Ask Alistair: Using Social Media and Mobile Channels for Hospitality

Guest post by Venson Kuchipudi, Sr. Director, Social Computing Strategy, Infor

We recently received an excellent and timely question to “Ask Alistair” at ask.alistair@infor.com:

"Can you provide more information about the use of online and mobile channels? We’ve tried to use Facebook and Twitter to have people follow our hotel but have not had much luck, do you have any advice?"

This is very pertinent to the hospitality industry as many have expressed similar questions. So Alistair asked me, Infor's resident social media strategy expert, to weigh in.

In many ways marketers in hospitality are perfectly poised to leverage social media and mobile due to customer expectations and the various tools available. This is a huge growth area, as small boutique properties are now able to compete equally on the same stage as the larger chains. Many marketers start by creating a presence on or  , hoping that they’ll get followers and build customer loyalty. However, my advice is to take a step back and follow a proven process: have clear goals, provide value, develop a community, and enable engagement. Getting followers is directly related to the audience you’re serving and the value you’re providing. Without value, you won't get followers and can't develop an engaged community.

I would start by first identifying your target audiences and the media where they already participate online. On the surface, this can appear to be frequent business travelers or budget travelers. However, think also about travel bloggers and journalists who can become great advocates for your brand. Also, increasingly people in your local community that often use your property as a center of activity provide invaluable word-of-mouth advertising. Think about local business owners who take their spouses to a dinner at your property and then recommends it to all their clientele. Lastly, think about where they already participate online. Younger or mobile audiences might use mobile smartphones more than email. Twitter might not be the best place to reach an older or less tech-savvy audience, but great to reach journalists and influencers. This is constantly evolving, so have a plan to evolve with it.

I’ll continue the conversation next week with a discussion around engaging your audience and rewarding their participation.

Did I miss something or is there something you want to add to one of my ideas? Please let me know what experiences you have had with online and mobile channels by leaving your comments.

Revenue Management for the Recovery

Guest post by David Purcell, Director, Solution Marketing, SoftBrands, an Infor affiliate

Some industry experts and researchers are seeing the light at the end of the recessionary tunnel for hoteliers. How you managed your rates and revenue during the recession may affect how you recover. Setting and managing your rates is a big job, and not one you can rush. According to the author of this Hotel Online article, it’s an art, not a science, and you should never set rates in a vacuum.

Implementing basic rate development and revenue management practices should be your first step to rate recovery. To determine the appropriate rate range for future bookings, you need to thoroughly analyze your past and current reservations, local area demand, new reservations forecast, and your competition. It’s all about supply and demand.

Also keep in mind the public’s perceived value of your brand. If you set your rates too low or too high as compared to your competitors, you may be in for a disappointing quarter.

Read the full article, “Hotels Are Poised to Reboot & Refresh Their Rate Structures…Getting Back In the Game” (Neil Salerno, Hotel Online, August 3, 2010).

Is your hotel poised for recovery? Share your thoughts.

The Price Is Right for Guest Satisfaction

Guest post by David Purcell, Director, Solution Marketing, SoftBrands, an Infor affiliate

Remember the old saying: “You get what you pay for”? We typically take this to mean price=value. The cheaper the price, the greater the value, but possibly lower quality. A recent article on Hotel Online discusses the impact that price has on a guest’s perception of value, loyalty, satisfaction, and expectations when it comes to hospitality services.

Generally when guests pay a high price for an experience, they also have high expectations about the quality of service. There are a few hotels and resorts in certain cities where I choose to stay above all others. And I’ll gladly pay a little more to stay at one of these properties rather than their competitors’ properties because I know what to expect. I’ve had great experiences and feel that the value and quality of the experience equals or surpasses the dollar amount I paid. And that spending a little more gets me a little more.

And what’s the connection between price and loyalty? This article goes on to explain the types of customer satisfaction (transactional and overall) and the effect on customer loyalty. Research referenced in the article suggests that “satisfaction, loyalty, and service quality are closely linked” and that “price satisfaction has a stronger influence on loyalty than quality satisfaction.” Loyal guests tend to be more tolerant of higher prices. My loyalty stems not only from the quality and service I have consistently received, but also what I see as a “fair price” for services received.

Read the full article, “Price Impact on Guest Satisfaction” (Patrik Hellstrand, Hotel Online, August 2010).

Leave a comment and let us know how manage your guests expectations when it comes to price for value, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Building Customer Loyalty in the Hospitality Industry

Guest post by Kelly Stephen, Senior Director, Product Management, Infor

According to a 2009 Aberdeen report, Cutting Edge Customer Loyalty¹, the two main challenges facing hospitality organizations in their efforts to keep customers in a down economy are increased competition and customers seeking the best price. But a more recent Aberdeen report, Building Lifetime Customer Value and Brand Advocacy in the Hospitality Industry², says that best-in-class hospitality enterprises are using loyalty programs to build customer value—with good results. They’re seeing higher customer retention, less attrition, and improved lifetime value.

