Recently, The Ritz-Carlton introduced World Concierge on Foursquare as a way to extend their brand to a mobile audience. I talked with The Ritz-Carlton team to understand the purpose and process involved.

What The Ritz-Carlton was trying to accomplish

The goal was to accomplish what The Ritz-Carlton staff does on a daily basis with new audiences: To further connecting with existing guests and new consumers. The concierge team at Ritz-Carlton properties are some of the best in the business, bringing exceptional knowledge of their local areas. Given the adoption rate and availability of location-based services, they saw this channel as the perfect way to share their internal knowledge with the world. Travelers would be able to “carry the collective wisdom of The Ritz-Carlton staff in their pockets.”

What they built

Their project was a simple concept: taking internal knowledge and making available it outside four walls of hotels. The team collected the knowledge and the tips from concierges at each property, and collected it all into central account. The goal of building this database was not to be a one-time effort, but rather an ongoing process. The campaign launched with specific tips, but each week new tips are added.

They got the whole team to contribute through close collaboration between the agency, brand, and staff at each property. There are 76 Ritz-Carlton locations around the world – representing a huge infrastructure of knowledge – so it was just a matter of collecting this and putting it online. Acquire raw knowledge and putting appropriate form for the channel (a location-based service in this case).

Travelers have two ways to access this information. The first is to follow The Ritz-Carlton on Foursquare, where you can see every new tip that is published. The other way is through traditional check ins. The program was designed to not be exclusively about The Ritz-Carlton, and you don’t have to be a guest to engage with the brand. For example, if you are at the Red Square in Moscow, you might see tip or something special about the neighborhood. Promotional messages are not the priority.

Initial results

The Ritz-Carlton initially had 300 Foursquare followers on the launch of this project, but now this number has risen to over 1,300. Initial press reception from social media world was impressive: Mashable, Gadling, and many other publications covered the launch. There was a strong response from travel professionals massive response on Twitter.

The Ritz-Carlton team is still analyzing internal performance numbers, and it will be interesting to see the full business impact over months ahead. As more and more people use location-based services as they travel, this could be a strong opportunity to connect with travelers, raise brand awareness, and drive revenue growth.

In the past 2 years, Indigo Pearl Resort witnessed a clear shift in its market mix: Growing from a heavy reliance on tour operators to direct bookings and online channels. Micheal Nurbatlain and the team at Indigo Pearl led this growth by developing a presence in a variety of channels, with Facebook emerging as one of the biggest successes. In just one year, Michael grew the resort’s Facebook fan page to more than 8,000 followers. This case study shares the lessons learned from this process.

First, a little background

The Indigo Pearl Resort is an independent, luxury design property located in Phuket, Thailand.  Michael joined the resort as a sales manager, but this role quickly expanded to include managing digital marketing, e-commerce, and social media.

While Michael is running a number of interesting projects right now, we decided to focus on his work in Facebook for this case study . “While Twitter is beginning to gain popularity here in Asia, Facebook has nearly complete market adoption with our customers.”

Indigo Pearl Resort’s Facebook page

The Facebook page for Indigo Pearl Resort uses a mix of custom design and standard pages. Note the little details in how they engage with their fans:

But what really makes their Facebook presence stand out is their approach to special promotions.

Facebook contests: the key to growth

“Last September we wanted to give something to our Facebook fans,” said Michael. At the time, they had about 3,000 fans, and decided to create a photo contest around what symbolizes Indigo Pearl.

Fans were asked to post pictures, and then vote on their favorites. But Facebook contacted them, saying the contest setup violated terms and conditions. This forced them to setup an independent voting scheme allowing their fans to vote, which worked even better in the end. The contest generated great interaction among existing fans, strengthening their online community. Additionally, the contest generated a couple of hundred of new fans – which was a considered a great success at that time.

Latest Facebook contest: Ultimate holiday package

This year’s idea was to setup a new system. Rather than just asking fans to submit pictures, they wanted to add another layer of involvement. Michael and Indigo Pearl Resort asked fans to design their dream 3-day holiday package. What would they like to do in Puket? They were not very strict with the guidelines, so that if someone wrote some poetry about the perfect holiday – for example – it was still accepted as an entry.

“I imagined Mercedes running a promotion around designing your dream car. Although I’m a big fan of cars, I wouldn’t know what horsepower to put in or the details of the engine. While our guests travel a lot, they are not hoteliers, so it would be somewhat difficult for them to come up with a breakdown package of all the amenities – so we left it very open.”

They didn’t buy any Facebook ads or spend much time promoting the contest. Micheal worked a bit with the local media to get mentioned on their websites, and sent out some tweets to promote it. But no other PR or press releases – everything was done though Facebook.

