First of its kind online performance evaluation tool for the hotel industry is now available worldwide.

Digital marketing for hotels is complex. In an ideal world every hotel would like 100% of their online bookings to be made directly with the hotel via their website, mobile website or via their Facebook page. The reality however is that this is almost never possible unless you are the only operator in town. Most hotels will therefore use third party distributors like OTAs or the GDS network to complement their direct sales efforts, and then work to get a good balance between them.

Getting this balance optimised is what the new digital HealthCheck service from Hotel Link Solutions is all about. They've spent the last 18 months developing and testing their HealthCheck tool which analyses every step in the accommodation buying cycle, from how a hotel gets discovered through looking at conversions from visits to sales, and on to the social dimension – experiencing and sharing. Some 4000 accommodations were assessed during the testing and validation work, ranging in size from small bed & breakfasts to large 5 star resorts. A range of destinations was also in the mix from very competitive environments, to small rural centres with just a handful of operators.

Hotel Link Solutions developed the HealthCheck initially with a view to their sales consultants using it to assess digital marketing needs of potential clients, but decided it would be a valuable service to offer more widely. Hence the launch of their service online and, best of all, it's free.

CEO of Hotel Link Solutions, Andre Franchini, explained "The feedback from our sales consultants about the HealthCheck was that accommodations really appreciated the analysis we were doing as it made very clear what they were doing well, and more importantly, where they needed to focus efforts to optimise online sales. Internet marketing is a complex subject and growing quickly in importance."

There are currently 55 data points measured around the accommodation buying cycle, with each measurement then weighted according to the impact Hotel Link Solutions has determined after looking at the information from their pilot work. Overlaying this are other factors, which weigh in such as the level of competition in the destination where the hotel is located along with the size of the accommodation and their online reputation such as traveler feedback ranking.

Hotel Link Solutions is monitoring and adjusting weightings continuously. Things don't stand still due to changes in traveler habits, like the continuing growth in the importance of mobile devices for booking accommodations, changes in SEO practices, and even the evolving practices of OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia with loyalty programs and conversion optimisation techniques amongst other things. The HealthCheck reports are therefore time-stamped, and Hotel Link Solutions now runs these reports every couple of months for their clients, so they can track where they stand.

Shortly Hotel Link Solutions will also offer a benchmarked HealthCheck service so accommodations can see how they stack up against competitors – this could be for accommodations in the destination, nationally or even globally.