There is a lot of speculation going around the hotel industry on how they should interact with TripAdvisor. Since this site is so important for hospitality & travel marketing, I went right to the source to clarify a few things. Here is my conversation with TripAdvisor Vice President Michele Perry.

Josiah: If a hotel has a poor reputation on TripAdvisor, what steps should they take to improve it?

Michele: When a hotel has a poor ranking on TripAdvisor, it usually reflects problems with the property — grounds, staffing, cleanliness, service, or something else.  The most important step hoteliers can take is to read the feedback they’ve received on TripAdvisor, and take the necessary steps to improve problem areas.

If a new owner has just taken over a property with a poor reputation, they can go to their owners’ page and fill out the change of ownership form with details of the nature of the ownership change, along with documentation that the change occurred, and we can remove reviews from the prior owner’s tenure.

Read more…

This post is by guest expert Rajul Chande.

As of July 2009, The Egerton House Hotel is currently the number one guest-rated London hotel on TripAdvisor.  I recently met Jonathan Raggett, CEO of Red Carnation Hotel Collection, to try to understand how it got there.

This group runs a stunning 4 of TripAdvisor’s top 6 London hotels at present, including the Egerton House.  It’s an enviable position to be in.

But the focus here is on the Egerton House: this is after all the current “number 1″  and was also the venue of our meeting.  How did a relatively unsung and small (30 bedrooms) hotel make it to the top of the charts?

Before revealing some answers, let’s peek at a few recent TripAdvisor guest comments which have lifted the Egerton House to top spot:

The above comments clearly highlight that staff at the Egerton House possess bucketloads of character and charisma.

From what Mr Raggett told me this is not accidental.

They consciously recruit “characters” with personality and flair.  So for example you have Antonio at the hotel’s bar who is famous for his martinis.

Head Barman Antonio struts his stuff at the cosy Egerton House bar

Then there is Alex who not only checks you in but may also sing at your table!  There’s also friendly Murat – one of the managers who cheerfully showed me around the hotel.

All the staff I ran into had a calm and relaxed attitude.  This isn’t always the case in luxury hotels which often have an overbearing formality in the air.

The staff here seem to be driven by an expectation of success rather than a fear of failure.  This frees them to be themselves and excel.

I also noticed that the hotel cultivates a distinctly cosy and intimate atmosphere – helped by its small size.

It’s a place that doesn’t stand on ceremony and is rather a hotel where guests can simply chill out, unwind and feel pampered.

Mr Raggett told me that although great effort is made to recruit the “characters” described above, continuous training is equally critical.

There is a focus on “TNTs” (“Tiny Noticeable Touches”).  So for example, guests’ favourite drinks and newspapers are remembered, their favourite music arranged in advance in their rooms and so on.

Training is also tailored to the hotel’s specific needs and driven by continuous “mystery shopping” rather than generic standards.

This – as well as the emphasis on personalisation – echoes the approach taken by Claridge’s.  And to the extent that you can usually stay at the Egerton House for a few quid less than Claridge’s, it offers good value.

Rooms at the Egerton House have a comfy, traditional style

When I walked around to see some rooms, I found them nice but fairly standard fare for a luxury hotel.  They were immaculately presented but I don’t think you’d choose this hotel on the strength of its rooms alone.

For me the hotel’s main asset is the intimacy and warmth conveyed by the surroundings and above all the staff.  It’s a unique establishment run by a talented team with great attention to detail.

With only 30-odd rooms to supervise they know the hotel inside out and obviously feel comfortable and confident within its walls.

The manageable size also makes it easier to deliver unusually consistent performance.  And I think that this consistency and the hotel’s special intimacy are what make it a deserved number 1 on TripAdvisor.

Location-wise, Knightsbridge is one of London’s upscale neighbourhoods and very close to Harrod’s, so it is perfect for shopping trips. You’ll come back to the hotel bar with your pile of shopping bags to be greeted by one of Antonio’s G&Ts or martinis!