“Within days we had 10-15 entries, and then we started to get a snowball effect from there.” They asked fans to send in their pictures, screened them, and placed the photos in the album called “Ultimate Family Package.” Once the photo was approved, the contest participants could ask their friends and family to vote on their entry.

This is what created a viral marketing effect for the resort – one photo had over 1,000 likes. “It surpassed our expectations and we could hardly believe it!”

Lessons learned from the contests

It’s all about planning. “Have a solid plan when it comes to Facebook, and create an editorial calendar. Be very strict about creating and following deadlines.” Too many people just wake up in the morning and try to create content on the fly.  “If there is no solid plan for 3-12 months, it’s difficult to consistently deliver good quality results.”

Always respond and interact with your online community. Don’t get arrogant and forget to thank fans. “I think you should thank every single person who contributes to your Facebook page or Twitter account – whether than have 5 friends or 5,000 followers. Each fan is an immense asset to your community.”

Have more than one prize. Last year the prize was a 7-night stay in a suite. “But if one guy in the contest has 1,000 votes for his entry, other people could be discouraged from participating.” This year, having two good prizes encouraged more people to enter the contest.

An “economy of photos” and additional thoughts

• Photos are the lifeblood of Facebook. As Guy Kawasaki says, Facebook is a pictures economy. “Often I just put a picture of our sunset or property, and it gets me a few hundred Likes and 30-50 comments. A few times I’ve spent hours creating a huge post, and it doesn’t get nearly the same levels of feedback as that beach picture gets. Sometimes the easy route gets the best results.”
• Avoid constantly bombarding fans with Facebook promotions. For every 20 posts, put only one promotional post if you must include sales messages.
• “Instead, develop the art of soft selling. Create and share images, experiences, smells, and tastes that represent your brand.”
• Act as an online concierge on Facebook and Twitter, helping people by providing answers and suggestions.
• Try to reflect the hotel’s personality without being too flamboyant. There has to be class, but presented in a very accessible way.

Thank you, Michael!

Become a fan of Indigo Pearl Resort on Facebook, follow @_IndigoPearl_ on Twitter, and connect with Michael on LinkedIn here.

This week, Josiah and I discussed the best ways to promote a hotel’s eco-initiatives and exceptional service with Chris Syvertsen, General Manager of Mosaic House – the first hotel in the Czech Republic to use 100% renewable electricity and 100% biogas. Planning an eco-overhaul of your own? Focus on these eight strategies:

1. Skeptics are (rightfully) wary of properties that appear to be “greenwashing.” Stick to specific, meaningful improvements. Guests can tell the difference.

Chris: For Mosaic House, it’s relatively easy to promote our property authentically. The eco-initiatives we have incorporated are industry-leading and complex, making it easy to distinguish our efforts from those who have merely “greenwashed.”

We have a sophisticated water recycling system with heat recuperation, which is only the second of its kind in the world. This system recycles all the waste (or grey) water from showers and sinks using an eco-friendly bacterial filtration process, and then sends the recycled water to all of the toilets in the building.

The water savings is tremendous. The system simultaneously recaptures the heat energy from the warm waste water, and then uses it to pre-warm the fresh water used for showering. The heating of the fresh shower water is also aided by the solar panels on the roof of Mosaic House.

2. Strive to become the best property in your niche.

Chris: We are the only hotel in the Czech Republic to utilize 100% renewable-source
electricity and 100% biogas, making our energy consumption 100% sustainable.

Further, we have a sophisticated climate management system which continuously
monitors and adjusts the temperature in every room, based on numerous variables, in
an effort to minimize energy use.

3. Don’t think you need to be “traditional” to appeal to a wide variety of guests.

Chris: We’ve never been the ‘traditional’ type. Between us, we find it a little boring. Mosaic House was dreamed to be as a unique environment in which all kinds of people from all different places, cultures, and backgrounds (a ‘mosaic’ of guests, if you will) could come together and share their stories and experiences.

Through offering affordable, design-conscious private and shared room accommodation, we’ve learned it is possible to appeal to a wide variety of guests.

It’s important to point out, however, that it’s a challenging concept to make work successfully. We work hard to create an environment which ensures all of our guest’s experiences are completely satisfactory.

4. Improve your online feedback and reputation by exceeding expectations.

Katie: So far, Mosaic House has earned 97% positive TripAdvisor feedback; it looks like you’re changing a lot of online reviewers’ preconceptions about hostels.

Chris: Our goal was to incorporate the positive elements of what defines a ‘traditional hostel’, namely a relaxed, friendly, and fun environment, while striping out the stereotypical
negative elements (i.e. stale design and cornflake breakfasts) and blending with four-star, environmentally-friendly offerings.

