Yet another ambly, rambly post from a caffeine fueled hospitality dork. This is more waxing than anything, and is a state of affairs and insight rather than some exciting insider news. Hopefully, if you actually finish it, it will just make you nod your head and think a bit. This is about how we spend out time…. and however it ebbs, however fast; it’s an issue nowadays.  “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”  Might be easy for Albert Einstein to say that…. but it sort of seems like everything *is* happening at once nowadays.

You know what we do. I know what we do. We goof off all day long online!  <ducking>

Ha ha… I kid I kid! But there are moments I feel a hairsbreadth from snapping, lost and boggled while in the stream… panicked with glazed over and angry eyes just trying to read the matrix. Then a client calls and wants me to explain what I am doing?  Yeah right… like I have to answer to them (tongue firmly in cheek).

So we social media people do a couple things. Of those things, I think we mainly get overwhelmed with the depressing fact that, of the 100% of things we see, only a small percentage of the data is relevant.  Beyond the natural conversation, CRM, and carrying a torch for your brand…. I think most of us start our mornings by filtering content, right?  And … OH!… so much content!

Sometimes during this process, I come close to forgetting to walk Pavlov, or eat lunch (like today), or take a break… or look up.  Sometimes when I do look up, it’s 9pm.  Frankly, I *have* started to get a unique balance of work/life between all these influences, something especially complex in that so many of these social media platforms cross back and forth from the personal world to the professional realm.  It isn’t easy to balance, but I think we are all getting there. This isn’t about work/life balance however, but if you have any good tricks let me hear them!

Honestly, some of my aforementioned dementia is rollicking good hyperbole, but I *KNOW* you are aware of what I am speaking about.  I am a hotelier at heart and in practice, but now I am part of this league of social media people with some very peculiar problems.  As for this chaotic side to our job that is less about conversation and more about keywords – what would we like to call it?  Content management?  Data filtering?  I know we have to have google alerts, rss’, twitter searches, flicker searches, and an endless amount of other minutia.  I am not sure how much of my day is spent *working* versus *filtering*.  What’s more, unless you are deft with boolean logic, the sheer volume of stuff that comes our way into readers, email reminders, and feeds is insurmountable.  More and more I find I am choosing my battles, and scarily deleting whole streams of keywords that just don’t feel relevant enough vs. the amount of time I would need to comprehend all of them.

The frustrating thing is that a monkey (or bright lemur) could perform a decent chunk of this.  There are great solutions for these time and data management issues, such as Radian6, but they provide a whole new level of work and have a price point some of us cannot justify. So, many of us our relegated to doing our own work… HEY NO FAIR!

The problem with the amount of time consumed by this is that it keeps us from the real conversation and CRM duties we are being paid to accomplish. For proper yelp and tripadvisor responses, or the courting of potential clients on twitter, you need a fairly robust intellect bolstered by a grasp of how to inject professionalism, personality, and passion into your interactions, coupled with the tactful skill of being deferential *and* confident?  That stuff isn’t easy…. but then these same people are sitting and filtering keywords and conversations for relevancy…. A mind numbing task that a smart 6 year old could do for you. It isn’t a bad idea really… I think they work real cheap.

Whenever I get somewhat insecure or OCD-tweeked with the robotic like filtering of keywords, data, images, and the basic conversation… I just remind myself that someone has to do it.  It is sort of like a B-52 bomber right?  The guys up top had a job to do navigating and bombing, while us little brand watchers in the belly of the plane have to survey the landscape…. watch what’s going on… and shoot when necessary (The coffee this morn was so strong it beat up that weak analogy).

Basically what I am saying is that it is part of a larger picture, and is basically moot. For our purposes, it is just a daunting necessity…. And part of our world. In fact, I see that it is getting its hooks into me… a casual 2 minute weekend web search for dinner reservations or a movie showtime can turn into an exhausting foray into my new drug. While my fiancée readies for our evening excursion, I am sneaking about like some philanderer, furtively injecting my head with this addiction via rss feeds and alerts. As she emerges from our bedroom I scurry away from the computer for fear of getting caught dosing myself and basking in the dimly lit glow of my screen. “But someone might be mentioning the brand!” I think to myself. I realize that social media’s speed *DOES* mean that you need to be on top of it, and join in the conversation as soon as it happens - But there is a limit.

This *huge* aspect of our job is tantamount to trying to beat the internet. Just a friendly reminder that isn’t possible. So what’s the point here? Why the complaining if there is nothing to be done about it??

The issue is the client.