Rajul Chande writes about London hotels on his blog, LondonHotelsInsight.com

Josiah’s update 30 July 2009: At the time of the article’s writing, the Egerton House was #1 in London. TripAdvisor rankings change weekly, and the hotel is now at position #3. However, the two hotels that overtook it are sister properties under the same management – which makes this article’s lessons still very important.

Today it’s my pleasure to introduce hotel marketing expert and colleague, Keith West. First we’ll discuss what every director of sales & marketing must know…and then we have an exciting announcement at the end. Let’s get started.

Josiah: Can you tell us a little bit about your background in hotel marketing?

Keith: I’ve been marketing hotels online since 1996. When I first started it was rare to find a hotel that had its own domain name. Since then I’ve completed sites and marketing for over 200 independent and branded properties. The consistent theme over those years is a rising bar. When you’re the only hotel in town with a website, you’re the winner. Now to be the winner you need a site that connects with your visitors, that converts at a high rate, that plays nice with search engines. You need to know how to bring people to the site using free and paid methods. And you need to understand how your site fits in with your overall marketing strategy.

What’s the most common misconception about hotel internet marketing?

That it is something computer people do or is something can be completely outsourced. Much of it can be, but if you don’t understand the fundamentals, you’re being a poor partner to your vendor. It is not really possible for a vendor to have a full understanding of who your customers are. To be effective you need to be able to match up the range of Internet marketing techniques with the behaviors of your customers. Then consult with the vendor on the details of how to implement the strategy that works for you.

Are there core areas of internet marketing knowledge every Director of Sales & Marketing should know?

Increasing demands are being placed on DoSM’s to have a solid grasp of the full range of Internet Marketing strategies. That’s a hard place from some directors to get to because most of them are people oriented and quite a few have a fear of “technology.” That will change. It wasn’t long ago that most executives couldn’t type- that was a secretary’s job. Now most of us realize that a computer is a tool, and using it doesn’t make you a technologist. Internet marketing isn’t about technologies, it’s about understanding how people interact and make decisions online. You don’t have to be a programmer understand that. I’m not a programmer myself.

Without a doubt, DoSM’s need to control the message. You can have someone design a banner ad for you, but you have to tell them what it should say and what it’s supposed to accomplish. You can’t ask a technician to do a marketer’s job.

Perhaps there are topics a Marketing Director does NOT need to know…either because it can be delegated or is irrelevant?

All site design should be outsourced. It’s deceptively easy to build a site, but there are many places to make big mistakes without realizing it. Most anything that is tedious, repetitive or time consuming should be automated or outsourced. Pay per click advertising for example. I think everyone should set up a campaign and operate it for a while to understand the process. But once you know what you’re doing, it could make perfect sense to turn over the daily operation to someone else. Most hotel managers need to know what to do, not how to do it.

I’ve written before about traits of an effective hotel e-marketer. In your opinion does a Director of Sales & Marketing have to know these technical skills? Does it depend on the hotel size and type?

That’s a good post. The fact is any DoSM needs to have a detailed understanding of how things work. That’s different from knowing how to do it. You don’t need to be able to design a website to know that it should have text that is accessible by search engines, that just because it looks one way on your screen doesn’t mean everyone sees it that way, and that your preference for a particular look or color is not as important as what actually results in a reservation. There is definitely a sliding scale. The smaller the property the more likely it is for any particular function to be in house.

Typically, what are the biggest obstacles facing DoSM when starting an internet strategy?

Jeff Bezos says Amazon is confronted with “insurmountable opportunities.” That describes the feeling of anyone working an Internet marketing campaign. There are too many options. The media doesn’t help with the endless parade of the fad of the day. Without some handholding, it’s easy for a GM or DoSM to get pulled off on interesting but unproductive tangents.

How do you recommend they avoid this?

Study. Test small. Learn. Repeat.

What’s the most exciting trend you see in hotel marketing? Why?

