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Archive for 2010

Crafting High-Performing Promos for Email and Social Media Channels

Friday, July 30th, 2010

You’ve got your OTA offers out, your auction site offers, your email offers and now your Twitter and Facebook offers. Do you know what promotions are returning the best bang for your buck? Chances are if you are offering the same thing through all the different channels you aren’t targeting users enough and could be missing out on revenue and engagement opportunities.

If the saying that no two guests are alike is true, then it also rings true that no two marketing channels are alike – especially when it comes to social media and email. The good news is that there can be overlap.

According to a recent ExactTarget report shared with eMarketer, while email subscribers still make up a majority of engaged followers, there is actually a little overlap in email, Twitter and Facebook fans. This highly-engaged four percent of users are every marketers dream, but how do you increase that number for your brand and continue to keep fans of individual channels happy? Get back to the basics, know your audience and diversify your offers.

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Get More out of TripAdvisor

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Last month TripAdvisor launched yet another feature that is sure to broaden hotel exposure – Trip Friends, an interface that ties into Facebook. Now travelers can tap into their network of friends and see a list of who has been to that location. In addition, they can direct message those friends or post a message to a group of friends – taking the search for helpful travel info a step past reviews from strangers to first hand experiences from trusted contacts.

This foray into more focused social media isn’t the only new feature TripAdvisor has launched recently that could aid properties. The new business listings are streamlined way for hotels to list direct booking info that wasn’t previously available. This is not a free service of course, but for a fee your property can have increased visibility with a phone number, URL and email address – all valuable info for travelers and even more valuable to those looking to channel online bookers directly. (more…)

Get Personal with Your Email List

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

You have a solid list of email contacts that you’ve built up over years, but do you have any other information about the recipients besides their email address? Did they travel with kids, on business, for a particular conference or on a romance package? All of these little details can help you improve your email marketing results and your relationships with your guests. Today’s tech-savvy travelers are used to personalized, targeted messaging and they are expecting you to deliver the same level of service to their inboxes.

A recent e-Dialog survey of US and UK internet users revealed that email recipients are interested in emails that show the company’s knowledge of their likes, dislikes and if they were a returning customer or not. (more…)

Social Media Education – Your First Line of Defense

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

You’ve toiled tirelessly to work through and gain approval for your hotel’s social media strategy and now it is ready for action. Goals and measurement objectives have been put in place. You have identified team members to monitor your online reputation and set up a procedure to respond to guest comments. The executive team is on board. The sales and marketing teams are ready to participate. Online accounts and profiles have been carefully crafted. But you could be missing one crucial step.  Have you educated your front-of-the-house staff about the impact social media has on your business? (more…)

O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing to Introduce ‘Smartstay’ at HITEC 2010 – Visitors can Enter to Win an Apple iPad

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

(June 2, 2010) O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing will be at HITEC 2010, June 21-24, Orlando, Fla., where they will introduce their one-of-a-kind iPhone app for hotels called Smartstay. Visitors to the O’Rourke Booth (#1234) can also enter to win an Apple iPad.

Smartstay is a new ‘white label’ iPhone app that hotels can customize to represent their own brand. Hotels can easily enter their hotel information, images, videos, and news updates with an easy to use content management system that they can access online. (more…)