Based on guest feedback, so far the concept seems to be working. For example, in one recent TripAdvisor review, a guest mentioned ‘being pleasantly surprised at the quality of the accommodation and at the ambience’. Another guest review describes Mosaic House as having ‘a modern-yet-classic vibe that’s both hip and relaxed’.

In addition to the atmosphere and design, guests also comment positively on our service, international staff, green features, cleanliness, and breadth of offerings (such as the gourmet breakfast, Prague customized maps provided upon check-in, and daily entertainment at our own Belushi’s Bar & Restaurant).

5. Set the stage for storytelling and engage locals with in-house entertainment and social spaces.

Katie: You mentioned that Mosaic House likes to create experiences that inspire guests and staff to spread news and stories; could you share a couple examples of these stories?

Chris: Yes, we like stories… and providing a stage (figuratively and literally) for their creation. Not only was the space – which is 100% smoke-free – designed to bring guests together, but we also pay focus to our in-house entertainment. Karaoke nights, themed parties (such as Australia Day and St Patrick’s Day), as well as live music on our theatre stage and sports on the big screen, are on for guests (as well as Prague locals) almost any night of the week.

6. Tell stories with photos.

Chris: Take a gander at Mosaic House’s Facebook page to catch a ‘storybook’ glimpse of what’s ensued over the past year, including our Green Gala event early last month; we were celebrating the announcement of our newest green announcements: utilizing 100% green electricity, gas, and our new fully electric car.

7. Think long-term. It’ll take years of research and adaptation to fine-tune your ecological efforts.

Katie: Which of Mosaic’s features make the biggest environmental impact? Which do your guests most appreciate?

Chris: We’ve taken a big step, but we’re certainly not experts. While we do have projections as to the benefits, it will take years before we are able to truly realize the impact of our eco-initiatives. We’re reluctant to offer advice at this stage, except to recommend performing as much research and analysis as is feasible.

In general, guests really appreciate the overall initiative. They admire that we’ve taken such bold steps towards sustainability and actively work towards minimizing our impact on the environment.

They also appreciate the tangible concepts. For example, our electric car, which is plugged into the side of Mosaic House. The low-flow raindance showers are beloved, perhaps as they also have a bit of a luxurious feature.

8. Find creative ways to measure guest satisfaction for specific initiatives.

Chris: We’ve actually just begun a program which will help us measure guests’ true
appreciation. Because the additional cost of using 100% green electricity and gas is
fairly significant (roughly an additional 40,000 Euros annually), we are asking guests to
consider donating their 2 Euro key deposit towards helping Mosaic House to continue
to afford green energy.

Through measuring how much guests donate, we will get a more accurate picture of how willing people are to actively participate in our effort to make a difference. You might consider checking back with us in six months to see how well the program has performed.

Thank you Chris, and a special thanks to Mosaic House’ enthusiastic Experience Manager Shannon Maroney for reaching out to us!

Over the past month I’ve been working with Diego Sartori to understand how the strategy he helped build at citizenM Hotels helped them:

• Increase Facebook followers by over 400% in the past year
• Double Twitter followers in 3 months
• Reach the top of review site rankings like TripAdvisor

…among other accomplishments. In a new case study on the ReviewPro blog, you’ll read interesting insights, such as….

On the traveler of today

“The traveler of today travels in jeans, a cheap t-shirt, an expensive watch, drinks champagne, and takes public transport” – Michael Levie

On involving others in the content creation process

“We invite bloggers to our hotels that share the same lifestyle. And then we ask these people to share something that represents the lifestyle of our brand.”

On creative publishing

“Instead of having a blog, we created a digital magazine to share brand information and curate lifestyle content for everyone.”

On getting guests to share their experiences online

“People only share online if they have a terrible experience or if they have a very good experience. If it’s just ‘okay,’ they see no value in sharing with anyone. But our rooms are very innovative and our concept is very different. We try to always exceed expectations creating a WOW factor that gets guests talking.”

“You have to deliver good service and create clear expectations of what people can expect. This is what encourages more reviews. We get people saying, ‘I usually don’t write a review, but my stay at citizenM was so special because you did this specific thing that made me think WOW.’ So that’s why we always try to set the right expectations, deliver excellent service and then surprise guests with something unique.”

On setting expectations with guests

“We respond and say we created a specific hotel concept that is not for everyone. We are honest with what we offer. Other people will read about our amenities and say, ‘Wow – this is really special!’”