Not only do clients not always “get” social media (that is why they have hired you), but they also may have sneaking suspicions about how much work you are doing versus playing. All the boomers like to talk about “productivity in the workplace dropping”, but if the old days of business were anything like “Mad Men” I think a little playing online during the day is just fine, compared to being drunk on scotch at half past ten (sounds lovely, to be sure).

In the end, this all may be born of my insecurities. I admit I have some concerns with relating the work we do for clients, and resolving the best way to inform them of it. I have spoken about Social Media ROI and getting over it, but I saw a very sanguine and concise point in a blog comment recently: “I know it’s hard, but this is business and it just isn’t right that we can’t measure it”. It’s true. It’s business. It needs to be measured. I think we will get some level of measurement someday, but it’s still evolving. For now, I still think the ROI is the “return on ignoring” social media…. But it still doesn’t make it okay that we can’t get a grip on it.

My clients are happy whether or not they “get” social media, because the end result has been more bookings, better brand image, and people talking about them. Therefore, they are incredibly trusting and supportive, even in relation to the above issues. We social media people need a lot of room, and a long leash, so we can really dig in and gets are hands dirty. But many of my clients don’t understand some core aspects of what we do… namely the amount of time we spend just *getting* to the conversation. Sometimes the important conversations aren’t that apparent, or don’t just come to you via your facebook page. What’s more, I am concerned about measurement for *me*, and not just my clients. This, again, is about time management. At the end of the week, or month, I would love a way to hand over all my work in the form of a single document, spreadsheet, etc, as compared to the lengthy phone calls I need to have. When clients don’t understand social media, and you start showing it to them in the form of work accomplished (building a twitter account and participating, or commenting on a blog, etc)… it may just go over their head. I have seen a number of shrugged shoulders and a “well you have obviously done something….”. I know it is our job to get across what we are doing, but most of what I am doing now is showing them the actual conversation and chatting about it at length… let’s look at twitter, then flickr, then youtube, then…. Aaaaaaaaaaand my day is over and once again I haven’t gotten to any real work. Ha. There’s the rub. Forget sleeping or dreaming (for the Shakespear fans)

All of this is more consumption of time (yes… same as this post too), and it just adds to the dilemma of actually getting work done when you are simply filtering data on the front end, and trying to explain the work you did on the back end. Informing your clients about your work is vital, and if *ANYONE* has ingenious thoughts or methods of efficiently and succinctly relating your social media campaigns to your clients.. I would love to hear them.

Until then, don’t try to beat the internet. Not only is that impossible, but if you literally do it your laptop will be busted into smithereens, and your router will be in shambles. =) Time for lunch at 2pm!

I had posted this link before.  I think it is interesting that an inert marketing piece on how to deal with online CRM issues garnered responses that were relatively off topic (not about responding) by focusing on how much these 3 innkeepers dislike Trip Advisor.

I think of the situation where an innkeeper is angry, confused, and beleagured by these reviews, feeling zero recourse, searching the web for a chance to connect, lash out, or vent steam.  They find this helpful little blog and whammo… unleash their frustration against trip advisor.  I know it is a small sampling, and I know it is errant linking to a source that is “internet-y” at best.

But I cannot help but think many other innkeepers are frustrated or confounded by the inaccessibility or lack of connection they have with customers.

Someone on that blog said Trip Advisor does more harm than good.  Of course, that was spoken by an angry owner… so we recognize their humble opinion.  But I do think there are some fundemental flaws with Trip Advisor, to the point of being long term killers.

1) There is no way to verify the reviewer’s content as being true.  In fact, without getting myself in trouble, I can guarantee a couple of reviews to be fake.  There is zero oversight or process of veracity for these things.

2)  Ownership, management group, or property level employees understand part of the client population are disturbed, OCD, or any number of different traumatic offerings.  Hotels are public buildings, and they draw every sort of client: from domestic violence victims, suicide attempts, illicit affairs, dementia victims, medical conditions, etc.  Not saying this is a large part of the client base, but they exist.  The point is that emotional, fallible humans are the clients, and humans are sometimes impossible beasts.

We have all encountered the guests that were unwinnable, miserable, and downright bitter.  Sometimes, when you take into consideration all the emotional, mental, or physical conditions people can have, a hotel will not be able to please everyone, let alone accomodate them.

3) The real clincher:  It is in the best interests of the property manager or owner to have happy guests.  Hell, it is in the interest of the ownership to have great management, so the employees are genuinely happy.  That all goes back to the guest experience and bolsters the property’s brand image.

IE:  It is absolutely in the self interest of the hotel to be responsive and reactive to guest issues, complaints, and needs. I am not sure of the hotel that prides itself on arrogant non communication and total lack of willingness to listen to guests… but they won’t need Trip Advisor to help them shut down.  So what’s it good for then?

