The Socialnomics Social Media Video 2013

For regular readers of my blog, you will know that each year I tend to post the latest Social Media Video produced by Socialnomics.  In my opinion, this annually produced video is one of the most powerful ways to explain the influence, reach and usage of social channels with some incredible and hard-hitting facts.  Socialnomics was founded by Erik Qualman with the intent of providing short social stories, statistics, studies and surprises.  I refer to these videos regularly and often share them with people asking me questions about why their hotel should be taking social media seriously.

So, with my thanks as always to Socialnomics, here’s the 2013 video. Enjoy.

Holiday Inn Brussels gets social and shows the rest how it’s done

During a recent business trip to Brussels, I went through my normal routine.  I checked Trover on my smartphone (I wont go into it now, but check it out if you haven’t already) during my taxi ride from the airport to my hotel and once I was at the hotel, I checked-in at the property on FourSquare.  I do these two things where ever I go for a number of reasons.  Primarily, I like sharing where I am with you all, but I also like to see if any hotels I visit interact with me on social media.  I have to admit, I don’t experience interaction very often and when I do, it comes across a little half-hearted.  When I checked-in at the Holiday Inn Brussels Airport, I was to be pleasantly surprised.

After a couple of very welcome beers in the hotel bar with a colleague, I checked my phone and saw on my Twitter feed that the hotel had responded to my check-in and welcomed me – nice touch.  A simple response makes the world of difference to a guest, especially a first time guest.

A Twitter conversation followed and I could clearly tell that the hotel really had a social media strategy, and they were keeping it simple.  Take the chance to interact with the guest – the guests made the first move by checking in on FourSquare, or tweeting the hotel – it’s up to the hotel to respond and add value to that social platform.  It’s the small things that make the world of difference.

I also like the fact that this property encourage interaction.  Okay, I am a hotel and social media geek, so I was always going to check in – but they prompt their guests to do it – by interacting of Facebook, FourSquare and even to leave a review on TripAdvisor by putting their message on their room key inserts using QR codes.

Pleasantly surprised, I thought that was it.  But the next evening when I returned to my room I was to find the hotel really going the extra mile.  On the floor was an envelope, with a handwritten note from the General Manager, thanking me for my social interaction, and giving my two complimentary drinks at the hotel bar.

Not only was this unexpected, but it was a fantastic effort from the hotel.  this truly is how channels like FourSquare, Facebook and Twitter should be used – this is how to make a guest feel wanted, and make them want to come back.  It’s the small efforts of a hotel with a clear social media strategy that make them stand out from the crowd.  Let’s be very honest – an airport hotel from a major chain like Holiday Inn – they are all the same (to most guests minds anyway).  In fact, even to me, I would not have expected this welcome and treatment from an airport hotel.

I know that IHG (the owning company of Holiday Inn) have a clear social strategy and encourage and give creative licence to their properties, but this is the first time I had experienced this kind of interaction, so I felt a post was just reward.

Thank you Holiday Inn Brussels Airport – I’ll come back to you next time I’m in town – you won a loyal fan!

 

 

Starwood adopt FourSquare strategy to promote hotel check-in’s

I noticed that Starwood have started to promote the use of FourSquare on their Starwood Preferred Guest website, prompting guests arriving at their hotels to use FourSquare to check-in – with an extra incentive of course!  Not only to earn the usual badges and become a mayor as you usually would with the social media channel, but to claim extra SPG points and even the chance to win free resort night rewards.  Each check-in will earn you an extra 250 bonus Starpoints as long as you have a confirmed reservation at that property.  This is now live at over 1000 Starwood hotels.

I actually can’t think of another major hotel chain that’s worked out it’s strategy with FourSquare, or currently doing something in this way, and wonder how successful this has been to date.  I also wonder how else this is being promoted or whether guests are just stumbling across the added bonus when they naturally try to find their hotel on FourSquare, as they would do a restaurant, airport etc.  I can’t see the classic FourSquare logo being displayed on the door of a trendy W hotel!

So I’m considering two things here: firstly, will other hotel chains adopt this kind of strategy?  Starwood obviously realise that a percentage of their guests (particularly their American members I assume) are using FourSquare, and that they see the potential promotion of their hotels through this channel.  Secondly, if the service is well used, I do wonder how manual the process is to credit these check-in members with the free Starpoints.  Have Starwood found an automated way to process this in their own systems?  Or is this down to someone at property level to match the check-in’s with guests stays and confirmed reservations?  You can imagine how big this task could be if adoption grows.  Of course, this could also be managed centrally at such a large organisation as Starwood, who I am sure must have a social media team in place, or even let this be managed by the Starwood Preferred Guest team itself perhaps.