On why they chose ReviewPro

“I started looking for tools, and came across ReviewPro among others. I had demonstrations from many different tools, and ReviewPro was the one that fit our needs best: it is the most complete and has shown more reliability than the others. That’s the reason we started working with ReviewPro. It’s a great product that offers exactly what we need, and has some helpful features like social media tracking, task assignments, and so on.”

I’m fascinated by the citizenM brand on many levels – including their product development, design, service, and approach to social publishing. I think you’ll enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

[Download my full case study at the ReviewPro blog]

In this interview, James Kinney – founder of James Kinney Live – shares how hotels can improve their content strategy and increase social currency through music and live events.

Josiah: Your marketing materials say you created James Kinney Live to “create intimate experiences that successfully communicate the culture and feel of a particular brand.” What does this mean?

James: What I see from a macro standpoint is that brands – if they have a million dollars to spend on marketing, advertising, external communicates – say, “OK. Let’s throw half of it at Google and half at Facebook, and maybe we’ll spend a little bit on mass media i.e. TV, billboards, radio, etc.” But what I’ve found through my research is that people really don’t want to be spoken to that way. People want to be wooed. People want to be romanced by a brand. When that happens, you turn ordinary people into extraordinary advocates.

You can use a shotgun approach out to a million people, but your ROI or your ROE – return on engagement – may only be one to five percent. However, if you make 50,000 true believers, those 50,000 people tell 50,0000 people, and then you’re in a whole new ball-game.

Josiah: Your tag line is “Increasing social currency through music.” What role does music – especially live music and live music events – play in creating these unique brand experiences?

James: Music, as you know, is one of the most powerful mediums that we have in the world, and live music, specifically; there’s a human interaction that exists within live music that is in no other form.

Since we started the Forty Four Live Music Series for Morgans Hotel Group – literally Josiah, every night – we see brand engagement at its finest. We see everything from small children on vacation with their families to businessmen in their 50s and 60s staying an hour or two extra at the Royalton.

Josiah: Do hotels have a unique opportunity to host live music events?

James: Absolutely. Hospitality companies are in an extraordinary position because real estate is king and most established hotel brands have real estate throughout the world. And when you look at the state of the music industry as a whole, it’s lost about half of its revenue. So a lot of amazing talent is looking for a way to market, generate income and gain new fans.

Hotels have an extraordinary opportunity to become mavens of culture, which increases their brand impressions and their bottom line. In the case of the Forty Four Music Series that we have at the Royalton… we’ve had Grammy Award nominees, Grammy Award winners – literally the best in New York City – play right in the lobby of the Royalton and people absolutely have that WOW factor, like, “Wow, I never expected this to be here.” We’ve seen an increase in sales and in their social media and digital assets as well, because the artists are tweeting about the property.

Josiah: How do you match music genres to hotel brands?

James: My content strategy is to first meet with the Director of food and beverage and the Director of nightlife to get a sense of what they think that their brand is and how they want it to be communicated. Then it goes into everything from the cocktails on the menu to the food that’s served, to the actual ambiance of the room.

For example, I know that in Midtown Manhattan, the demographic is very different than it is at Mondrian Soho or at Hudson. The music I program at Royalton is based on how the room feels to me; for instance, if you’re drinking a sazerac or a scotch, that is much more conducive to a warm jazz or soul sound than rock and roll.

Josiah: I get the impression that this is a very holistic experience that’s more than just a marketing play.

James: Oh, absolutely. It has to be; a lot of marketers don’t give people enough credit these days. We’re constantly bombarded with advertising and marketing and what we specialize in is creating an authentic experience. I put myself in the place of some guy who’s been flying for eight hours, just got off the plane, just walked into the hotel, and perhaps his room is not ready and he has to sit in the lobby. What kind of experience is he having at that point?

We try to appease all five senses when a guest walks in. If you can hit at least three of the five, they’re more apt to tell 10 people – or Yelp – about a positive experience.

Regarding food and beverage, we’re there to increase sales. At the Royalton, David Sewell is the Director of food and beverage; we meet weekly to make sure we’re not only increasing food and beverage, but rev par as well. So it is a holistic experience, yes.

Josiah: What steps do hotels have to think through as they’re working with you to launch a series of events?

James: At the project’s inception, I would meet with the President down to the Director of food and beverage. On the marketing side – the CMO of the company down to the Director of Marketing, as well as the hotel’s operational and engineering people.

I want to know from them, “What’s the problem? What are you trying to accomplish here? Are you just trying to put on word class entertainment that people talk about? Are you trying to sell more margaritas between the hours of 5:00 and 8:00? Are you trying to sell more brunch items on Sunday from 10am to 4pm?” Once I identify the problem and what exactly they need moving forward, I design a program that tackles that, specifically.

