Today Amadeus released a new must-read report:

Hotels 2020: Beyond Segmentation – Strategies for growth in an era of personalization and global change

[Click here to download your complimentary copy of the research]

I also conducted an exclusive interview with the Amadeus executives beyond the research project – Jerome Destors and Fabrice Merchand. Listen now or read some highlights from our conversation, below:

What is the purpose of this study?

Amadeus is a technology provider and as such, we are trying to forecast the future and be on top of the most recent trends, so we regularly work on these kinds of reports and imagine how the industry is evolving and is going to evolve.

How did you conduct the research?

The research was conducted by a company called The Fast Future; they did a few things: desk research – of course – and then there was a series of interviews with key executives from travel companies and from hotel companies. We also did face-to-face interviews to discuss how the industry is moving forward in the future. This was also complimented by a survey that was sent to a Fast Future contact list, and more than 600 people from the travel trade and from other industries responded to the survey.

What actions can hotels take right now to act on this?

Thanks to the technology that we’re launching today, hoteliers can implement a single profile environment, which will be available for all of their hotels, all of their brands, and all of their central occupations. And in this profile information, you can store a number references that the guest is going to either provide, or the hotelier will be able to determine – thanks to listening and learning from the behavior of the customer.

Hoteliers have to monitor, they have to anticipate what’s going on in the market, they have to be flexible, and they need to have the technology to be able to change a rate plan strategy, or to change a promotion in a very instant-approach.

In the many discussions that we had with hoteliers, one of the recurring themes that we heard from them was speed and agility. In the difficult times that we’re going through, the ones that will be more successful are the ones that can react quickly and anticipate.

Could you share some examples of hotels embracing this now?

The ones that we see succeed are the ones that are more innovative than the others. When you talk about the big brands, you see that some are into “green” and energy saving aspects, and others are into ensuring some particular requirement of their guests when it comes to health – with the opening of non-allergic rooms, for example. You have other ones that are more tied-in when it comes to interaction with their guests through social media. So you see a whole pallet of things that are experimental. It will be interesting to monitor in the years to come.

Thank you, Jerome and Fabrice!

Sarah asked, “How do you recommend best using LinkedIn to generate sales leads?”

Great question. Sarah is General Manager of a hotel focused on reaching business travelers, so I’d like to share a few general thoughts – and then some ideas for landing the corporate contracts that would be valuable to her.

Be easy to connect with

LinkedIn is a little more closed than other social networks. You often need the email address of the person you’re connecting with to verify that you know them.

I get around this by including my email address and phone number in the tagline of my profile – so anyone can reach out and connect with me:

Use descriptive website links

Instead of using the generic “My Website” text, customize your site links with descriptive titles:

Perhaps you might even consider creating a special landing page with a special offer for LinkedIn referrals.

Share a clear benefit statement

After quickly glancing at your profile, a person should be able to tell what you can offer to help them.

How clear is your unique selling proposition?

Make giving (and getting) recommendations a priority

These testimonials could help you close the deal. To get recommendations, start by giving them to other professionals you endorse. (Chris Brogan has some good tips on this.)

This is one of the top things you can do to enhance your LinkedIn profile.

Include your blog posts

If you see the value of selling through education – and are doing this through your blog – then this is the logical next step. I use a WordPress plugin to include recent entries:

Find, connect with, serve decision makers

This is the top benefit of LinkedIn. You can search by industry, job title, etc.

It might be worthwhile to upgrade your account so you can search through more people. (LinkedIn places limits on the free accounts.)

LinkedIn provides some good education on advanced search query features.

Create a company profile (if needed)

Mashable has a good basic overview of the process, so rather than repeating that here, just read this.

Create a LinkedIn group

This can be a great way to have high-end decision makers reach out to you. Some tips from Social Media Examiner:

Add keywords in the description of your group to increase your search rankings on LinkedIn’s search section.

Add keywords in the title of the group to be found on Google.

Add your company website or blog to the group to drive traffic to your site.

Add your blog RSS feed to the group so every new article is automatically posted to the home page of every group member.

Send a weekly message that adds value for group members and drives traffic back to your site.

Connect people in the group by making introductions to those who could potentially do business with one another.

Host (and promote) events

Depending on your business, events could be a good way to bring all the decision makers in one place and present your offer.

