SPECIAL REPORT : SOCIAL MEDIA
TRENDING : ORGANIZATION
COMPANY :
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL , BETHESDA , MARYLAND
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Its social media campaigns are focused on engagement rather than strict revenue generation .
HOW MANY HIRED : At the corporate level social media posting is part of the job description of a number of personnel , and the company is looking to hire more customer response staff . “ We are working this year on increasing the capacity of our customer care team to provide some standard moderation / response services in order to increase our consistency across all of our hotel social media presences ,” says John Wolf , Marriott ’ s senior director of public relations .
HOW ACTIVE : Corporate team posts at least once a day on Facebook and Twitter .
COMPANY :
CONCORDE HOTELS & RESORTS , PARIS
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Concorde measures its social media ROI in terms of the amount of communications and followers it attains and website traffic referred to its hotels ’ websites .
HOW MANY HIRED : Recently hired a dedicated social media manager at each of its individual properties to handle their Facebook , Twitter and YouTube accounts .
HOW ACTIVE : At the corporate level it ’ s focused on Facebook , where Concorde posts three times per week . It ’ s looking to increase presence on Twitter and Foursquare . “ We are currently trying to be more active on Twitter , especially for hotel events ,” says Françoise Houdebine , vice president of sales and marketing at Concorde .
COMPANY :
REZIDOR HOTEL GROUP , BRUSSELS
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Focused on using social media for interaction with potential hotel guests and increasing bookings . “ We see this as a listening tool , a measurement tool and an extra platform for bookings ,” says Nico Tempelaere , global social media manager at Rezidor .
HOW MANY HIRED : One dedicated employee , Tempelaere , handles most of the posting for the corporate site . Meanwhile , about half of Rezidor ’ s individual hotels have set up their own social media accounts , some using internal staff and some using outside agencies .
HOW ACTIVE : Corporate team posts about five times a week on both Facebook and Twitter .
“ ALL OUR FACEBOOK POSTS AND TWEETS ARE CREATED INTERNALLY BY OUR SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM .”
– Elizabeth Pizzinato , vice president of brand communications , Four Seasons
COMPANY :
HILTON WORLDWIDE , MCLEAN , VIRGINIA
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Says it ’ s looking to define an authentic voice for each brand and turn guests into brand ambassadors while pushing promotions to drive bookings .
HOW MANY HIRED : Members of its public relations staff are dedicated to individual brands . Its flagship brand , Hilton Hotels & Resorts , utilizes an internal team of four plus agency support for posting . Guest assistance specialists handle interaction with users .
HOW ACTIVE : Brands publish posts three to four times a week on Facebook while maintaining continuous conversations on Twitter .
COMPANY :
HYATT HOTELS CORP ., CHICAGO
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Hyatt says it ’ s focused on using social media for engagement and driving revenue with special offers . Direct booking is being developed .
HOW MANY HIRED : Hyatt has a dedicated staff of three working with its various departments and hotels to execute social media activity . Posting is done both by internal staff and outside agencies . The corporate social media staff provides guidelines for its individual hotels that are active on social media .
HOW ACTIVE : The company is active on Facebook , Twitter , YouTube and its corporate blog .
26 HOTELS April 2012 www . hotelsmag . com