Hotel Blogs - When Hotel Marketing gets Social

Dukes hotel in London offers 'Picnics in the Park'

Another good example of a hotel who targets both their customers and locals to add additional revenue to their Food & Beverage department.

Dukes hotel in London famously known for their martini has launched Picnics in the Park. The hotel will deliver to your desired place in London parks. You can have a choice of hamper assortments from just £60 for two or £120 for a party of four. Dukes London picnics include potted shrimps, smoked Scottish salmon, sandwiches, fruit salads, cheeses, pastries, desserts and more.

Starwood Hotels connects their loyal customers with Foursquare

In the world of today where consumers can access multiple hotel offers around the world in one click, it's never been so important to cherish your loyal repeat customers and making sure they register on your loyalty card.

For more than a decade, Starwood Hotels have been very successful and innovative with their Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program who make their members important and recognised anywhere they check in a Sheraton, a Westin or a W hotel.

How to get it right in hotel website design

Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Kate Waite of Dot Tourism, a digital branding and online marketing agency. She explains what are the 5 key fundamental things you should look at in order to make your hotel website relevant and sticky to your guests and your prospects. Feel free to use the comment box to share your opinion and your experience.

For a hotel, the website may be the primary and often only contact with potential guests before they arrive. It acts as an essential sales tool, promoting the property to potential guests, allowing them to book and then providing the information necessary to facilitate a great stay and hopefully leading to repeat custom and a new brand ambassador.

With a vital role to fulfil, there are five key essentials that every hotel website should make sure they get right.

1.     Photos

The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is especially true for hotel websites. Most potential guests want to see the room that they are considering booking and the look and style can have a big impact on whether they make a booking. It’s well worth investing in a professional photographer and building up a gallery of the property looking its best. Wide-angle, bright shots can do wonders at converting website visitors into guests.

The Kelebeck Cave Hotel (http://www.kelebekhotel.com/rooms.php) does this very well with images of all their 31 unique rooms.

2.     Easy to use reservation system

An online reservation system that allows visitors to check availability, rates for the period they want to stay and make and confirm their booking is obviously vital for all but the smallest properties. Hotels should make sure it is simple and foolproof, as far too many reservation systems are fiddly and require the guest to jump through several hoops before reaching that all important confirmation screen. The more streamlined the booking process, the more likely it is that guests will see it through to completion.

A whole post could be written just about reservation systems but little things, like having the departure date options only showing dates after the arrival, create less opportunity for error while having unavailable dates blocked off to save users wasted time searching for rooms is another bonus.

Avoid facing the user with an overly long list of room types for the same rooms with options for internet offers, flexible booking rates, non-refundable offer rate etc. It’s just confusing to users!

3.     Contact details
Sometimes you just need to ask a simple question and there is nothing more frustrating than having to hunt down a phone number or email address. Make sure there is a clear way to get in touch with a “real” person to help with quick queries and unusual requests.

4.     Location and directions

It’s vital that your guests can find you so your hotel website should contain a map and clear directions on how to reach you. Directions from main access points to the city / location are a bonus, as is information about parking.

The Hoxten Hotel use a large, clear Google map showing underground stations with useful information and advice for drivers.

5.     What’s included

A list of information about what’s included in the room price and available facilities is essential and should be easily accessible. Things that are important to guests include whether there is WiFi available, in room facilities such as hair dryers, fridge/bar and safe. Travel Lodge show clearly what’s in the room and what is available from reception.

 

While there are many other things that can (and often should) be included on a hotel website, getting these five elements right will be key to how well your website performs.

 

Official "Palace" hotels in France - a joke for the industry?

Have you heard about the Exception Culturelle in France? It sounds like the notion of exception has also applied to the world of hospitality in France.

Recently the Minister of Tourism lead by Frederic Lefebvre has announced the official list of properties in France that can be called themselves "Palaces".

Palace is an old term for hotels that are usually known as 5 stars hotels by travellers. Usually, these properties deliver exceptional customer service and also offer a full range of products to their customers.

So who are these hotels:

4 hotels are in Paris: Le Plaza Athenee, Le Bristol, Le Meurice and Le Park Hyatt Paris Vendome

2 hotels in the ski resort Courchevel: Le Cheval Blanc, Les Airelles

1 hotel on the French Riviera: Le Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat

1 hotel on the South West of France: L'Hotel du Palais in Biarritz

The list was decided by a jury of people lead by Dominique Fernandez a novelist and keen traveller.

Now I can't help myself to think who on earth cares about this Palace classification. Is it only in France that we need to blow trumpets louder than others because we need to distinguish a few properties vs. others.