Josiah: Give us an example. Could you tell us a little bit more about your work with the Morgans Hotel Group?

James: Since November 16th of last year, we have had Sasha Dobson, who did a South American tour with Nora Jones. We’ve had Cedric the Entertainer – one of the largest comedians in the world. We’ve had K.J. Rose, who was on BET’s Music Matters. We’ve had Raphael Saadiq – a multi Grammy award winner who just played with Mick Jagger at the Grammys. This week, we have Jerome Bell, who’s Top 40 on American Idol this season.

On the nights that we program entertainment, we’ve seen a 14 percent increase in sales. In addition to that, our Twitter numbers for @RoyaltonNYC are up 308 percent since we began.

Josiah: A live event almost seems like optimal environment for some social media activity to take place, right?

James: You are absolutely right. Content is key, and there’s this big thing around social media where people go, “Oh, if I tweet that ‘you get 25 percent off of your next drink,’ then I’m going to have a herd of people coming over to my hotel.” As you and I know, that’s not the case. Whether you’re doing music or a movie screening or live dancers or whatever you’re doing, the content itself is how you communicate the property’s brand.

We have so many artists that are on the verge and that are famous coming to the property; when they’re tweeting and they’re taking pictures — “Oh, we’re at Royalton NYC at Morgan’s Hotel,” we’ve automatically increased their content strategy and their social currency and, specifically, their digital assets; all these things are very real in the digital world that we live in. But saying that you have a special on pancakes just doesn’t work anymore.

Josiah: No, absolutely not. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?

James: I’ll just say, it’s a very exciting time right now for hospitality brands; there’s this whole celebrity culture. Look at how the chef world has just blown; the hospitality world and hotels are an extension of that. The brands are quasi-celebrities in their own right. It’s not just a place to stay anymore. It’s a place to do a movie premiere from Sharon Stone. It’s a place to do a concert from John Mayer, and it’s a place to launch a new chef menu from Bobby Flay.

If I had anything to say to hotel brands out there it’s, “Take advantage of this exciting opportunity to be the creators of content.”

Josiah: How can our readers contact you?

James: Anyone interested in branding their properties and making more money should give us a call; they can reach my cellphone 24 hours, seven days a week (817-675-3122), or they can email me at James@JamesKinneyLive.com.

Thanks very much, James!

[Click Here to Download the Full Interview PDF]

(And a big thank you to Katie and Alex for turning a Skype conversation into this story!)

Today, Dave Lemmon shares with us how Redcow Marketing helped The Museum Hotel improve their conversion rate by 100% and achieve a 70% increase in online sales. You can download Dave’s case study in its entirety, below.

The Museum Hotel’s Challenges:

The owner of Wellington NZ’s Museum Hotel – Chris Parkin – wanted…

• More bookings through his hotel’s website, more brand awareness, and more sales.
• To increase his website’s presence and make the most of its visitors.
• To reduce the fees he pays to third party travel sites for bookings, and to encourage guests to book from his website, instead.

Dave suggested they…

• Make better use of the hotel’s booking engine.
• Address usability and testing page enhancements to improve sales.
• Add sales elements on the website to improve the sales funnel, and add new content to the homepage and other vital areas that would enhance engagement.
• Work directly with the hotel’s booking engine provider to improve features.
• Work directly with the reservation staff and manager of the hotel to increase bookings.
• Address the site’s SEO content.
• Redesign the online advertising pay-per-click campaign.

First, they accessed the website’s analytical data to determine how much traffic was coming to the site, what levels of contact were made, what and how many bookings were generated, where people went when they visited, how long they were there, and where they left. All of this information helped to paint a picture of the site’s performance.

Dave reviewed the site for usability issues, friction, and confusion points, then looked for gaps in the website where they could enhance value, and studied the site’s flow of information.

Their major challenge was to make the website more interactive and focused – to get people moving into the booking engine as quickly as possible from the website itself; once there, the likelihood that a booking would be made was very high.

Dave proposed a new layout for the home page, then tried and tested different versions to find which one most effectively raised guests’ engagement levels with the site and booking engine.

The next step was to address the pages that were visited the most – providing feedback to the hotel on what those pages were lacking. They also added new tracking systems to monitor visitors and conversions levels, allowing them to track which parts of the pages people were more interested in, what keyword phrases were bringing in sales and customers, and other valuable information.

Finally, they added clearer navigation to aid the user experience, including new contact forms, maps and directions.

They rolled out these changes over the course of a few months, analyzing and tweaking along the way to enhance the overall package.

