GLOBAL UPDATE
Product designer
Yves Behar and fuseproject created a bottle to serve as an icon for the Whole
World Water campaign .
Lee McCabe — Facebook ’ s recently hired head of travel , global vertical marketing — says his mission is to demonstrate that the social network is not just for branding but also can drive hotel bookings .
“ Hotels want something they can measure straightaway for bookings ,” McCabe says . “ We have products for that .”
While speculation that Facebook may leverage its ocean of user data to enter the online travel agency space continues among tech industry experts , the company ’ s current offerings for hotels beyond branding are centered on using that data for targeted advertising .
Custom Audiences allows hotel companies to find customers , prospects and loyalty-club members it would like to engage with targeted ads on Facebook . Offers , Facebook ’ s answer to Groupon , facilitates offering special deals via a hotel ’ s
‘ LIKE ’ THIS
Lee McCabe
Facebook page . Mobile App Install puts ads on Facebook ’ s mobile app Timeline , while Facebook Exchange allows targeted advertising based on users ’ browsing history .
In the early stages are Graph Search , which allows even narrower targeting of users based on information they have posted , and the location-based search Nearby , which can benefit hotels with active Facebook pages .
For branding , McCabe asserts that hotels should avoid the common practice of using sweepstakes to build a follower base .
“ With sweepstakes , you end up with fans that are not relevant to you and with no affinity . They have no plans to transact with you — that is not the way to do it ,” McCabe says . “ Focus on your customers first . Using something like Custom Audience , you end up with an army of brand advocates that share your posts .”
DELIVERING WATER WORLDWIDE
A new social enterprise is challenging hotels to change the way they think about a critical resource many people take for granted : water . Whole World Water encourages hotels , spas and restaurants to filter , bottle and sell their own water and contribute 10 % of the proceeds to the Whole World Water Fund , which benefits clean and safe water programs worldwide . Members — which include Six Senses Resorts and Spas , Virgin Hotels and Soneva Resorts , Residences and Spas — also pay a US $ 1,000-per-property annual membership fee to fund a multimedia marketing campaign for the program . A major goal is to raise US $ 1 billion for global water programs by the initiative ’ s second year .
“ Since the industry launch in mid-January , the response from the hotel industry has been incredible ,” says Karena Albers , co-founder of Whole World Water . “ The beauty of this campaign is that it proves a simple change can have a huge impact . Our vision is that this one small step will lead hotels , restaurants and spas to examine their operations holistically and come up with other creative solutions on a path to operating better for a better world .”
12 HOTELS April 2013 www . hotelsmag . com