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Cover Story




  Navigating the social
   media landscape




Social media is changing the hospitality marketing landscape and
allowing hotels to interact with current and potential guests like
never before. ALB asked experts and brands how to optimize a
social media network for success

S                                              By Jonathan
      ocial media is the fastest-grow-                                               Margaret Mastrogiacomo, social
      ing internet marketing tool and                                            media specialist with Hospitality
      it has become a critical one for     Springston, AAHOA                     eBusiness Strategies, said social me-
the hospitality industry.                   Lodging Business                     dia works well for the customer and
    Hotels that are utilizing social                                             service-oriented hotel industry.
media are able to interact with              Mariana Mechoso Safer, senior           “You’re building that customer
customers like never before and          director of marketing for Hospital-     relationship through social media,”
are reaping hefty benefits in online     ity eBusiness Strategies, said social   she said. “It’s more than just selling
placement and revenue.                   media allows hotels to not only con-    hard products, you’re building that
    Many brands utilize popular          nect with current customers but also    guest experience online.”
websites like Facebook, Twitter,         future potential customers.
YouTube, TripAdvisor, and Flickr             “Social media allows hotels to              Getting Started
while others have developed their        differentiate themselves from the       The large social media universe can
own unique sites.                        competition,” she said.                 sometimes be complex and tough to


32    AAHOA Lodging Business                                                                            FEBRUARY 2011
Cover Story


navigate for hoteliers who are new to
the concept.
    Santa Clara, Calif.-based Mile-
stone Internet Marketing and Ameri-
can Hotel & Lodging Association Ed-
ucational Institute in 2010 released
the latest edition of the book Hotels
to HTMLs.
    In it, authors Benu and Anil
Aggarwal break down social media
into seven different categories called
channels: video sites (YouTube);
social networks (Facebook, Twitter);
blogs; bookmarking sites (Digg);
traveler reviews (Expedia, Orbitz);
photosharing (Flickr); and news and
PR articles.
    For hotels that are not currently
involved with social media but are
interested, the book suggests they
begin carving out a presence on the
popular social media sites. “The         cerned – from small, hyper-focused      say Twitter or Facebook, we do have
main social media objectives for         private online communities - with       several properties who have found
these hotels should be to establish      our partner Communispace - to a         social media to be a viable outlet
a presence in the main social media      public online community - Prior-        through which they can engage
channels and use simple marketing        ity Club Connect for Priority Club      their guests in a personal way with
techniques to create a network of        Reward members - to active pres-        things like unique content, special
fans and friends.”                       ences across Twitter, Facebook and      deals and promotions,” he said. “In
    “Before they even set up their       YouTube, among others,” Nick            addition to the activity of our indi-
presence on social media, [hoteliers]    Ayres, manager of social marketing,     vidual properties, our global brands
need to set up a social media strat-     distribution and relationship mar-      are digging in as well and working

                                    It’s clear from talking
egy and set benchmarks,” Mas-                                                        to build advocacy within a host
trogiacomo said. “Once they have                                                     of social spaces.”
these in place, then it’s important                                                      Best Western has a strong
to delegate responsibilities. Once
they have a strategy in place and   with the different                               presence on Facebook, Twit-
                                                                                     ter and YouTube and actively
an action plan, then they can set
up their presence on the platform   brands that there is                             maintains blogs like www.
                                                                                     youmustbetrippin.com and

                                    no one-size-fits-all
they feel is best.”                                                                  www.onthegowithamy.com, ac-
    For hotels that are farther                                                      cording to Troy Rutman, director
along, the HTMLs recommend
                                    approach to social
                                                                                     of external communications for
cross-networking each of their                                                       Best Western.
social media channels.                                                                   “At the hotel level, we offer
    “Make sure that the social
media icons are displayed clearly   media marketing                                  our owner-operators digital
                                                                                     consulting services to help them
on your website so that consum-                                                      craft an effective online pres-
ers can get to those channels,”          keting for InterContinental Hotels      ence,” Rutman said. “This includes
Hotels to HTMLs says. “Flickr should     Group (IHG), said.                      everything from SEO [search engine
be interlinked to your Facebook and          “We’re also working at the          optimization] and social networking
Twitter accounts. Similarly, make        hyper-local level via location-based    to reputation management in hotel
sure that you are linking Twitter and    marketing with programs like our        review forums.”
YouTube to your Facebook account.        Topguest partnership, where we              Certain Wyndham brands like
Cross-linking the channels will help     award Priority Club Reward mem-         Howard Johnson and Baymont Inn
you in optimization as well as in        bers 50 Priority Club Reward points     & Suites first started experimenting
expanding your network.”                 for their virtual check-ins to any of   with social media in 2009, accord-
    It’s clear from talking with the     our properties globally.” he added.     ing to Rosanne Zusman, senior vice
different brands that there is no one-       Ayres said IHG hotels have been     president of brand marketing for the
size-fits-all approach to social media   tinkering with social media for a       Wyndham Hotel Group.
marketing.                               number of years.                            “Since that time, we’ve seen more
    “Our approach really runs the            “While not every property is        and more of them move into the
gamut as far as platforms are con-       actively building out a following on    space in one way or another,” she