LinkedIn offers some good event promotion tools to publicize the event.

Answer questions

Providing LinkedIn Answers to questions people raise is a good way to sell through education.

I’d recommend setting aside a little time each week to go through questions relevant to your business, and answering a few in a way that positions yourself as an expert.

You can also follow new questions through your RSS newsreader, and this is a good way to be aware of issues as they are raised.

Experiment with LinkedIn ads

LinkedIn DirectAds offer the premise of delivering targeted advertising to the demographics you want to reach.You can pay per click or by impression.

I’ve heard mixed results from this – it’s very effective for some companies, not so good for others. So test it for yourself to see the results.

Let us know in the comments: How are you using LinkedIn to generate sales leads?

(P.S. Have we connected on LinkedIn yet?)

I recently re-wrote a thank-you e-mail that one of my clients was using to ask for online reviews from satisfied guests.

If you’re not doing this yet, it’s a great practice. Anytime someone says something positive about your hotel or you get an e-mail with some positive feedback, you should have some sort of a system for asking these people to share their experiences with others online.

Below you can see the message they were using, and how we re-wrote it.

Before:

Dear NAME

Thank you for choosing HOTEL for your recent stay in CITY. We have read your comments about the hotel and we greatly appreciate that you took the time to write them, as our guests’ satisfaction is our main priority.

We invite you, please, to share your opinion on the TripAdvisor website (website for travelers’ opinions) using the following link:

[Tripadvisor link]

It is very important for us that our guests’ experiences are shared.

It was a pleasure to have you as our guest. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your collaboration and we hope to see you again soon at HOTEL.

Management

HOTEL, CITY

After:

Hello NAME,

Thank you for choosing HOTEL for your recent stay in CITY. I was delighted to hear you had an enjoyable time at our hotel.

At your convenience, would you please take a moment to share your experience online with your friends and others on your favorite travel review website?

Is was a pleasure to have you as our guest. We hope to see you again soon.

- STAFF NAME
HOTEL

Direct phone:
Personal email:

See what others have said about our hotel on TripAdvisor:

[TripAdvisor hotel link]

This re-write accomplishes several things

It comes from an individual person instead of the entire hotel. Response rates typically increase when e-mail comes from one person.

It’s less about the hotel and more focused on the guest. A guest may not care what is important to the hotel, so we need to position this request as a way for them to share an experience with friends.

It’s a bit shorter, so that the message intent is very clear.

It is less TripAdvisor-specific. It’s more of an invitation for people to talk about us in a manner that suits them best online – whether that’s TripAdvisor, Twitter, or another site.

It’s good to encourage reviews anywhere the guest prefers.

What does your thank you email look like?

We’re nearing the end of another conference season, and as I look back on all the events I’ve attended so far this year, there are a number of opportunities I see for making future events even better.

One day events

I usually get 90% of the value from the first day of any multi-day event.

Shorter events would be easier to produce, keep us more focused and have less chance of taking up our entire week. (Attracting more busy executives.)

Bring in speakers who have done something remarkable

Too often we just get the same industry analysts. I like to hear stories from people who are actually out there shaking things up. Require presenters to share case studies and show how they did it.

Bring in speakers who will say something remarkable

Executives from public companies can be so tight-lipped that they stay boring. Let’s hear from people who can open up, break some news, and tell us something we haven’t heard before.

More, smaller sessions

Featuring more sessions at a conference would allow us to focus on niche topics. It would help us go beyond generalities.

I’d rather sit in on a session about “20 Ways to Use Twitter for Better Customer Service” than one more talk about “How Travelers Use Social Media.”

These small sessions might also help with the next area of improvement I see….

More discussion

I learn more from the other attendees than the speakers at nearly every event I go to. Conferences should be for, by, and about attendees.

No speeches during lunch

It’s hard for the presenter, and it gives us as attendees less time to talk about what we’ve been learning.

Instead, arrange lunch tables by discussion topic so it’s productive. (EyeForTravel did a good job with this at their San Francisco event this spring)

More networking

This is the biggest reason most of us attend conferences. So make it easy. Make it a priority.

Facilitate connections before, during, and after the event.

