Online 'tours' help hotels around the country bring in new business

Long Island Business News, May 4, 2007 by Claude Solnik

The visitor arrives at the front desk with an almost spooky sense of deja vu. The lobby looks familiar. So does the room, and the swimming pool. It's - like - the traveler had - been here before-

And in a virtual sense, he had.

More and more, hotels are turning their Web sites into showcases, offering virtual video tours of rooms, gyms, pools, restaurants and other amenities. The tours are making it easier to book not just tourists, but meetings and even the occasional wedding - sometimes, without the customer even seeing the place firsthand.

Virtual tours may never be as good as being there, but they provide tons of access, provide plenty of useful details about rooms and amenities and are available around the clock. And hoteliers get to present properties in their best light.

Susan Sweeney, president of Nova Scotia-based Internet marketing firm Connex Network, said slide shows and virtual tours not only give travelers and meeting planners "the feel" of a facility, but let them see what the place has to offer, quite literally.

"People doing vacation planning or meeting planning online want to see where they're going to go and what they're going to experience when they get there," Sweeney said.

Peter Guarneiri, director of sales and marketing for the Hilton Long Island in Melville, said online video helps hoteliers win over customers on a countrywide scale.

"It helps us when we're dealing with out-of-town folks who can't get here on a day-to-day basis," Guarneiri said. "They don't have to make a special trip to see the facility."

Michale Bonawandt, director of sales and marketing for the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge, said the familiarity allowed by online tours changes guests' attitudes when they arrive.

"It takes away any anxiety," Bonawandt said. "Now they have something to be excited about. In days past, you didn't know what your room was going to look like until you opened the door; today you know what your room looks like by clicking on the photograph."

He said individual hotels within chains rely not only on brand names but also individual amenities to lure customers, another benefit of online tours, while Internet shopping makes it easier for travelers to comparison shop based on both price and property.

"It definitely helps close the sale faster," Bonawandt said. "The meeting planners love it. They're used to having to go fly somewhere, spend the night, make sure it's acceptable. Now they can do it via the Internet."

Vacation rental companies such as HiltonHead360.com, based in Hilton Head, S.C, use virtual tours to showcase Hilton Head Island. Through interactive mapping, visitors can click on dots speckling Hilton Head maps to see houses, restaurants and attractions near various hotels. Podcasts and videocasts let visitors download tours to listen or see at their leisure.

The Hilton Long Island, which already uses its Web site to promote special packages for Valentine's Day and other holidays, wants to beef up Web content to become a bigger player among weddings and other events. The hotel may even launch a second Web site exclusively for its Savoy ballroom.

"There's so much competition around here as far as catering halls are concerned," Guarneiri said. "I want people to think of the Hilton as their first choice for banquet events."