Results:

By focusing on both the conversions and the traffic, and creating an alignment between search and usability, business from their online bookings increased – on average – by 20% month-on-month.

[Click Here to Download The Museum Hotel Case Study PDF]

Thanks, Dave!

[Note: This case study was contributed by Fabrice Burtin from Keen - a brand strategy agency based in Bangkok]

The Sukhothai Bangkok has spent 20 years at the pinnacle of the city’s hospitality industry. Its reputation for design and service has led to numerous appearances in travel press “Top Ten” lists, as well as a consistent place at the top of TripAdvisor reviews for Bangkok hotels.

The old website for Sukhothai

The current website was implemented 4 years ago and used a content management system that hotel staff found hard to use. Management felt that while existing, loyal guests were happy to continue using the website, it still needed to generate a larger share of bookings, as well as reflect the new positioning of The Sukhothai brand.

The old site for Sukhothai

The Challenge

The Sukhothai is well known for its unique design, architectural style and amazing service. The challenge was to create a website redesign to reflect all of this, while at the same time significantly increasing ROI.

The Solution

Keen worked with The Sukhothai to give the site a new look and feel, something that felt more modern, but at the same time retained the style and elegance of the brand.

The new website design for The Sukhothai

The website copy was rewritten, driven by visitor behaviour trends that put more emphasis on scanning text rather than reading it.

In addition, all pages contained relevant calls-to-action, giving users an intuitive next step.

Finally the site included a customized booking mask that mirrored the look and feel of the site and linked directly with a new booking engine. Rather than push this booking mask in the face of the visitor, Keen persuaded The Sukhothai to keep it behind a prominent “Book Online” text link. This less forceful sales approach was in keeping with the brand, but did go against common industry practice.

The Results

Within days of the new site going online in October 2010, the team at The Sukhothai could already see a significant increase in both visitor interactions and the number of bookings being made.

The new SEO-friendly structure of the site helped to increase search traffic by more than 50% over three months, maintaining good levels of pages viewed and time spent on the site per visit.

With this new influx of visitors the site saw a 260% increase in entries to the booking engine. Within one month of launch, The Sukhothai was routinely recording double the number of bookings per day (year on year) compared to the old site. By the third month, monthly revenue was already more than double the total cost of the redesign and the site was breaking all previous property records in terms of bookings.

As a footnote, The Sukhothai has decided to follow up on this success by working closely with Keen to drive even more traffic to the site from social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as launching a mobile version of the site too.

Travel Spike Social Media Manager Carly Redgers and President Ryan Bifulco shared with us the inside story on how Sofitel Luxury Hotels earned over 28,000 quality followers on Twitter – and became one of Klout’s Top 20 Most Influential Hotels – within one year.

How do you define “quality” Twitter followers?

Quality is, of course, very subjective. For some clients, you might say it’s related to power or influence, so you’d review their Klout score. Our project objective – how we define quality – is to earn fans and followers that are local and interested in fine dining, wine or french culture.

Tip #1 – Appoint a social media coordinator for each property.

This person will be the eyes and ears on the property, including sharing specials at the spa or menu changes at the restaurant. They coordinate with sales, marketing, weddings, meetings, events and the concierge to share updates and help their social media team get the message out.

How did you select a social media coordinator at each property? What was your criteria?

We asked each hotel to identify the person that either had the most experience or enthusiasm for social media. Since Travel Spike trained them on social media and we ultimately handle social media strategy and management, we did not need anyone to be an expert, just passionate about the project and willing to learn.

The Sofitel Miami's Leblon Party

Tip #2 – Be authentic.

Customers don’t want to read updates that sound like a robot has written them. Sofitel is a unique upscale brand known for its stellar service and French style, so the social media updates stay true to the product.

Could you define “be authentic?” How did you allow personality to come through while still adhering to guidelines?

Authentic means to keep things real and applicable, rather than just sharing corporate robotic propaganda – regardless of the company. Sofitel does have corporate guidelines, but we allowed the brand’s personality to shine.

Sofitel is French, stylish, magnificent, elegant and upscale. So we give their social media presence a bit of a personal touch, and include local specials and events they support.

Tip #3 – Target your demographics.

For Sofitel, targeting discerning travelers and gourmet diners remains a top priority.

How did you target demographics?

We started the social media program with just Facebook and Twitter, and we’re expanding the program in 2011 to new outlets. Our team reviews public information provided in profiles on Facebook and Twitter. Our Miami hotel networks with people living in the Miami area, for example, because they want to promote their restaurant and bar to locals.

Tip #4 – Sprinkle in local events.

Show off your concierge skills by becoming the local inside source for events, parties and festivals. Sofitel Los Angeles, for example, tweeted live from their recent Golden Globe Gifting Suite.

