We’re nearing the end of the summer season here in the Northern Hemisphere, and for some of our hotels & resorts, that means the end of busy season is approaching.

What are the most important steps for you to take at this time? Or really, after any time you have a busy stretch?

Survey your customers

Try asking The Ultimate Question; it’s so powerful: “Would you recommend us to your friends?”

Forget the 25-question survey; you can gather additional information elsewhere. If a guest will refer their friends to you, you know you’ve succeeded in delivering an excellent experience.

In conversations, try to find out why they stayed at your property. Why did they choose you over your competitors? Identify common elements, and see how you could build future communications around these issues.

Collect public feedback

Gather people’s thoughts from review sites, feedback forms, and elsewhere. Multimedia content is best. Then publish the most accurate and compelling feedback everywhere online.

The goal here is to communicate your value and your difference through the words of others. Let them tell your story.

Gather guest-published content

Search photo and video sharing sites like Flickr and Youtube. Try a few blog searches. Look for material people have published without your knowledge.

Then highlight the best pieces of content.

This is Guestsourcing. Promoting the stories that others are telling about you, and connecting your past guests with potential future ones.

Take another look at your website analytics

Compare them over the same period last year. What trends do you notice?

With my hotels, I’m noticing increased mobile and video use. But every situation is different. You need to look at your numbers and see what’s changing.

Big, industry-wide changes matter less than how your guests’ digital usage changes. You need to watch what they’re doing before you can provide new, channel-specific content.

Identify your most profitable customers

This should really be something done on an ongoing basis. But now is a good time to confirm what type of guests and reservations brought you the most profits.

Then, you can work to maximize these types of bookings in the future.

Remember, the #1 function of marketing is not attracting new customers, but retaining your existing profitable ones.

Send something nice to your best guests

It doesn’t have to be expensive, just a gesture of your appreciation.

Some managers send out a letter with a discount. Inns by the Sea sends a monogrammed bathrobe. There’s a million possibilities – decide what works best for your situation.

Brainstorm with your concierge

“What were the most common questions you were asked by guests?”

Identify the top 10, 20, or 50…and then create a series of blog posts or articles answering these. (This is the proactive concierge approach to marketing that works so well online.)

Develop a system for staying in touch

Avoid having your guests forget about you by planning a way to provide followup communication.

Maybe this is an email newsletter, maybe it’s a Facebook page. The channel isn’t as important as the concept. Provide some way to stay in the minds of your core customer base.

Continue to provide interesting, valuable content – and they’ll remember you for next time.

—

Important: To help you implement this, we’re running a two-week special promotion on our Insider’s Circle. See all the stuff I’m giving away in our Back to School Sale.

Welcome to this week’s Hotelier Highlights: the best hotel marketing posts, tech news, photos, and any other inspiring or entertaining stories that we stumbled across. Enjoy!

Thank you, Prandina, for submitting this Frank Restaurant and Brasserie photo to our Hotel Design group on Flickr. According to TopTable.com, “The sleek signature restaurant of the stunning Excelsior Hotel in Berlin, the Franke Restaurant and Brasserie offers everything a visitor requires for sophisticated dining. Like the rest of the hotel, the Franke Restaurant and Brasserie is attractively appointed in neutral, modern style with earthy colours and clean lines ensuring a timeless look.”

• DuctTapeMarketing.com insists that, “Most every business these days is really a publishing business of some sort, whether they think that way or not.” Do you need to hire a journalist?
• Is your boutique hotel’s “cooler than thou” mentality thwarting what hotelchatter.com considers to be “the hottest new hotel amenity”?
• It’s American Heart Month: a great time to look into updating your hotel’s spa or fitness center; serenity-seeking guests are diggin’ these five yoga hotels. (HotelChatter.com)
• And if you do decide to update your hotel, try not to repeat any of these hilarious construction gaffes. (HuffingtonPost.com)
• What can you learn from Joie De Vivre Hotels’ social media strategies? (HotelMarketing.com)
• If you enjoyed browsing Josiah’s favorite iPad apps for hoteliers, check out these 10 innovative uses of the iPad by the hospitality industry. (psfk.com)
• Are you working towards a better world and a better business? Get inspired by these imaginative and entertaining social-good campaigns. (Forbes.com)
• Remember last week, when we said that Old Spice is the archetype of a successful social media campaign? This week, the web is ablaze with reports that the brand’s body wash sales are actually down 7%. But don’t write off Mustafa just yet. ReelSeo.com reminds us that there are a lot of reasons we shouldn’t automatically trust barely-substantiated or explained statistics:

