First of all this is kind of a contradiction. The reason that 2010 will be the year of the independent hotel is partially to thank to the resurgence of the OTA and Travel Merchant model. The current economic challenges in the market have allowed 3rd party travel agency websites to regain a larger % of online travel distribution.

The OTA distribution channels have made the franchise chain complacent. They easily produce the same number of bookings and revenues or more that the franchise chains. Looking at the paid advertising section of search engines like Google and Yahoo, the strong presence of OTA’s reflects this.

Shopping around on any of the travel agency websites, we have started to notice that more and more hotels listed on the first are independent properties, or belong to local or smaller hotel groups. Something tells us that the global chains and larger hotel groups have been pushing quite persistently over the last few years to bring commission levels down over the last few years that the OTA’s prefer to list properties with which they yield a larger margin.

But also on meta-search sites like Trivago and even Bing Travel independent hotels are starting to floart to the top more and more. On some sites and destinations they even significantly outweigh the number of ‘big brand’ chain properties. Just check TripAdvisor for the top 20 hotels in London, Paris and San Francisco. The independents are starting to rule the charts….

And even when doing a search in Google for Hotel London, Hotels Amsterdam, hotels in New York, etc gives comparable results. Independent hotels seem to dominate the online real estate.

So why does it seem that independent hotels have gained the upper hand? It is quite simple actually. Even though chains and large hotel groups offer many advantages (reduced purchasing cost because of scale etc), they also lack the focus to market a particular property or destination. Too many layers of management and difference of interest and priority between internal departments and management steers the chain in another direction. Their online positioning usually is mainly focused on the brand or flag.

Many corporate rules and guidelines within chains and hotel groups prohibit or withhold individual properties to develop their own direct marketing strategy. After all the chain takes care of the marketing side of the business, right? The lack of decentralization and empowerment of the on property hotel management is a huge handicap for them.

The above is all about commissions and marketing investments and efforts. But in this new age of Web 2.0 (or Travel 2.0) there is another factor we have to take into consideration when it comes to marketing.

Yes our guests are making huge efforts to market our hotels to their friends and other travelers. They use websites like TripAdvisor, TravelPost, and IGoYouGo to spread our story. And this word is so important, ‘story’. For your guests to write about their experience at your hotel and post images and video online on hotel review websites, travel communities and social network you have to be remarkable. As Seth Godin simply puts it, remarkable means:

The hotels who have the highest scores on review websites and get mentioned often on VirtualTourist.com and TravBuddy.com are the ones that are different. But different in what way?

It doesn’t matter, as long as you give your guests a unique experience that they would want to share with their friends and the rest of the world. You need to offer them something special.

So when we are talking about independent hotels or small and local hotel groups, we are not talking about just any product. It needs to be good quality and value for money you offer (please note quality does not equal luxury).

But why do independent hotels get more traction online that similar quality product offered by the big chains? First of all consumers like to be treated as individuals and for their specific needs recognized. This is easier of course for a ‘boutique’ hotel than a design hotel belonging to a chain counting over 1000 properties. It’s simply another world.

This is by the way confirmed by the latest move of Marriot. They have just launched a brand called ‘…..’ which is to exist of flagship properties.

Secondly independent hotels or small groups tend to be more flexible and creative when it comes to marketing. This is born from a need being the ‘underdog’. And with some of the technology and solutions that have been rolled out by search engines like Google and Yahoo, review websites like TripAdvisor, travel communities like IGoYouGo, and Social Networks like FaceBook and micro blogging sites like Twitter there are more tools at hand for guerilla marketing and creative strategies.

This is why the independent hotel will excel in 2010. They will not be hold back by corporate rules and management approval layers. The independent hotelier can and will do whatever is necessary to fill his hotel.

Having read success stories online over the last year from fellow bloggers and from our own experience in designing hotel websites and implement hotel internet marketing strategies this is exactly what is happening. Independent hotels have been quite successful in driving direct sales to their own website and reservations center.

What interesting developments have we seen this year or what tips do we have for hotels? Here is our 2010 punch list;

And now the most important point we would like to make. Budget appropriately for online or internet marketing. Your hotel website should generate at least 40% of your sales. So why not allocate the same percentage of your total marketing budget to it. Reduce the spending on traditional sales and branding items like brochures, letterhead, etc. Hospitality starts online and so should your marketing.

You can increase direct sales easily by investing strategically and by using the latest innovations in your hotel website design and internet marketing.