Cheers and good day! Your friendly neighborhood Hotelier trying to stay on top of hotel news, and travel info, and hospitality & management philosophy… oh yeah… and technology or social media.  Okay okay… I am apparently trying to keep you updated on everything, and here is a little more from my corner of the internet…. endless relevant information filtered into a relatively decadent lunch sized chunk.  Enjoy!  Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts or comment… be well and big RevPar to you all!

• Stop using 2009 rates in recovering economy! That’s about all I can say about this, because I would never want to encourage price setting and have the Feds after me.  Still… if you all do it independently, well that’s just good business. Collusion, however, is a nasty word.

• Cornell hotel school has their 2009 wrap up, 2010 report, & another couple studies… like fairness & perceived differences in rate differential, or cases in innovative practices.  If you don’t look at anything, I suggest you take a gander at this…. chock full of info, especially the 2010 report with articles and excercises for marketing, spa, F&B, Operations and more!

• Neil Salerno with “Does Anyone Remember When A Suit Came With Two Pair Of Pants?“ Beyond having quite a fine tailor, it’s a smart idea that Neil takes into the world of hotels skillfully, with a powerful and accurate piece on hotels, social media, websites, and more.

• TOURISM IS SOCIAL – a 90 minute love note to the power and impact of social media in Hospitality, the need to have less manipulative marketing, and the need to create a powerful community advocating your brand.

• Successful email marketing is all about reaching an appropriate demographic, that you can target more specifically, while not “spamming” people who don’t have the same interests, *but* are fans of your hotel.  By setting up preferences in email marketing, Hotel Marketing Strategies has advised our world yet again!  Think of a branded guest that loves wine and food, but not the spa… while you have other fans of the spa that are into health and not so much fine dining.  Sure they cross paths often enough, but here is a way to target them individually and be even more successful.  Well done Hotel Marketing Strategies!

• Speaking of Josiah, well we have to say well done on this GOOGLE BUZZ primer for hotels and marketing people.  Fantastic stuff.. learned a lot!

• Some good news!  Hotels are gaining attention from lenders, travelers are ramping up leisure trips, and some interesting insight into your luxury branded guests…..

• Attempting to reach affluents, luxury brand guests, online?  Where here are some facts that may raise your eyebrows about their behaviors.

• Some not so good news for you F&B people – or just more about the complexity of being green, community rooted, and sustainability focused…. like  the implications of sourcing locally.

• Service is the new Sales – a piece in line with listening, learning, being engaged and involved – and tempering traditional marketing methods that sell glitz and gooey glamour.  That stuff is out this year, and true, refined, classical luxury is in.  I know it’s just one of millions of hyperbolic or effusive blog titles in this world of too many posts, but I might say that service has always been on the front end of sales…. since the local Main St. Hardware store and before.  Service has always been paramount in helping you sell.. this is nothing new.  The article has some great points, though.

• TOURISM IS ALL OF US blog chats about “filling seats” (a la movie theatre analogy) with social media in hotels.  An interesting approach to understanding what your internet presence really is….

• Optimizing your hotel’s “Social Graph” - a great and simple visual way to understand social media’s impact on your guests and potential guests.

• Hotels experimenting with social communities: Foursquare, Yelp, Blogs, Tripadvisor and more.  Discussion about some of the ideas and methods hotels are using for interaction, listening, and community.

• It’s Okay To Be Anti-Social? – I don’t always agree with what I am posting here so much as attempting to engage thought and discussion.  I think this methodical approach to understanding the impact of social media is fading as more and more people find meaning and potential conversion from interacting with the online world.  His sanguine points are well taken, however, and he does help get a bird’s eye view on this madness that is too much media.  What do you understand? What do you have time for?  This article probably helps in going over all of it.

• It’s about time…. an affordable iphone/droid app for European hotels… Referred to as groundbreaking, but what isn’t at this point.  I remember groundbreaking used to mean we just broke ground, and have 18 months (or lesS) from pouring concrete to opening the doors.  It is much more ethereal than the brick and mortar world… but important, potentially useful news nonetheless.  I haven’t contacted them to find out more, as I am Stateside.  But this is something we all have our eyes on, and if you don’t… you should.  Mobile is the future, and it’s fairly important (I assume you have been following my blog, and will spare you the endless linking).