Better food

We are what we eat, and to keep energy levels up, provide power food. There’s usually an abundance of coffee and pastries at any event, but where is the health food?

As an attendee, I want to be focused on the event, not wondering how long it will take to leave the venue and find my own fuel.

I applaud Blog World Expo for being flawless here: juice, fresh fruit and granola is usually everywhere.

Better name badges

Emphasize the first name and company name. IN HUGE LETTERS.

This is just basic design sense…

Experiment with some new technology

DoubleDutch (and many others) are pioneering location-based services that enhance the conference experience by letting people connect with each other and their environment. (You should probably talk to Bryan Bruce about this.)

No more business cards!

I hate business cards. I really do. (It’s why I’m always evangelizing Bump) Try to come up with something that avoids us having to exchange these. Like the badge scanners we had at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

More pitches by startups

This is good for everyone. As attendees, it helps us be aware of the newest trends and technology.

Innovative entrepreneurs get wider exposure, more press coverage, and sometimes additional funding to develop their idea.

Invite more bloggers (and treat them like the press)

This may seem self-serving, but its really the best way I can think of to get online exposure for your event.

For nearly every event I attend, the bloggers and new media people account for 90% of the online content you see about it before, during, and after.

Run back-to-back with another conference

I’ve seen this in a few cases, and its very helpful to fly into a city and hit several events at once. (Like PhoCusWright@ITB in Berlin)

User conferences are great

One of the best events I attended this year was InfusionCon – the user conference for Infusionsoft (the product that powers most of this site).

Booking an entire luxury resort, having 300 of your power users fly in for a few days, and then showing them how to get more out of your product was extremely productive for everyone involved. The attendees feel special, vendors can reach a very focused audience, and the host company builds loyalty and gains insight for innovation.

If I ran a software company, hosting an event like this would be a top priority for me.

Save and publish everything

Record lots of video and take lots of photos – and then publish those online on YouTube, Flickr and elsewhere. Have bloggers tweet and liveblog the sessions (see above).

It’s a great way to build online visibility, promote your event, and encourage attendees to sign up for next years’ event.

Just look at TED.

–

What would you like to see?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on what would make for better travel conferences. This is more than a thought exercise – I’ll be helping to coordinate a few events over the next year, and your input would be appreciated! The conference you improve may be your own…

[Photo credit: Raul Garrido]

If success leaves clues, you should spend a lot of time analyzing thriving companies. That’s my mission here: trying to identify common elements of success that you can apply in your situation. There seem to be a number of recurring themes, and I’d like to try to put these into a simple framework for us to consider.

Part 1: Remarkable design

Your product is the marketing.

Take a big chunk of your marketing, advertising, and PR budget, then use it to hire a world-class designer.

Create a purple cow.

Consider “design” in the broadest sense of the word: from your building design (inside and out) to engineering your guest experience to planning unusual amenities.

Remarkable design gets people talking. And people saying nice things about you is a recipe for success online.

Browse some great hotel design photos for inspiration. How could you stay at The Daddy Long Legs or Propeller City Lodge or Hotel Fox and not tell your friends? Who doesn’t wish they could stay in the Treehotel or Ice Hotel….or visits Dubai without snapping a photo of the Burj Al Arab?

Part 2: Service obsession

Your service is your marketing.

Great service is uncommon, so getting fanatical about your customer interactions generates a lot of positive word of mouth and goodwill.

That’s why we’re developing ServiceIsMarketing.com and I’m working on a book of the same name. But that was supposed to be a secret, so don’t tell anyone.

This illustration from Penn Olsen is sad:

What if you took more marketing dollars and put them toward recruiting, training, and keeping excellent service professionals?

Part 3: Love what they do

Everything your staff does is marketing. (Whether they know that or not)

As I’ve said before, the secret to success in social media can really be summarized in one line:

The inside story from a real person who loves what they do

Obviously, a prerequisite for this is hiring people that love what they do. Enthusiasm for the product (see part 1) is infectious, and naturally leads into them providing better service for your guests and customers.

Like Antonio’s famous martinis at Egerton House Hotel:

Part 4: Everyone involved

Marketing is everyone’s job.

We even made you an infographic to illustrate how to build a social media team:

Part 5: Always publishing

Content is marketing.

