How hotels are using Facebook

Much like Twitter, Facebook should be considered as an extension to your existing customer service and communication functions rather than an outright sales channel. That being said, many hotels are using it as just that. Here is a new whitepaper on how hotel brands are using Facebook.

One of the major challenges of engaging in social media is the significant time investment required. It is not enough to create a profile and expect users to stumble across it – hotels need to be proactive and engage with consumers. Some hotels do just this with a combination of announcing news while also chatting with potential and past guests. Other hotels use Facebook as a broadcast only platform whilst some just create a profile and abandon it. Only those who engage and use it as an extension of their customer service department can reap any benefit.

Most social media platforms can only be used for marketing through engagement. Creating then abandoning social media profiles can reflect badly on a brand and will not be as effective at communicating to customers with. Engagement needn’t take a tremendous amount of time.

If you are undecided about whether to engage in Facebook then ask yourself if your core audience are already interacting on this space. If they are, then there is a good reason to engage with them and use Facebook to push brand awareness, solve customer service issues and promote special offers or late availability issues.

Fuente :Hotelmarketing.com

TripAdvisor unveils 2011 travel trends forecast

Americans appear eager to pack their bags in the coming year, as 36 percent plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2011 than this year, while 42 percent expect to spend the same amount. Ninety percent plan to take two or more leisure trips next year - a slight increase on the 89 percent who said they have done so in 2010. TripAdvisor announced the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 3,000 U.S. travelers. Americans appear eager to pack their bags in the coming year, as 36 percent plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2011 than this year, while 42 percent expect to spend the same amount. Ninety percent plan to take two or more leisure trips next year—a slight increase on the 89 percent who said they have done so in 2010.

While travelers named an increase in online travel deals as the best travel development of 2010 (39 percent), rising airfares (40 percent) and bedbugs (20 percent) are the top two travel concerns for 2011.

On the Road Again: Travelers Globetrotting in 2011

- 69 percent of travelers plan to take international trips next year, and of that group, 52 percent will travel to Europe, 13 percent will visit Asia and 12 percent will journey to South America.

- The top three international destinations U.S. travelers plan to visit in 2011 are Paris, London and Rome.

- 75 percent of respondents plan to visit a U.S. city next year, with Las Vegas, New York City and San Francisco the most popular choices.

- Vacation rentals will be a popular lodging choice in 2011, with 47 percent considering a stay in a vacation rental home – a significant increase compared to 39 percent one year ago.

Best and Worst in Travel for 2010 and the Past Decade

Best Travel Development of 2010:

- More online travel deals – 39%

- Cheaper hotel rates – 22%

- More in-flight Wi-Fi Internet access on planes – 12%

Worst Travel Development of 2010:

- Carry-on baggage fees – 69%

- New hotel fees – 10%

- TSA full body scanners – 10%

Best Travel Development of the Past Decade:

- Online check-in – 26%

- Candid traveler reviews – 16%

- Increased options for online travel bookings – 16%

Worst Travel Development of the Past Decade:

- More airline fees – 45%

- Carry on restrictions for liquids, gels and aerosols – 19%

- Longer security lines – 9%

Up in the Air

- Despite being fed up with airline fees, 24 percent of travelers plan to fly more next year, while 60 percent will fly the same amount.

- Shelling-out for in-flight extras is becoming second nature to travelers, with 77 percent expecting to do so in 2011 – up from 72 percent one year ago.

- In-flight manners leave much to be desired, with the top flyer faux pas revealed to be people kicking the seat back (28 percent). Rude seat recliners (20 percent) and passengers sneezing or coughing without covering their mouths (18 percent) further aggravate travelers.

- 27 percent would pay to sit in a child-free section of an airplane, while 19 percent would pay to sit in a quiet section, should such an option ever exist.

- 65 percent think passengers of size should be required to pay for an extra seat on an airline when necessary.

Popular Pursuits and Eco-Traveling in 2011

Top Five Vacation Activities for Next Year:

- Visiting an historic site – 85%

- Visiting a museum – 73%

- Visiting a national park – 46%

- Attending a festival – 43%

- Hiking – 42%

- Further popular pursuits among travelers for the year ahead include water activities (38 percent), visiting a spa (33 percent) and gambling (29 percent).

- When asked what travel activities they might try for the first time in 2011, 11 percent chose a cruise, while 11 percent are also considering taking an educational course on vacation.

- 47 percent will take eco-friendly factors in to consideration, such as their carbon footprint or “green” hotel policies, when making travel plans in 2011.

- 20 percent expect to be more environmentally conscious in their travel decision and choices next year.

Increase in Connectivity Leads to “Fake-ations”

- Technological advances in 2010 have led to 59 percent of travelers in employment being more connected to work than ever on leisure trips this year.

- 69 percent connect with work while on leisure trips, while 16 percent confess that work always or often impacts their vacations.

- 62 percent check their work e-mail on leisure trips, while 13 percent call the office to check-in.

- Eight percent admit to considering the remoteness of their destination, specifically to avoid connecting with work.

- 90 percent of travelers also connect with home on their leisure travels – but just 26 percent send postcards, instead favoring modern-day technology, including e-mail (74 percent), text messages (40 percent) and social networking sites (28 percent).

Hotel Highs and Lodging Lows

According to the survey, the top three hotel brands that travelers are loyal to are:

- Marriott – 24%

- Hilton – 18%

- Hampton Inn – 7%

- When it comes to booking hotels, travelers are significantly less brand loyal than one year ago, with 39 percent of travelers now faithful to one name – a significant drop from 59 percent in 2010.