FEBRUARY 2011                                                                      AAHOA Lodging Business         33
Cover Story


                                                                                           collaborate to continually monitor
                                                                                           and strengthen their social media
                                                                                           networks.
                                                                                               “In the last several years, Best
                                                                                           Western leadership has set a clear
                                                                                           course to make thoughtful, disci-
                                                                                           plined investments in the social
                                                                                           media platforms that are relevant to
                                                                                           our family brand,” Rutman said. “As
                                                                                           the online medium demands, there


                                                                                           Once hotels have
                                                                                           set up their social
                                                                                           network, they
                                                                                           should decide
                                                                                           how to operate
                                                                                           and maintain it
                                                                                           is also a major customer care compo-
                                                                                           nent in our web activity.”
Baymont Inn & Suites currently uses Facebook as one of several channels to advertise its       Zusman said responsibility for
latest promotions and sweepstakes                                                          Wyndham’s social media varies by
said. “This past year was first year            says. “A few hotels have a full-time       brand.
where most of our brands saw sig-               resource dedicated to managing                 “It is most often a collaborative
nificant participation in some type of          their social media channels. At a          effort between internal departments
social media channel.”                          minimum, you will need to allocate         such as marketing and customer
    Zusman noted that Wyndham                   an hour a day to make sure that the        service as well as external resources
brands like Howard Johnson, Ra-                 channels you are using are effec-          such as agencies,” she said.
mada and Super 8 use social media               tive.”                                         Ayres said the IHG approach is
according to specific needs and ob-                 The Best Western external com-         a combination of individual point
jectives determined by the property             munications and eCommerce teams            persons acting alone and interde-
owner.
    Carlson began dabbling in social
media in its Americas hotels in 2009.
    “At the brand level, we have our
blog, www.talkofthecountry.com,
our Facebook page, www.facebook.
com/countryinns, and we are active
on Twitter as well, www.twitter.
com/countryinns,” Aurora Toth,
vice president of marketing for Carl-
son, said. “Our hotels in the Ameri-
cas manage their own accounts, and
we offer training to help them get
started.”

      Managing Channels
Once hotels have set up their social
network, they should decide how to
operate and maintain it.
    “The key to social media opti-
mization is to be actively involved
in these channels,” Hotels to HTMLs


34      AAHOA Lodging Business                                                                                   FEBRUARY 2011
Cover Story


                                            to that group. One example from
                                            Hotels to HTMLs is to become a fan
                                            of Disneyland on Facebook and of-
                                            fer specials to that group.
                                                The Aggarwals offer a number
                                            of suggestions for how hotels
                                            should promote their channels,
                                            including polls, “Tips of the Day,”
                                            fun facts about the hotel, vaca-
                                            tion packages, hotel perks, and
                                            discussions of the latest initiatives,
                                            among others.

partmental collaboration.
    “We do have a small number
of people in the organization who
are explicitly responsible for social
media programs but there are
several functions like PR and com-
munications where social media
plays a part in their day-to-day roles
and responsibilities but is not their
primary or exclusive responsibility,”
he said. “Our belief is that in order
for social media to really become
an embedded part of our organiza-
tion, we need to distribute it where it
makes sense.”