• Are you sick of too much info?  Too much data?  Does it feel numbing as you sit by and try to beat the internet every day?  Well… MS has innovative approaches in how to sift through massive amounts of raw data and content with “Pivot”.

• If that isn’t enough for you, I would highly suggest the new Economist special article about Data… none of this is about business for you, or your brand.  It’s about collecting data, and you are just part of something so big it will melt your head.  Like issues of Privacy in the 2.0 age… and how it basically doesn’t exist anymore.  Try controlling your brand’s message… sure, right after you figure out how to stop being stalked by the internet.

• Google Wave starts to come of age – and real meaningful commerce is happening!  If you can get past the fact that I was quoted in this article, maybe you can envision Google Wave this way:  No more misplaced log book in PBX, and no more yellow sticky notes on the desk.  That’s sort of how I want to play it…. NO MORE STICKY NOTES! =)

• It isn’t about you… at all.  It’s about them.  I am starting to realize this about everything… social media, website development, new marketing… it’s “what can you do for me, what have you done for me lately”.  Well, hotel blogosphere goes on a bit in regards to this, and reminds you that it might not be about what you know, but what, fundamentally, it means to potential clients.   What’s more, he hits the nail on the head in regards to hotel websites, relevancy, and standing out.

• This is perhaps one of the most affordable, functional, and cool devices I have seen in a long time – zero sticker shock, stunning savings, obvious ROI, and green to boot.  Amazing what these guys are doing - the future of waste management on hotel property:

• Martha Stewart Wedding magazine and Hello Lucky take on one of my favorite escapes in the world… WILBUR HOT SPRINGS! (I am sharing this for no other reason than it’s a beautiful place!  The pics from the print edition are out of this world!

• (Also… if you hadn’t been aware of what’s going on here, social media in travel becomes legitimate business force)

An impressive LEED Platinum for a hotel, Napa’s Bardessono.  I would like to take the time to point out that the incredibly complex reuse project from the NPS and ECB/Fort Baker Retreat Group, Cavallo Point, was just awarded LEED Gold.  Being NPS land, historic buildings, and completely “green” presented an  interesting array of problems (aka opportunities), and I am happy to say 2 years after opening it’s doors, it has finally received it’s status.  It is a shining light for the Bay Area, a stunning addition to the National Parks and GGNRA, and a model for future development being ethical and about sustainability.  I applaud both these properties, especially knowing how complex the LEED process can be!

Sign of the times – Ritz Lake Las Vegas to close 2nd May.  The economy may be leveling off it’s slide, but foreclosures lurk everywhere.

Gulliver points out a fairly brilliant honors scheme hatched by Intercontinental Hotel Group over Hilton’s disastrous alteration of honor awards points.

This is sort of scary, but nothing new to our industry:  Hotel industry needs flexible graduates.  “Skeleton staffs don’t bode well for hospitality students preparing to enter the market today. As if the long hours and weekends shifts in the hospitality industry weren’t unattractive enough, students entering the job world in today’s economy are forced to be more flexible than ever, often taking jobs outside of their geographical preference and much lower on the corporate ladder than they had hoped.”  Honestly – if I had known the hours I was going to work prior to starting my career in hospitality, I don’t know if I could have done it.  Of all the things I have dealt with in my life, the hours as manager at every property were dehumanizing and exacerbating.  Looking back, I don’t know how I did it for over a decade.  But that is what our industry is… high pressure, fast paced, grueling grinds, and the self delusion that it is as important as saving lives and that it will all be better tomorrow – oh, and that “lateral promotion” you took to get out of the department you are currently pigeonholed in… was totally worth it. (a little cynical humor, of course – not at all from my career.  Riiiiiiiiiiight).

Why do hotels have so much trouble answering emails? This is an epic, well timed, post.  It’s a HUGE problem, and not enough companies have corporate policies.  It becomes a disaster for communication if people think they can reach you, but have zero real access to you.  It makes our industry look bad, and it has to stop.  On the up side…. if you make it a priority to reply to emails, and it becomes everyone’s priority, maybe they will slow down with better communication.  More phone calls, less emails (including those horrible passive ones hiding the real question of “why haven’t you answered my emails?) – but that might just be wishful thinking.

Interesting and thoughtful piece on being a cautious, calculating restaurateur & entrepreneur in these times.  Fact is, it pays off big in a lot of situations.