Now, how come properties like Hotel de Crillon (who won the Telegraph best city hotel this year), Four Seasons George V, Ritz Hotel, Le Normandy in Deauville or Le Carlton in Cannes haven't received such an accolade as well?

Regarding Geroge V, it looks like I am not the only one surprised by this decision.

Surely more properties should deserve this new French classification.Apparently to nominate your property to the jury, you need to be in operations for more than 30 months. So the newly opened hotel Royal Monceau will have to wait less than 3 years to potentially receive this disctinction...

One question arises. What is the difference between a 5* property in France and a Palace hotel?

A funny obversation on Google is that Le Ritz hotel promote itself to be a " best palace hotel" on organic results.

 

Small Luxury Hotels and its clever viral marketing campaign

The hotel representation company Small Luxury Hotels lead by Paul Kerr has launched in April a very clever marketing campaign on their website to celebrate the company 20th birthday.

The whole idea behind the competition is to collect up to 20 coins when you visit the website and also make some smart actions to promote the brand.

There are a lot of incentives to do so as the winners can claim up to 12 night stay in one of their property with £1,000 spending money.  The company offers a total of 120 room nights and £10,000 during the competition. There will be 10 prize draws - one draw each month April-November and two in December. That’s 10 chances to win!

The golden treasure hunt starts on this page.

Let's look at what you need to do.

Step1: you need to enter the competition by registering yourself

Step 2: you can share the competition with your friends via Facebook or Twitter

Step 3: During the visit on the SLH site with clues given on the competition you will automatically receive your coins based on pages you visit. For instance, the Golf break page gets you a new coin.

Step 4: You have to spam share with your followers on Twitter that you entered the competition

Step 5: Make sure you "like" SLH Facebook page to win another coin. Lot of activity out there and already more than 30,000 likes.

Step 6: Send 5 emails about the competition and you will recevie a new coin

Step 7: It looks like you need to register to the Club as well to get another coin

Step 8: this is where I gave up for now.

I think this viral marketing will work in the end. The prizes are very good and you can already see the level of interaction on Twitter and Facebook to conclude that SLH and their PR agency has done well on this.

Ultimately, it's all about awareness. People will pay more attention to what SLH offers and also tell the world. I am sure the traffic on their website has increased significantly and so their followers on Twitter and Facebook.

Small Luxury Hotels represents more than 500 unique properties around the world.

Exclusive Hotels and Chateaux & Hotels Collection get married

It must be hard to be a representation company these days considering how hotels can promote themselves directly to consumers with social media and clever marketing.

Independant hotels must ask these questions often when their renew their contract with representation companies:

Will I be able to bring the same level of business to my hotel if I was on my own?

Is the cost of being a member of this X representation company can be utilised elsewhere with a better ROI?

Does my hotel fit with the brand behind the marketing company?

In France, we love representation companies. Probably because not everyone wants to be part of Accor Hotels or Louvre. Independant hotels want to remain independant but need some help on purchasing power with suppliers.

This week, it was announced that 2 major representation companies Exclusive Hotels and Chateaux et Hotels Collection have decided to merge to create (name to be announced soon) a strong 700 properties marketing company. The company will be lead by a board chaired by the celebrity chef Alain Ducasse with Regis Burlot in charge of brands. The group will be managed by Laurent Plantier, Xavier Labrousse et Timothee de Roux (who recently joined Exclusive Hotels in September 2010).

It sounds like hotel representation companies in France must feel the urge to unite these days. Earlier this year, Société Européenne d’Hôtellerie (Inter Hotel, Ptit Dej, Qualys Hotels) decided to join forces with Relais de Silence to create a group of 550 hotels. 

Create the WOW factor with your guests

Using Twitter to post updates about your property and promote deals is just a small portion of what you can do on the micro blogging tool. More importantly, you should really engage on Twitter and pay attention to what people say around your hotel, your area, your competition, your industry and so on.

One thing you can do when you have a relative good number of followers (100 would be a good start) is to start identifying these followers that could be your hotel brand ambassadors. Try to engage with them on conversations you feel you can be part of. For example, suggest some ideas of restaurants in the area the Twitter follower is based of experience or because your hotel is in the same area.

Another thing you can do is to create the WOW factor when you know some of your guests have been identified on Twitter by saying "just arrived at the Hotel California". Can you imagine the "feel good factor" of the guest if has received a reply for you and also a freebie when he's at the hotel. For instance, offer him/her a drink at the bar with a +1 or free PayPerView for one day or a bottle of wine in his room.