 Socializing and Promoting
          Channels
“Across all social media channels,
the goal is for the hotel to be part of a


The goal is for the
hotel to be part
of a group that
shares common
interests with the
hotel
group that shares common interests
with the hotel - destination informa-
tion, events in your market, your
initiatives such as going green [or]
pet-friendly - so that the hotel can
constantly interact with the group
and offer value,” Hotels to HTMLs
says.
    The book suggests becoming a
fan of relevant groups and business-
es on the social media channels and
then try to offer something exclusive


FEBRUARY 2011                                AAHOA Lodging Business           35
Cover Story


   “Our brands engage guests                                                                       currently in the process of
through a variety of means                                                                         identifying a long-term solu-
ranging from site-specific                                                                         tion for better tracking and
special offers and contests to                                                                     measurement.”
online games, video content                                                                             Ayres said IHG is still
and polls,” Zusman said of                                                                         working to nail down best
Wyndham.                                                                                           practices for tracking feed-
   Rutman said Best Western                                                                        back. He noted that a negative
uses a balance of promotions                                                                       comment on Twitter should
and giveaways with entertain-                                                                      be handled differently than a
ing and useful content.                                                                            positive review on a blog.
                                                                                                        “The teams who need the
   Tracking Customer                                                                               information are different,
           Feedback                                                                                the timing of the response
Obviously, hotels can put all                                                                      is likely to be different, and
the information they want on                                                                       so on,” he said. “Ultimately,
social media sites but if no one                                                                   we want each guest to get
bothers to track feedback, the                                                                     the best response from the
effort seems wasted.                                                                               most appropriate touch
    “It’s not just about actively                                                                  point – whether that’s a hotel
posting on the fan page but                                                                        general manager [or] a global
proactively monitoring the                                                                         brand representative. There
buzz,” Mastrogiacomo said.                                                                         are a variety of systems and
“The number one mistake                                                                            platforms we’re working
that the hotel can make is                                                                         on integrating to best en-
not monitoring the buzz on        Howard Johnson was one of the first Wyndham Hotel Group          able us to take advantage of
                                  brands to make its way onto social media sites like Facebook     and respond to the cloud of
social media. What guests are
                                  and continues to build a strong fan base with fun comments,      conversation we know exists
saying about you affects the      videos, brand promotions and more
perception of your hotel.”                                                                         about our brands, properties
    Rutman said Best Western is             transferring the conversation away                     and company.”
always in “listen mode.”                    from the web and finding a swift                    Toth said Carlson tries to re-
    “We respond to individual               resolution.                                     spond quickly to customer feedback
guests where appropriate and track              “From a hotel perspective, we               but are working on best practices.
our overall share of online conver-         educate our franchisees on how best                 “We are still in the infancy of
sation via monitoring tools that            to respond and resolve to comments our social media experience and
scan blogs, reviews, networking             and reviews on user generated                   are working with agencies to help
sites, and so on,” he said.                 content sites but allow each hotel              us track and monitor at the brand
    Wyndham has brand teams and             to take the lead on how and when                level,” she said.
customer care staff that collaborate        they want to respond,” she said.
to address feedback individually,           “With regards to tracking, we are                         Processing and
                                                                                             Analyzing Customer
                                                                                                  Feedback
                                                                                        Brands place a great deal of emphasis
                                                                                        on feedback generated through so-
                                                                                        cial media as it plays into investment
                                                                                        decisions hotels believe will reduce
                                                                                        complaints and problems while in-
                                                                                        creasing loyalty.
                                                                                            Safer said handling negative
                                                                                        feedback the right way through so-
                                                                                        cial media can have a big impact on
                                                                                        many people.
                                                                                            “The hotel provides feedback
                                                                                        and people’s attitude turns around
                                                                                        right away,” she said. “That’s great
                                                                                        because not just the person who is
                                                                                        upset sees that feedback, but every-
                                                                                        one sees how much the brand cares.”
                                                                                            Mastrogiacomo said hotels
                                                                                        should take the time to respond to


36     AAHOA Lodging Business                                                                                   FEBRUARY 2011
Cover Story


negative feedback but also share the                                             can be a leading indicator, chances
positive feedback.                                                               are if there’s a problem or an oppor-
    “It’s important to respond to                                                tunity that is on our guests’ collec-
brand ambassadors as well, reaching                                              tive radar in a significant fashion, it
out and saying we’re so happy you                                                will show up in social media as well
enjoyed your stay,” she said. “Keep                                              as a host of other feedback chan-
the conversation going. Ask them                                                 nels,” Ayres said. “If it doesn’t, we
questions about what they did on                                                 need to take a hard look at whether
their trip and how they liked their                                              the social chatter is really a repre-
experience.”                                                                          sentative thread or not and do
    Rutman said Best Western                                                                our diligence to understand
President and CEO David Kong has                                                               its overall level of im-
personally read thousands of guest                                                                     portance.”