This is the most exciting time yet in hotel marketing. Quite honestly, a few years ago it had become boring. Build an optimized site, get some links, walk away. Now a site/campaign needs to be actively managed. Marketing is becoming more conversation than monologue. Hotels have to hold up their end of the dialogue. The website now is the primary public face of a hotel and not an afterthought. That places more demands on the staff, but ultimately the benefits to the customer and the hotel are huge for the hotels that figure it out.

Speaking of exciting, I think now is a good time for our announcement. This summer we’ll be offering two hotel marketing workshops together in Las Vegas, Nevada (July 23&24) and Orlando, Florida (August 13&14). These 2-day training sessions will be intensive and very practical – designed to show you how to use the internet to attract more guests.

Tell our readers a little bit about these events: who it’s for, who it’s not for, and what the benefits are.

“Internet Boot Camp for Hotels” is designed to get more online reservations for hotels. It’s straight to the point- clearly identifying what you need to know and what you don’t. It’s important to me that Boot Camp deliver actual results and not simply be a theoretical exercise. Graduates will walk away with a systematic step by step plan for turning their Internet marketing into a selling machine.

The program is intended for General Managers, Directors of Sales and Marketing, and Sales Managers with a good overall understanding of their hotel’s marketing. No technical knowledge is assumed or required, but attendees should have a good overall grasp of how to use (not program) the Internet.

I asked a few hotel bloggers for their best tip for attracting readers. Their replies….

Adam from the Roger Smith Life website in New York City:

We have seen great success in attracting readers to our blog by building a strong network on Twitter and then telling stories about the culture around our boutique art hotel.  Twitter provides a great audience for us and leads people in to the larger stories on our blog.

Chris from the Whale Cottage blog in South Africa:

I edit a month’s worth of blog posts and create a newsletter out of it, which goes to my address book of 20 000 past guests, colleagues, and past enquirers.   I refer to my blog in most editions, hoping they’ll activate the RSS feed.

Also, I have added a fun post to my blog once a week, on a  Friday, by awarding a Sweet & Sour Service Award, for excellent and poor service received.  People love reading this post in particular.

The Deluxe Hotel blog in Portland, Oregon:

Search engine optimization is the best tactic we use for attracting blog readers. Ranking for top keywords is essential.

Dina from the Murano Hotel blog in Tacoma, Washington

Our participation in social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, greatly help awareness to our blogs. Our blog discusses news about Tacoma and things to do around the city. Guests find our blog to be full of ideas and activities and social media helps to promote the content.

In addition, SEO efforts have greatly helped guests find our blog.

Sarah from The Citizen Hotel blog in Sacramento, California

Use Twitter and Facebook as vehicles to drive blog traffic. I post a few sentences about an event or new promotion and include a link to our hotel blog for more information. This strategy gives consumers a call to action and improves blog visibility.

Twitter seems to be a recurring theme here, which is not surprising. It’s the #1 referral website to this blog, and I suspect for many other blogs as well. Perhaps I’ll put together a guide for effective Blog-Twitter cross-promotion in the future…

Anyway, what’s your best tip for attracting blog readers?

Today we’re joined by Dina Nishioka, a blogger for Hotel Preston in Nashville. Though she is Director of PR at Provenance Hotels – which also owns designer hotels in Seattle and Portland – she regularly communicates with staff at their Nashville location to give the blog a local flavor.

Josiah: How long have you been blogging?

Dina: Since September 2007 when the Preston blog went live.

What topics do you write about and how do you get content ideas?

We write about anything that’s happening around Nashville – events, attractions & happenings around the hotel. We try to provide guests with additional info about Nashville, and even provide some recommendations on our favorite restaurants, bars, and so on. We want guests to “know” Nashville before they arrive.

I like your blogging voice. Do you consciously try to be personable (instead of ‘corporate’)?

I think readers relate better when we write in a real human voice. So, I keep it light-hearted and conversational. We wanted the voice to fall in line with our relaxed, boutique atmosphere.

Who are your readers?

Current and potential guests. The blog has actually been the first touch-point for some of our guests, which is great. They get to see our fun side first.

What results have you seen from blogging?