TripAdvisor negates the ability for the ownership to react on behalf of the property in lieu of a negative review.  It actually encourages ranting and raving rather than limits it.  The only ownership presence is a rather caddy, argumentative, and defensive arena of countering reviews (rather than being able to respond directly to reviewers).

In the end, I am starting to see deeply problematic Trip Advisor flaws; from lack of ownership accessibility who desire communication and positive brand building, to counter-intuitive response management theory.  The hotel not only wants a happy guest, they want a chance to resolve the situation as it happens.

Which brings me to my grudge:  What sort of human being takes time to drag a brand through the mud in revenge, retalitation or retribution?  Wouldn’t one prefer to be a happier person and acheive resolution as an issue happens, than wait for it to end and deal with it after nothing can be resolved?

The answer is no…. no they don’t.  Often, these are simply unhappy people, that feel locked into their mundane lives… feel powerfless and out of control.

They are miserable people, and nothing will change that.  If they were interested in less misery, they would deal with the issue at the time of the problem.

But not these people.  They want misery.  They court and hone it.  In fact, they are just waiting, from the moment of check in…. to get home and ease their meanigless existence with a joyful moment of glorious power…. as they click that single bubble on their …online… hotel…. review.

Maddening isn’t it?  And no recourse for ownership.  There needs to be a mediator or at least someone to approach.  I know most TA reviewers are kind people, just like every hotel owner isn’t a perfect guest loving altruist.

But most hotel owners want happy guests, and would like to be able to effectively resolve the situation as it happens.  It is my assumption that many of these negative one time or multiple negative reviewers are just those kind of people, and if it wasn’t your hotel it would be some other property.

So then…. how does a passive TA reader of reviews filter these shill or unfairly negative reviews?  And how to owners reach the guest individually without seeming defensive or rude?

These are some of the problems.  I could, obviously, ramble about these forever.  I will take the advice of my wall clock and realize it’s late.  =)

I think it is obvious to respond and interact with guests on yelp. In fact, I think it is a valuable tool. Beyond dealing with unhappy clients, managing that as well as learning from them… you are allowed to connect with endorsers of your brand… thrilled clients that will help you spread the news about your message.

It is fantastic.

But I am still confused about tripadvisor, and how one might proceed most efficaciously. If I am completely mistaken, I will find out by being helped/schooled/*learned* in this public setting….

If I am not mistaken, instead of a direct correspondence with your previous guest you are actually just posting a public response. It seems dangerous, and could be useful, but feels more like a double edged sword.

I am sure I am missing something, but I would love other people’s thoughts on how to handle your hotel brand within tripadvisor as opposed to something like Yelp.

post here, or simply email me at michael@hrabaconsulting.com

Initially, very few businesses took advantage of yelp. Then came the terror and panic…. Business owners realizing it was a force, almost a lobby, that they needed to address, which led to an amazing moment in yelp history of business owners lashing out and acting like defensive bullied playground kids. Then things starting calming down a bit. This is the point we rest at… a moment when more and more hotel (business) owners are becoming involved, not because they are worried about customer perception… but because they realize the tool this is, in a violently upset world of dying print media and traditional marketing tactics going awry. Finally, in a world where we are moving further apart and less connected to our clients…. We have a direct and professional way to approach them.

Yelp has gotten me to the point of actually knowing our clients. It has been enjoyable finding out about their families, preferences, suggestions, and complaints. Yelp has helped me to humanize my client base. And because of this…. The angriest yelpers became some of our most branded and loyal customers because we showed that we were engaged, earnest, and interested in improving our relationship, service, and brand.

So Jim wanted a simple testimonial, and I blather on. But the ROI is never easy, and we need a new way to measure things. However, I can speak plainly of unhappy guests that have returned on a comp night from the hotel, that happily spent incremental revenue (outlet revenue like spa or restaurant). I can also speak of positive reviewers that have been given discounted rates and have returned, already branded, to enjoy our hotel yet again, and we await yet another update. What some of you at yelp might not have realized is how much of this is branding… that you are reinforcing your brand as they write a review…. But if the identify with the review they are tapping out because they hold the company/hotel/etc in high esteem…. That review they type out is literally reinforcing the brand as they type it.

Yelp is much more important than a review site. It is on the threshold of being the epicenter of the “new” marketing model. It is no longer about shoving adverts down the throats of consumers who want nothing to do with you. It is time to recognize we can not only talk to branded consumers thirsty for information…. But we can find depth and meaning in the relationships between clients / guests and create a new approach to business that not only has demonstrable ROI, but is a more human, interested, and excited approach to knowing your client base.