- 96 percent believe that U.S. hotels offer room for improvement in 2011, with higher standards of cleanliness topping travelers’ wish-lists (22 percent).

- Of those who have stayed in international hotels, 90 percent believe these could be bettered next year, with wider availability of free internet access the most-wanted enhancement (20 percent).

Americans Deemed Friendliest and Most Annoying Travelers

For the second consecutive year, Americans are voted both the friendliest travelers – and also the most irritating.

Friendliest Travelers, According to the Survey

- Americans

- Australians

- Canadians

Most Annoying Travelers, According to the Survey

- Americans

- French

- Japanese

“With over a third of travelers revealing that they start planning their vacations more than six months before a trip, many Americans are already eagerly anticipating some terrific travel adventures for 2011,” said Karen Drake, senior director of communications for TripAdvisor. “Online travel deals, named as the greatest travel development of 2010, will continue to offer aspiring vacationers fantastic opportunities next year – whether they’re planning a nearby weekend getaway, or the dream trip of a lifetime.”

Fuente: Hotelmarketing.com

Social sites get people talking, but marketers must earn trust

According to new social media market research, brands need to place a greater focus on non-advertising marketing activities, engaging on the social media user’s terms.

All those conversations, whether in person, via email, on the phone or elsewhere on the web, however, don’t make social site visitors loyal—internet users expressed the least loyalty for such properties, compared with portals or OPA member sites. They were also most likely to say social sites were not a very good fit for their information and entertainment needs.

The OPA’s findings are in line with the annual customer satisfaction report from ForeSee Results that found Facebook among the most disliked sites on the web after its many disagreements with its own user community and several privacy debacles.

Fuente: e-marketer.com

Why Google still beats Facebook for online hotel marketing

Facebook is definitely here to stay and has experienced tremendous growth, but it is not going to replace Google as a travel planning tool anytime soon. Though Facebook initiatives drive traffic to hotel websites, this trackable traffic is not directly responsible for any significant revenue.

On March 15, Experian Hitwise reported that Facebook.com has surpassed Google.com as the most popular Web site in the United States. Indeed, Facebook accounted for 7.07% of all U.S. Web site visits for the week ending March 13, compared with Google.com’s 7.03% share.

eedless to say, last week the industry was abuzz with this exciting news. We heard questions tossed around like: “Is Facebook going to replace Google?” and “Are we missing big revenue opportunities by not advertising on Facebook?”

You can relax. Facebook is definitely here to stay and has experienced tremendous growth, but it is not going to replace Google as a travel planning tool anytime soon. Here are the reasons why:

When consumers want to buy books online, they go to Amazon.com. When people want to buy new laptops or PCs online, they go to Dell.com, Apple.com or BestBuy.com.

When people plan travel they go to:
- Search Engines: Google, Yahoo, Bing
- Meta Search Engines: Kayak.com
- OTAs: Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, etc.
- Major hotel brand websites: Marriott.com, Hilton.com, etc.
- Independent/boutique/luxury hotel Web sites
- Consumer review sites like TripAdvisor.com to check out what their peers think of certain hotels, once they have narrowed down their choices

About 84% of Americans plan travel online, according to Travel Industry Association, using the above approaches. In other words, social networks are not the first options that come to mind when planning a business trip or family vacation. Many travel consumer surveys attest to the above behavior, time and again.

Fuente: Hotelsmag.com/blog

Hotels responding in big ways to negative reviews

Less than 4% of negative reviews on TripAdvisor get a response, according to TripAdvisor, which has more than 30 million reviews. But the review site says it saw a 203% explosion in responses from hotels last year.

Armed with a log-in account and numerous travel websites willing to give them a forum, customers are increasingly vocalizing their experiences online for other travelers to read. That’s prompting more hotel managers to respond quickly or fear losing business.

Hotel managers may ignore customers’ reviews at their peril, some analysts say. Others say they’re just another way for hotels to find ways of improving operations. And those who are paying attention and responding to customers can earn some goodwill points at a time every room night counts.

Large hotel companies have always solicited customer surveys from guests. But they’ve relied mostly on numerical rankings and have rarely contained descriptive explanations.

Managers still regularly receive customer survey scores tabulated by the headquarters, but online reviews are being used to improve training, adjust restaurant and staffing hours and add or remove amenities, says Bjorn Hanson, a hospitality professor at New York University.

Fuente: USAToday.com

Google testing hotel price comparison features on Google Maps

Google started experimenting with a new feature on Google Maps, which shows specific prices for selected hotel listings, very much like hotel price comparison websites. But unlike Kayak & Co., Google is not retrieving hotel rates from supplier XML feeds, but Google AdWords advertisers.

Google Maps is often one of the first stops travelers make to find and compare hotels. Today Google started experimenting with a new feature, visible to a small portion of users, to help make that process even easier by showing specific prices for selected hotel listings.

With this feature, when you search for hotels on Google Maps you’ll be able to enter the dates you plan to stay and see real prices on selected listings. You can click on the price to see a list of advertisers who have provided pricing information for that hotel, indicated by the “Sponsored” text, and click through to reserve a room on the advertiser’s site.

This new feature will not change the way that hotels are ranked in Google Maps, the company says. Google Maps ranks business listings based on their relevance to the search terms entered, along with geographic distance (where indicated) and other factors, regardless of whether there is an associated price.

Fuente: Google earth and map team blog

Función del Marketing La orientación de la empresa al mercado es el punto crucial del marketing como actitud o filosofía. Todos los integrantes de la organización deben ser conscientes de la importancia del consumidor en la existencia, progreso y rentabilidad de la empresa. Fundamentalmente se establece una doble función del marketing, atendiendo al área funcional en donde se desarrolla.