The Awona Hotel

1. The Awona Hotel Jennifer O’Neill LIBR 245-10 San Jose State University Spring 2010 Identifying potential customers and boosting business in a tough economy.

2. Overview The Awona Hotel is a luxury hotel in Yosemite National Park. Its 123 rooms and suites are sold out for most of every summer – but it suffers 60 percent occupancy in winter. The General Manager wants to boost business in the off-season. Specifically, he would like to know what geographic areas conduct the most web searches for The Awona Hotel. He would also like information on forecasts and trends in luxury travel.

3. Information Need • Which geographic areas conduct the most searches for The Awona Hotel? • Identify clusters of residents in these areas that are most likely to visit using income data. • Summarize forecasts and trends in luxury travel and hotels.

4. General Search Strategy • Google Trends provides information on search demographics. • Forbes magazine periodically publishes income data by zip code – search via Google. • Big Three – Search Dialog, Dow Jones Factiva and Lexis/Nexis to identify forecasts and trends in the industry.

5. Search Flowcharts

6. Search Concepts and Terms • Step One: • Google Trends: • “AwonaHotel” • AwonaHotel • TheAwona • Google: • site:forbes.com richest zip codes • site:forbes.com highest incomes • Step Two: • The Big Three: • Luxury Travel or Hotel • Wealthy/Affluent Travelers* • Forecasts or Trends • py>2008

7. Google Trends • The popular search engine Google gives users access to web search data via Google Trends. • A search for a given term returns graphical representations of number of searches performed. • A breakdown of geographic locations is also provided. • Term Awona hotel returned most pertinent information – so I chose it to analyze in Google Trends.

8. Google Trends Awona hotel searches by geographic location since 2007.

9. Google Trends Awona hotel searches by geographic location in previous 12 months.

10. Google • Forbes magazine publishes lists of richest zip codes • Searched for site:forbes.com richest zip codes – no relevant results • Searched for site:forbes.com highest incomes – returned article “Where Americans Earn the Most”

11. American Community Survey • Census Data is available at http://factfinder.census.gov • Select “Custom Table” from 2008 American Community Survey • Geographic Type: Selected State --> Place • State: California • Geographic Areas: All Places • Table Selection Method: By Keyword • Keyword Search: Income • Table Selection: B19301: Per Capita Income • Data Elements: Per capita income in the past 12 months (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars) • Clicked Next, then Next again • Results: Table of 121 major cities in California with their per capita income and margin of error.

12. American Community Survey • Top earning cities per capita: • Newport Beach: $86,586 • Santa Monica: $59,530 • Pleasanton: $52,075 • Mountain View: $50,250 • Redondo Beach: $49,622 • San Francisco: $47,420

13. Dialog • Searched MULTIIND Category: • s luxury()(travel or hotel) and py>2008 and (forecasts or trends) • 346 Results • rd • 246 Unique Items • Typed out seven results in full for later review.

14. Dialog • Searched File 15 – ABI-Inform: • e hospitality • Selected Hotels & Restaurants • Combined with (forecast? or trend? or outlook? or perspective? or predict?)/TI,DE,AB per Dialog tutorial on finding R&D and forecasts • 414 Results • Further narrowed with (affluent or wealthy or richest or luxury) • 39 Results • Selected one item for further review

15. Dialog Results • Barsky, J., & Nash, L. (2010, February 19). Guest satisfaction trumps hotel location, study says. Hotel & Motel Management. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from http://www.hotelworldnetwork.com • Chipkin, H., & Sarbin, H. (2009, January 8). Research reveals trends among affluent in economic downturn. Travel Weekly, 23-23. Citation retrieved March 21, 2010, from Dialog File 18. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from http://travelweekly.texterity.com. • Crocker, M. (2009, February 9). Luxury consumers adapt to the times. Travel Weekly. Citation Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Dialog File 18. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Http://travelweekly.texterity.com. • Freed, J. (2009, October 5). Why some operators choose to ignore rate advice. Hotel & Motel Management, 224, 1-1. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Dialog File 13. • Research and Markets. (2009, November 16). Forecast for luxury travel through 2010: A luxury trend report [Press release]. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Dialog File 636. • Ricca, S. (2010, February). Demand fuels luxury recovery. Hotel & Motel Management, 1-42. Citation retrieved March 21, 2010, from Dialog File 15. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from SJSU - Business Source Complete.