Determining
                                                                                                             “We place
                                                                                                        great value in
                                                                                                        knowing and
best practices for                                                                                     understanding
                                                                                                     what consumers are

analyzing customer                                                                                 thinking and saying
                                                                                          about our brands, whether

feedback is still a                                                                 it’s through social media, the
                                                                                 press, customer care or some other

work in progress
                                                                                 channel,” Zusman said of Wynd-
                                                                                 ham. “Their feedback, along with
                                          brand may step in. In large part,      the feedback and comments from
                                          though, our owners and guests are      our franchisees, is just one of many
feedback cards during his tenure.       best served by the intensive training    items we consider when updating or
    “Feedback through social media      Best Western provides to its mem-        implementing new brand standards.
certainly increases the reach of both   bers, the goal of which is to help       In every instance, we want to find
positive and negative comments,         hoteliers prevent problems before        the solution that’s not only the right
and we’ve invested intelligently        they arise.”                             thing to do by our consumers but the
to remain aware and responsive in           For IHG, Ayres said hotels like to   right thing to do by our franchisees.”
those channels,” Rutman said. “In       “triangulate” feedback from social            Determining best practices for
many situations, guest complaints       media with feedback that arrives         analyzing customer feedback is
are best resolved at the local level,   from more traditional channels of        still a work in progress as the social
between the owner-operator and the      feedback like phone and e-mail.          media environment continues to
guest. If that becomes unlikely, the        “While we’ve found social media      change.
                                                                                      “Social media is yet one more
                                                                                 channel in which consumers have a
                                                                                 voice to publicly express their pleas-
                                                                                 ure or dissatisfaction with a product
                                                                                 or a brand,” Zusman said. “As such,
                                                                                 proactively monitoring and address-
                                                                                 ing their concerns in this space is
                                                                                 becoming increasingly important to
                                                                                 managing a brand’s reputation.”
                                                                                      Wyndham utilizes different on-
                                                                                 line tools to monitor feedback about
                                                                                 its brands and is working to develop
                                                                                 tools to measure the effectiveness of
                                                                                 their social media strategy.
                                                                                      “We put a lot of effort into
                                                                                 helping Best Western hoteliers
                                                                                 understand and benefit from social
                                                                                 media,” Rutman said. “It’s still a
                                                                                 new arena and everyone is trying to
                                                                                 figure out how to define ‘success.’
                                                                                 We rely on a combination of qualita-
                                                                                 tive and quantitative metrics, doing
                                                                                 a post-mortem on each online initia-
                                                                                 tive to quickly adjust our strategy


FEBRUARY 2011                                                                       AAHOA Lodging Business         37
Cover Story


based on [lessons learned]. Staying
nimble is key, as is recognizing that
social media is no longer just a Gen
Y game.”
     Ayres said it is important at IHG
to listen to brand feedback on a daily
basis, a balance that he describes as
both an art and a science.
     “Our goal is not to create an
entirely separate set of measure-
ments that do not lead back to what’s
important to the broader business,”
he said. “Social media programs
should be able to demonstrate and
translate their value to the business
in the same ways as any other pro-
gram. To best do that, we know there
will be times when we need to look        levels of funding for 2011 than we      book rooms on a hotel website or
a little more closely at the numbers      did for 2010.”                          over the phone, even though they
and times we need to look a little            “Like most marketers, the social    found the hotel on Facebook or on
more broadly across longitudinal          media space is one that we’re still     Twitter,” the Hotels to HTMLs says.
qualitative insights but the key is un-   just beginning to work into our larg-       Hotels can use website analyti-
derstanding both are important and        er marketing efforts,” Zusman said.     cal tools to track web traffic to the
both should be a map to our vision        “As such, our spending against so-      social media channels and track the
of delivering ‘Great Hotels Guests        cial media remains a very small part    number of customers who went from
Love.’”                                   of the larger marketing budget. How     the channels to the hotel booking
                                          quickly we’ll begin to see increases    engine.
      Costs and Funding                   in that spending is likely dependent        “As technology advances, we are
Funding for social media at the           upon how consumers continue to
brand level remains a small part of
the overall hotel marketing budget.
                                          use this medium and how soon we
                                          can find ways to accurately measure
                                                                                  Increased
But as social media becomes a more
popular tool for marketing, brands
                                          and attribute its value.”