“So the campaign has only existed for less than half the year that is being measured. There are 8 months or so of sales that the current campaign has nothing to do with. Who’s to say that the sales weren’t maybe down so far already that they would have dropped 20% for the period had not the Old Spice Man come to the rescue had stopped the decline? How do we know the sales dip is attributable to the campaign? Answer: We don’t. Not even close. But it sure makes a great headline, doesn’t it?”

• ReelSeo.com also points out that, “viral success does not equal money.” What do you make of all this, hoteliers? Can we even trust these news sources enough to study the long and short-term implications of Old Spice’s social media success? (Mashable.com) (Jezebel.com) (KnowYourMeme.com) (ReelSeo.com)
• If the prevalence of over-hyped, alarmist news is wearing you down, ProBlogger.com’s 6 ways to add a personal touch to your blogging might get you back on track.
• Also sure to refresh your perspective: CopyBlogger.com’s foolproof cure for weak content.

Would you like to be featured here? Upload your best photos to our Hotel Design pool, on Flickr.

Re-watch Jerry Maguire and you might notice that it’s packed with marketing wisdom. We share Jerry’s best insights a little farther down, but first: the movie’s players and their real-world counterparts; where do you fit in?

Jerry Maguire (The Marketing Visionary)

A disillusioned corporate cog inspired to bring humanity and passion back into his position — and, he hopes, the entire company — Jerry is charismatic, respects his clients, and goes out on a limb with a heartfelt mission statement. Unfortunately, the people he’s trying to inspire belong to…

The Cut-Throat Sports Management Firm (The Visionary’s Competition)

They’re slick, well-connected, compensate for a lack of creativity with a big shiny budget, and fear that Jerry and his “manifesto” threaten their bottom line. He has to go. And if he goes, so does…

The Fish (The Helpless Follower)

Just an innocent bystander and victim of circumstance, the fish doesn’t have a “voice”, and must bend to the will of whoever scoops him up first. Let’s get one thing straight. You’re not the fish. But you might be…

Dorothy Boyd (The Potential Partner)

She’s not a cog, but not quite a visionary, either; Dorothy will only jump the corporate ship and risk job security when she’s really blown away by a new opportunity. She responds to consistency, humanity, transparency, and a fair paycheck. Prove yourself to her, and you might just win over…

Rod Tidwell (The Customer)

He’s fickle, skeptical, vocal, and just the person to kick you into gear. Give the man what he wants, deliver on your promises, win his business by out-thinking and out-performing your competition, and, you know where this is going…. Show. Him.

The Money! (The Money)

It’s the bottom line that drives every character. But what drives the money? The firm believes that Jerry’s moral and financial aspirations are incompatible, but he learns otherwise, and these marketing philosophies only become more relevant as savvy consumers and social media usher in an age of unavoidable transparency.

Jerry Maguire’s Guide to Marketing

“So this is the world, and there are almost 6 billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three. It’s so hard to keep up.” Make that almost 7 billion, and 500 million on Facebook, alone. Trying to communicate with all of them is exhausting and totally unnecessary. Find your niche and lavish them with personal, authentic attention.

“Have you ever gotten the feeling that you aren’t completely embarrassed yet, but you glimpse tomorrow’s embarrassment?” Ah Jerry, ahead of your time again. Thanks to customer reviews on Yelp, Twitter, Facebook and the like, we can fully and instantly realize embarrassment. We can also respond to criticism, choose to ignore uninformed naysayers, and learn from our mistakes. Don’t fret; a little humility never hurt anybody.

“Help me… help you. Help me, help you.” Communication isn’t one-sided anymore. Build relationships with your customers, learn from them, and act on their preferences. Help them help you.

“We live in a cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you. You complete me.” If you’re lucky enough to find a business partner who makes you feel like this, do whatever it takes to keep them around! Hitting it off with their adorable kid is a good start.

