoid overtourism.

🏢 Expedia Taap met with Italian travel agencies at Baglioni hotel Regina in Rome. The event included a presentation highlighting Expedia Taap's program strengths and the extensive Expedia catalog, which features over 3 million properties maintained by more than 2,000 global specialists. The objective is to replicate this successful event at different locations.

💰 Hotels collaborating with D-EDGE incur an average direct distribution cost of just 3.5%, compared to the 12-28% typically charged by Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). With data from Europe and APAC, the report highlights the advantages of direct bookings: lower acquisition costs, higher revenue per booking, longer stays, and fewer cancellations, urging hotels to adopt key digital marketing strategies to boost direct revenues and reduce reliance on costly channels.

📰 Agromonte's TV ad campaign, featuring the Sicilian Cherry Tomato Sauce, returns from February 23 to March 14, broadcast on major television networks like Rai, Mediaset, and Mediaset Infinity. The 15-second spot, showcasing Sicilian culture and flavors, stars the Agromonte Family and introduces two of their leading products: Passata Siciliana and Salsa Pronta. Agromonte leads Italy's ready-made Cherry Tomato Sauce market, as confirmed by NielsenIQ sales data for January 2025. Miriam Arestia, Agromonte's Marketing Manager, emphasizes the brand's deep ties to Sicilian authenticity.

☕ REPA, a European division of Parts Town Unlimited and leader in OEM parts distribution for catering equipment, café, and vending machines, announced its official distributorship for Rocket Espresso Milano, a top-quality handcrafted espresso machine producer. The partnership allows REPA to distribute 2,300 original Rocket Espresso Milano spare parts worldwide, enhancing its already expanding OEM parts offering. Customers can easily access these parts via an intuitive eCommerce platform with no minimum order requirement. The agreement, ensuring efficient maintenance processes for technicians, roasters, coffee shops, and equipment importers, is strengthened by REPA's automated logistics centers across Europe and dedicated technical support. This collaboration is expected to benefit the entire coffee industry. ???? www.repagroup.com ???? www.lfricambi724.it

🏨 Preferred Hotels & Resorts launched the Travel Advisor Portal, a comprehensive resource suite for travel professionals providing priority access to over 600 luxury independent hotels, resorts, and residences worldwide. The portal simplifies booking, rate quotes, commission requests, and more. Cheryl Williams, Chief Revenue Officer, highlights the tool's benefits for streamlining workflows and enhancing travel experiences. Features include rate-accessible bookings, exclusive offers, performance metrics, the "My Insights" section, and a knowledge base about the I Prefer Hotel Rewards loyalty program. Preferred Platinum agents gain additional perks, such as a dedicated search page and the ability to confirm small social group bookings through the VIP Desk for up to 15 rooms without meeting space requirements. Registration is available at TA.PreferredHotels.com.