Ms. Manion

Social Media & PR

Hotel Social Media Policies: One Size Does Not Fit All

By Ann Manion, President, Hotel Advantage

Charting Your Hotel’s Social Media Governance

Today, social media has given a global megaphone not just to hotel guests, but employees too. From every corner of the hotel, staff members make or break the guest experience. At their best, they serve as brand guardians working hard to exceed guest expectations. Is there any reason to discourage them from advancing your hotel brand when they’re off the clock?

Social Media Gives Employees a Voice

From the chief marketing officer with hundreds of Twitter followers to the hotel bartender that rules his personal Facebook page, everybody’s jumping on the social media bandwagon. The line between personal and professional online communication is increasingly blurred.

Take for instance one hotel vice president’s tweet mix of company happenings RTs, personal reflections and grumblings about his commute. I’m not suggesting this is a bad thing, but rather worth noting. So, what’s the best way for hotels to manage these influential in-house voices?

Study Other Social Media Policies

Start by visiting Chris Boudreaux’s Social Media Governance Blog. Chris is an executive with Converseon, a social media consultancy. He’s compiled a fully searchable database of more than 160 policies. At one end of the spectrum you’ll find the U.S. Navy’s 32 page Social Media Handbook with headers like Loose Tweets Sink Fleets to Best Buy’s 1 ½ page bulleted Social Media Guidelines called Protect the Brand, Protect Yourself. Indeed, one size does not fit all.

Get Organized

I suggest a slow build approach on social media matters. As you go about designing a good fit solution for your hotel, consider these three areas;

• Hotel-wide Community Policy
• Public Relations Response Plan

• Management’s Operational Guidelines

  

1. Hotel-wide Community Policy

Social media should be treated like any other communications policy. Start by updating your employee handbook to include a section like Guide for Online Commenting. Avoid lawyerly language like ‘forbid’ and ‘prohibit’ in an effort to minimize risk and exposure. It’s worth pointing out that US employees have a first amendment right to freedom of speech, regardless of the medium.

Your hotel’s need for cumbersome policies is greatly reduced by how well you communicate your philosophy on social media. After orientation and training, keep associates engaged in conversations around online etiquette. Educate your staff on how your hotel uses online platforms to attract more guests, and let them in on the excitement. Your goal is to find ways to share examples that show employees the difference between personal comments and other posts that may reflect unfavorably on the hotel.

No matter the degree of formality in your policy, be sure to highlight these three themes:
First - Use your best judgment at all times.
Second - Don’t say or do anything that hurts the hotel.
Third - If you have questions at anytime, ask your manager.

2. Public Relations Response Plan

No policy will ever protect a hotel from a rogue, disgruntled employee who misrepresents your property online. So, having a response plan in place for these rare instances makes sense. As with all crisis situations, you want to respond quickly to diffuse the situation.

A brand monitor tool can help you take action quickly. It allows you to screen the web for all comments made about your hotel, including those made by staff. You have a vested interest in checking the web for all remarks, regardless of the source. Your reputation is at stake. It’s a good idea to gently remind your employees that they are accountable for the consequences of what they say, and that you are actively monitoring your brand online.

3. Management’s Operational Guidelines

Our diagram shows some key areas, like Facebook, Twitter and TripAdvisor where you’ll want to establish operating guidelines, standards and/or protocols. Look at these as your spokes in the wheel. You want to give these venues equal attention in your marketing mix, just as you would a newsletter program or direct mail campaign. In other words, if you’ve decided that being on Twitter meets your business objective, than you need to structure and support the program. If you can’t do that, you’re better off not engaging.

Make sure those handling social media for your hotel are given the resources, authority, and time to monitor, respond and engage. Their job is to deepen customer loyalty through these channels and water your fans and followers like a garden. Bookings can be lost in a click, so support the people that nurture your online reputation.

Guidelines also serve as a quality assurance measure during staff transitions and normal business disruptions. You don’t want to lose momentum when your hotel Twitterer takes another job, or your Facebook administrator catches the flu. Know how to get into your hotel’s Facebook page, and document your passwords to all social media platforms in a centralized, secure spot. And, as a cautionary note, employees should never use their personal emails and profiles to set up a social media account for your hotel.

One Hotel's Approach

The Roger Smith Hotel’s reputation as an early adopter of social media is nothing new, so I wanted to check in with their Director of Digital Marketing, Adam Wallace. He explained that RSH’s employee handbook, which includes expectations for codes of conduct, sufficiently guides employee’s behavior for the online space. Wallace shared his opinion that it’s better to use a light hand when writing policies because it helps associates respond to guests in real time, unencumbered.

A top priority for RSH is sharing good news with staff about the hotel’s social media success. For example, after receiving a deluge of online praise for their signature bacon, Wallace wanted to be sure everyone on the culinary team learned about the role they had played in driving new business. So, he gathered the kitchen staff for an impromptu presentation that included videos and tweets that customers had shared online about the “bacon buzz”. Wallace credits this effort for:
- Recognizing staff for their positive impact on the guest experience.
- Educating staff on how their work contributes positively to RSH’s reputation.

Wallace knows his hotel is unique, pointing to the fact that selected staff are encouraged to leverage their personal Twitter accounts to cultivate niche followings. Still, he wants hoteliers to know that social media is something all properties can use, regardless of their culture, to powerfully increase the depth of their guest relationships and drive measureable ROI.

The Bottom Line

Social media is an evolving, public space. The desire to want to control it is understandable, but futile. When designing your social media governance, here’s what I want you to know:

• Write simple guidelines that fit with your hotel’s culture.
• Have faith in your employees and trust them to use common sense.
• Eliminate unnecessary layers of rules that stifle creativity and response time to guests.
• Focus on training, coaching and inspiring employees on social media etiquette.
• Be generous in sharing your hotel’s social media success stories with associates.

Ann Manion simplifies the Web for busy professionals and shares knowledge that helps hotels thrive in today’s digital world. A distinguished marketing professional with 25 years of hospitality management experience, Ms. Manion works with accounts across the country to build savvy social media programs that compliment their brand strategy. She’s a sought after content marketer who tells inspiring brand stories and shows her clients best practices in building a strong and positively influential online reputation. Ms. Manion has an MBA in Service Marketing from Simmons College, a BSBA in Hotel, Restaurant and Resort Management from the Daniel’s College of Business at the University of Denver, studied International Tourism at London’s Richmond College, and holds certifications from the Culinary Institute of America. Ms. Manion can be contacted at 617-531-1672 or ann@thehoteladvantage.com Extended Bio...

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