“I’m out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like to be ME out here for YOU. It is a up-at-dawn pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about, okay?” You — the marketer — are inherently vulnerable. You risk failure, embarrassment, and the subsequent crushing blows to your ego. You toil quietly and creatively behind the scenes to outmaneuver your competition, because that’s what it takes to earn your customer’s business.

“That’s the truth. Can you handle it?”

I was a big fan of Lost but have to admit I got just a little tired of the show near the end. Probably that 10-episode marathon before the finale had something to do with that…

But a few weeks have passed since then, and I think we can draw an important lesson in storytelling for those of us acting as brand ambassadors.

Use flashbacks!

The writers of Lost used flashbacks brilliantly to share backstories on the lives of each cast member. This led to emotional involvement. Especially in the first few seasons where the storyline was convoluted. (I never really did get that whole DHARMA Initiative thing)

We started to understand why the characters made the decisions they did. We started to care about them.

This tactic works for anyone trying to achieve emotional involvement. And as we all know, decisions are made first on emotion.

“It’s hard not to like someone once your know their story.” – Mister Rogers

You need a backstory

What worked in Lost can work for you and your organization. Once people know your backstory, they’ll start to care.

Creating your backstory

• What were the defining moments in your life? Most traumatic? Most inspiring?
• What inspired your current vision?
• What is most important to you…and why?
• How did you begin doing what you’re doing now?
• What are some challenges you’ve faced so far in your journey?
• What motivates you?

Today’s action: Spend a few moments drafting your own “backstory” – and then share that with the world.

[Image copyright ABC; Inspired by Rohit Bhargava]

One of the most useful theories I’ve come across in the past few years: less choice can bring action and happiness.

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

The inside story

Something we don’t already know. The scoop. Behind-the-scenes stuff.

From a real person

Not a department. A personality. Preferably, a friendly one. Someone we can identify with.

Who loves what they do

They’re so excited about it, you couldn’t pay them to NOT write about it.

That’s it. That’s the “secret.” Now, go do this…

[Photo credit: Jurvetson; Inspired by Eric Karjaluoto]

Online Travel Agencies – OTAs – have big marketing budgets, but they can also be a bit more savvy than some hotels.

What are they doing that you’re not?

Strong pay-per-click advertising campaigns

Their ad copy often has a very strong benefit, giving powerful incentives for people to click through and make a booking. Here, PreferredHotels.com is offering a free breakfast and “another free gift.”

What strong benefits are you advertising in your copy?

Advertising for hotel (brand) names in PPC

Again, with PPC advertising some OTAs bid on the names of their partner hotels. Buying brand name clicks like this is very lucrative, since the clicks are cheap and the revenue is high. (Guillaume and I discussed this in yesterday’s This Week in Hotels episode)

In the example above, we have OTAs buying up phrases like “grand hotel” and making a lot of money on them.

Are you bidding on your hotel name in search engines? Nick and I can help you set this up….

Create the “thrill of the chase”

Booking travel through an OTA can be fun because you’re pursuing a deal – there’s an element of surprise. If you find an extraordinary bargain, you’re likely to brag about it to your friends.

This “thrill of the chase” doesn’t happen as often when you book directly through a hotel. I’m not suggesting you slash all your rates 50%, but rather think how you can introduce some surprise or fun into the process.

Tap into the “wisdom of friends”

Alright, maybe it’s not technically an OTA, but TripAdvisor’s new travel advice feature is too cool to ignore for this article.  Now, their site visitors can receive personalized travel advice from their network of friends. According to CEO and founder Steve Kaufer:

With TripAdvisor Trip Friends, our 34 million monthly visitors can tap into their friends’ wealth of travel knowledge with just a few clicks, making holiday planning more fun, social and personal.

Could your website use Facebook’s social network to connect people with their friends?

Include strong search engines

Since most OTAs have hundreds of hotels in their inventory for each city, they often offer strong search functions that let visitors quickly compare their options and find something that meets their needs.

If you’re promoting a portfolio of hotels, why not do something similar? Make it easy for someone to select the right property at the right time.

Include lots of (unfiltered) guest reviews

I’d like to see hotels have enough confidence in their product to publish guest reviews on their room description pages.

OTAs don’t hesitate because they have nothing to lose by being transparent. In fact, it helps them gain trust.

