Mind The Metrics That Matter

Mind the metrics that matter.

The wealth of information that marketers now have at their disposal for analyzing metrics, measurements and key performance indicators (KPIs) is expanding at a rapid pace, making it increasingly difficult to focus on numbers that have actual meaning. Thus it’s time for a refresher on the stats and KPIs that hotel marketers will find most useful, and those that can be relegated to the reporting scrap heap.

In your quest to quantify marketing performance, steer clear of meaningless stats like online page views, social media followers and bounce rate. These and other stats may look compelling in your reports, but don’t do much to illustrate how you’ve impacted the bottom line. Instead, pay attention to the numbers that will carry weight with your owners and managers, such as:

• Marketing Cost Per Booking (MCPB): This metric tracks the cost of each sales and marketing channel, measured against the actual resulting bookings. It is also useful to track OTA commissions in this manner, so you can compare OTA performance with your other channels.
• Direct Revenue Ratio (DRR): This is a comparison of the percentage of your hotel’s revenues as direct-booked from your own website, versus those derived by OTAs. A direct booking percentage of 40% is the minimum threshold you should be aiming for.
• Website Conversion Rate: A better conversion rate means more qualified users are being driven to your website. (lower cost, more qualified vs. higher cost, less qualified users). The better your conversion rate, the lower your MCPB. 
• Variance From Revenue Target: This is a metric for measuring revenue goals against your actual results, broken down by demand segment.

Get More: Bad Habits: 5 things hotel marketers should stop right now