We see about 800 visits per month, which isn’t bad considering I’m not able to spend as much time as I’d like blogging. Guests have commented on the blog when they stay, and we’ve been written up in the Tennessean a few times as well.

How do you promote your blog?

We promote the blog through our Twitter & Facebook accounts. We also include a link to the blog on our website.

Do you have any advice or recommendations for other hotels on blogging?

Be yourself and include activities, advice, and content that you would be interested in!

Thanks, Dina. You can read her writing at the Hotel Preston blog, or review our hotel blogging best practices series.

Tuncel Toprak

In just one year, Tuncel Toprak has turned his new boutique hotel, Witt Istanbul Suites, into one of Istanbul’s most acclaimed hotels (currently #2 of 545 hotels in the city according to TripAdvisor). In the interest of full disclosure, Tuncel has hired Gradigio to enhance their digital media marketing campaign. But Tuncel has an fascinating story, and I think many of you would be interested in hearing how he did it. Let’s get started….

Josiah: Seth Godin talks a lot about product design being the foundation of marketing. You’ve focused on that from day one, studying design in New York, then hiring Autoban to design the hotel. Are you seeing a link from your emphasis on design to the press and referrals you’ve received?

Tuncel: Yes. When we were starting we didn’t have a set budget for different categories – we just wanted to create things we liked. So everything from the linens (commissioned from Denizli) to the bathroom fixtures (part of Ross Lovegrove’s Istanbul Collection) – are things I would want in my house. I would love to live in a house like my hotel. That was the concept of the design process.

Image courtesy of WittIstanbul.com

Nothing is ‘hotel furniture’. There is a whole industry of hotel furniture, and I hate it! All our furniture is designed for us and built for us by Autoban. When we were renovating the former Ogilvy & Mather offices, we could have installed 30 rooms. But we wanted the suites to be large, so we ended up creating 17 60-square-meter suites. Now we’re able to offer a spacious luxury suite for the same price as a standard 5-star hotel room.

People are sick of staying in chain hotels that are the same everywhere. For example if you’re staying in the Hilton Dubai you probably wouldn’t notice the difference from Hilton Tokyo – it’s the same concept. People like our large, home atmosphere with a unique design.

Image courtesy of WittIstanbul.com

We were the first hotel project for our architects. They are very young, but have won many awards from international magazines. There are a group of journalists that are following their work, and so when they did this project, they came to us to see what the result was. We didn’t pay these people…it was word of mouth buzz. One journalist would write a story about our hotel, then a few more would, and so on.

What other marketing tactics have performed well for you?

My aim has always been simple: try to get good online reviews. I know word of mouth is very important, so I never want a guest to leave unhappy. I don’t want to pressure our guests into writing a review, but I do try to talk with all our guests. If they say something positive, I try to refer them to TripAdvisor (or a similar site).

Image courtesy of WittIstanbul.com

So you’ve only focused on online reviews so far for your marketing?

Yes, we have a guestbook at our reception desk. If someone writes something in there, we encourage them to post a review to TripAdvisor or the online booking site they used to make their reservation.

It’s not easy for someone to write a review online. They have to go to the site, log in, and then write their thoughts. Typically people that have negative experiences at a hotel are far more likely to do this than people who have a good experience. This makes earning positive reviews harder.

Is there anything special you do for the Turkish market?

No, we actually don’t focus our marketing here. Some big local corporations find us online, and contact us after reading our online reviews. So they are coming to us, we don’t market to them.

I think we’re going to see more and more of that in the future. Improving ‘findability’ will give a better return on investment than outbound sales efforts. Having an impressive online presence pre-sells potential guests before they even contact you.

If they believe the reviews are authentic and true, and it contains a good third-party endorsement, then it’s more reliable information than self-puffery by the hotel.

We find our visitors are very informed when they arrive at our hotel…they even know the names of some of our staff. There are some reviews on TripAdvisor saying [name] was great, and so they arrive feeling like they know us a bit already.

What type of information do people want to find about (or from) you online?