Hotels converting F&B space into meeting space. A lot of hotels are looking for revenue, and this was an actual conversation we had with a client in the last couple weeks…. nice to see the article agreeing with us.  Lounges and comfy spots don’t generate revenue – but meeting space does.

Here are some interesting thoughts on Luxury Lifestyle and Travel Trends for 2010

Is Social Media the next Search Engine?  Some people think it is, just as we find out Facebook directs more online users than Google.

Augmented Reality is buzzed about for a reason… and not just because it is PHENOMENALLY AWESOME.  But it may actually create business, even for small businesses.

Is geolocating the future of hotel marketing?  I love that hyperbole, I really do… but let’s just leave it at “a really important, impacting development” before waving the white flag at all other types of marketing.  I actually think it is… for one, there’s FourSquare.  But I don’t like getting *too* carried away. =)

Foursquare does have some strategic growth;  First Zagat, then Chicago.  Some pretty big stuff happening, and it makes me excited that with all this activity, and other industry people cloning their format in multiple ways, Foursquare seems aware and fluid enough with a solid enough business acumen, to withstand the turbulence in this crowded arena.  They seem smart, and I think you need to keep an eye on them.  If you haven’t gotten a google alert from them about someone “checking in” to your hotel or business, trust me… you will.

The future of marketing in hotels? This is a tech guy with idealistic notions of what hospitality *COULD* do – with money, foresight, more labor, and planning.  It’s a good idea, some luxury brands might try to get there with this as a gimmick, to start….. but interesting and enthusiastic read nonetheless.  Beyond that, I liked the idea… and don’t mind plugging him.  He has got to be one of the only people out there that I know building Iphone (and I assume Android as well) apps that has even the most rudimentary understanding of the hotel business.  A lot of people are yapping about apps in our industry…. we might not be able to afford one, but for those that moved enough of your 2009 marketing budget online, and have a bit to spare…. check him out.

An interesting blog about the development of social media in the Kenyan hotel industry, and can possibly be extrapolated to other small inns and boutique properties that don’t have the monster marketing budget, but know there is an audience to reach.

The UK heats up about online hotel reviews, looking for some sort of validation process for Tripadvisor.  Is this another aspect of GPS & Geolocation that could help curtail fraud and shill reviewing?  Whatever the case, I think the industry can handle itself…. it’s in their best interests.  Getting the government involved to regulate seems a bit much.  The only winner when you start legal proceedings are the lawyers.  Very few other people actually win besides them.

Speaking of Tripadvisor… here are a couple best practices for a top ranking.

Social media as customer service for hotels.  Thank you for not saying social media as a way “to sell” or “drive revenue”.  Social Media may have a valid ROI, but this is more about being a cost of operations than a revenue stream.  We can all drive revenue with it…. but it is simply more important to *ENGAGE*.  Because in the end, ignoring it will cost you.

Here’s an odd piece – great thoughts… horrible grammar.  I didn’t understand this, so I include it to see if you have any thoughts?

That’s it!  Just thoughts and links and interesting stuff!  A real post is coming soon, I promise!

I actually got into a conversation on linked in today!  Go figure… I haven’t used it much as the “professional facebook”, but every once in awhile meaningful discussion about the industry pops up…. even then I typically don’t dive in.  But it is interesting…. so much conversation about the recession being over, and hoteliers, ownership, and properties are popping up their heads to see if they see their shadow.  As real winter looms, our proverbial “winter of discontent” wanes.  But instead of being rife with joy… let’s cast our doom & gloom nets out a bit.  If you look anywhere in media – fear and panic are often confused and countered by people’s desire to find the light at the end of the tunnel.  There are two types in this debate…. the sky is falling, or it’s looking up.

Well… I am cautiously optimistic.  The Dow hit 10,000 today, briefly, and a “painful recovery” is nothing in light of 80% of economists saying “The Recession is Over”. What’s more – It isn’t just the normal public mags, but trade mags are being VERY cautious in saying… “recession lifting, let’s get back to it!”.  In fact, not many are even highlighting articles about it… it is just a general “how to weather the rest of it”, “ideas for getting out of the recession” and the like.  There are articles like this (and here about a community’s B&Bs, and I have seen many like this about international markets)  all over the internet… little niches surviving or doing great!