How else can events can be used as a social marking device?

You can do a lot with events. We’ve organized TweetUps at properties – where we invite Twitter users to network in person. We tweet live during the event for extra exposure. You can also Tweet live from other events around the city or promote events on the Facebook events calendar.

Tip #5 – Engage with your audience. Don’t just sell.

The quickest way to lose a consumer is to ‘bang them over the head’ with product information. Sofitel Washington DC asked their Facebook fans which DC tips they would like to receive; consumers responded that they want to hear more about museums, family travel, luxury dining, and romantic tips for couples.

What questions did you find got the most engagement? Can you tell us a little more about how you used social media for research?

We keep things fresh and engaging by varying interactions with our followers; fun trivia questions are very well received. We solicit feedback from the followers and invite them to participate in the process, which goes over quite well. For example, we might ask followers to vote on a type of drink special, or suggest a new spa treatment.

We use the reporting provided in Facebook, and also review reports from a social analytics company – Sofitel’s social media research partner. Our team does social media research on the competition, and we poll users to gauge interest and test new programs, as well.

Thanks, Carly and Ryan!

A while back I came across Scott Zimmerman‘s ideas on “Engagement Communications” as a way to WOW customers, and wanted to followup on how this works in the hotel business.

You have defined “Engagement Communications” as the process of using technology to create a personal, human touch. Why is this important, and how does it work?

Engagement Communications is providing the hospitality industry with some effective new ways to foster guest satisfaction and evaluate service efficiency. Through mobile, voice mail, e-mail, SMS text messaging and social media, the industry can create a dialogue with guests that not only makes a connection, but inspires them to take actions that will directly improve their experience while also positively impacting the business’s bottom line.  These ongoing two-way dialogues with guests create a constant feedback loop that gives the industry deeper insights into their guests’ motivations and needs, and offers the opportunity to react in real time.

Cross platform communications seem to be increasingly important. How do you recommend hotels use this?

Today’s hotel market is becoming larger and more competitive. Effective marketing for guest acquisition and retention is crucial for the overall success of hospitality operations. As a result, resorts are integrating their reservation systems with automated customer Engagement Communications to broadcast promotions for a wide range of amenities and campaigns.  By allowing guests when they check in to sign up to receive SMS text, voice or email messages about perks such as happy hour discount notifications, show tickets or restaurant reservations, hotels are able to tailor the information and medium used to engage their guests in the ways they prefer, ultimately driving a better response to the campaign because of the personalized way in which it is received.

What is the end goal of Engagement Communications? Does it tie back to sales?

The end goal of Engagement Communications is to build better customer relationships.  The two­­-way dialogue created by Engagement Communications motivates customers to take actions that will directly improve their experience while also positively impacting the business’s bottom line.    Hotels that utilize Engagement Communications to pay attention to what their guests do, and listen to what they say, can deliver meaningful offers that improve guest satisfaction and create greater loyalty to their brand.   

How could this look within the context of a hotel?  Tell us a story of a hotel that has done this especially well: what was the step-by-step process, and what were the results?

TeleVox recently implemented an Engagement Communications pilot program for a Las Vegas hotel where 5,000 guests were notified via an automated voice mail of a special offer to receive a free room and concert ticket.  Guests could choose to be transferred to a call center to take advantage of the offer.  The calls were significantly cheaper than a direct mail campaign and offered immediate and measurable results – the hotel received eight additional reservations for an ROI of $9,600.

Specifically and continuing this example, the pilot showed that for every $1 the hotel spends on customer engagement technology, they receive a $20 return.  This means a typical month’s worth of calls can engender more than $500,000 in additional revenue to the hotel.

The end result for the guests was a positive purchase experience that leads to greater satisfaction with the hotel brand because the incentives offered were items the guests valued and were easy to redeem.   These components are key to facilitating the transition from “one-time” guests to more profitable patrons who consistently come back to re-engage with the hotel again and again.

Another factor in the success of the campaign is that the messages were delivered in a format the guests preferred – and in some cases even in different languages to meet the diverse needs of the guest populations.

Any more thoughts on this?

With more people than ever relying on mobile phones and digital technology to keep them connected 24/7, those hotels that do not leverage the benefits of technology to communicate with guests will certainly be left behind.

More than 96 percent of American consumers own a mobile phone and almost 50 percent of this population has a smart phone. Mobiles were used by 15 percent of consumers to make a purchase. Almost 25 percent of consumers use their mobiles to compare products and prices. Twenty-five percent of the respondents were interested in the idea of receiving information on specials and promotions on their mobile devices.

