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Social media best practices for hotel marketers

from hotelmarketing.com:

Bothering your online visitors to press release after press release or simply relying on coupons and discounts to keep them interested doesn’t work anymore. Take a hint from several online savvy brands including the Wynn and Kimpton Hotels, and go the extra mile to ensure that your visitors turn into enthusiasts and spread your message for you.

By Annemarie Dooling

Many properties are jumping into social media and with the help of a little technology, are developing a fantastic fan base. From random coupon codes to snatching up personal data for email newsletters, it’s no secret that the number of fans or followers you have can seem like a great way to gauge your social media success.

But what do you do with all those followers and fans once you’ve got them?

Bothering your online visitors to press release after press release or simply relying on coupons and discounts to keep them interested doesn’t work anymore. Take a hint from several online savvy brands including the Wynn and Kimpton Hotels, and go the extra mile to ensure that your visitors turn into enthusiasts and spread your message for you.

Here are a few basic tips you should remember:

1. Make them feel special with personal incentives. When Emily Cavalier stayed at Kimpton’s Hotel Palomar, she fell in love with their funky vibe, including snazzy animal print bathrobes. After following the brand on Twitter, she noticed a contest they were running: reply to their tweet and fin a fuzzy bathrobe. Besides being convenient to Emily’s taste, the brand made a positive move by forgoing the typical “5% off” messaging and tapping into what their visitors love about the brand. Though they probably have thousands of bathrobes in storage, waiting to go out to rooms across the country, giving away 20 was a simple effort that made a difference. If you’re wondering, Ms. Cavalier did win one, and did post a photo of it on her blog, sharing it for all of her friends and fans to see.

2. Create an open and transparent dialogue. The Roger Smith Hotel is a tiny boutique sitting among New York City’s numerous hotels. What makes the Roger Smith a Stand-out destination for travelers, however, is their commitment to service and open engagement with their visitors. Not too long ago, Brian Simpson, Director of Social Hospitality, ran across a blog post from an unsatisfied event planner naming several reasons she had a difficult time booking at the popular restaurant in the hotel. Instead of pushing it under the rug, Simpson took the initiative to reach out to the patron, find out what the situation was, and work to correct the error. Though the event worked out as planned, making the visitor happy, she was most impressed that Simpson had taken the time to contact her personally and even requested that she not delete her blog post, after all, it was her initial feeling. She did, however, follow it up post event.

3. Give fans and followers the tools to spread your message. It’s fantastic to have a fan base, but how can they tell their friends and family if you don’t make it easy? Even a luxurious 5-star resort like the Las Vegas Wynn takes the time to create enthusiasm. Among general tweets and discussion, the Wynn takes the opportunity via Twitter to seek out hotel visitors and recommend everything from entertainment to meals to drinks. “Nice to have you back! Thanks for checking in on Foursquare!” reads one tweet. “What are you looking to drink tonight?” reads the next reply. Arming visitors with this information leads to accessible retweets and information sharing, all with the click of a button.

4. Feature fans- your hotel is just four walls without them. If you’re a visitor at the San Juan Marriott hotel, you better get ready for your close up. The Puerto Rico property puts guest’s front-and-center by providing a YouTube Concierge who tapes guests all around the resort. After a little editing the video is uploaded to the hotel’s YouTube account and aggregated through their Twitter and Facebook bridging the gap between on property guest and visitors who have left the resort to return home. Instead of filling a video log with promotional chatter, this property lets the guests speak for them, to fantastic success.

5. Establish relationships on their terms. New York’s Roosevelt Hotel is in a unique situation. Although it’s a top-rated pick for out of town visitors, they feature a hip rooftop bar that has the responsibility of trying to attract locals to fill cushy outdoor seats all summer long. To reach this goal, the hotel’s Social Media Manager, Kelli Crean, takes to Facebook and Twitter. Crean has gained respect in the online and hospitality worlds for not only focusing on drink specials or promotions at Mad 46, but retweeting fan blogs on New York City topics, and sharing information on restaurants and clubs that are in the area. She knows both guests and locals have many choices on where to spend their night, and even if the Roosevelt is not on their radar, they might choose to stop by for a nightcap after a classic deli dinner at Grand Central’s Juniors, just blocks away. Meeting your fans and followers on their terms gains great respect, and proves your property as a functioning member of the community and a distinctive travel resource.

There’s no miracle tech source that could ever replace the visitor experience of a home away from home- and that’s what your customers are paying for, the experience. Long before they walk through your doors, or months after they leave, you can reach out to them and keep the experience and warm memories fresh in their mind. You better believe you’ll be at the top of their list when it comes time to book again.

