The first-ever look at the Digital IQ of leading travel brands reveals a link to ROI.

The exercise is fairly simple -- take a concept, a category, or simply an idea and then list all of the assumptions about it. Then take each assumption and list the exact opposite of that assumption. And then use those reverse assumptions to ideate.

The question for hotels and other travel suppliers is reaching that market online -- a task that seemed daunting in the earlier days of the Internet because of the "complexity" of an event -- all the logistics of many people getting together in one place at one time.

Attend enough social media and digital marketing conferences and common themes soon emerge.

Marketing history is strewn with the debris from brands crashing as they sought to expand outside their country of origin. Sometimes it's the actual brand name itself; in most instances, the failures are a result of misunderstandings; or misreading of other cultures, traditions and even body language.

Knowledge is power, as the saying goes. If you're serious about marketing to vacation travel influencers, it helps to get serious about understanding their mindsets.

A growing audience warrants attention from travel brands.

Be imaginative. Be smart. But most of all be brave. Look at what is special and unique about your brand and create promotions that give your consumer access to it. This is the new value in travel. And it's uniquely yours.

The event picked up a tremendous amount of Twitter interaction and, says Middleton, "It took some of the intimidation out of going to the Park 75 Lounge to try wines. It created a comfort zone." The hotel plans to do a similar event around summer wines. Says Middleton, "We're trying to connect with people the best way they want to connect."

A recent study by eConsultancy shows that nearly 53% of consumers are purchasing their vacations online, and that "the Internet is involved in almost 85% of vacation purchases." Since we know when and where most travelers are making their purchases, the obvious question is, What exactly should we be doing to prepare our sites for these mass booking extravaganzas?