Adopt the mantra we have here at Hotel Marketing Strategies:

Think like a publisher. Create remarkable content. Distribute it as far as possible.

Warning: This is a never ending pursuit.

The benefits you’ll receive make it worth the effort. Higher web visibility, top-of-mind awareness, and ultimately more profits.

Part 6: Pursuing cool

Cool companies don’t need traditional marketing. Their reputation precedes them.

“Cool” is really the sum of the five elements above. It’s the experience, the feeling people have interacting with you.

The harsh reality is that 98% of real people will only connect with brands they think are cool. I’m no different: I ‘like’ Virgin America’s Facebook page, not American Airlines. Maybe it’s a status thing, maybe we want to be seen as having good taste. It’s why pages for brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton do so well.

What do you think?

I’d like to create some more specific material on this concept, but wanted to float the general idea first and get your feedback. Do my observations align with what you’ve seen in successful brands?

(We’re also working on an infographic to illustrate this, and would appreciate any suggestions you have as we put this together….)

Even though I know it’s productivity poison, I often find myself multitasking by default. 16 pages open as tabs in my Firefox browser, a stack of research papers on my desk, live chat support open, taking phone calls and answering text messages. Your work environment might look similar at times.

Those of us in the hospitality business are always responding to requests. The downside to this is that multitasking lowers our performance. A University of London study for Hewlett Packard found this drop comparable to losing a nights’ sleep or more than twice as bad as smoking marijuana.

If you really wanted to get my attention – or the attention of anyone else – you would have to design an immersive experience. An environment where I had to focus on one thing only, with no opportunities for distraction.

With an abundance of information, attention is the most valuable commodity.

I’d like us as digital communicators to think about how to design communication that minimizes the risk of distraction.

It’s the logical next step after you’ve embraced content as the foundation of marketing.

Application design

I love the Kindle as an e-reader because it’s a near-perfect example of delivering digital information without distraction. Yes, Kindle books are available on the iPad and smartphones, but on these devices, the temptation to click away is constant. Thinking about the other things I could be doing consumes mental energy.

When I’m reading an ebook on the Kindle, I’m fully immersed in the writing. It’s an experience I enjoy so much that I try to replicate it with web articles using Instapaper.

It’s clear the design and presentation of the information plays a big role in how I absorb it. Perhaps as web designers we could think how this affects our page layout.

Delivery timing

Sometimes, the best time to communicate with someone is when they’re least connected. For us, this means making your digital communication available offline.

Self-contained mobile applications are a good opportunity for this. (Especially if they’re intended for use where wireless data isn’t accessible, such as a guidebook for international travelers.) The experience is neatly packaged within your parameters.

Mobile messaging also fits this to a slightly lesser extent. You’re sending content to someone offline that is (hopefully) helpful and timely.

However, this decision is ultimately made by the recipient. All you can do is think like a “content DJ” and provide the material in various formats for their convenience.

Distribution format

If I’m watching a good video – on YouTube or elsewhere -I’ll be watching in fullscreen mode and the creator has my undivided attention.

If I’m listening to a podcast while running or commuting, the same is true. (Well, almost. Sometimes I have to pay attention to where I’m going….)

The thing with media like this is you must have material worthy of undivided attention. The vast majority of videos are left by viewers after a few seconds. To fight this, you need to capture attention early and make sure you keep it by staying interesting.

Curiosity paths

Have you ever gone to Wikipedia to find information on one subject, and end up spending a half hour on the site, clicking your way through to something completely unrelated?

Of course you have. We all have.

The marketing genius behind Wikipedia is not the crowdsourced production, but their use of internal links. You go for information on one thing, and end up following your curiosity and click through to other pages.

How are you putting this principle to work for your website? Are you interlinking pages enough?

Quality of content

This applies to all of us, regardless of how much control you have over the viewing of your content. Your editorial decisions ultimately determine how engaging the material will be.

And remarkable content makes focusing attention much, much easier.

How do you plan to create and use immersive experiences to share your stories?

Savvy organizations are building a powerful presence for themselves on the web by publishing useful information. This content can take many forms – from articles, to Twitter updates, to videos on YouTube. But it’s all created for one purpose: to help their customers and guests.

