Hraba Hospitality Consulting

No, it’s no vacation.  It’s the loud foot stomping of behind the door positioning in the travel vertical of the modern web wars!  In fact, the positioning is more like a game of Twister, and although I am not sure anyone is going to fall, someone is surely going to get tangled up.  Is that Expedia / Tripadvisor? Facebook?  Google?  What about ITA?  Maybe it will simply be Yelp.

Here we go!

(more…)

Another trend that seems obvious is that most successful social media programs are not operated by these fabled “gurus”, but by industry veterans who have worked incredibly hard and somewhat tirelessly garnering the knowledge and connections that they now have at their disposal.  Gregg is in this category as well – orchestrating countless bloggers and travel industry experts / agents from all over the world, all from an office in Canada.

FLIGHT CENTRE

First, before we jump into the interview, let’s give a background to those unfamiliar with Flight Centre.  Andre Sammartino said it most concise:

(more…)

“in any organization there ought to be the possibility of discussion… fence sitting is an art, and it’s difficult, and it’s important to do, rather than to go headlong in one direction or the other. It’s just better to have action, isn’t it, than to sit on the fence? Not if you’re not sure which way to go, it isn’t.” (p. 100)

(more…)

The last coffee break was so enjoyable, I have to add one more.  Marketing… it’s not *all* bad.  Some of it is… maybe most of it is.

The concept of creating a need, or unecessary want, to encourage a mindless consumer to buy a product is dehumanizing.  To make someone feel “less” without a certain product is not only disingenuous & manipulative, it’s somewhat disturbing.  It’s a (more…)

What does it all mean? (that link is a funny Youtube clip, as a palette cleanser).

Depending on how this one goes, I think this is my second to last or last post *ever* haranguing on, or thinking this deeply about, Facebook.  Blue in the Face makes one look crazy, especially if no one is listening… and beyond the simple fact that I may be wrong, and happily eat humble crow as I become more aware….. I do see some meaningful interaction on Facebook.  It takes some time, and for me it took *opening* my network.  This concept of a “closed” network seems bizarre to me, and it limited real, meaningful interaction, the likes of which I remember from IRC or topical boards.

You have seen me talk about this in regards to Hospitality Brand’s respective Facebook Pages, and the lack of real interaction… even when they are done well. When it comes down to it, there are some problems with the way Facebook Pages work.  This post is, to some degree, a slapdash missive of a rebuttal to this post about the Top Ten Facebook Brand Pages.  There are 100′s of those (more…)

I plan to take this blog in some new directions (I might even gussy up the design a bit, in the future). But, I want it more dynamic with real conversation about the state of Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality as it becomes more highly integrated with social media and Travel Tech.  It’s obviously changing our industry, and it’s really time to start connecting each other with peers and professionals, so we can brainstorm and communicate about how to best utilize these impressive, and overwhelming, tools. Instead of my (more…)

Unfortunately, Twitter and user generated review sites seem to have a lot more ROI, interaction, and traction than Facebook — which is only unfortunate because it seems they get less attention than Facebook.  Unlucky FB users, on the other hand, are stuck in the loop of hating Facebook, while being completely incapable of escaping it. People are already asking if Facebook actually has a monopoly, and whether it should be managed as a utility.  I don’t like that conversation, because it’s like we are giving up on the obvious fact – there could be something better.  Until then, we need to stay on top of this poorly conceived, and inherently damaged, network.

There is a big discussion going on about the equity of attention in social media, and that curating attention is more important than posting information.  Curation is a fine line, and studies have (more…)

Let’s start with less specific hotel stuff…. more about social media and the general landscape of modernmarketing:

This is the most important thing you have read this year:

“How Network Science can speed up your success by 10 to 20 times

***READ IT – IT’S VITAL*** (If you don’t go past this line here, read the above link. It’s of massive importance.vi)

This Rand Fishkin interview is a few years old, but still relevant and a REALLY great read (especially for new to the arena old school marketers) – social media marketing & viral marketing

Also… let’s delve into some of the more modern dilemmas in regards to (more…)

I think we need to start with a couple presuppositions about social media:

1) It’s the wild west of social media.

2) This isn’t rocket science – it’s about old school customer service.

3) Knee jerk reactionary business owners will always blow things out of proportion, dodge accountability, and blind themselves to what’s really happening to their brand through the eyes of clients. You don’t need social media for that…. it’s been that way for centuries. Of course reviewers shouldn’t be marked as “problem guests” for writing a critical review – that’s poor real-world management of information, and not about the nature of the information itself.  This is a major component of the flawed (more…)