SOCIAL MEDIA&

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Ida BAILLOTMBA International

March 2015

Flip.to

Traditional hotel marketing campaigns = 3% engagement

Flip.to marketing campaigns

= 15% to 25 % engagement

-> Turn guests into hotel's strongest brand advocates-> Boost brand awareness by engaging a pool of future guests -> Encourage guest to spread the word about the selected hotel at the time of booking & beyond.

Incentivize guests to act as brand advocates on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Build a strong brand connection and convert these social interactions into new bookings.

-> Online and mobile check-in for hotels and guests. -> Advanced messaging platform : exceed your guests’ expectations & empower your staff to provide better service.

ANTICIPATE : Request guest arrival times, room preferences, special needs.

NOTIFY: Send guests room status updates by email or text message. RESPOND: Receive instant alerts as guest feedback is provided.

Promote ancillaries before guests

arrive: 

Breakfast

Early Check-in

Parking

Customize

Know Your Guests Before They Arrive ->

Social Profiles

Identify guests with the most social influence.

You’ll be more informed than ever !

AirBnB -> DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION600.000 accommodations 192 countries150.000 travelers sleeping per night. Prices at least one-sixth cheaper than traditional competitors

Today customer focus on :

The location, the experience, the value, the service and the social sharing !

AirBnB provides a high diversity in TRAVEL EXPERIENCE: - A choice of inventory: house, apartment, castle, tree house, igloo,...- A variety of localizations: major cities, small town, mountain, beach,...- Alternative solutions for events- Pre arranged transportation. - A range of services: cleaning, wifi....

Marriott Hotels -> Snapchat Campaign A First for Hotel Brands !

Actually partnering with influencers to co-create content: “Our overall strategy is first content, then community, and both of those lead to commerce. Our goal is giving consumers what they want and they will in turn give value back to us.”

“One of our targets is the next-generation traveler, or younger traveler. We’re partnering with storytellers who produce compelling stories and we’re the hero in the story enabling that story to be told. Snapchat is one of the biggest platforms young people use.”

How can hotels use social to improve guests' experience?

Travel is an expensive and emotional experience…

In this context Social Medias are powerful tools:

- Allow customers to gather trusted advices and honest feedbacks helping in the purchasing decision.

- Enable customers to share experiences in real time, therefore Social Medias are ideal platforms to exchange storytelling and selfies?

- Customers are savvy and expect their personal data available online to be used for their own benefit (need of personalization)

- Customer can interact in plenty of different way with hotels (gaming, comments, sharing photos, reward system…)

Should a hotel use UGC in various social media in the hotel's social media?

Benefits of social media:- In this age, content is significant and consumers stay on

websites where conversation of people happen so for marketers, using UGC is a good solution. UGC givesvalue and add credibility in Brands. When skillfully integrated, UGC help hotels to grow their following, encourage customer loyalty and ultimately increase sales.

Risk to handle when dealing with social medias:- The ability of users to post comments provides patform for

criticism. Key risks include loss of confidental information, harassment and reputation damage.

What issues result from hotel's use of guest information used in social media?

POSITIVE FACTOR NEGATIVE FACTOR

- Learn about your customer preferences

- Increase the level of personalized communication

- Create engagement- Build loyalty with repeat guests- Offer proactive service- Anticipate needs of customers- Drive higher revenue through the

entire guest lifecycle- Establish a guest-centric marketing

strategy- Guide the customer through his

experience during his stay

- Some customers may feel tracked- Some people prefer not to share

travel experience - Confidentiality principle is broken- Sharing personal data can lead to

legal issues- Can cause embarrassment- When content is placed in the

public control, the perception can quickly change

- Can create negative publicity