SPECIAL REPORT : SOCIAL MEDIA
Roger Smith created a popular viral video of its social media coordinator ’ s dog making his bed .
TRENDING : MARKETING
TRENDING : ENGAGEMENT
INTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA ON MAIN WEBSITES
It takes a certain level of confidence for hotel companies to showcase customers ’ uncensored online reviews on their main websites , but more and more are moving ahead with it .
WHY DO IT : Consumers are going to find reviews on your site online somewhere before booking anyway , and good reviews are excellent marketing tools . “ Bringing their reviews onto the website is very good — it ’ s using social media in the way it ’ s best meant for , letting customers tell your story ,” says Tim Peters , managing director of the hotel e-commerce consultancy Tim Peter & Associates , Long Valley , New Jersey .
WHO IS DOING IT : The US $ 18 million revamp of the main website of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts features reviews on its individual hotels from Facebook , Twitter and TripAdvisor . Other hotel companies have made similar moves . Accor added TripAdvisor reviews to its hotel sites in 2010 . In October 2011 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide launched a feature in the Starwood Preferred Guest area of each of its brands ’ websites allowing loyalty club members to post hotel reviews directly .
VIDEOS
While production can be time-intensive , video ’ s popularity online is prompting hotel companies to shoot short films to reach more Internet users .
Four Seasons is creating video content as wide-ranging as surfing videos from its property in the Maldives to tours of theaters and pubs in Dublin . “ Video views total 280,000 , which is 30 % higher than last year ,” Pizzinato says . “ Typically , we upload a couple videos a week on average .”
Roger Smith posts two to three times a week on YouTube , including links to book at a discounted rate . Topics range from happenings at the hotel to humorous videos of staff members ’ pets . “ On YouTube we ’ re posting videos very regularly ,” Knowles says . “ Viral videos are hard to replicate — there are so many ways to go wrong — but our most-viewed video is of my dog Henry making his own bed .”
GIVEAWAYS
To generate engagement hotel companies are offering radiostyle contests for contestants to enter — one of the requirements is typically following their social media account .
Concorde Hotels & Resorts launched the quiz promotion “ Win A Stay ” in which users take a quiz with the possibility of winning a free hotel stay . “ The new , more viral game platform has resulted in a 30 % increase in fans in one month ,” Houdebine says .
Hilton Worldwide has been using both Facebook and Twitter to give away tickets to big-name events . On January 19 it held the one-day “ Waldorf Astoria Sundance Twitter Giveaway ,” which gave away tickets to the Sundance Film Festival in exchange for contestants tweeting @ WaldorfAstoria to explain why they wanted the tickets . On the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand Facebook fan page , it offered the “ Go To the Grammys ” contest , in which participants had to “ Like ” the fan page and submit a description of a musical adventure they had undertaken . The fan page users as well as the participants ’ friends could vote on the entry , and ultimately a Hilton panel of judges picked a single winner to receive two free tickets to the 2013 Grammy Awards ceremony and official after-party , airfare and three nights at The Beverly Hilton .
28 HOTELS April 2012 www . hotelsmag . com