Then you can also surprise and WOW the super Twitter user influencer. The one that you know you can't really mess around with and who could shout about your brand better than you can do in your own capacity. Figure out these influencers first (like above 1,000 followers) and surprise him to give a concert ticket that you would have bought through the 2nd market (seatwave in the UK is good for that) or a cinema ticket or football game. Always make sure it's an offer for 2 people (there will be one less reason to turn this offer down). Alternatively , upgrade the customer to another room if he hasn't checked in his room yet.

These are small tips and they don't have to be used often but you would be amased about they can do overtime on your brand exposure on social media tools. By the way, this is not exclusive to Twitter. Think about the other tools available to share you location and so on.

Hotels and straplines

When it comes to branding, hotel chains tend to forget about straplines. Maybe because they think they don't need to have one or because there is nothing original about their hotels.

However, we have identified hotel brands who decided to go with this little message that is usually in consumer's head if it is a good one (like Nike famous line Just do it created in 1988)

Accorhotels.com Enjoy your stay

Best Western Hotels with personality

Travelodge Sleep tight

Balladins Partout, rien que pour vous... (Everywhere, only for you...)

Ramada You do your thing. Leave the rest to us.

Amari Colours and Rythms

Malmaison Hotels that dare to be different

Jumeirah Hotels Stay different

Hotel du Vin I think. Therefore I Du Vin

Red Carnations Hotels No request is too large, no detail too small

Kempinski Hoteliers since 1897

What is your favourite one? I really like Travelodge. Easy to remember and relevant.

If you know other hotel brands with a strapline. Please let us know on the comment box and we will add it on the post.

10 reasons I like Malmaison and Hotel du Vin new websites

One of my favourite UK hotel group has revamped their website for both brands Malmaison and Hotel du Vin. And guess what...What a difference!

It was about time that these 2 boutique hotels brands take a fresh look at their site in order to grab new customers and surprise their loyal guests.

So what are the 10 main features I like on their sites:

#1 The design, look and feel are rather sleek and simple

#2 The booking engine is at the top of the site and stays there wherever you go (remember the purpose of your website is to sell rooms directly with your customers)

#3 Not only you can book a room at one of their 26 hotels but you can also book a table at their restaurant (it's all about upselling and making sure your guests has thought about other things than a hotel room)

#4 You can make a request to know about meetings and events (this will help your MICE department to get leads from your website)

#5 The booking engine is easy to use and return availability quickly

#6 Both websites has a Promotion page (remember those Special Offers that you can change over the seasons to get people knocking on your doors)

 

#7 The website refers back to the social networking sites they use (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube)

#8 You can share with your network (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Email) things you like about the information you find on Malmaison and Hotel du Vin events. For instance this Royal Wedding Crashers VIP Pass.

#9 Both sites link to their respective blogs Dare for Malmaison and I Du Vin for Hotel du Vin (these blogs will be covered on a separate post on Hotel Blogs soon)

#10 You can register your email if you want to know more about Offers and receive newsletters (don't forget email marketing, email is so underrated these days)

However, there are 3 things that could be improved:

#1 There is too much content on the homepage. Prospects on your website don't want to be ovewhelmed by too much information. When your guest enters in your hotel, you don't want to show him or her everything all at once.

#2 Rates plans are a bit odd. See the example of a room available in their property in Leeds where the Internet room price is the same as the standard price (make sure you revenue management take a good look at pricing when you book on your website and standard rates)

#3 I think the images gallery is way too complex to navigate and very slow to load (make sure your pictures are easy to load and possibly on a big format, think Flickr nagivation for instance)

 

Take a half-day out of the office and learn

As you know, online distribution in the hospitality industry is constantly evolving and you need to be ready to grab what's new and how you can market your properties more effectively.

There is nothing better than to get out of your comfort zone /  bubble and spend half a day with your peers and learn how innovative companies can help you to differentiate yourself from the competition and reach a global audience to your hotel/B&B/guest inns and so on.

More than 2 years ago, I was invited to speak at a hotel conference held in Dublin called Hotel Website Marketing conference. I have to admit I didn't know about this conference until I was asked to attend and speak (at that time I was representing Amadeus). Back then I was really seduced by the conference organiser Ciaran as he did a great job to pull this event in record time with about 100 attendees at the time.

This year is about taking the conference to a new level with 6 events in 6 key European cities (Milan, Berlin, Madrid, London, Paris, Amsterdam) with great companies talking to the hotel trade crowd on different subjects: booking engine, group bookings, social media, reputation management, email marketing and more...

So here's one advice, ask your boss or yourself if you can take a half day of the office (or a full day if you want to network with your peers after the conference) and go to this conference as you will learn a lot and I am sure you will be able to pick 2 or 3 things to apply to your respective business.

To register, visit their website and pick the location.

I also forgot the conference fee is ridiculously cheap: €99 per person.