Recommendations from family and friends are the number one trusted source of insights and advice driving travel service purchase decisions. What are you doing to empower guests to spread the word about your property? Learn several easy and inexpensive ways to increase word of mouth and help drive bookings. READ MORE

With social media being the most popular form of online activity (1 in 5 minutes online is being spent using social media), one can argue that your voice online is becoming the most important facet of your hotel's online communication strategy. Gone are the days where push marketing is king. It's all about the one-to-one dialog, personal relationships, and the way you are represented online. Providing guests with an authentic representative as community manager to give them the answers they are looking for in real-time is the new king. READ MORE

Stories are for sharing, as is social media, making a branded online community the ideal channel for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts to highlight its storied history and unrivalled collection of luxury hotels. Hayley Mitchell, Social Media and Community Manager for Fairmont shares the reasoning behind the creation of Everyonesanorioginal.com and how the online portal has provided a major international hotel brand with an intimate way to hear from brand advocates and share unique information and stories in a more casual environment than traditional websites. READ MORE

Today, it's clear that consumers are not only embracing, but engaging with new technologies in ways that are changing the face of travel. The challenge that comes with digital innovations is deciding which to lev¬erage, and how to leverage them effectively. Instead of launching one-off initiatives, the most successful brands are developing digital media programs that are holistic, integrated and strategic. 'Going digital' really means authentically interacting with an audience through all of the platforms that make sense, in order to reach the consumer in a way that is seam¬less, intuitive, enhances brand identity and adds value to the customer experience. READ MORE

If you have ever felt as though you and your sales team are on a treadmill, spending day after day and year after year chasing down new accounts, now, thanks to social media and review sites like TripAdvisor, you can focus a portion of your energy every day in helping your property enhance the guest experience, and maximize your revenue instead of just replacing it. READ MORE

Truly the online reputation of the hotel is influencing several aspects of the business: Operations can now better understand their product and service levels; investors and owners can measure what impact renovations could have on demand; marketing can analyse, influence, and respond through loyalty and CRM programmes, whilst distribution and revenue management can better drive revpar. READ MORE

Both academic and industry research shows that social media has an impact on the consumers' decision-making in relation to travel and hotel decisions and marketers are investing heavily in social media channels to reach customers. Though social media marketing $$ spend is comparatively conservative, time spent on constructing presence and customer communication is not! READ MORE

The breadth of online guest feedback shared online is massive and is showing no signs of slowing down. Being able to mine the insight, extricate the rich details, and aggregate the feedback into industry-specific operational categories is a distinct competitive advantage. Only when armed with this information can hotel executives effectively determine how best to deliver an experience their guests will enjoy and, just as important, talk about. READ MORE

The overarching web and social media presence of many hotel brands often don't educate potential guests on the amenities that differentiate one property from another. Many hotel websites and their social media initiatives seem content to simply post photos in the appropriate site subsections and list a selection of their hotel's perks on a standard Amenities & Services page. Then, they blindly hope that online consumers will find what they're looking for. That won't happen very often - not with today's social media savvy consumer. READ MORE

No matter how your organization is currently structured, it is important to involve your salespeople in your social media strategy. And since it is tough for a sales team to shift gears from “hard sales” to using social media, effort on the organization's part is extremely crucial to ensure they have your support. The majority of salespeople are already involved in various communication channels like email, phone, newsletters, etc., so why not give them the training on social media that is needed to make them even more successful. However, who has time for social media? Certainly not salespeople, right? READ MORE

By its very nature, the Internet has made our society very skeptical of electronic messages. Consumers no longer take any marketing message at face value. Specific to the hospitality industry, prospective customers are increasingly wary of what's being sold through hotel websites and direct advertisements. To gain credibility and thus generate new sales, you have to double your efforts on the core experience your property offers. Focus on making a select few aspects undeniably memorable, ensure that your guest services are flawless, and tell your tale wholeheartedly through your social media channels. READ MORE

In 2011, hotel brands and individual hotel properties embraced social media platforms as never before. Global brands such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Hilton International stepped out of their “comfort zone,” and experimented with everything from loyalty program rewards for Foursquare “check-ins,” to global “treasure hunts” executed via Facebook and Twitter. Smaller boutique hotel brands and independent hotels were innovators, as well, launching stylish promotions with like-minded partners, developing engaging video content, and deploying direct booking via Facebook. This article takes a look back at some inspiring campaigns - large and small - from 2011, and offers hints at new directions for the New Year. READ MORE

The advent of publishing tools for the web made it possible for the nontechnical user to publish content without any knowledge of HTML or FTP, and ushered in the era of the web blog… a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. This is often referred to as a form of social media advertising. The question that businesses are now asking themselves is one of participation, should their company be blogging? READ MORE

Fact: the majority of all hotel reservations are directly affected by each hotel's online and mobile presence, reputation management and search rankings. How each hotel connects its Internet marketing initiatives will determine its success or failure. Success is a combination of the hotel's Return on Engagement (ROE) and its Return on Investment (ROI). To produce the best possible short term and long term results, the hotel must plan, implement, maintain and measure its marketing initiatives. The plan must be flexible and accommodate constant changes. Implementation has to be quick to gain a competitive advantage. Constant maintenance is essential for online reputation and social engagement. How results are measured is much more than just monthly percentage shifts in guest reviews. Connect your marketing and you will connect with more customers. READ MORE

Everyone is talking about social media for marketers and hotels. Is it the new marketing solution for hoteliers or just another fad? If it is as good as people say, how should hotels use it to increase sales? And can one measure the ROI just like cost-per-click marketing. Vincent Ramelli answers some of the many questions about social media and how hoteliers should use it to increase revenue based on more than 100 social media campaigns, what works and what doesn't. READ MORE

In 2012, video is predicted to be an even more essential element in a marketer's arsenal with millions of people viewing and sharing videos online each month, including hundreds of thousands of consumers regularly streaming videos on their mobile devices. This article will help you understand what “social video” is and how to use it effectively to promote your property - from real world ideas for video creation and tips to promoting your videos online, to advice for re-purposing your videos as content to boost your website page rank in the search engines. Add social video to your marketing mix today! READ MORE

In today's workplace environment, employers often discover the hard way that what happens in the office does not stay in the office and can potentially pose adverse consequences to the business and the workplace. Social media is hot and growing, with some networking sites reaching approaching a billion active users. Add to that ease of access via mobile device and remote computer login, employees can stay tapped into the network both on and off the job. This presents many challenges and opportunities for employers who want to harness the benefits, while guarding against risks posed by social media use. READ MORE

The Press Release and every other piece of online messaging published by your company must now be part of your content marketing strategy. What is content marketing? It is an approach to telling your story. It advances your company's business goals through creating an online environment in which your customers thrive. With the advent of Google, having high quality content is now a "must have." This article explores how the Press Release fits into your content marketing. It reviews proven principles for keeping your messaging clear and consistent. We also explore buyer personas and how to get started on Google. READ MORE

Do you know your popularity index on TripAdvisor or what guests are saying about you on Twitter? With the plethora of social media sites that can positively - and negatively - affect your hotel, it's important to have a clearly defined, manageable plan for social media measurement. READ MORE