SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Independent hotels now have a new resource to help them master the challenges of digital marketing. buuteeq, an easy-to-use, subscription-based Digital Marketing System (DMS) that enables independent hotels to create and manage high-performing websites, mobile and social channels, promotions and reservations all from one place, launched today after a year in development and testing.
Hotels today are challenged to boost occupancy rates above 55%, where the average resides.1 buuteeq was designed to help independent hotels in particular raise that number by empowering them with easy-to-use tools that enable them to generate digital marketing that reaches guests where nearly all hotel discovery and buying decisions are made today — on the web, mobile phones, and in social networks. In fact, analysts estimate that nearly $30B of hotel business was booked online in 20102. buuteeq’s Software-as-a-Service approach gives independent properties access to a scalable, cloud-based solution that delivers the high level of marketing support previously available only from multiple high-cost, single-purpose services.
The buuteeq Digital Marketing System (DMS) is an integrated system designed specifically to address the ways guests search for hotels online. It includes four main components: A content management system, digital distribution, online reservations, and business intelligence. Independent hotels simply upload photos, videos, maps and other assets; enter room, location, seasonal promotions and other data through an easy-to-use web-based ‘Back Office’ and can choose to populate a variety of marketing channels— web, Facebook, mobile applications, booking engines and more, with that data using proven-effective formats.
“We know from industry research that guests demand direct engagement with a hotel’s brand online, but what they find there often turns them off. Almost 40% of travelers say they avoid staying at certain hotels because of a web experience that makes them feel uncomfortable about booking,” said Adam Brownstein, CEO of buuteeq. “The buuteeq DMS gives hotels a simple way to reach guests directly with the property details and great user experience they need to make confident, on-the-spot purchase decisions.”
The secure, centrally managed Content Management System (CMS) is the heart of the buuteeq Digital Marketing System. The friendly BackOffice user interface makes it easy for hotel staff to enter/upload, edit and modify information using rich interactive forms. As localization is key to success in reaching global travelers, buuteeq translates all content into multiple languages as chosen by the hotel and seamlessly maintains multiple language versions of the hotel’s marketing materials. The system includes flexible administration and automatic versioning, backup and recovery.
Once hotels populate the CMS, buuteeq automates Digital Marketing Channels, presenting hotel information and images in optimized, compelling, high-performance formats for web, mobile, smartphone applications, tablets, Facebook, email and search/display advertising. As it is based on modern, industry-standard presentation formats rather than Adobe Flash®, all of the marketing materials are discoverable through search engines and viewable on all relevant consumer devices.
To address guests’ desire to find, explore and book a property all at once, directly with the hotel, buuteeq includes an integrated Online Reservation System, which dynamically reflects all seasonal pricing and promotions as they are centrally managed by the CMS. The system can also be integrated with a hotel’s existing third-party booking engine to enable integration between the buuteeq DMS and existing reservation and property management applications. Additional near term features will include customer relationship management and affiliate marketing capabilities.
Access to buuteeq’s Business Intelligence tools helps hotels gauge marketing effectiveness, through reports of each marketing channel, web traffic insights, campaign-specific reporting and search engine optimization. These insights can be used to further optimize promotion terms and availability, and seasonal changes in pricing.
buuteeq has been in development for the last year with dozens of hotel customers worldwide who have been live on the system for several months. Launch customers include boutique hotels in Asia, North America and Latin America.
The Garden Court Hotel in Palo Alto, California, adopted buuteeq to launch its spring 2010 $10m remodel opening. “We went with buuteeq initially because it gave us complete control over our website and we didn’t have to wait or rely on an outside source to make changes,” said Susanne Smith, director of marketing at the property. “With buuteeq I can log into the system and make changes whenever I want, preview the changes and then release them to our website as well as to our Facebook page. With a lot less effort than before, I’m getting much better looking, better performing marketing materials.”
“I’m just amazed at how buuteeq has changed our business,” said Cecelia Liu, co-owner of the LiAn Lodge, a luxury hotel in the popular eco-tourist market of Guilin, China. “We have a 16-room property, but it’s still a challenge to fill every room, even in the high season. Since we changed our website over to buuteeq, our referrals from search engines and social networks have gone way up, and we’re giving guests the right information, images and access to have them book directly.”
buuteeq launches today and is available now by subscription directly via www.buuteeq.com. Fixed annual subscriptions run from a free Facebook-only solution, up through comprehensive packages for $3,000-$15,000 USD per year depending on features.
About buuteeq
buuteeq is the world’s first Digital Marketing System (DMS) for independent hotels. It fuses technology ingenuity with online marketing savvy to help hotels reach more guests, persuade them with great marketing and put more heads in beds. The company was founded in February 2010 by former Microsoft executives Forest Key, Adam Brownstein, and Brian Saab. Investors include Equitas Capital S.A. and notable angel investors. Headquartered in Seattle, the company is a globally distributed company with engineering in Palo Alto, California and Beijing, China, and operation centers in Austin, Texas and Santiago, Chile. www.buuteeq.com
1Smith Travel Research (STR Global), 2009
2Consumer Technographics, September 2009