This is what I call the concierge approach to content marketing: the practice of publishing material to answer questions before they even come up. And I’ve created a special report PDF to introduce you to the process:

[Click here to download The Concierge Approach to Content Marketing PDF]

In the guide, you’ll find:

• Definition of The Concierge Approach to Content Marketing
• Who should create all the material
• How to get help with this if you don’t have any time
• How to get your guests and customers involved in the content production process
• The best types of content to publish
• The best formats for sharing this information
• Making sure your content gets read and used
• A real-world case study on content marketing
• Summary list of content marketing tips

[Click here to download The Concierge Approach to Content Marketing PDF]

What’s the best way to budget for digital communications? That wording is important, because this topic covers more than just marketing. It includes technology that touches other areas of your operation: customer service, branding, public relations, and most importantly, management efficiency.

Why should you listen to my thoughts in this article? When it comes to finances, it’s natural for us to write off advice we see as biased – so I’ll clarify my position at the outset. (Especially if you’re a new reader here.) I work with a number of hotels in North America, South America and Europe in various advisory roles. Whether sitting on their board or as a more informal member of the executive team, my job is helping managers such as yourself understand new technology and how to make the best use of the resources they have.

If I was limited to just one piece of advice, it would be:

Invest in people, not technology

The rapid rate of new technology evolution necessitates you invest in people who can understand the changes and apply them to your situation. I’d rather have a team of all-stars to select and use free technology than the best tools in the world and just a mediocre team to operate them. It’s important to remember that good employees are always free: they earn your company more money than you pay them in salary.

I’d begin with hiring an impartial, outside advisor. Because this is the primary way I work, I don’t expect you to take my word for it. Instead, you should listen to this industry analyst talk about how agencies rip their clients off….and why it’s so important to have someone on your team who understands the technology, but has no financial interest in the outcome:

Listen to Patrick Bruce

(In other words, having someone like me on your team can help you get a better deal when it comes to negotiating contracts.)

Next, I’d be sure to have an internal champion that can work with this advisor on implementation. (My experience has taught me this external/internal relationship works better than having everything done by an agency or everything done in-house.) When selecting a marketing ambassador, I look for someone with integrity that I can trust with making decisions without constantly checking in. Someone with strong project management skills to work with various members of your team to turn ideas into actions.

Once you get the right people on the bus, it’s important to select the right mix of marketing technologies that fit your situation and will help you reach your goals. Just because a new tactic or social network is getting a lot of attention doesn’t mean it will be a good fit for you.

Below is a quick overview of some major digital communications channels, and what you can expect from each. To keep things very practical, I’ve included major benefits and also the estimated costs for a mid-sized hotel property (in the US dollars).

Website optimization. This is the art and science of turning more browsers into bookings. The vast majority of hotels have at least a halfway decent website up. The big challenge is making sure it sells well and is easy to find in search engines. It’s an ongoing process, but your biggest investment will be at the start — having a professional analyze and make the changes.
Best for: Nearly all hotels, because it helps you improve overall profitability – regardless of the other marketing channels you choose.
Investment: Varies widely, depending on testing sophistication. Typically $200-700+ per page.

Search visibility improvement. Attaining top rankings in search engine results is important for bringing new visitors to your website. It needs to be an ongoing part of your Internet marketing campaign: both to improve position and to keep up with competitors that are doing the same thing.
Best for: Anyone who wants to increase website visitors for more direct sales.
Investment: Usually a one-time fee of $1,000-5,000 for planning, then content development (mentioned below)

Pay-per-click advertising. This is one of the only advertising methods I recommend, because it’s easy to track effectiveness. The flexibility and return on investment can be impressive. You’ll need to budget for campaign management, and the actual clicks that you purchase from search engines.
Best for: Encouraging direct bookings, especially in a non-competitive market
Investment: Usually between $1,000-3,000 monthly per property depending on your bidding aggressiveness; plus account management fees (usually 10-20% of ad spend, with $500 minimum)
[Note: If you can't afford this, you may want to look into the commission-only PPC program I run]

Online reputation management. I tend to talk a lot about this on this blog, and you are probably aware, this falls into two major categories: monitoring your Web presence, and proactively encouraging positive content.
Best for: Hotels where managers care about their reputation in the market
Investment: Mostly a staff function, but you can save them time with good reputation monitoring software

E-mail communications. E-mail software is usually a relatively small expense, so your investment in e-mail marketing will be in people. Specifically, two types of people: the content writers and the marketing specialists. E-mail is a writing-intensive medium, so you need to have someone spend the time to develop this content. The marketing expertise is important to make sure your communications are effective — reaching the right people and generating the right response.
Best for: Hotels willing and able to create sophisticated databases, and unique content for each segment of their guests and prospects
Investment: Most email software is priced on list size, expect to pay a few hundred dollars each month. Writing costs can be included in the category below.