                                               Tracking Return On
                                                                                  engagement is the
                                                                                  short term ROI
are finding reasons to increase
funding.                                        Investment (ROI)
   “Social media cuts across so           Hotels to HTMLs argues track-
many functional areas, which is not       ing ROI generated through social        positive that there will be ways to
how traditional budgeting proc-           media channels is difficult because     measure actual ROI and social media
esses operate,” Ayres said. “We           “the conversion from social media       optimization effectiveness more ac-
have significant buy in across the        marketing efforts occurs on chan-       curately,” the Hotels to HTMLs says.
organization in the need to focus         nels different from the social media    “Hoteliers who want to be ahead of
on the social media opportunity, so       channels.”                              the curve should invest today in the
we are seeing significantly higher           “For example, most clients will      media that is fast emerging as the
                                                                                  future of Internet marketing.”
                                                                                      Mastrogiacomo argues ROI from
                                                                                  the social media program is not
                                                                                  necessarily measured in dollars and
                                                                                  cents in the short term.
                                                                                      “The ROI [hoteliers] should
                                                                                  be looking for in the short term is
                                                                                  increased engagement,” she said.
                                                                                  “Are people posting on your walls
                                                                                  and asking about availability? Is
                                                                                  there an ongoing conversation? Are
                                                                                  you generating a lot of buzz on the
                                                                                  platform?”
                                                                                      “Keep in mind short- term ROI
                                                                                  leads in the long-term to brand
                                                                                  engagement,” she said. “You’re go-
                                                                                  ing to be the first hotel that comes to
                                                                                  mind.”


38    AAHOA Lodging Business                                                                             FEBRUARY 2011

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Feb. 2011 Social Media Story