Annemarie Dooling is a well-traveled digital strategist who loves everything travel related, from good eats to happening hotel fan pages. Check out her site Frill Seeker Diary, or come see her speak at the Travel Blogger’s Convention in NYC this summer.

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Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

Obama signs Travel Promotion Act

President Barack Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act, which allows the United States to be promoted to international visitors, in a White House ceremony March 4. Passage of the act has taken more than two years and was lobbied for by several industry associations. The next step is the creation of the Corp. for Travel Promotion, a public-private partnership managed by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Are Hotels the new losers in the Travel Industry?

from hotelmarketing.com

Hotel.com's 2009 Hotel Price Index shows hotel prices in the U.S. fell 14 percent during the last half of 2009 compared to rates in the same time period in 2008. In fact, a hotel room was cheaper in 2009 than it was in 2004. What's more, 2010 promises to be another great year for the travel deal and value.

Hotels.com today unveiled its 2009 Hotel Price Index, the definitive annual report on hotel prices paid around the world. The index shows hotel prices in the U.S. fell 14 percent during the last half of 2009 compared to rates in the same time period in 2008. Hotels.com attributes the falling prices in North America to the economic slowdown and the subsequent reduced demand for rooms.

With 2009 being the year of the travel deal, some cities did see a rise in prices paid as a result of the cause to currency movements, but also with travelers spending more for a little more luxury. The gap in price between 3, 4, and 5 star hotels narrowed in 2009 meaning travelers could spend less to get more. 2010 promises to be another great year for the travel deal and value.

The HPI also found there was a slowdown in price cuts, potentially showing a leveling off of prices for 2010. Prices dropped 16 percent year-over-year in Q1, 17 percent in Q2, 14 percent in Q3, and finally down to 7 percent in Q4. In fact, for the first time since the HPI has been released, US hotel prices are at the level they were in 2004, dramatically falling from the peak prices seen in 2007.

“2009 proved to be a great year for consumers looking for rooms at reasonable rates, especially in cities that are major tourist attractions such as New York, where prices dropped nearly 25 percent,” said Scott Booker, vice president, global retail, Hotels.com. “Despite signs that prices of hotel rooms are leveling off, consumers can be certain that they’ll always get the best deal possible on Hotels.com, thanks to our Price Match Guarantee, welcomerewards loyalty program and best in class promotions and deals.”

Key Findings:

- Rounding out the top five favorite domestic destinations with US travelers after Las Vegas are New York, Orlando, Chicago and Los Angeles;

- The average price of a hotel room globally was 14% cheaper in 2009 than in 2008. In fact, a hotel room was cheaper in 2009 than it was in 2004, when the HPI began. With just a very few, isolated exceptions, worldwide hotel prices dropped substantially for U.S. travelers during 2009.

- The Big Apple was the most expensive domestic city of those tracked in the global list, with prices averaging $199 during 2009 - a fall of almost a quarter (24 percent) compared to 2008.  BUT visitor numbers to the city rose dramatically.  The popularity of NYC soared as domestic and foreign visitors alike made the most of great new promotion.

- Among the greatest hotel room price falls in 2009 compared to 2008 across major U.S. Cities were: 18 percent in Chicago ($167-137), Las Vegas ($103-$85) and San Diego ($154-$127); 14 percent in Boston ($183-158) and Miami ($162-$140) and 12 percent in Honolulu ($181-$160), LA ($134-119), Orlando ($106-$93) and Phoenix ($115-$101).

- The most expensive Caribbean and Latin American destinations include the Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos and U.S. Virgin Islands. More moderate resort prices were found in Aruba, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.  Average prices for hotels in Mexico and Costa Rica are skewed by the growing prevalence of all-inclusive properties.

- Top overseas destinations for U.S. travelers include: Toronto, London, Vancouver, Niagara Falls and Paris.

- The Emirate city of Dubai lost some of its sparkle in 2009 as the economic slowdown affected the city and hotels were forced to lower their rates. Business travel and the convention industry were both affected by the downturn.

- Beijing, where prices dropped by 29 percent following peaks in 2008 when the city hosted the summer Olympics, saw prices average $109 in 2009 following highs of $152 a year before.

Get the entire report at Hotels.com

Carnival lifts Twitter ban

from hotelmarketing.com

Carnival Cruise Lines has reversed a rule that sought to prevent travel agents from mentioning the company’s name or its trademarks on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Under the old restrictions, nobody in the travel industry would be legally allowed to blog, tweet or post online content about Carnival – its cruises, its corporate practices – without authorization from the company.

After a few travel blogs raised hackles over the company’s gag rule, the company amended the rule and pulled the restrictive language last month.