It is a good feeling to see people conversing about an end to our economic woes.  Of course, I don’t forget that it is the talk and panic that drives the initial problem, as well as talk and optimism that can drive us out of the “mud” on our bottom line…… that is……decidedly….. black.  In fact, that negativity and existential concern about hotels and their future still pervades the news feeds.  But let’s not give the time of day to those who pander to the lowest common denominator… let’s look at a tried and true brand who’s consistent and professional tone to the industry is a good earmark for our collective concerns:  Marriott’s blog post.

I think it sums up the problem we hoteliers currently have… we would like to celebrate the dow at 10K, or the economists reporting, en masse, “it’s getting much better!”.  The problem is the reality, and that many hotels in standard, normal markets can feel the pinch for some time longer.

Another reason to hesitate…. we are growing, but current growth is *slow*.  I don’t have the articles on me, but I do know that lenders are still holding all the keys because the value of properties since 2007 have basically halved (Hotel Business Vol. 18 No. 19 Oct 7-20, 2009)… which is ground shakingly tragic.  The foreclosured and distressed will hit the market soon, and more problems will be discovered than are currently known.  But on the other side of this coin, it is time for equity and ownership to start finding PHENOMENAL deals.  Everyone should be able to buy a hotel in the coming year (joke)….

Economic recovery and slow growth is one thing… but we are hotels, and we might need to take a closer look at the national unemployment rate.  The economy might be recovering, but our industry is so COMPLETELY controlled by labour and unemployment, I am worried it will give a false sense of security when certain segments might still get hit hard.   I saw Tom Callahan the other day from PKF in San Francisco, and he said the basic consensus is that we will not hit q4 2007 or q1 2008 ADR and RevPar until 2014… which is…. depressing.  But it is only a climb up from here.  As long as you retained some rate parity, the property should be able to bounce back.  If you are like Vegas, you may have dug a hole so deep, you will have issues “digging up”. =)

(To be fair, even some people think that Vegas is finally on an upswing, or at least battling the recession.  True their tourism is down, their rooms are empty…. but finishing City Center in a climate like this is amazing, and frankly… although they are reducing flats @ $2000 / sq ft possibly to below $1000 / sq ft…. I am shocked 55% of it has been sold.)

All this being told… I think the slide and panic is over.  Our awful day at the beach is done, and what happens next is shaking out the blanket to clear the sand…. and we will see what is jarred loose from the hotel economic fabric.  The problems that are still to come are not pro-longed troubles for hotels, it is simply the back end of the recession working itself out.  Until then…. buckle up…. I doubt it will be too bumpy a drive home, but it’s gonna be a long ride.

Yes I am fully aware of how many metaphors I used in this.  =)  Good luck EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU… be well, hang tough… and see you on the other side!

The rest that is cut off (hey I am a hotel guy, not a HTML guy) says “($42/month), would you?”  You can take the survey yourself right here: TripAdvisor Survey for Owners.

I will let the pic speak for itself.  I know it’s just a survey, but I assume some people might have a concern in regards to this?  How about: mom and pops, small innkeepers, non branded or flagged properties that don’t have a mega-marketing budget to leverage every site, and I could go on.  I know it’s only $500, but it adds up…. and if they were to really go through with this I assume it would be irrevocably damaging to their long term credibility.  Even Yelp has tiptoed around ethics issues with business owners, review manipulation, etc – but haven’t done something this obvious.  Of course, the question is:  In their quest to monetize, will TripAdvisor risk their credibility to do so?

Any thoughts?  Is it that big a deal?  Would it create an unfair gap between “haves” and “have nots”, or is TripAdvisor supplying link and phone info moot, because guests will call the hotel directly anyway?

Once again, Hotels Mag & Mr. Hartesvelt have come up with an interesting piece… this time in regards to “Random Acts of Marketing” and hotels PR people being a bit beleaguered in these times, and acting out accordingly.  I, once again, had too long a blog response and note that the comments section isn’t always the best place for banter… or at least I have trouble posting there at times.  In preparation of that, I linked the article above…. and put my own thoughts here just in case.

The best marketers are skeptics or operators that turned into marketers… because marketing has been a land of long lunches, little data, & arcane, questionable demonstrable results…. ALWAYS.  When times are good, the greased cogs and gears tick forward inevitably… often unnoticed (for good or bad).  In a down economy they just become a little more visible because of their obvious lack of connection or understanding of operations, budgets, etc.  There are some STUNNING marketing firms out there (a little plug for BMC.. the guys are so incredibly together it is refreshing, and astonishing)… and most of those are the ones big enough to admit 1) we are undergoing some major changes, and 2) we have little to no idea what is happening for the time being.  At least… if not hyperbolic relatively based in truth.