Content development. This includes all of the information you publish on and off the web. It includes blogs, websites, articles, and more. Many hospitality companies hire outside freelance journalists to help them with this. The good news is that much of it can be re-purposed for other formats.
Best for: Lifestyle hotels and destination resorts
Investment: $500-1,500 part-time, $3,000-6,000+ monthly for more intensive projects

Media production. Producing high-quality photos and videos of your hotel is more or less a one-time expense, but very important for future marketing efforts. You can reuse great photography and videos in many ways, online and off.
Best for: Properties with unique design (but the reality is all guests want to look before booking)
Investment: $2,500-15,000 for the initial shoot, several thousand more for production

Press relations & media outreach. This category includes outbound communications such as press releases and media kits, the development of content that interests the media, and relationship building with journalists and media outlets. Along with customers service, this is one of the best applications for social media. Even for mid-sized properties this can be a full-time job — but the return can be excellent. When your hotel gets positive coverage in the media, you get credibility and increased awareness that you cannot buy.
Best for: Organizations that can generate unique stories
Investment: I spend about 25% of my marketing budget on media relations and outreach (even more if I’m new)

Analytics analysis. To keep track of the whole program, you need some type of measurement system in place. The good news is that this doesn’t have to cost you anything extra. Any good marketing advisor will be able to look beyond the superficial numbers and give you solid strategy insights.
Best for: Everyone who cares about measuring their digital efforts.
Investment: Free with Google Analytics

Let me help you with this

Deciding on the right marketing mix can be overwhelming, and I’d like to help you. If you give me some background information below, I’ll do a quick situation analysis, and then provide you with a complimentary 15-minute telephone consultation to identify opportunities and share a few ways you could implement them.

** Owners and General Managers only, please **

Val Kalliecharan sent me an email a few weeks ago, and after checking out his work, I was impressed. You know my new mission here: to share the stories of how people succeed with new technology. To me, it’s more useful than just marketing theory.

And that’s why I think you’ll love this conversation: Val goes into the details of how he’s making a lot of money for his hospitality customers. Listen now:

Prefer to read? You’re in luck: my always-helpful assistant Samantha put together this summary for you…

#1 Val’s Approach to Social Marketing

Josiah: Can you give me a little background on what lead to your involvement in online marketing today?

Val: I’m with a company called Turks and Caicos Reservations. We’re essentially a central reservations/e-marketing company that’s locally based here in the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean. What we do here is we basically combine reservation services. By that I mean we have voice agents, e-mail response, live chat, online bookings, and we combine that with our online marketing skills and savvy. Our concept is that we’re two gears working in unison. Through our e-marketing capability, we create demand and we seek to close the business. So once people decide to interact, they get a warm voice or live chat agent on the other end who can really answer their specific questions.

Josiah: How do you charge your clients? Because this is a very comprehensive service. Do you charge a flat fee or work on commission?

Val: We have two types of customers. For our hotel customers, we charge a commission for every reservation that we do. For our e-marketing services, we typically charge on a retainer basis.

Josiah: Would a hotel make use of both of these services at the same time?

Val: Typically. For a few of our customers, they work with us on both sides of the fence. Other customers work with us just on web or just on reservations. We recommend the one-two punch of e-marketing and reservations combined as the most effective, particularly since we’re driving the marketing campaigns; we’re completely in the know in terms of what’s happening. And the reservations team is also aware of that information and are always gently, very subtly asking and prodding the callers, “Can you tell me a little bit about where you found our website?” A vast majority of guests are happy to give that information up.

Josiah: It’s such a simple question, but I’d like to see more hotels just asking “Where did you hear about us?” When you’re asking that question, do you find that some of these websites generate more traffic or more sales than others?