“The wording was very overreaching and did not reflect the intent of what we wanted in there,” said Jennifer de la Cruz, a Carnival spokeswoman.

Get the full story at The New York Times

Marriott's New Website looks like a winner!

Marriott has aggressively gone after social media and ditching the stuffy corporate website look is yet another move that Marriott has made to keep up with the ever-changing trends of the online world.HotelChatter takes an indepth look at Marriott's new website and likes what they see.

When you log onto Marriott.com, you’re greeted with a stack of spread out “trading cards” if you will, each denoting a different section of the site. However, front and center is the Marriott Reservations tool because that’s probably what you came here for in the first place.

What we liked right off the bat is the “Weekends on Sale” card poking out on the left. People want deals and they want deals on the weekends, not just on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, when we clicked it, it was just a Visa gift card promotion (i.e. tay the weekend and get a $50 Visa card.) But just beyond that Weekends “trading card” is the Hotel Deals section which listed three deals teasers and a link to the general deals page.

Get the full story at HotelChatter

Leave your socks on the floor and save money!

From Hotelmarketing.com:

First, hotels asked guests to opt out of daily towel replacement for environmental reasons. Then it was bed linens. Now it's the entire room, writes The Wall Street Journal.

Hotels are offering room discounts or other rewards to guests who agree to make do with less housekeeping. As part of their “Make A Green Choice” program, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. offers hotel credit or points in its reward program. At the majority of their Westin and Sheraton brand hotels, guests can earn a $5 credit at any of the hotel’s restaurants, or 500 Starpoints, for every night they opt out of housekeeping—for up to three consecutive nights.

At the Marmara Manhattan, a luxury hotel and residence on New York’s Upper East Side, guests who forgo housekeeping for three days receive a $20 discount for each night they stayed without the service.

About 8.5% of guests who stay at a participating Starwood hotel take advantage of the offer, says Stacy Trevino, a spokeswoman for Starwood.

Get the full story at The Wall Street Journal (free content)

The potential of in-destination activities and services in travel

From Hotelmarketing.com:

Local activities, events, attractions and services have long been overlooked - or passed over - by the broader travel industry. But there are four major trends in Web and mobile technology that are poised to transform this domain, opening entirely new opportunities for travel providers.

The travel industry has a pretty good handle on many aspects of its marketplace. For example, we know how many people in the U.S. travel, how often, what products they purchase, how they purchase them and how much they spend. We also know a great deal about the different segments of the travel industry: the transportation and accommodation elements of travel. But when it comes to the things travelers do when they get there—in-destination activities and services—we know surprisingly little.

Local activities, events, attractions and services have long been overlooked—or passed over—by the broader travel industry. The domain is highly fragmented, with myriad small players operating low-margin independent businesses with little automation. But there are four major trends in Web and mobile technology that are poised to transform this domain, opening entirely new opportunities for travel providers to deliver relevant, contextual content based upon a traveler’s location, preferences and profile. This will change how travelers travel.

Get the full story at PhoCusWright

USA to get a NTB

CNN) -- A bill that will create a tourism promotion organization for the United States has received its final passage in the Senate.

The Travel Promotion Act calls for a nonprofit Corporation for Travel Promotion that will promote the United States as a travel destination and explain travel and security policies to international visitors.

"This is a historic victory for the U.S. economy and one in eight American workers whose jobs depend on travel," Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said in a statement.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill, which the Senate passed 78-18 Thursday, in the next 10 days, according to the travel association.

A $10 fee charged to visitors from countries included in the Visa Waiver Program will partially fund the public-private organization. These visitors will pay the fee every two years when they register online using the Department of Homeland Security's Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

The rest of the funding will come through a matching program of up to $100 million in private sector contributions. If the corporation is able to raise the projected $200 million annually, the organization would be the largest national tourism communications program in the world, Dow said.

National tourism organizations in countries including Greece, Australia and Mexico each spent more than $100 million on tourism marketing in 2005, according to the U.N. World Tourism Organization. The United States spent about $6 million the same year -- the last year for which figures are available.

Oxford Economics, an economic consulting and forecasting company, estimates a well-executed promotional program would draw 1.6 million new international visitors annually and generate $4 billion in new visitor spending.

Some opponents of the legislation said that charging overseas visitors a fee to promote the United States will deter them from visiting.

"We don't want foreigners to have to jump through so many hoops that they just give up and don't bother coming to the U.S.," Steven Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association, told CNN before final passage of the bill. The IATA represents airlines around the world.

Lott said improving entry and exit procedures would help U.S. tourism more than a promotional organization.

Dow acknowledged the legislation is not a magic bullet for the industry.