“New” marketers talk about getting back in synch, like the old system…. where, apparently, print media showed results.

Frankly.. I am not sure it ever did, and hopefully this new wave of social tools democratizing the guest experience will force the hand of marketing people to stop convincing their consumers that the brand is good…. and instead just focus on “gooding” the brand; making sure the hotel or entity is ethically orchestrating business in a way that will have consumers actively endorse their model and passively advocate it.

It isn’t about convincing people that a product is exceptional.  It’s being exceptional and allowing people to recognize that.  That doesn’t take place with marketing or PR… that takes place from within operations and management. Run a business well.. *then* hand it to marketers.  They might begrudgingly thank you that you just made their job easier.  More and more I see marketers admit with defeat that the message is no longer controllable…. and many don’t have a clue what’s going on.

But don’t worry marketer, most of the industry and business world is that way.  That’s what happens when consumers gain control for the first time in history.

I had been chatting with the guys at Market Metrix a couple months ago about the necessity of using their solid metrics with social media.  Of course, I didn’t know they were already up to something….  I am very interested to see what has been developed, and feel this may turn into a very useful monitoring tool that will monitor trends, issues, etc… highlighting what you are doing right, what you are doing wrong, and gathering the advice in a way that makes it better measured, and more organized.  Please to see this everyone!  Looking forward to it!

Coming soon: powerful review monitoring tools

TripAdvisor has teamed up with Market Metrix to offer you Review Metrix, a tool to help you analyze customer reviews. Review Metrix will score your reviews and compare your results to benchmarks to determine which reviews require immediate action. Look for Review Metrix later this summer.

Spot on and completely hilarious, I am sure many of you have felt this frustration. Apparently, everything is negotiable nowadays, eh? This makes it nice and ridiculous, for easy lunch time digesting.

Once again, I got carried away with a response to a blog post, and decided to expound on it.  I am sure this counts as real business right?

Newsweek’s Budget Travel has a great article about TripAdvisor trying to deal with the long coming revelation that many of their users and reviews are not legitimate.  This is, frankly, a huge blow to the site, and should pose a happy problem in it’s early adolescence as they deal with all the changes that come along with growing into adulthood.  Frankly, I am thrilled that this may provoke User Generated Content sites to seek the same verification model other sites have.

At any rate, this is vital to all of us, and it recalls some of my previous post (which I seem to mention once or twice):

You know I am skeptical of social media, whether speaking of Facebook’s lack of meaningful interaction, or Flickr’s nebulous TOS.  In general, I have had major concerns since my yelp research project, and resulting thoughts on ethics in social media. I had even mentioned in January that Yelp should consider verification processes.

One scotch fueled evening my jocular side protruded a wee bit and I became a prankster. To be honest it wasn’t to learn the lesson I did, rather just good fun.  I speak of the Ryan Air Twitter spoof of mine, which got considerable attention in traditional media (namely because Ryan Air claimed @ryanaironline was their account).  It  helped me realize that there is a grave concern for brands and trademarks, and both the businesses & social media sites should have a vested interest in a verification process of brands.  There is a serious risk of hijacking and damaging people and businesses, with inauthentic people (or dim ones not realizing pranks and social media can go viral) damaging a brands reputation.

Social Media is young. FB beat out myspace because it is better at replicating and verifying the real world (although it can’t actually do anything more meaningful than provide a wonderful marketing data gathering opportunity for FB, coupled with a nice phonebook)… but it was verifying that the person was the *reality* based person, which quickly attracted people to it. If you aren’t relevant to any networks, or aren’t genuine… you quickly become invisible.

As user generated review sites follow a similar path, these things will stabilize. It is very young, and still in the myspace period of fake profiles and people… but as twitter adds verification services & FB starts considering verification due to trademark infringement issues with it’s new URL program: , it will be obvious for User Generated Content Sites to authenticate, across the board. I am not sure if open ID and attaching accounts to mobile phones is the simplest way, but if something doesn’t happen quick the sites will implode through sacrificing the only thing that makes their business model feasible.  I am sure Tripadvisor has seen the start of accounts closing due to the breach in ethics.

