Hotel Blogs - Let's talk about hotels

Integration of Social Media on your hotel website with Sorat Hotels

I have recently come across an interesting integration of most social media sites embedded into the main homepage of the German hotel chain Sorat Hotels.

 

This hotel chain has really maximized their homepage to show their audience how many different social media channels they can be found on.

On the right side side, they have integrated the Facebook Like banner and shows about 500 people who like Sorat. Then you have button that take you to their YouTube video account and Xing (business networking site).

See also how they publish their Twitter account with the pink button "Follow us"

On the bottom on the page, Sorat also promotes their presence on social media sites:

Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Friendticker (never heard of that one), Qype (the recommendation site).

And they even added the bookmarking button from Google and Yahoo.

I am surprised not to see any mention of leading hotel review sites though.

Do you think it makes sense to promote all these sites? Have you done similar things on your hotel website. Let us know.

If you are a hotel manager, show your property to the world!

It strikes me that hotel managers (GMs as we say in the industry) are still shy by not appearing in front of a camera and exposing to the world - meaning everyone with an Internet access - what their hotel property is about. How come that with an exposure which is far much easy to get today (YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Metacafe...), marketers in hotel chains or franchisors or owners don't push their managers to be the spokesperson and at least pretend they are proud of the product they are offering.

I know that Sales people in hotels are there to show to agencies/ future customers/corporate how good their rooms are, how great their conference / business centre facilities could fit the bill and so on...but seriously if all that would be filmed with the GM taking us as a tour guide of his or her hotel, that would dramatically make our life easier as a pre-selection of hotels.

Some hotels have definitely understood this by creating great videos which could sound a bit advertising...but hey the GM is here to make sure his or her hotel is filled up everyday with the goal of reaching 100% occupancy...

It is actually very hard to find genuine, self promotion videos about hoteliers on video sharing sites. If you have one that you think should be a good example of how hoteliers can promote themselves, please share it with us by leaving a comment below.

Laterooms advertizes for Valentine's day

Taking the text cloud concept used a lot in blogs, LateRooms advertizes on free London newspapers with an efficient message in light of Valentine's day this weekend.

Investigation into targeted ads and pricing

Just came across this article today which will be especially important to those using targeted ads with price incentives. This is an issue which as been under the microscope so to speak, and I'm sure will continue to be.

Read on ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/20/internet-targeted-advertising-oft-investigation

Is Accor catching up in the UK?

With Premier Inn and Travelodge in a fierce battle about who will get the most of the recession - meaning filling their rooms with the highest RevPar and not necessarily the lowest average daily rate (besides their advertising campaign), Accor has finally decided to join in and has pulled out this new advertising campaigning reinforcing the spread of their different brands across the UK (mainly Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Etap).

I must have lost the development of their hotel portfolio in the UK because I was quite shocked when I read they have 130 hotel. So Accor is definitely a strong challenger to compete with Premier Inn and Travelodge. On their campaign, they've also attacking their competitor on pricing with a starting room rate at £32 (£3 more than Premier Inn and Travelodge).

Note that Accor is pointing out potential customers to book on accorhotels.com and not on specific brands.

Finally what can bring better closeness with the Brits if you display green grass and flip flots with the Union Jack on them. Clever, simple and effective message.

I wonder who else could join the economy market in the UK. Campanile does have some properties in the UK but doesn't come even close to Accor in terms of development growth. And I am not sure they would have the budget to promote their brand in national newspapers either.

Deezer and hotel targeted advertising (updated)

One of my favourite music website Deezer has definitely found a way to advertize what I blog about...

Having said that, I am not a customer of Travelodge (neither Premier Inn). I am more of a Malmaison or City Inn customer. Sorry!

Update: check out who appears as well on the right

Travelodge strikes back

One week, the leading UK hotel chain Premier Inn tells the world that they deliver a better product than Best Western.

The other week, their direct competitor Travelodge tells the same world that they are definitely cheaper than Premier Inn.

Note that they compare only hotels available in the central location of cities like Manchester or London.

Premier Inn goes head to head with Best Western

The hotel chain Premier Inn (part of the Whitbread group) has recently published a paper advertising where they ask the question about what's "Best" in Best Western. The goal is probably to drive away Best Western customers to try Premier Inn product.

In European advertising, this is very rare that companies criticize other companies publicly. I know it's common case in the US.

So why would Premier Inn do that? Isn't it arrogant or being smart?

Personally, I don't see the product similarity between Best Western and Premier Inn. They are not competing on the same ground. For instance, the brand recognition of Best Western is global, Premier Inn is essentially local in the UK and IE. Also one product is standard in all their hotels for Premier Inn and Best Western works with franchisees meaning all hotels are different (with 3 sub standards).

I know a room is a room is a room. But let's not discuss about the commodity of the hotel industry...

Travelodge vs. Premier Inn - the battle goes on

The two leading UK "low cost" hotel chains Travelodge and Premier Inn are competing more than ever in this recession market. Travelodge has recently promoted their brand in newspapers by telling people than Premier Inn is definitely more expensive than Travelodge. It reminds me of that story between EasyJet and RyanAir where RyanAir claims Easyjet wasn't low cost anymore.

Hotels.com and its smart TV commercial

Hotels.com has released its latest US TV commercial around the concept of the guest getting a prefered treatment in case he writes a review of his hotel stay...clever. I have also noticed the logo has changed and is very different from the European one.

Gone are the days where customers coming from OTAs were having not necessary a great room when checking at the hotel...because of the price they paid...