Music and other multimedia content can be an important part of experience design, and thanks to Michael I’ve become aware of a few ways this could work.

Pandora and Spotify playlists

What originally caught Michael’s attention was how the Wanee Music Festival was doing this – creating a custom Pandora playlist for fans of the event. Clearly, this could work just as well for lifestyle hospitality brands as it does for music festivals. I see opportunities for different types of hotel playlists: ones that highlight the best local artists, and ones that reflect the type of ambiance you’re trying to create.

In Europe, Spotify is the music suggestion tool of choice – and Staying Cool has created playlists on the site for their Birmingham property.

YouTube playlists

Earlier this year, YouTube introduced video playlists. (You can read the tutorial here) This could be helpful for not only a series of videos touring your hotel property and surrounding area, but also for linking a collection of stories.

It seems hotels have yet to really explore the opportunity here. How could you extend your brand experience by curating music and video content?

Share any examples you know in the comments below.

Last night I was talking with the founder of a hospitality group in Barcelona, and we were thinking about how to WOW guests. (Which I always write in uppercase, because it’s a concept more than an emotion. It’s the constant pursuit of going above and beyond the average.)

There are basically two ways of doing this: expected WOW and personalized WOW.

Expected WOW is something you’d use in your marketing. It’s what people read on your website and hear from others online. Whether it’s the design of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, the amenities at a Kimpton property, or the service at a Four Seasons – people arrive expecting an extraordinary experience. (And failure to consistently meet these expectations would cause disappointment.)

Unexpected WOW is usually the result of attentive staff thinking quickly and creatively. Chip Conley writes in Peak about how Joie De Vivre encouraged bellhops and other front-line staff to listen for clues about the purpose of a guests’ visit, then provide unexpected service based on that. The advantage to this is that even the tiniest gestures can surprise and delight your guests.

We’re seeing more and more experience designers pursuing WOW through various ways like this, but Ritz Carlton was one of the pioneers. Every staff member at every Ritz Carlton in the world gets together each morning to share a story of when a member of the team went out of their way to create a WOW experience.

How do you design and encourage WOW service?

Some of you know about the Domino’s Pizza reputation fiasco – it’s become a bit of a cliche at conferences when presenters speak about the importance of online reputation management.

But you may not know about the campaign Domino’s built to fight back: Oh Yes We Did.

The way they acknowledged their critics, told the story of how they fixed the product, and used their employees as the spokespeople is a model we can learn from.

Radical transparency. Fighting fire with fire. This stuff is powerful.

Samovar Tea Lounge is not only one of my favorite tea spots in San Francisco, it’s also a very social-savvy company. In this example, look how owner Jesse Jacobs responds to a negative review with a very thoughtful explanation.

First, the review:

….and Jesse’s reply:

A couple reasons why I like this:

1. It offers explanations why this may not be the typical experience…but it’s not an excuse
2. Jesse refers back to his company mission of “Creating Personal Human Connection”, which reinforces his commitment to delivering great experiences
3. He provides his personal email address for followup communication if needed

The best marketing campaigns share personality – quirky humor and all. The Citizen Hotel’s 2nd annual “naughty or nice” list – promoted on their blog – is a great example of this.

Public Relations and Marketing Manager Ashlee Gadd elaborates:

It was an idea formed during one of our marketing brainstorming sessions. We’ve actually done other window displays following the original naughty and nice list, like a Valentine’s candy heart display, which featured imaginary conversations between celebrities, etc:

Here’s another media clip from that display.

We also did a spooky “trick-or-treat” Halloween window display to celebrate the latest election, which fits our politically themed hotel perfectly. We even got Meg Whitman to pose for a picture in front of her silhouette!

Thanks for the great ideas, Ashlee! What have you done to get guests talking?

While browsing TripAdvisor today, I came across this popup window encouraging me to “like” their Facebook page:

I like the way this is worded: “Did TripAdvisor help you today?”

It seems this approach could quickly grow their fan numbers on Facebook.

What do you think? Is this too pushy, or could you use it on your blog or information site?

We often talk about online monitoring in the context of reputation management, but there are other benefits as well. A big opportunity is discovering content created guests that you can use in your digital communications. (A concept I call “guestsourcing“)

That’s exactly what HMS Insider’s Circle partner Martin Rosberg did at the Fierro Hotel this week.

Through a Google Alert he set up, he discovered these beautiful photos on Flickr that were taken by a guest at their breakfast:

Martin then wisely passed the photos along to his other followers on Twitter and their Facebook page:

Are you monitoring online activity so that you could catch opportunities like this for your hotel? I recommend starting by setting up Google alerts, and then using a tool like ReviewPro to run a more sophisticated listening program.

Remember: Make your guests part of your sales & marketing team through guestsourcing!

I talked at BTO (and elsewhere) about tourism webcams – like those at webcams.travel – being a unique opportunity to increase interest in your destination. Starwood is doing a very good job in this area, setting up a dedicated domain to showcase the webcams: RoomWithAView.com.

Additionally, they set up unique domains for each city hotel – such as TheWestinParisView.com (above)

Could your hotel try something like this?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with Karl Bruno as part of the research for my upcoming book on service. Karl is General Manager of Kenwood Inn & Spa – a top-10 small resort in the United States, according to Conde Nast 2010 rankings. Below are a few of the big ideas I took away from the conversation.

“We constantly improve through guest feedback.”

Each of our staff members – regardless of their position – is trained to listen to guests and ask open-ended questions to gather guest feedback. We don’t want to be intrusive, but there for their every need.

The industry norm is to have all staff/guest interactions scripted and minimized. I do not agree with the philosophy of “as few words as possible.” We encourage informal conversation with guests.

I try to connect with each guest over breakfast each morning, and ask how their stay is going.

“We designed our property to encourage conversation.”

For example, many of our guests enjoy talking around our horseshoe-shaped bar. Our clientele is very well traveled, and many lively conversations happen here over some of our great local wines.

The design of your rooms affects how guests interact.

“We offer each guest a welcome beverage and tour of the entire property on check-in.”

This usually takes about 15 minutes, but gives us the opportunity to learn more about what the guest hopes to get out of their stay. A lot of conversation happens during this tour.

We can then help them plan their itinerary for touring the area.

It’s important to set the tone right from the start.

“Hiring the right people doesn’t require psychoanalysis.”

I hire people who engage well with me, our staff and our guests. Hiring is a group decision I make with my managers. We want the person to fit in well with everyone.

In my experience, you cannot change behavior that was taught – so I hire people with good values.

“Just because it’s always been done this way….”

…doesn’t mean it’s right. The best hospitality companies of the future might have to do things a lot differently than service has been offered in the past.

I came across this video of a Fairmont trolley ride, and posted to Twitter that I thought this was a great way to showcase the hotel amenity.

Turns out, Fairmont Hotels has put branded Flip cameras on each of their properties:

I think they look pretty cool…

Are you doing something like this?