Great to see a worldwide hotel group like Starwood trying to use Foursquare more effectively an interact with their guests.  I really think that other hotel chains will follow suit.  Afterall, FourSquare is another means of interaction with your guest and by adopting an incentive based scheme such as this, it can only be a great way to drive brand loyalty.  If your customers are checking in to your property on FourSquare, then why waste the opportunity to truly interact?  Understanding the power of such social tools is important and ensuring you have the required strategy in place to manage this, even more so.

Travel Distribution Summit 2011 – A Great Success

You may remember I posted not so long ago about the Travel Distribution Summit, which was held in London this June.  I attended the event and wanted to share with all those who couldn’t make it, my thoughts and opinions,share some insight’s into what was discussed and the latest trends we all came away with as well as my own personal highlights.

If you remember, there was a huge list of speakers, so planning your time is critical to ensure you get the most out of the event.  All kinds of topics were covered, from social media and online marketing, to revenue management, to mobile technology, so there was a wide range in industry experts giving their thoughts (and a little self promotion along the way!).

For those who have not attended in previous years, the Travel Distribution summit is held annually at the Business Design Centre in London.  It’s made up of a mixture of supplier stands and several conference/seminar rooms where you can attend to hear from industry leaders and people with something new to say about the given topics.  These are wide-ranging – some are free, some you have to pay for (whilst on the topic, I do feel that the admission price is a little steep – but it is a great event) and of course, it’s a great place to network with colleagues from the travel industry. 

I actually felt there was quite a big presence from the hospitality industry this year, both in terms of speakers and attendees which was great to see.

As for highlights, two sessions stood out for me.  The first was to finally watch Josiah Mackenzie present live.  I’ve followed Josiah’s passionate work in hotel social media and online marketing for a number of years, and he really knows his stuff.  What you find so often at events such as this are speakers who have been brought in because of their job title, rather than ability to present and relevent content to provide.  Josiah’s passion for what he does shines through and the whole room was gripped, intently listening to what he was telling us.

The second highlight was a debate that saw Naveen Selvadurai, Co-Founder of Foursquare, Dave Scheine, Director of European Operations at Yelp and Andy Ellwood, Director of Business Development, Gowalla.  A very impressive list!  In particular, I really enjoyed hearing from Naveen, explaining how Foursquare came about, how it’s changed and what makes its model very different from other competitors.  I also found it humours to see that people tweets were appearing on the screen behind the stage, with the same one popping up time and time again “I bet you guys were really pissed when Facebook Places launched”. 

I should probably also give a mention to the Keynote Debate on customer Tech and Trends, called, “How will your customers interact with you through and beyond 2011”. Taking part in this debate was Romain Roulleau, SVP e-Commerce at Accor Hotels, Danny Barrasso, Senior Director of e-Commerce at Hilton and Alun Williams, e-Commerce director at TUI.  Very interesting topics covered here, including each mobile strategy and mobile web strategy.  I particularly liked Romain’s presentation of what Accor have done, what didn’t work so well and plans for the future.  Accor time and time again show their belief in investing in as many channels as possible and drive this forward year in year out.

My only negative point was probably the fact that some of the smaller conferences taking place lacked relevent content. I don’t really appreciate someone telling me that social media is still unproven, and that experts should be brought in to manage it.  Come on. Please. You could have said that 10 years ago. Today’s different (I’m naming no names!).

Thanks to everyone involved with Travel Distribution Summit 2011, it was a great couple of days, and looking forward to next time.

How did Foursquare begin?

Whilst attending the Travel Distribution Summit in London this year, I was watching a presentation from Naveen Selvadurai, co-founder of FourSquare, who shared the stage with colleagues from Yelp and Gowalla.  It was a great to be part of this and hear from such a passionate guy on his product.  More on this soon…. but in the mean time, I found this video featuring Naveen Selvadurai and fellow co-founder Dennis Crowley speaking to mobiledivide.com a couple years back when they were just launching Foursquare.  Check it out – they explain how FourSquare was created, it’s purpose, and their backgrounds and how it all came about.