Owners, managers and all professionals in the hospitality must understand that negative reviews can damage your online reputation, hurt your credibility and cause you to lose potential business, especially if the review specifically names an employee or your property's name. Conversely, positive reviews that promote your online reputation are fundamental building blocks for success within the industry. It's extremely advantageous and essential that hotel staff, at all levels, engage in reputation management practices to understand its importance in more depth. Reputation management training includes four important key aspects: creating a brand image, social media, customer recovery and online market recovery. READ MORE

When Google and other search engines changed their algorithms to be based on semantic search, branding, content marketing and social media took on a new role and a new level of importance. This integrated marketing mix can seriously catapult your hotel brand ahead of your competitors. I know, it always has - but even more so in the world of semantic search. Social media can help a clearly defined brand create true and authentic connections to a band of followers who, when ready to make a purchase decision, immediately consider your brand. READ MORE

Loyalty programmes have been around since 1981 and have evolved from simple offerings to customised offers for customers in exchange for their continued patronage. This is facilitated by the advent of a more complete single data view of the customer, long sought after by hotels and hospitality related companies. The obtainability of rapid results from complex data mining techniques have now enabled us to reach the point where we can customize offers for customers and reward them in ways that are specific to their needs and desires. READ MORE

The first step to social success is figuring out where to be, and even more importantly, why. Social media can be overwhelming at first. There are many different platforms organizations can use to deliver their message to the public. From Facebook to Twitter, Instagram to Pinterest, professional networks such as LinkedIn to video-orientated channels such Periscope, Vine, and YouTube - there are endless opportunities out there for businesses to interact with their consumers (and that is without diving into extremely specific niche oriented channels). READ MORE

In the past six years, social media has exploded on the hotel scene, creating an opportunity for many hoteliers to not only engage guests, but measure effectiveness. When Twitter became a household name in 2009, most business owners thought social media was a fad and hotels didn't take it seriously as a platform to communicate with guests. Since then, social media continues to evolve and new networks are introduced that affect the way we deliver news, communicate with guests, promote specials, and manage critics. Learn what is new, how you might incorporate it, and the opportunity you have to measure effectiveness. READ MORE

As the use of social media becomes more pervasive, its impact on businesses becomes more significant. Digital conversations about your hotel are taking place all the time, and if you're not engaging in that dialogue, it's a huge missed opportunity to strengthen your relationship with consumers. By taking advantage of social media interactions, you learn more about your customers and their experiences with your company. Furthermore, you can leverage that information to enhance your operations, create new sources of value for your guests, and influence perceptions about your brand in the global marketplace—ultimately increasing your bottom line. READ MORE

More and more guests post reviews online, tweet about their experience or post photos about their idyllic holiday getaways. This trend is gaining considerable momentum and many potential hotel guests place a lot of importance on these online opinions and will often make their decisions on which hotel to book based on these recommendations. Hotels can see this as an opportunity to boost their online presence, their brand awareness and grow their online community of fans. What tools can hotels use to encourage guests to post positive online reviews, tweets and photos? How can they increase customer loyalty and see their guests as their best marketers? READ MORE

Social media influencers are changing the way hotels and hotel brands are promoting themselves in the digital era. In years past, hoteliers could simply consult a short list of available options to promote their products through paid advertising media. Moving beyond the local newspaper, a GDS terminal sign-in message could offer a “point of sale” purchase that directly targeted travel influencers. At the same time, paid consumer advertising meant print space in Conde Nast Traveler or The New York Times travel section. Advertisers could tally the number of impressions the publication declared through the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) that supported their advertising line rates. READ MORE

In 1888, George Eastman introduced the world to the first Kodak camera. Eastman's patented box and roll camera revolutionized photography by providing individuals the ability to capture everyday moments with relative ease. Fast forward to 2010, when Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom co-founded the modern version of the Kodak camera - Instagram. Within a week of launching, the app drew in 100,000 users. Two years later, Krieger and Systrom sold it to Facebook for $1 billion. READ MORE

Nearly half of US consumers use social media to get customer service and 1/3 would rather use social media than make a phone call. Those numbers are likely to keep growing. If you handle social media queries right, you can grow your base of potential customers and strengthen relationships with existing ones. On the other hand, if you handle it badly, your mishandling can ricochet around the world in an instant. So how the heck should you manage this beautiful but dangerous wild animal we call social media customer service? This article takes you through the basics of what you need to know. READ MORE

Word of mouth is nothing new. Consumers have always shared their opinions with their family and friends. Brands, on the other hand, have always known that word-of-mouth has a powerful influence on business results, as consumers trust friends over advertising. With the rise of social media on the Internet, consumers can now share their opinions with a much larger audience, amplifying its impact and multiplying it by 100x or more. The rise of Social Media has brought massive changes to the hospitality industry, as we are witnessing the emergence of an empowered consumer that makes decisions based on other user's opinions. READ MORE

Social media continues to be akin to a wild rollercoaster ride with new developments around every curve. Yesterday's top influencer may find itself on a steep decline with upstarts becoming mainstream in a moment. For the uninitiated - or those with a day job that differs - it can be overwhelming. But to those of us in the business of connecting B to C, it's exhilarating and ever stimulating. Here's an overview of some of what's happening now on the social media landscape - developments that hoteliers may want to consider as part of marketing strategy. READ MORE

When it comes to identifying a brand advocate, nothing can rival the passion and loyalty of a sports fan. While it is highly unlikely that we will ever witness a colleague walking into the office sporting a Marriott™ logo on their t-shirt while shouting, "Guess where I'm going tonight?", hoteliers are striving to capture that same level of enthusiasm with their guests. Social media has forever changed the way consumers interacts with brands. Static, points based loyalty programs may encourage repeat business, however, they fall short in converting guests into true advocates. Has the traditional loyalty model become ineffective? What is the difference between loyalty and advocacy? How to create a compelling advocate marketing plan? Most importantly, can we measure an ROI on advocacy? READ MORE

Hotels of all sizes are finding success using social media to drive their rewards program. The challenges you face as you build your hotel reward program - establishing great perks, creating an easy path to earn extra reward points, and introducing your program to guests - can all be achieved using the right social media strategies. Learn how to employ the best social media strategies to drive engagement and increase enrollment in your hotel's loyalty rewards program, from setting up a social media-powered referral program to establishing VIP social media accounts, using social concierge accounts to improve your hotel's reputation, and more. READ MORE

Live video streaming is not necessarily a new technology, but it has recently experienced quite the rise in popularity. A generation filled with "cord-cutters" has turned Internet video into the new cable TV. As hoteliers, we know that marketing is no longer a straight path, but rather a box of tools for us to utilize given our property's needs. Live video streaming is marketing's shiny new tool that is loved by the millennial market and what might be better termed the "millennial mindset" market. Clearly, other generations love technology just as much and not all millennials love it, so the hype is not necessarily geared solely to the 20-35 year old market. So let's take a look at how live video streaming began, what caused its recent emergence and what the future holds for this rapidly developing technology. READ MORE