More Americans Planning Travel – Five Tips To Get Ready

November 18, 2009

A study released this morning by Deloitte reveals that nearly half of American households (45%) are planning an overnight trip that includes a stay in a lodging facility between now and March, 2010.  This is good news on several fronts, none the least of which is that this could signal the long-awaited rebound in our nation’s economy.  It also offers the potential for increased revenue in the dining segment of the hospitality industry, as travelers not staying with relatives or friends are very likely to patronize restaurants during their visit.

Can guests to your city find your restaurant online?  Here are five no- or low-cost tactics to employ to get your restaurant website in front of hungry tourists:

1. Check out TripAdvisor.com.  57% of survey respondents reported reading online reviews and comments related to travel when planning their trip and TripAdvisor offers business owners arguably the most robust features with which to communicate with travelers.  If your listing is a bit lackluster, update it with new photos and/or video, add links to any online articles about your eatery and post management comments addressing any negative reviews.  To interact further, join the forum for your home city or write an article on an appropriate topic.  All of this can be done at no cost other than the time you invest.  Go to the owner’s area of the website to claim your listing and begin your updates.
2. Maximize exposure on your area’s visitors bureau website.  Does the CVB in your area offer short-term advertising opportunities?  Many will allow members to run banner ads on targeted pages of the CVB website for a limited time frame at moderate expense.
3. Visitors to the area are likely to rely on search engine’s local/map functions to find restaurants that are close to or easily accessible from their lodging.  Add, claim or enhance your eatery’s listing in local search portals to maximize visibility in these venues.  A quick way to determine your restaurant’s local search reach is to visit GetListed.org.  Enter your business name and zip code and in less than a minute you receive your listing score, which details on a scale of 0 – 100 how effectively your business is marketed on four local search platforms:  Google Local, Yahoo Local, Bing Local and Best of the Web.  The only cost associated with this endeavor is the time taken to ascertain your restaurant’s current local search exposure and to claim/update its local search listings.
4. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter offer no-cost opportunities to engage with would-be guests.  Quite often visitors will poll their friends and followers for dining suggestions when visiting a new area.  Listen for the “where should I eat in ….” conversations by performing searches on Twitter and Facebook for <your city> <restaurant>, <where to eat in> <your city> and offer responses when appropriate.
5. Create a “visitor’s guide” area on your restaurant’s website that lists local tourist attractions, the contact info for those businesses, directions to and from your restaurant and any special services you may offer in relation to these attractions.  For example, if you offer late seating on show nights, make sure that is mentioned when discussing nearby theaters.

With a small monetary investment and a bit of elbow grease, your restaurant could be hosting many new visitors in the months to come.  Overwhelmed?  Schedule a no-cost, no-obligation evaluation of your restaurant’s current online reach in the tourism segment by filling out this form and include the phrase “free website evaluation” in your message.  TwoTables will complete a thorough survey of your website’s online exposure and email the results to you within two business days of receipt of your request.

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