Our guests don’t want to be tourists here in Istanbul. They want to know insider tips and information. So providing that to potential guests is a good way for us to help them. When I go to a new restaurant, I want to write my own review and take pictures so I can share that with my guests.

Do you know what method your guests want to access this information?

I believe blogs will be the platform of the future for hotel websites…continuously being updated with information. I don’t like the old, static web page format. It’s boring for the website visitor.

Finally, employees play an important role in any hospitality business, but your people are one of the biggest reasons people give you positive feedback. What’s your secret to finding and recruiting a great staff?

I look for people who love finding new things to do here in Istanbul, and can then share their first-hand findings with our guests. I want people on my staff that are travelers at heart, and can live the lifestyle that we try to provide for our guests.

Great! Thank you for your time, Tuncel. For more information, visit WittIstanbul.com or see their photos on Flickr.

Yesterday I met with Steve Stollerman of TVTrip at their offices in Paris. Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

What does TVTrip do?

TVTrip provides professionally produced videos of hotels. Travel planners can use the site to see what a hotel is really like before booking a room. Hoteliers can benefit from direct bookings and increased exposure. We operate in 15 markets, and are expanding to 25 next month.

What is your competitive advantage over other video review sites?

Consumers want professionally produced content. They like the videos shot the same way around the world. They dislike videos created by hotels that look like infomercials. We shoot a minute-long overview of the hotel, then separate videos of different rooms or hotel amenities. The viewer can access all information (rooms, rates) all in one place.

You say you’re independent, and the site is free to use for consumers. How do you make money?

We make money through CPC generated leads to merchant sites (hotel direct sites and online travel agencies). We also earn money through advertising and licensing our video catalog.

Does the hotel have an option which payment arrangement to use with you?

Yes, they can be part of the check-rate (on a CPC basis) or take part in TVtrip’s preferred partners program – which is a flat monthly fee.

Okay, if I’m a hotel owner, why should I use you?

It’s an affordable way to get into video. We’re doing well in this climate because we are a middle-ground solution: not really expensive like a high-end video production company or low end like user-generated content. TVTrip is high quality, low cost solution.

You get filming of your hotel in HD by professional cameramen, editing, hosting of the video (bandwidth costs are taken care of), and you get the video on your site in multiple languages. The content of your hotel is translated into 24 languages, and distributed around the world.

Explain the video production process

First you contact us through our website. We have cameramen ready in all the key cities, which gives us the flexibility to respond quickly. For hotels that are in secondary markets or remote places, there may be travel costs involved. The reason the setup cost is so cheap is that we finance most of the video…we absorb costs for filming, editing, encoding, translation. That’s the added value we’re providing consumers and hotels. The setup fee is a fraction of the total cost, more of a security deposit.

Now the videos have no voice-overs, right?

No they don’t. The reason is that we decided early on that video is the universal language. We did, however, translate titles and information into 24 different languages. So users in each country will be able to navigate the video player in their own language. Our player also shows rates, photos, a description of the hotel, and a map of the area – which the view can access without leaving.

Can the hotel place the video you produce on their own website?

They can’t place the exact player we use on our website, but they can have the video embedded on their website. Your website visitors will then be able to view the video, but it won’t have all the features as on our website.

How would you recommend hotels use the video for best results?

The video needs to be in the website’s hotel description or on the “about us” page. It should accompany the website visitor as they view the room descriptions. Doing this typically helps conversions.

Do you have any plans for mobile distribution in the future?

Great question! We’re still waiting to see how this will play out with all the operators. I think committing to mobile now would be a little premature just because things are still so much in the air with all the providers. But I think it’s not a question of if, but when. For the guy who just landed and doesn’t have a hotel…being able to view and book a hotel room on his Blackberry or iPhone makes a lot of sense.

Thank you for your time, Steve. Visit the TVTrip website to learn more, or watch a sample video of Ku’Damm 101 in Berlin.

As I alluded to earlier, Emma Johnson interviewed me for a piece on crowdsourcing she wrote for Entrepreneur.