"Let's not be naive here. Travel promotion is not a panacea for our international travel issues. There's many things we have to continue to work on such as ... continuing to improve our visa process and all the entry processes."

Dow said he does not think the $10 fee will have a negative impact on visitation, particularly when compared with entry and exit fees for other countries that are rolled into airline ticket prices.

2010’s Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels in the U.S.

NEWTON, Mass. – January 22, 2010 - TripAdvisor®, the world’s most trusted source of travel advice, today announced the top 10 dirtiest hotels in America, based on TripAdvisor traveler ratings for cleanliness. For the fifth consecutive year, TripAdvisor reveals the truth about hotels around the world, from the most gleaming to the most grimy.

2010’s Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels in the U.S.

1. Heritage Marina Hotel, San Francisco, California
2. Days Inn Eureka/Six Flags, Eureka, Missouri
3. Tropicana Resort Hotel, Virginia Beach, Virginia
4. Super 8 Virginia Beach/At the Ocean, Virginia Beach, Virginia
5. Quality Inn, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
6. New York Inn, New York City, New York
7. Parisian Hotel & Suites, Miami Beach, Florida
8. Capistrano Seaside Inn, Capistrano Beach, California
9. Desert Lodge, Palm Springs, California
10. Continental Oceanfront Hotel South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida

San Francisco’s Heritage Marina Hotel claims the dubious title of America’s dirtiest hotel; 80 percent of TripAdvisor travelers who reviewed the Heritage Marina recommended against staying there. While last year’s dirtiest hotels list contained zero hotels from California, this year three California contenders made the list. Miami and Virginia Beach also delivered two hair-raising hotels each to this year’s list.

New York City cleaned up its act this year, with just one hotel on the list, down from three in 2009. While the New York Inn (# 6) has now blemished the list four times in the past five years, the three-time #1 dirtiest hotel in America, New York City’s Hotel Carter, doesn’t appear at all this year.

“For the fifth year running, TripAdvisor’s dirtiest hotels list reveals that unfortunately, some hotels take the notion of offering dirt cheap rooms far too literally,” said Christine Petersen, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor. “Our candid traveler reviews prepare future guests for grimy lodgings that might otherwise be an unwelcome surprise.”

Here are some choice comments from recent TripAdvisor traveler reviews on the U.S.’s dirtiest hotels:

1. Heritage Marina Hotel, San Francisco, California:

“When we woke in the middle of the night to find BED BUGS all over the bed, we ended up sleeping in our rental car!”

“We opened the door, and the smell of mold hit us in the face like a brick.”

“This hotel is like in a horrible horror movie! The bed was a nightmare. It smelled like urine and had strange spots.”

2. Days Inn Eureka/Six Flags, Eureka, Missouri:

“If Hell had a hotel it would be something like this. The worst, nastiest hotel I have ever stayed in, in my life. Dirty towels, dirty room. Rude manager. Run from this place as fast as you can!”

Heritage Marina Hotel  2550 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, California

Days Inn Eureka Six Flags 15 Hilltop Village Center/I-44 Eureka, Missouri

3. Tropicana Resort Hotel, Virginia Beach, Virginia:

“The entire hotel is very dirty and smells very bad; it looks like a ghost house. We called the Virginia Beach health department and filed a complaint. We do not recommend this Place to any human being.”

4. Super 8 Virginia Beach/At the Ocean, Virginia Beach, Virginia:

“I am still recovering from my stay in this hell-hole. Upon checking in there were hairs in the bathtub, and bugs on the counter…the streets are cleaner. Disgusting!”

5. Quality Inn, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania:

“Our room looked like something from a very bad horror movie. I was scared to sleep in the bed. Just looking at it made me want to itch.”

6. New York Inn, New York City, New York:

“We were greeted on our arrival by a cleaner sitting on our bed smoking and watching TV.”

7. Parisian Hotel & Suites, Miami Beach, Florida:

“I had been bitten on my chin several times, my hands, forearms, legs and feet. At least 15% of my body was covered in red, burning, bites.”

8. Capistrano Seaside Inn, Capistrano Beach, California:

“We spilled water on the floor and cleaned it, and the towel turned brown from all the dirt on the ground.”

9. Desert Lodge, Palm Springs, California:

“Mold smell and bugs! Unavailable staff. Dirty sheets and bath tub was gross. DO NOT STAY HERE!”

10. Continental Oceanfront Hotel South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida:

“There was so much mold and dirt in the rooms, our tub had a huge hole with some nasty ‘patch’ over it. I felt more dirty getting out of the shower than getting in.”

About TripAdvisor Media Network
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