We will wait until services like Yelp and TripAdvisor grow into the awareness of what they have created.  People sardonically jest “the internet is serious business” when it comes to this sort of stuff.  But it is.  It isn’t just 2.0.  It’s a massively powerful tool that completely reorients the consumer model, putting control into the hands of the people, and out of marketing and PR companies, possibly for the first time in capitalism’s history. The message can no longer be managed, and PR doesn’t work the same way anymore. You are only as strong as the advocates and endorsers that believe in your brand. Ethics is paramount.

The only way for these sites to continue their validity is by echoing the sentiment of their own taglines: Tripadvisor’s “get the truth… and go”, or Yelp’s “real reviews, real people”.  If they commit to intelligently policing their own site by being completely transparent, authentic, accountable, and earnest, they should be able to emerge better than before.. They might need to take a huge dip in registered users, as well as delete a lot of existing content. This open and honest method of dealing with this situation will undoubtedly sacrifice trust in the short term, but it is the only way for a social media site to maintain the trust that they leverage for business.

It will hurt… but this is an opportunity for them to re-organize into a leaner and more valid site than ever before. Most people saw this coming. Let’s hope it isn’t something they try to spin away or ignore… instead of doing what is right and being honest, while doing everything they can to curb the problem.

I admit concern about the idea of having to hire non-revenue generating staff to handle the massive clean up project, and the fact the money simply might not be there to handle it.  However, it is obvious they are quickly responding, like April Robb from Tripadvisor commenting to Christopher Elliott. I do like the warnings they put on some hotels, but it could be markedly arbitrary?

We’ll have to see.

Not sure what age social media is at right now, but it is certainly hitting a painful growth spurt.

I was ranting and raving about not being able to keep structure or organization with social media, so I took some time to find some useful programs to help me out.   Well…. this is pretty cut and dry:    A quick, succinct post for you to be made aware of (and yet another onslaught from) useful social media tools.  Social Media is simply a tool in itself… so they are tools for tools.  With some of my friends’ more sophomoric moments of wit… they might suggest including myself would make it a third tool.  =)

A list of 10 tools that you might know of, or might not.  As many of these lists go you will likely act as I do…. Stoic, dismissive, and blase…  I will find myself say, “I know all these already,” ……. and then my eyes humble me by finding an exciting new gem.

1) I am very pleased with Google Voice.  The sheer amount of functionality is not only superb… but it is useful without being daunting.  I do not know if this is public yet, but if you forgot about your own Grand Central account… go ahead and log in, because that is what Google Voice was built on.  Basically, among other things, the real timer saver is voicemail messages that can be both emailed or texted to your phone, and they provide transcripts that are voice to text.  Need to hear the 14th our of 22 voicemails IMMEDIATELY?  Never wait again.  Hell.. just read it.

2)  Flock browser, which I extolled here.  It integrates Digg, Flickr, FB, Youtube, Twitter, Myspace and more into a convenient sidebar… if you like a pic or article,  auto-upload from your sidebar without leaving the webpage.  It has an RSS reader that killed Google reader for me… it has a media bar that is insanely simple to use for download/upload, and I can post blog posts on the fly.  It has saved so much time I cannot even tell you…. it also remembers all accounts, I.E. 6 gmail accounts, 5 flickr, 6 youtube, 3 blog accounts, 2 FB, etc.  Incredible time saving tools there.

3)  As for the managing of multi-twitter accounts, I like twhirl.  I know there are other options, and I am all ears, but for now this provides a simple way to post relevant articles or have conversation thoughout the day from a desktop dashboard environment of multiple accounts.  When they are all grouped, I lose my mind, so I like seperate streams.

4) As for managing twitter accounts, try out TWEEPULAR. Easy bulk follow, bulk unfollow, and more.  Very cool.

Okay so I am really frustrated.  Well… that’s dramatic.  I am more confused, and too busy to gesticulate in the air and ask this question to the windows and fluttering leaves outside my office…. what in the hell is the point of Facebook for a hotel brand anyway??  I think a lot of people are using the Pareto Principle to organize their time in “doing” social media, as suggested earlier last week *here*.  I was going to try and find all the examples I have run into in the last year, but instead offer into evidence exhibit “B” – that time management is a very impacting conversation mentioned over and over because we are so dang busy and REALLY want to figure out what is important, and what isn’t.  So what’s important about Facebook?  Frankly, I am starting to lose my enthusiasm, especially since the stream change I reference right *HERE*.