An excerpt:

Nearly every retailer and service provider has an internet presence whether they promote a website or not, thanks to the ballooning popularity of sites like Yelp, Citysearch, TripAdvisor, and Angie’s List where customers rate and comment on businesses. If you don’t harness these sites, they’ll lasso you instead, says Josiah Mackenzie, managing director of the San Francisco-based marketing firm Gradigio, which advises its hospitality clients on how to make the most of this seemingly unwieldy force.

“Companies don’t have a choice whether or not to be involved in crowdsourcing,” Mackenzie says. “People are going to be talking about them and creating content about their firms–whether they like it or not.”

You can read the whole article here: Crowdsourcing: Free Problem-Solving for Your Biz

See also:

• Can hotels use crowdsourcing?
• Crowdsourcing example: bmi uses Flickr photos in web design

Today I’m joined by Bill Quiseng, General Manager of The Inn at Bay Harbor and a highly sought after speaker on customer service leadership. Under Bill’s oversight, The Inn has received the Renaissance Hotels & Resorts Savvy Service Award, and has been named one of the Top 500 World’s Best Hotels by Travel+Leisure magazine.

Is customer service the key to succeeding in this economy?

Absolutely! No matter the economic situation, people will continue to pay a premium for quality. In our luxury segment, people buy with emotion. So we create an experience that will emotionally bond our customers to us.

Our customer’s perception is not driven by the tangible product. Our competitors can replicate our product. The king bed at The Inn is no bigger than the king bed at the Super 8 across the street. What they can’t replicate is our people. If we can get our people delivering consistently on our customer service message, we will continue to build market share despite this economy. We keep that message simple, say it often and make it burn in our people.

The message: WWWBLL. WWWBLL. (pronounced “Weeble, Weeble”). What would World’s Best look like? Then we go about to deliver that experience. Remember Weebles? “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.” If we can deliver a World’s Best experience as our customers perceive it, we may wobble but we won’t fall down. Has our focus on WWWBLL, WWWBLL paid off? All I can tell you is that our booking pace for social room nights is up 20%+ over last year.

Service has always been important in the hospitality industry. Do we just need to be reminded of its importance, or are there new tactics we can use?

I am always looking for new tactics using the CASE Method – Copy and Steal Everything from within and outside our industry. The late Charlie “Tremendous” Jones said “Five years from now, you’ll be the same person you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” John DiJulius, author of Secret Service, gave us CASE ideas about customer service in John Roberts salons that we have put into our Spa. John Michelli, author of The New Gold Standard, gave us CASE ideas from Ritz Carlton. Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table gave us restaurant ideas. And Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends gave us CASE principles that we use in our new hire orientation.

In addition, we continually practice the service mantra, “You cannot begin to satisfy Guests, until you remove all the dissatisfiers.” We take every single Guest negative comment or complaint and define a Best Practice to eliminate the possibility of reoccurrence.

How do you facilitate people telling stories about your hotel?

I continually tell our team to “Think like the customer.” Our Guests are on vacation. When we think like the customer, we know that when our Guests return back home they, as we would when we return from a vacation, will tell stories of their destination. It is up to us to drive what kinds of stories our Guests tell.

So we make sure that we create a bunch of small wows that culminate to a large “Wow” when they think of the collective experience such as Apple caramel cookies and hot apple cider during this time of year at check-in, personalized menu and digital picture taken and presented prior to departure for anniversary couples dining in the dining room, and rose petal turndown for those couples staying in The Inn.

How are you using the internet to build customer relationships?

We recognize that new customers are migrating from travel agents to the internet to get information about our property. We also recognize that our present customers can be referrals and advocates for us. When we receive a very complimentary comment card, we request their permission to post their comments on our testimonial page on our website. At the same time, we are encouraging people to sign up as a fan of The Inn on Facebook.

Thank you for your insights, Bill.

To learn more about Bill, visit his website at BillQuiseng.com.

Today I’m joined by Kevin Sturm, a hospitality technology consultant, to discuss some trends taking place in the hotel industry.

