Lodging Interactive Blog

What's your favorite hotel amenity? - Win $50 Gift Card

Hotel Amenities - what fun little discoveries! There is usually a hotel amenity that people look for when they get to their room; or it could be an amenity that left an impression, was unexpected or simply made you smile.

During a recent Lodging Interactive meeting, our crew began chatting about these amenities. We had a lot of fun, so we thought it would be even more fun to start a discussion and include everyone! 

To make it a bit more enticing, the first of every month we'll pick a winner of the best posting. That lucky person will win a $50 American Express Gift Card!!

Visit: http://www.facebook.com/LodgingInteractive and join the Discussion

Hotel Social Media Perspective

PARSIPPANY, NJ, February 2, 2010 - Social Media engagement techniques and benefits are all about creating interest and engaging with people online that share a common interest with what you talk about on your social media pages. As a hotelier, you need to talk about more than just your hotel. It’s about your location, events, guest reviews and questions and so much more. An occasional special promotion or a holiday promotion is good, talk it up, but consider a special offer just for your followers. Try to get feedback so you know what actions you can generate to get the results you want.

The social media world is commercializing overnight. The number of hotels on Facebook and Twitter is growing every day. The challenge facing all hotels is how to engage consumers so they become guests or share their praise for your hotel with their network followers and fans. It’s really about knowing all your hotel’s market segments and how to reach out to each segment with a provocative message, survey, specials exclusive to your followers and follower contests.

It is important for every one of the hotel’s management and staff to know about your social websites and to follow what your followers contribute. You need to make your social media pages are public and invite guests, business associates and suppliers to follow you. A neglected social media page will do more damage than good, so keeping it current and fresh is essential. An active social media presence will also help the hotel's search rankings and exposure.

Here again, just like search marketing over the years, the question is to outsource or try to do it in-house. Most hotels have learned their staff is not up to the task of creating and managing effective search and social marketing. These are important marketing elements today and they will be even more important in the days and months ahead. Search marketing will deliver short-term results while social marketing is an investment in long-term results, but when done right returns will materialize from an effective viral network. 
Social media is not a fade and it will not go away. The social networks will find ways to generate income and grow their services. Going forward, we can expect to see more social networks and segmentation of the current social networks into sub-networks, along with more blogging relationships. This one-on-one supplier to buyer relationship will put more pressure on the suppliers to deliver. We all know that you can’t satisfy everyone all the time, but if we don’t know how to engage consumers online, we are unable to join the conversation and add two new customers for the one we’ve lost.

For the hospitality industry, it is all about providing the best service possible because if you don’t, over time it will affect your business. Social media is a tremendous opportunity for independent hotels to challenge the cookie cutter standards of the brands and it is an opportunity for the brands to reach their loyal followers with more cookies. 
As the Internet has evolved over the past 15 years and the search engines took control of website traffic over the past ten years, those businesses that get onboard with social media early are the ones that will build their relationships and viral networks that will pay off. With social media, it’s about what all-good service businesses do best; know who your customers are, what they want and deliver.

For information on how Lodging Interactive’s CoMMingle Social Media Marketing Service can help your hotel, please visit www.CoMMIngle.me or call 877-291-4411.

Hotels Book More Government Business With Innovative Link2Brand Service

Check this out:

http://FedRooms.us/YourHotel/stay  (click link)

Cool!  We thinks so.  For more info visit Link2Brand.com

Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report December 2009 Is Published

Last month’s holiday traveling season showed hotels a great deal of goodwill, a trend that was repeated in the month of December. While some areas (Mid-Scale Full Service, Extended Stay) had a less cheerful outlook, other sectors of the hospitality industry (Mid-Scale Limited Service) found reason to celebrate. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being “fantastic” and 1 being “poor,” the average lodger reported a 0.57% rise in Resultant Quality Score (3.66 to 3.68), a 6.86% rise in Dining (3.50 to 3.74), a 1.49% improvement in Facilities ratings (4.04 to 4.10), and a 4.31% rise in Value (4.18 to 4.36). Staff scores stayed precisely the same at 3.84, while Housekeeping saw a 4.96% decline (3.63 to 3.45) and Rooms fell 4.16% (3.61 to 3.46).

To receive the full report, sign up for our newsletter at LodgingInteractive.com.

Google Real Time Search Integration & Hotel Social Media Marketing

With the recent launch of Google's real-time search engine technology, search engine optimization is poised to have a strong effect on social media marketing.
 
Sites like Facebook and Twitter have gained leverage by allowing their users to receive real-time updates from their social and professional networks.

Google's real-time search capitalizes on this trend by updating as events and online communications occur. Brands can expand their impact on search engine results while accelerating the speed at which they receive consumer feedback.

Read more, Google Real Time Search Integration & Hotel Social Media Marketing

January 2010 HotelCast 2.0 Podcast is Online!

Just posted our January 2010 HotelCast2.0 Podcast for your listening enjoyment.  This quarter's Podcast is full of great news and tips related to Hotel Social Media Marketing.  Have a listen and be sure to visit our CoMMingle Social Media Marketing Agency site.

Listen to Lodging Interactive HotelCast 2.0 Podcast

Happy New Year From Lodging Interactive

Whew!  2009 is behind us now.  2010 promises to be the recovery year for the hospitality industry...I sure hope the "experts" are spot on.

From all of us at Lodging Interactive and the CoMMingle Social Media Marketing Agency crew...Happy New Year and to a great 2010!

Top 10 Reasons Hotels Should NEVER Use TinyURL To Redirect Links

There are numerous free URL shortening and redirect services out there, with the most popular being TinyURL. Using such services puts your hotel at risk and may cost you business and expose your hotel to potential lawsuits. The most dangerous situation is where someone else impersonates your brand or hotel and creates redirect links to malicious websites.

Read the Top 10 (actually 11) reasons hotels should never use TinyURL to redirect links.

Fan Us and You Might Win a New iPhone 3Gs

Become a Fan of our Lodging Interactive page and be eligible to win a new iPhone 3GS 8 GIG.

http://tinyurl.com/ylmzvvx

Happy Thanksgiving to All Our Clients and Partners

I would like to wish every one of our clients and business partners a Happy Thanksgiving.  Be sure to take time to reflect on what really matters in life, health and family!  Best wishes to everyone from myself and everyone at Lodging Interactive and CoMMingle.