  • 1. Cover Story Navigating the social media landscape Social media is changing the hospitality marketing landscape and allowing hotels to interact with current and potential guests like never before. ALB asked experts and brands how to optimize a social media network for success S By Jonathan ocial media is the fastest-grow- Margaret Mastrogiacomo, social ing internet marketing tool and media specialist with Hospitality it has become a critical one for Springston, AAHOA eBusiness Strategies, said social me- the hospitality industry. Lodging Business dia works well for the customer and Hotels that are utilizing social service-oriented hotel industry. media are able to interact with Mariana Mechoso Safer, senior “You’re building that customer customers like never before and director of marketing for Hospital- relationship through social media,” are reaping hefty benefits in online ity eBusiness Strategies, said social she said. “It’s more than just selling placement and revenue. media allows hotels to not only con- hard products, you’re building that Many brands utilize popular nect with current customers but also guest experience online.” websites like Facebook, Twitter, future potential customers. YouTube, TripAdvisor, and Flickr “Social media allows hotels to Getting Started while others have developed their differentiate themselves from the The large social media universe can own unique sites. competition,” she said. sometimes be complex and tough to 32 AAHOA Lodging Business FEBRUARY 2011
  • 2. Cover Story navigate for hoteliers who are new to the concept. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Mile- stone Internet Marketing and Ameri- can Hotel & Lodging Association Ed- ucational Institute in 2010 released the latest edition of the book Hotels to HTMLs. In it, authors Benu and Anil Aggarwal break down social media into seven different categories called channels: video sites (YouTube); social networks (Facebook, Twitter); blogs; bookmarking sites (Digg); traveler reviews (Expedia, Orbitz); photosharing (Flickr); and news and PR articles. For hotels that are not currently involved with social media but are interested, the book suggests they begin carving out a presence on the popular social media sites. “The cerned – from small, hyper-focused say Twitter or Facebook, we do have main social media objectives for private online communities - with several properties who have found these hotels should be to establish our partner Communispace - to a social media to be a viable outlet a presence in the main social media public online community - Prior- through which they can engage channels and use simple marketing ity Club Connect for Priority Club their guests in a personal way with techniques to create a network of Reward members - to active pres- things like unique content, special fans and friends.” ences across Twitter, Facebook and deals and promotions,” he said. “In “Before they even set up their YouTube, among others,” Nick addition to the activity of our indi- presence on social media, [hoteliers] Ayres, manager of social marketing, vidual properties, our global brands need to set up a social media strat- distribution and relationship mar- are digging in as well and working It’s clear from talking egy and set benchmarks,” Mas- to build advocacy within a host trogiacomo said. “Once they have of social spaces.” these in place, then it’s important Best Western has a strong to delegate responsibilities. Once they have a strategy in place and with the different presence on Facebook, Twit- ter and YouTube and actively an action plan, then they can set up their presence on the platform brands that there is maintains blogs like www. youmustbetrippin.com and no one-size-fits-all they feel is best.” www.onthegowithamy.com, ac- For hotels that are farther cording to Troy Rutman, director along, the HTMLs recommend approach to social of external communications for cross-networking each of their Best Western. social media channels. “At the hotel level, we offer “Make sure that the social media icons are displayed clearly media marketing our owner-operators digital consulting services to help them on your website so that consum- craft an effective online pres- ers can get to those channels,” keting for InterContinental Hotels ence,” Rutman said. “This includes Hotels to HTMLs says. “Flickr should Group (IHG), said. everything from SEO [search engine be interlinked to your Facebook and “We’re also working at the optimization] and social networking Twitter accounts. Similarly, make hyper-local level via location-based to reputation management in hotel sure that you are linking Twitter and marketing with programs like our review forums.” YouTube to your Facebook account. Topguest partnership, where we Certain Wyndham brands like Cross-linking the channels will help award Priority Club Reward mem- Howard Johnson and Baymont Inn you in optimization as well as in bers 50 Priority Club Reward points & Suites first started experimenting expanding your network.” for their virtual check-ins to any of with social media in 2009, accord- It’s clear from talking with the our properties globally.” he added. ing to Rosanne Zusman, senior vice different brands that there is no one- Ayres said IHG hotels have been president of brand marketing for the size-fits-all approach to social media tinkering with social media for a Wyndham Hotel Group. marketing. number of years. “Since that time, we’ve seen more “Our approach really runs the “While not every property is and more of them move into the gamut as far as platforms are con- actively building out a following on space in one way or another,” she FEBRUARY 2011 AAHOA Lodging Business 33