1) Kevin, thank you for joining us. First of all, can you tell me a little about yourself and how you help hotels use technology?

Sure.  To put it about as briefly as I can I help hospitality venues with the evaluation, purchase, implementation, and optimization of hospitality technology systems.  I focus mainly in hotels and resorts, but also work with stadium/arenas, restaurants, and food service operations.  My goal for any client is to simplify their technology decisions.

I spent a large portion of my career on the vendor side of technology.  Those years of experience taught me a lot about how a hotel can benefit from technology solution, as well as how they can get stung.  If a hotel is purchasing a new system, I make sure all their needs are clearly defined and implement a decision process that quantitatively and qualitatively evaluates each system.  I’ve found this works very well, and generally much better than the historical RFP process.  For customers that are generally happy with their systems but want more out them or still have highly manual processes, I provide assistance in optimizing their systems.  Often this ends up being complex system integration projects.

2)  A little while ago I wrote on how Sheraton is using interactive tables in their lobbies.  Do you see information entertainment like this gaining popularity in the years ahead?

I do.  I’m not sure Microsoft Surface technology is were it is though.  It’s cool and fun, but I want to see for a hotel how it is either decreasing costs or increasing profits to justify the still high cost.

I think we will see apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch (and other personal devices) make headway in information entertainment with hotels.  It’s more personal (the device is mine and/or I can take it with me) and it’s already at a high adoption rate because of a palatable price point.  For high end resorts it may be more cost effective and memorable to provide guests with an iPod Touch that has the same interactive solutions as the interactive table, and provides a way for the hotel to send personalized marketing and messaging to a guest.  Information entertainment is and will continue to gain in popularity.  I’m excited to see what we have not seen yet that can immediately provide value to hotels.

3)  How else are cutting edge hotels using technology as a drawing card for tech-savvy guests? Free WiFi no longer is enough, right?

I think this really depends on the hotel segment and the type of travel.  I fit the tech-savvy guest profile pretty well, and decently fast free WiFi is still a major plus for me on business travel.  My other requirements have little to do with technology, rather just good guest service.  But if I’m traveling on leisure and staying at a high end resort I have different requirements.

There is some cool “newer” technology out there.  One I personally like is a device that allows me to connect my laptop or iPod to the television and play the movies I have for free.  Allowing guests to easily access the entertainment content available on the Internet, things like streaming TV and iTunes, is going to be a big move for hotels.  Historically it has been that hotels have tried to stay ahead of the guest with technology: Pay-per-View movies, WiFi, flat screen TV’s.  But the expectation is changing.  Tech-savy guests want a hotel to have the same conveniences I have at home.

There is another technology that hotels can use to draw the tech-savvy guest, and that is green technology.  The demographic of tech-savvy is also often green-savvy.  I think Smart Room technology is going to be an interesting draw in the future.

4) If I don’t have a lot of money to spend on technology upgrades, what are the most cost-effective additions I can make to my hotel?

This is a good question, especially given the current economic situation.  But my answer applies even when a hotel can afford a new system.

The best advice I can give to a hotel is to invest as much time as necessary into making sure the current technology systems are setup correctly for the business goals.  Much too often I find hotels recently replaced a technology system only to have the same or similar struggles with the new system.  When money is tight the best thing to do is make sure you current solutions are configured to meet your business goals, your staff is WELL trained on how to use them (buy training if you need to), and that actual problems with the system don’t get resolved by the “we’ll work around it” approach.  A hotel should be contacting customer support when any problem arises, as work-around processes are often expensive and inefficient.

If all of the systems are working well and there is budget for a single purchase I would recommend looking into an analytics or business intelligence system.  But that is a difficult recommendation as each venues requirements are a little different.  As mentioned above, smart room technology may be the right choice for a hotel to decrease operating costs.

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To learn more about how Kevin Sturm can help your hotel, visit his website or contact him directly:

Phone: 805.425.0594
Email: kevin[at]kevinsturm[.]com