16. Dow Jones Factiva • Limited sources to Hotels (except Casino)/Motels. • Limited date to last two years • Searched for: ((luxury or affluent or wealthy) w/2 (travel* or hotel*)) and (forecast* or trends) • 323 Results • Limited to United States • 132 hits • Selected five for review

17. Dow Jones Factiva Results • Jones, B. (2010, February 7). Hotels eye a top-down recovery. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from Dow Jones Factiva. • Weinstein, J. (2010, March 1). View from the top: Industry leaders offer opinions on trends, issues and opportunities, as well as forecasts for the months ahead. Hotels' Investment Outlook, 44. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Dow Jones Factiva.

18. Lexis/Nexis • Limited to United States • Limited Industry to Hotels & Motels • Searched for ((luxury or affluent or wealthy) w/2 (travel* or hotel*)) and (forecast* or trends) • Returned 1782 Results • Limited descriptors to Major Terms only • Returned 785 Results • Further limited to Magazines & Journals • Returned 88 Results • Selected three to review

19. Lexis/Nexis • Revised search to (affluent w/1 traveler!) and hotel! Within the last year. • Limited to United States • 56 Results – many duplicates. • Selected two for review.

20. Lexis/Nexis Results Simms, K. (2009, September 22). Luxury Travel for Frugal Sybarites. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from LexisNexis.

21. Results Summary Metros that search the most forAwonahotel on Google.com with Per Capita Incomes: San Jose/Santa Clara MetroSan Jose - $33,849Santa Clara - $40,845Sunnyvale - $45,455Mountain View - $50,250 Los Angeles MetroLos Angeles - $28,071Santa Monica - $59,530Burbank - $33,047Pasadena - $39,833 Irvine MetroIrvine - $40,090Costa Mesa - $30,564Newport Beach - $86,586 San Diego MetroSan Diego - $32,472Chula Vista - $25,064 Fresno - $20,213 Pleasanton MetroPleasanton – $52,075Livermore - $36,767 San Francisco MetroSan Francisco - $47,420Berkeley - $38,859Oakland - $30,372Alameda – $39,139 Sacramento MetroSacramento - $25,313Elk Grove - $28,548 Stockton MetroStockton - $19,658Manteca - $23,865

22. Results Summary • Affluent Traveler Behavior in the Recession: • Affluent consumers feel as much financial insecurity as the rest of the population. (Crocker, M). • However, we can “expect to see affluent clients trimming expenditures without sacrificing quality. This might translate to fewer vacations or shorter lengths of stay, but the affluent” will still seek out luxury hotels. • “People are looking for less risk in choosing a vacation, which often means returning to a favored place.” (Chipkin, H). • Sites like Tripadvisor and Yelp affect guest decisions now more than ever. “Location is an important reason for selecting a hotel, especially for economy and mid-scale guests. But it is the guest experience that has the most influence on hotel selection. ‘Guest experience factors,’ which include past experience, reputation, recommendations and online reviews, are critical to selecting a hotel by a majority of hotel guests (51 percent) and are now more important to guests than either hotel location (48 percent) or price (42 percent).” (Barsky, J).

23. Results Summary • Economic Trends and Forecasts: • In 2010 the recession will bottom out and the hospitality industry will begin to recover. (Weinstein, J). “The drivers are in place, including increased occupancy [and] tightened operating efficiencies.” (Ricca, S). • The luxury segment will lead industry recovery. (Ricca, S). • “Demand was down only 0.6 percent for the whole year [in the luxury segment]. Industry wide, demand was down 5.8 percent.” The luxury segment doesn’t have as much of a drop to recover from as the rest of the market. • Occupancy will be up this year, but rate down. After a market-wide trend of heavy discounts, guests are now expecting deals. • “The industry will move past the record losses of 2009, and occupancy should hold steady.” (Jones, B). • While the business travel segment is likely to continue to struggle, things are looking up for the pleasure market. “The luxury travel sector has been one of the categories slower to recover from the recession…luxury travel was slower going into the recession, and is slower coming out.” (Research and Markets). • “That means budget, discount and value are key words for travel.” • In destination markets, rate discounts are essential to boosting occupancy in the off-season. (Freed, J). • Discounts at upscale properties increase customer satisfaction for guests that are accustomed to staying at mid-scale properties.

24. Conclusion The General Manager was satisfied with the results of my research. We know that we have many visitors from San Francisco and the Bay Area. Search demographics allowed identification of areas for potential expansion: especially in San Jose and southern California. Online guest review websites are becoming more popular, and a stronger web presence could be a useful tool for driving sales and reaching a larger market.