You already know that keeping current customers costs much less than finding new ones. But did you know that customer preferences constantly evolve, especially in a tight economic environment? There are several actions you can take to either implement a loyalty program or improve your loyalty performance to meet best-in-class levels:

• Review all lapsed customers over the past 12 months and develop promotions geared toward getting them to your property. Identify customers that are most profitable to you and develop personalized promotions for them.
• Use customer analytics with a CRM system and database marketing application to personalize your offers, and use a segmentation process based on customer tiers, spending patterns, preferences, and demographics. Analyze these segments to develop appropriate marketing promotions and campaigns, and do monthly updates of these segments to reflect changing customer needs.
• Monitor and measure loyalty program sign-ups, redemption, and satisfaction rates with regular reporting of these numbers, and implement incentive plans for your top-performing locations.

The use of online and mobile channels has also risen dramatically. This means that you need to adapt your messaging, promotions, and brand image using these channels to keep those customers—and be consistent in your offers across all channels.

To learn more about building customers for life, read the entire Aberdeen report.

Ask Alistair your questions about using CRM to build customer loyalty.

¹Cutting Edge Customer Loyalty, Sahir Anand and Chris Cunnane, Aberdeen Group, March 2009

² Building Lifetime Customer Value and Brand Advocacy in the Hospitality Industry, Sahir Anand and Chris Cunnane,
  Aberdeen Group, December 2009

Social Media: Hospitality’s Friend or Foe

Guest post by David Purcell, Director, Solution Marketing, SoftBrands, an Infor affiliate

“Social media allows companies to listen to not only their customers ... but it allows fans to sell you.”¹

When I’m planning a vacation, the first place I visit is one of the travel review sites, such as TripAdvisor or VirtualTourist, to gather honest advice on where—and sometimes how—to spend my vacation. These sites provide unsolicited, third-party reviews and opinions of destinations, hotels, tours, cruises, etc., all posted by fellow travelers. I trust these reviewers to provide me with “expert” advice on your—and your competitors’—properties and offerings, which often influence where I go.

And I’m not alone. According to a 2009 study, Knowledge Networks found that 83% of US Internet users (ages 13 to 54) are active social media users (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), and almost 30% of those turn to social media sites for advice on travel or travel services.² Think of this as word-of-mouth advertising or the not-so-customary comment card (to be shared with the world). With such a large number of people sharing their opinions online, there’s bound to be some really good reviews out there of your company and some really bad ones. So if you’re not watching your brand on these and other social media sites, who is?

Make social media your friend.
With the explosion of blogs, review sites, and other social media portals, it’s critical that you engage in the right social media outlet to connect with your customers, potential customers, and critics—locally and globally—and manage your brand. Sure it’s easy to create a Facebook page about your hotel, but you really need a social media strategy in place to not only handle the reviews, but also promote your brand.

First step, find out where you’re being mentioned. There are a number of tools available, such as Google Alerts, to monitor what other websites and bloggers are saying about you.

Next, have a plan in place to handle both positive and negative reviews. ehotelier.com has a great list of tips for dealing with reviews, as well as engaging in Facebook and Twitter. “… we believe the active participation of hotels in social media means more credibility and greater relevancy in the eyes of the user.”³

Finally, get connected and start the conversation!

Share your tips and ideas on how businesses can best take advantage of social media.

¹Kerry Rego, Kerry Rego Consulting, in the blog post, Hospitality and Tourism: Tourism Uniquely Positioned for Social Media, by Dan Verel, North Bay Business Journal, June 21, 2010.

²Internet Users Turn To Social Media To Seek One Another, Not Brands or Products, Knowledge Networks, May 20, 2009.

³Stephen Saugestad, Social Media & the Hospitality Industry, ehotelier.com, September 23, 2009.

HITEC 2010 in Review

The biggest hospitality technology trade show of the year, HITEC, was a success for the Infor and SoftBrands hospitality team. From the booth to the market launch of the new SoftBrands Hospitality Management Solution (HMS), we have affirmed to the industry that we are not only here to stay, but are the company to watch!

Interest in the company, our plans, and our solutions began months before the actual event with the efforts of communications experts in the analyst relations, press relations, and solutions marketing teams. This effort and the advance briefings and scheduled appointments with analysts and industry influencers were essential to the show and HMS launch success. Add the HMS product demonstrations and technology discussions provided by the technology and product experts, and we definitely proved that we are committed, serious, professional, and credible. Some of the analysts and industry influencers have already affirmed our strategy.

Read what they had to say:

• Blog Post: Infor Simplifies Hospitality Management Software, Rob Kugel, SVP research, Ventana Research, June 23, 2010
  
  
• Press Release: Infor and SoftBrands Redefine Hospitality Management Software, includes a quote from Chris Cunnane, Aberdeen Research, June 22, 2010
  
  
• Hospitality Upgrade Magazine: Virtually There: Property Management Systems Expand Far Beyond Their Original Scope–and Head for the Clouds (Jon Inge, Jun 1, 2010)
  

Share your thoughts about HITEC.


Posted by Tracy Flynn, General Manager, Hospitality Solutions, Infor