Additionally, statistics show that texting is currently the dominant form of mobile interaction.  Text messages can reach your audience virtually anywhere.  eMarketer projects that the growth of the global market for mobile messaging will reach nearly $12 billion in 2011, up from about $1.5 billion in 2006.

These trends present a huge opportunity for the hospitality industry to use communications technology to engage with their guests through all phases of their trip, from selecting a date to checking-in to after the trip in order to collect feedback.  If hotels are fortunate enough to have the permission of their guests to communicate with them via mobile devices while on vacation, they have a powerful resource for engagement and improving the bottom line.

Thanks, Scott!

Learn more about Scott’s work at TeleVox.

Karen Escalera – President and Chief Strategist for KWE Partners – shared with us how social media helped a food bloggers camp generate sales, introduce the public to Grand Velas Riviera Maya resort’s exceptional food and beverage offerings and set the resort apart from its competitors.

How did you decide a food blogger’s camp was right for The Grand Velas?

The Grand Velas properties stand out for the exceptional quality of their food and beverage offerings, so we wanted to highlight this competitive advantage. In December, we partnered with the Mexico and Riviera Maya Tourist Boards and spearheaded a lunch with our visiting chefs for top national and New York media, primarily offline. We wanted to build on that momentum and reach out to social media who would also drive the “buzz” for F&B and to further build relationships with these influencers.

What role did you play, and how did you work with Velas Resorts’ ecommerce department?

Team KWE, together with Kate Moeller of Prose & Co who handled the event for the past couple years at other resorts in the Caribbean, brought the concept to the resort, invited the bloggers, developed the agenda, did all the PR, and initiated and handled the post camp contest. Pre-event buzz was built via twitter and press releases to targeted audiences, as well as through blog posts from the seminar leaders to their followers. We led live coverage on Twitter with seminar leaders and shared videos and images during the camp on Facebook and Twitter to keep the buzz going throughout the event week.

The resort’s ecommerce department created a dedicated Food Blog Camp landing page, wrote the pre-event blog posts on the resorts’ destination blogs, coordinated the live streaming of FBC’s events to the online community, interacted with attendees on all social media channels and promoted the event on Velas Resorts’ Facebook and Twitter pages. It was a seamless integration.

Was the camp for promotional purposes only, or were you trying to generate revenue?

A key objective was to have the camp not only pay for itself (since we had to pay airfares for our seminar leaders and since we’re an all inclusive, we had food and beverage costs as well associated with their stay), but also, to make money. And we did. The camp was the second of two social media events we’ve had for Velas Resorts. The first was the first ever remote #TNI (Travelers’ Night In) Tweet Up which we had at the Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit. What we did was offer a girls getaway package that included the Tweet up. We followed that lead with the food bloggers camp.

Instead of just having a food bloggers press trip, we made this into a professional development event to attract other bloggers and aspiring bloggers and foodies. With this educational content and fun events such as cooking demonstrations and wine tastings, we had a compelling package. We sold the package at a slightly reduced rate for other bloggers and media and at the rack rate for all others. We sold close to $60,000 worth of packages for the 5 day/4 night event.

Were there any surprising benefits or setbacks?

The immediate response of participants was fantastic. The second the  camp started, more and more images, blog posts, and tweets were  published. We were able to brainstorm with the seminar leaders on  ideas for food and beverage offerings, events and packages to be  offered at other Velas resorts.  The challenge was in the bloggers’ (non-seminar leaders) booking  arrangement. Bookings go to through sales contract center but they  were not able to evaluate bloggers credentials. So what we had to do  was have the requesting participants send a link to their blog so we  could confirm and send to reservations for booking.

What were the results for The Grand Velas?

This was a success by several standards:

• Sold over 46 packages, generating nearly $60,000 in sales
• Generated more than 25 articles on the Camp to over 2.5 million unique visitors per month
• Event coverage received over 5.1 million impressions on Twitter to over 354,000 unique users
• Event coverage received 3.497 million views on Facebook
• Over 775 user generated photos of the event, resort and its food and beverage offerings were circulated

Exceptional reviews of the resorts restaurants were received from seminar leaders and industry authorities. The success generated new events for other Velas Resorts for the coming year (e.g. family cooking and crafting week, Chocolate Festival, TV appearances, recipe releases, etc.)

What would be your advice for hotels planning something similar?

Providing the opportunity for professional development is a powerful lure and definitely the way to go on events such as these. It’s also critical to get participation from the influencers and opinion makers in the category, and then the rest follows.

Thanks, Karen!

[Photos courtesy of Diana Johnson, publisher of Dianasaur Dishes and Eating Richly.]