Whether “Hotel Pages on Facebook” work isn’t a cut and dry question to say the least…. whether they are useful, or whether they are actually hotels to begin with is where we can start.  For example, if you search “Hotel” on Facebook, then filter so that only “pages” appear, the first 3 pages of over 500 results does have a hotel or two, but the majority of pages are for a band, or a page devoted to hating said band, or one of 15+ (I stopped count around 13) of Facebook Pages for the wonderful, if not somewhat antiquated, “HOTEL” board game.  Sure I enjoyed the game too, as you fair readers are just reminded of how much fun it was when you last played.

But this is no longer kid’s play.  This is business… and I want to make sure we are not wasting our time.

Two Important Questions, the latter being more impacting: “WHAT HOTELS ARE USING THEIR FACEBOOK PAGES THE BEST???”… and then the *really* important question….”THOSE HOTELS USING THEIR PAGES THE BEST… *what* *is* *the* *benefit*?”

Basically.. I would love to hear the positive, happy Facebook stories about hotels with groups or pages?  I am at a loss for any real examples of how it is “business”, or can be used effectively.  Like… none.  I know we have to be on FB… there has to be a presence.  But what am I missing guys?  I note this has come up recently, like *HERE*… but there hasn’t been much follow up.

I see people on hotel pages saying “I love your brand/hotel”.  I have also seen people upload a picture here or there.  But I *do not* see anything deeply meaningful or anything really happening (IE commerce, business, or jumps to booking engines, etc).  I know that the restaurants and especially lounges seem to like to use it as a place to update events, etc…. but most of the fans on a page would be previous guests, presumably not locals?  I have always thought hotels should ingratiate itself to the community, but there are only so many events and specials that you can target the community with, as they aren’t going to always be your strongest base or the people the pay the bills.  For brand image you need them happy, but they aren’t your guests.  What’s more, if you do constantly focus on locals… you are missing out on the bread and butter, which is rooms.  It is complex… is the page for a local clientele, for potential guests, for past guests that are part of your culture?  All 3? It’s almost like Hotels focus on the locals not because they *want* to.. but becuase, by default, they *have* to… as they don’t know how to reach others.

I for one haven’t the foggiest how you would get a potential guest to your facebook page, and what’s much, *MUCH* more important… is why?  Why would I want to get a guest to a page without much information, meaningful content, or a booking engine?  Isn’t the potential guest someone we want to end up on our hotel site?  Even the SEO premise is interesting, but if people aren’t searching or using FB to find brands, what’s the point of getting them to your page when they can’t do anything?  What’s more, if a FB page is basically a one sided twitter or RSS feed of brand info, wouldn’t you want your potential guest on your branded site instead of a dead-end of non-interactivity?

So what is the page for?  For now I have a couple things:  brand awareness (news, etc), SEO (your link on FB), contact info, (but FB’ers aren’t using pages as a yellow page, nor are they using it as a resource), events, specials.   Let’s look at some hotels and how they successfully use FB:

Hotel Costes – 25,000 fans, zero wall posts, obviously just a “front” or online billboard.  I think this may be the most effective use of a FB page out there.  Just build a nice page, and walk away.  I hate to be cynical, but it might be the simple best page I have seen, albeit a little tongue in cheek.  I will say that “Hotel Costes” is also famous in the younger scene for having downtempo lounge DJ’s playing, and have an associated line of CDs which may be part of its popularity.  Whatever the case, one of the hotel pages with the most fans, and they aren’t doing anything at all.

Hilton – 21,107 fans, with 8 posts on the wall in the last 14 days.  Those posts are the typical “Hilton is the best,i love it”…  meaning relatively benign, fairly non engaged commentary.  They aren’t posting anything, not even RSS.  I have seen some hotels pull back from posting, as the change FB made has wall posts injecting into people’s conversational stream like spam.  Hoteliers are confused how to handle this, and even I have found brand updates annoying as all get out (and I am the type that is meant to be tolerant of them, being my profession and all).

Hotel Aladdin – I love this example, because they are actually interacting with their 10,000+ fans.  You may not speak Spanish, but you can tell they are updating the wall, and people are actually participating.  So what is this meaningful interaction from a hotel doing a good job with their page?  People thumbs up, IE “Like This”, by clicking on the feed post and that’s about it.  Comments are frequent, but I still don’t see business.  People liking you doesn’t necessarily translate into “time well spent”.  They did have a contest where they gave away 3 rooms, which is a great way to garner attentions and fans… but does it make a booking down the road?