Val: Absolutely. And that’s what we’d like to think is the sweet spot of what we offer here. Every quarter we generate a report with a whole bunch of stats which includes Google Analytics reports, reports from the contact center management software that we use to log what the customers tell us on the phone, the key referrers coming in from the sites, and any other specific information.

What we also do is combine this data into a quarterly report and issue it to the hotel — including pace, room nights booked, number of reservations, average length of stay — and give them basically a dashboard report of what’s working and what’s not working, where some of the opportunities lie from a web perspective, as well as on the reservations.

#2 What Works and What Doesn’t in Social Media

Josiah: What are some of the key websites for you? I’m curious to see what actually turns traffic into sales.

Val: What we find is in terms of top referral websites, the local CVB or tourist board is a very large contributor of highly targeted and motivated traffic. These people have already made their decision in coming to this particular destination, and they go on that particular website to look for options and current news, so that’s a big driver. We find that from the digital PR campaigns that we’ve launched, it gives us a lot of pickup, like the New York Times blog, for example. Lots of people go there for recommendations. Caribbean Travel and Life is another important channel. They get lots of targeted traffic of people coming in to this particular destination.

Josiah: It sounds like the common theme between each of these websites is you’re partnering with sites where the people there have already made the decision to spend their vacation in your area.

Val: Exactly. What we find is that people are shopping across several different types of sites. They’d look at tourist boards, regional websites, the OTAs, the social media platforms and also at the direct hotel website/blog/Facebook page to get a sense of what the offering is,  so when they call they have some information in their minds already.

Josiah: What about sites that get a lot of hype but don’t actually turn into a lot of targeted traffic for you?

Val: In our opinion — it could be different from our part of the world here — we find that it’s the age old question, “Does this Facebook stuff work?” In today’s marketing arena, properties have to cross-brand themselves amongst many different platforms and look to service many different types of users and demographics out there. We see it as a part of the brand awareness that needs to happen in order to make sure that this particular portion of your customer base is comfortable to transact with the hotel, and they would get that sense of comfort by making sure that the videos seen on the YouTube channel are good, that there are comments happening organically in the Facebook page, that the blog is up-to-date and has unique local content. While it’s not the most unique or critical source of traffic, we find that it helps in the conversion process.

#3 What Types of Promotions Work Well for Val

Josiah: I’d like to talk about your work with the West Bay Club. One thing I’ve noticed with each of the specific profiles you’ve set up for them is that there seems to be a very strong focus on conveying a special offer.

Val: We feel that it’s important to be clear with what the promotion or the message is. The West Bay Club is a very high end, luxury beach-front condo/resort-style property in one of the most beautiful beaches of the world. For example, they’re having a 40% discount sale in September and October 2010. We like to make sure that information is crisp, clear, well-presented and in everywhere that you look. We try to make sure that it’s front and center in all the marketing that we do.

Josiah: Which of the ways of displaying promotions do you find work out well?

Val: I think today you have to be obvious in terms of what’s happening. For what’s typically the slower season here in the Caribbean, we wanted to make sure that people interested in coming down here are aware of the fact that not only could they get a 40% discount on the best available already low summer rates of this property, they could get a daily  European breakfast, plus throw in extras. Depending on how much your room reservation comes to we can arrange for a car rental, a tour, or anything that will make people feel that they’re getting value for their money if they were to choose that particular resort.

Josiah: It seems that the big lesson is that you don’t have to be subtle about it. Make sure that you’re clearly communicating the different benefits and all the value that’s included in the package. On your different web properties, this is what I see over and over again, you have the offer here and it’s very clear and prominent.

Val: Exactly. That’s on the website. We’re very much advocates of the fact though that once someone does pick up the phone to call or engage in live chat or send an email, that the agent on the other end is completely switched on and is fully aware of what promotions are out there on the marketplace, and what the customer is seeing in front of them while they’re on the phone at the same time. We find that that’s a big part of the conversion process.

Josiah: With all the different promotions that you run, are you finding some special offers tend to be more attractive with your audience than others? And what are some of the most effective offers that you’ve run online?

Val: In particular, we find that the packaging is something that used to work in a market like this several years ago. When I say packaging, I mean paying $5,000 and it includes dinners, tours, a car rental, horseback riding, scuba diving, plus your room. We find now and again in this market, people are looking to carve out the room-only rate and slash promotion, book that, then book the other stuff themselves according to their budget.