  • 3. Cover Story collaborate to continually monitor and strengthen their social media networks. “In the last several years, Best Western leadership has set a clear course to make thoughtful, disci- plined investments in the social media platforms that are relevant to our family brand,” Rutman said. “As the online medium demands, there Once hotels have set up their social network, they should decide how to operate and maintain it is also a major customer care compo- nent in our web activity.” Baymont Inn & Suites currently uses Facebook as one of several channels to advertise its Zusman said responsibility for latest promotions and sweepstakes Wyndham’s social media varies by said. “This past year was first year says. “A few hotels have a full-time brand. where most of our brands saw sig- resource dedicated to managing “It is most often a collaborative nificant participation in some type of their social media channels. At a effort between internal departments social media channel.” minimum, you will need to allocate such as marketing and customer Zusman noted that Wyndham an hour a day to make sure that the service as well as external resources brands like Howard Johnson, Ra- channels you are using are effec- such as agencies,” she said. mada and Super 8 use social media tive.” Ayres said the IHG approach is according to specific needs and ob- The Best Western external com- a combination of individual point jectives determined by the property munications and eCommerce teams persons acting alone and interde- owner. Carlson began dabbling in social media in its Americas hotels in 2009. “At the brand level, we have our blog, www.talkofthecountry.com, our Facebook page, www.facebook. com/countryinns, and we are active on Twitter as well, www.twitter. com/countryinns,” Aurora Toth, vice president of marketing for Carl- son, said. “Our hotels in the Ameri- cas manage their own accounts, and we offer training to help them get started.” Managing Channels Once hotels have set up their social network, they should decide how to operate and maintain it. “The key to social media opti- mization is to be actively involved in these channels,” Hotels to HTMLs 34 AAHOA Lodging Business FEBRUARY 2011
  • 4. Cover Story to that group. One example from Hotels to HTMLs is to become a fan of Disneyland on Facebook and of- fer specials to that group. The Aggarwals offer a number of suggestions for how hotels should promote their channels, including polls, “Tips of the Day,” fun facts about the hotel, vaca- tion packages, hotel perks, and discussions of the latest initiatives, among others. partmental collaboration. “We do have a small number of people in the organization who are explicitly responsible for social media programs but there are several functions like PR and com- munications where social media plays a part in their day-to-day roles and responsibilities but is not their primary or exclusive responsibility,” he said. “Our belief is that in order for social media to really become an embedded part of our organiza- tion, we need to distribute it where it makes sense.” Socializing and Promoting Channels “Across all social media channels, the goal is for the hotel to be part of a The goal is for the hotel to be part of a group that shares common interests with the hotel group that shares common interests with the hotel - destination informa- tion, events in your market, your initiatives such as going green [or] pet-friendly - so that the hotel can constantly interact with the group and offer value,” Hotels to HTMLs says. The book suggests becoming a fan of relevant groups and business- es on the social media channels and then try to offer something exclusive FEBRUARY 2011 AAHOA Lodging Business 35
  • 5. Cover Story “Our brands engage guests currently in the process of through a variety of means identifying a long-term solu- ranging from site-specific tion for better tracking and special offers and contests to measurement.” online games, video content Ayres said IHG is still and polls,” Zusman said of working to nail down best Wyndham. practices for tracking feed- Rutman said Best Western back. He noted that a negative uses a balance of promotions comment on Twitter should and giveaways with entertain- be handled differently than a ing and useful content. positive review on a blog. “The teams who need the Tracking Customer information are different, Feedback the timing of the response Obviously, hotels can put all is likely to be different, and the information they want on so on,” he said. “Ultimately, social media sites but if no one we want each guest to get bothers to track feedback, the the best response from the effort seems wasted. most appropriate touch “It’s not just about actively point – whether that’s a hotel posting on the fan page but general manager [or] a global proactively monitoring the brand representative. There buzz,” Mastrogiacomo said. are a variety of systems and “The number one mistake platforms we’re working that the hotel can make is on integrating to best en- not monitoring the buzz on Howard Johnson was one of the first Wyndham Hotel Group able us to take advantage of brands to make its way onto social media sites like Facebook and respond to the cloud of social media. What guests are and continues to build a strong fan base with fun comments, conversation we know exists saying about you affects the videos, brand promotions and more perception of your hotel.” about our brands, properties Rutman said Best Western is transferring the conversation away and company.” always in “listen mode.” from the web and finding a swift Toth said Carlson tries to re- “We respond to individual resolution. spond quickly to customer feedback guests where appropriate and track “From a hotel perspective, we but are working on best practices. our overall share of online conver- educate our franchisees on how best “We are still in the infancy of sation via monitoring tools that to respond and resolve to comments our social media experience and scan blogs, reviews, networking and reviews on user generated are working with agencies to help sites, and so on,” he said. content sites but allow each hotel us track and monitor at the brand Wyndham has brand teams and to take the lead on how and when level,” she said. customer care staff that collaborate they want to respond,” she said. to address feedback individually, “With regards to tracking, we are Processing and Analyzing Customer Feedback Brands place a great deal of emphasis on feedback generated through so- cial media as it plays into investment decisions hotels believe will reduce complaints and problems while in- creasing loyalty. Safer said handling negative feedback the right way through so- cial media can have a big impact on many people. “The hotel provides feedback and people’s attitude turns around right away,” she said. “That’s great because not just the person who is upset sees that feedback, but every- one sees how much the brand cares.” Mastrogiacomo said hotels should take the time to respond to 36 AAHOA Lodging Business FEBRUARY 2011