St. Julien – Obviously using the page, as they moderated a question I asked about their page.  They had a Earth Day special that got some attention, and some fans.  However… they got fans on the pretense of planting trees.  People joined, they announced 70 trees in those new fans honor.  But what now?  That first post since the event is about 20% off in the spa.  They have 216 fans right now.  Any wagers on whether the amount of fans goes up or down in the immediate future?  I *assume* new fans will tire of spa ads in their stream and de-fan pretty quick.  Whatever the case, are they spending time that generates business or justifies time spent?  Exactly *who* fans pages right now?  Who fanned St. Julien for that promo – people that wanted a tree planted, or people that wanted to know about the hotel?

HotelChatter mentions some more hotels that have pages, and that are potentially doing interesting things:

Whist at Viceroy Santa Monica with 125 fans is basically sending a dinner offer once a week, and nothing more.

High Peaks Resort, frankly, seems to do everything right when it comes to social media.  As much as their stream looks solid, with 300+ fans, I still wonder what sort of commerce or interaction happens…

The Jane, with 52 fans, hasn’t really posted anything *since* the hotel chatter article.  This isn’t indicative of them doing anything wrong, I simply think it is indicative of no one really knowing how to create meaninful conversation on FB.

I could keep coming up with more pages, but these are simply a couple hotels whose pages have already been chatted about in the social media conversation.  I notice most people aren’t doing anything, when they do it is usually a contest to garner more fans (to what end I am not sure anyone knows) or a special on wine at dinner , etc.  All this just lends itself to a couple points:

1) Social Media is about conversation, which is something I see on very few pages.  On FB, it is basically a one way pushing of information.. deals, news articles etc.  If FB had reviews that could be fused into a page, or some “game” like Hyatt developing one of those “what’s your travel personality” quizzes, it might create better interaction… but very few have the time, money, or justification to do anything like that.

2) Social Media is open, which FB is not – meaning that most of the time, on Flickr or Twitter you can actually have a chance of interacting with potential clients, while FB only has those that already know of your property, IE locals looking for a good deal on wine at dinner.  How many people is that for?  What percentage of fans will be local, and will actually utilize that deal?  Who is your target on FB?  Why is that your target?  What are you attempting to achieve with FB?

In the end -I think that question sort of zinged even myself… “What are you attempting to achieve with FB?”

I for one don’t have a clue.  I just know, even worst case scenario, it’s great to have your link out there in a place with a high page rank.  So that is why I am there, even though why I started was totally different… it was to regale guests, interact with them, create stories and remember moments…. but now, I feel relegated to checking it once in awhile, staring blankly, and then moving on.

I think a lot of hotels set up a page, have absolutely *ZERO* idea how to meaningfully interact with potential guests, and resort to offering locals dinner deals in their restaurant, because there isn’t really a way to reach a prospective client on FB (and don’t get me started on their advertising program… because we know that doesn’t work.  No conversion tracking, Lack of results, users not seeking advertising, and the Social Media Ad Model is broken anyway).  You can only reach people that know about you, and that can act on offers, deals, and last minute specials.  These aren’t clients that provide a powerful revenue stream to your hotel, and often, as we have seen with dropping rates to garner occupancy… the people looking for a deal aren’t really the clients you want anyway.

Are we wasting our time?

I did find some other great pages on FB about hotels….Hotel Rwanda, Hotel for Dogs.. and I am reminded people are passive.  They want to watch a trailer, or be told about a brand or product… but consumers on FB don’t necessarily want to interact with the brand yet… nor are many looking to become a vocal endorser and push your hotel page to their friends and network.  Basically, it is just something to click… and a page is something to ignore until it annoys you and you de-fan.  What’s more, you can’t tell consumers about your product if you aren’t able to reach them within the closed network.  It reminds me of Mashable’s comments that “Facebook needs to convince users to SEEK advertising.

Very complex stuff.

Cure my cynicism.  Tell me why I am missing the point, the bus, and target?  How has a FB Page saved your hotel brand, and made things better for you?  I want to hear stories now because I am quickly feeling like a page is nothing more than the 80% not actually causing any real impact.  Time to cull, and focus on the effective 20%…..

Is FB part of that 20% that gives you 80% of results?  Let me know!  Otherwise… I might be encouraging clients to build the page, and simply move on.

Share your experiences and thoughts!