Transparency is something that you (as a hotel) can use to build trust as well. Do you include raw, unfiltered guest reviews on your hotel website?

Protect the guest

Many OTAs create strong risk-reversal guarantees that assure their customers that it’s safe to book now. Even if their plans change, they’ll still be protected.

What does your guarantee look like? Remove the risk, make the sale.

For some odd reason, I receive a few emails like this each week from unhappy travelers – guests at hotels that aren’t listening:

Dear Josiah, I am trying to find out how and where to lodge a complaint about X Resort in Nassau. After doing ALOT of homework we felt confident we had found the perfect destination. What a MISTAKE! We saved for months (it is VERY expensive) spending a fortune on what we were told was a first rate, luxury, top of the line hotel “experience.” We have looked at X Resort for years, and have seen tv ads and were convinced that these resorts were the best. It’s a mistake to think that just because a hotel charges exorbitant rates they must be great. I guess their good marketing image fooled us big time. Our experience there was a disaster. It is down right awful to feel so cheated and deceived. We believed what we were verbally told about this resort as well as all the amazing descriptions on the X web site.

In my experience, the #1 reason for guest dissatisfaction is failed expectations.

Or as Dave Power III of JD Power & Associates said:

Guest satisfaction = expectations – perception

The hotel hyped up their offering, embellished what they could provide, and then the guest felt lied to. Failed expectations lead to:

• complaining on Twitter
• one-star TripAdvisor reviews
• negative word-of-mouth offline
• poor online reputation
• ultimately, lower revenues

But wait: isn’t our job as marketers to put a positive spin on everything? If it worked in Mad Men‘s Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency, it’s no longer that way.

In fact, the best way to build trust may be to share a negative up front.

Eric Karjaluoto writes in Speaking Human:

Most companies don’t like to admit their flaws, but [Canadian cough syrup] Buckley’s does. As a result, we take notice…Most of us are more willing to believe something is good once we’re aware of the bad parts.

This may require you to openly admit what don’t do, aren’t good at….Trust doesn’t happen when it’s built on partial truths. You’re going to have to embrace your flaws, mistakes, and shortcomings to build real trust.

Of course, there are some flaws that should be fixed, but…

Sharing a negative can qualify your audience

This is the power of negative reviews: it forces people to form an opinion about you. It helps them decide if you have the type of hotel they’re looking for.

Mihir is trying this now with his Mitaroy Goa Hotel:

But wait, how do I balance this with positive information?

Let your guests tell the story! When you build your marketing communications around what others have said about you, no one can accuse you of embellishment.

Include guest reviews in your marketing. Use the actual testimonial as the copy for your advertisement.

Practice the mindset of guestsourcing for generating website and promotional content.

It’s all about honesty

I could use buzzwords like “transparency” and “openness” to communicate this, but I think it comes back to a much simpler concept: honesty.

• Is your website honest?
• Are your photos honest?
• Are your sales people honest?
• Are your press releases honest?
• Is your advertising honest?

Are you setting the right expectations for your hotel?

Mihir asks “What is the purpose of my marketing?” Is it to communicate:

• unique features of my product or service?
• how potential customers will benefit?
• how my product or service is different?

Yes, it’s all of those.

But the #1 purpose of your marketing should be retaining your customers.

The cost of obtaining a new customer can be five times more expensive than keeping a current one.

Long-term customers tend to buy more, recommend you more, complain less, and cost you less.

Attracting new guests must play a secondary role to making your loyal guests very happy.

What are you going to do this week to make your guests smile?

[Photo credit: Niffty]

Because new media marketing channels differ so widely, it is nearly impossible to do an apples-to-apples comparison on effectiveness. At best, we create a different set of performance metrics and success measurements for each platform.

That’s fine, but it makes high-level marketing strategy decisions difficult. What services and websites are worth your time?

To assist you with these decisions, evaluate Return On Objectives (ROO) instead of Return on Investment (ROI).

For example: if service is a top strategic focus for you, it is possible to quickly compare the diverse range of social networks – and see which ones are allowing you to serve guests the best.

What social media objectives are you measuring for?

-
A list of suggested objectives, and tools to match these objectives to specific platforms, are now available in our Insider’s Circle membership site.