  • 6. Cover Story negative feedback but also share the can be a leading indicator, chances positive feedback. are if there’s a problem or an oppor- “It’s important to respond to tunity that is on our guests’ collec- brand ambassadors as well, reaching tive radar in a significant fashion, it out and saying we’re so happy you will show up in social media as well enjoyed your stay,” she said. “Keep as a host of other feedback chan- the conversation going. Ask them nels,” Ayres said. “If it doesn’t, we questions about what they did on need to take a hard look at whether their trip and how they liked their the social chatter is really a repre- experience.” sentative thread or not and do Rutman said Best Western our diligence to understand President and CEO David Kong has its overall level of im- personally read thousands of guest portance.” Determining “We place great value in knowing and best practices for understanding what consumers are analyzing customer thinking and saying about our brands, whether feedback is still a it’s through social media, the press, customer care or some other work in progress channel,” Zusman said of Wynd- ham. “Their feedback, along with brand may step in. In large part, the feedback and comments from though, our owners and guests are our franchisees, is just one of many feedback cards during his tenure. best served by the intensive training items we consider when updating or “Feedback through social media Best Western provides to its mem- implementing new brand standards. certainly increases the reach of both bers, the goal of which is to help In every instance, we want to find positive and negative comments, hoteliers prevent problems before the solution that’s not only the right and we’ve invested intelligently they arise.” thing to do by our consumers but the to remain aware and responsive in For IHG, Ayres said hotels like to right thing to do by our franchisees.” those channels,” Rutman said. “In “triangulate” feedback from social Determining best practices for many situations, guest complaints media with feedback that arrives analyzing customer feedback is are best resolved at the local level, from more traditional channels of still a work in progress as the social between the owner-operator and the feedback like phone and e-mail. media environment continues to guest. If that becomes unlikely, the “While we’ve found social media change. “Social media is yet one more channel in which consumers have a voice to publicly express their pleas- ure or dissatisfaction with a product or a brand,” Zusman said. “As such, proactively monitoring and address- ing their concerns in this space is becoming increasingly important to managing a brand’s reputation.” Wyndham utilizes different on- line tools to monitor feedback about its brands and is working to develop tools to measure the effectiveness of their social media strategy. “We put a lot of effort into helping Best Western hoteliers understand and benefit from social media,” Rutman said. “It’s still a new arena and everyone is trying to figure out how to define ‘success.’ We rely on a combination of qualita- tive and quantitative metrics, doing a post-mortem on each online initia- tive to quickly adjust our strategy FEBRUARY 2011 AAHOA Lodging Business 37
  • 7. Cover Story based on [lessons learned]. Staying nimble is key, as is recognizing that social media is no longer just a Gen Y game.” Ayres said it is important at IHG to listen to brand feedback on a daily basis, a balance that he describes as both an art and a science. “Our goal is not to create an entirely separate set of measure- ments that do not lead back to what’s important to the broader business,” he said. “Social media programs should be able to demonstrate and translate their value to the business in the same ways as any other pro- gram. To best do that, we know there will be times when we need to look levels of funding for 2011 than we book rooms on a hotel website or a little more closely at the numbers did for 2010.” over the phone, even though they and times we need to look a little “Like most marketers, the social found the hotel on Facebook or on more broadly across longitudinal media space is one that we’re still Twitter,” the Hotels to HTMLs says. qualitative insights but the key is un- just beginning to work into our larg- Hotels can use website analyti- derstanding both are important and er marketing efforts,” Zusman said. cal tools to track web traffic to the both should be a map to our vision “As such, our spending against so- social media channels and track the of delivering ‘Great Hotels Guests cial media remains a very small part number of customers who went from Love.’” of the larger marketing budget. How the channels to the hotel booking quickly we’ll begin to see increases engine. Costs and Funding in that spending is likely dependent “As technology advances, we are Funding for social media at the upon how consumers continue to brand level remains a small part of the overall hotel marketing budget. use this medium and how soon we can find ways to accurately measure Increased But as social media becomes a more popular tool for marketing, brands and attribute its value.” Tracking Return On engagement is the short term ROI are finding reasons to increase funding. Investment (ROI) “Social media cuts across so Hotels to HTMLs argues track- many functional areas, which is not ing ROI generated through social positive that there will be ways to how traditional budgeting proc- media channels is difficult because measure actual ROI and social media esses operate,” Ayres said. “We “the conversion from social media optimization effectiveness more ac- have significant buy in across the marketing efforts occurs on chan- curately,” the Hotels to HTMLs says. organization in the need to focus nels different from the social media “Hoteliers who want to be ahead of on the social media opportunity, so channels.” the curve should invest today in the we are seeing significantly higher “For example, most clients will media that is fast emerging as the future of Internet marketing.” Mastrogiacomo argues ROI from the social media program is not necessarily measured in dollars and cents in the short term. “The ROI [hoteliers] should be looking for in the short term is increased engagement,” she said. “Are people posting on your walls and asking about availability? Is there an ongoing conversation? Are you generating a lot of buzz on the platform?” “Keep in mind short- term ROI leads in the long-term to brand engagement,” she said. “You’re go- ing to be the first hotel that comes to mind.” 38 AAHOA Lodging Business FEBRUARY 2011