Josiah: So it’s more personalized?

Val: Exactly. People don’t mind researching themselves, online, and engaging with some of the local tour suppliers down here. In fact, that way they can get more background information instead of just taking a seven night package with horseback riding and diving without knowing what to expect.

#4 Generating Sales Through Live Chat

Josiah: What do you do with live chat when it comes to sales? Is this an effective way for you to sell to people?

Val: You know, it really is. I get that question a lot from our general managers down here. What they ask is “Is it effective?” and the short answer is, in our opinion, absolutely yes. Particularly being in a remote Caribbean destination, our mission in life was to make ourselves very accessible to the world. The live chat is such an interesting beast because from time to time we get people who prefer not to have an email trail or to call for whatever reason.

Recently we had a situation where we had a U.S. military soldier over in Iraq, and he wanted to plan a surprise trip for his girlfriend and the satellite phone over there wasn’t working too well; he didn’t have a lot of time for e-mail, so he actually planned and booked this whole thing on live chat with us in a matter of half an hour. He was amazed and so happy that that service was available.

I think this stuff works. It’s not just one thing, it’s not just social media. We feel as though it’s a holistic type of approach that needs to happen in terms of the hotel website, the blog, the social media channels, the forums, plus you keep an eye on exactly what you’re doing from the OTA perspective. Looking at your digital PR and keeping the content fresh and rich and interesting; compelling. And having, on the other side of the fence, that conversion mechanism, somebody who’s friendly and sales oriented on the other end of the phone.

Josiah: Thanks Val, I appreciate you sharing your story with us.

[You should see how they tie together all social media profiles into one page here....]

Buenos Aires is paradise for design aficionados. Travelers are spoiled by the quality and personality of small hotels opened over the past decade.

If you were opening a new hotel in this market, how would you position it?

That’s the question I’ve been examining with Martin Rosberg, Managing Director and co-founder of Fierro Hotel – a new hotel opening in Buenos Aires this September. Fierro is an Insider’s Circle partner: a very design-focused hotel with all the best amenities. iPads in the lobby and suites. Double-glazed windows to ensure a silent, relaxing environment. The sort of place where you would love to spend a week or two.

But we both know having the best product is just the first step. We need to help travelers visualize the guest experience through our communications. So as we prepare for opening, Martin and I have been thinking:

“How can we communicate the Fierro Hotel difference, and separate the property from all the other boutique design hotels in Buenos Aires?”

It may help to have a little background.

The building will include the Hernán Gipponi Restaurante. From HotelChatter…

Chef Gipponi, by the way, is a local lad done good, having spent time in Michelin-starred kitchens in Spain before returning home to Argentina. We hear that the restaurant promises to become a local hotspot, but be warned that this does not mean it will be classic meat-haven parilla.

We’d happily eat steak day after day in BA, but if you’re a vegetarian or simply need something other than beef in your diet, you will be pleased to know that Gipponi will be serving up dishes such as Foamy Yogurt with caramelised pumpkin seedsm and Grilled Scallops with bok choy, pineapple and ginger juice, and pine nuts.

Additionally, the hotel’s wine cellar is run by Martin’s brother, Andres Rosberg – president of the Argentine Sommelier Association.

So here we have this beautiful design hotel, paired with some of the best food and wine in the city. Now, the brand position is obvious.

Fierro Hotel is the place to stay for the gourmand visiting Buenos Aires

Or, “The best lifestyle hotel for foodies.” If you’re a bon vivant, you need to be here.

We’re still finalizing the wording, but the difference is clear: If you’re serious about experiencing some of the best food and wine that Buenos Aires has to offer, Fierro Hotel is the logical place to stay. Not only do you have these great options on-site, but you have some world-class experts to recommend other establishments in the city.

The positioning lesson for you

Examine your story to find what position your brand can occupy exclusively in the market. Fierro Hotel has this strong emphasis on food and wine, but you will have something else. Whatever that is, define that…and then repeat it over and over in your communications.

Want to work together on branding for your hotel? That’s just one of the areas we cover in my Insider’s Circle program. See details on the special end-of-season offer available now.