If the title of this post doesn’t ring a bell, it’s time to hunker down and revisit Charles M. Schulz’s seasonal classic: It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

As many of you know, Josiah and I were born and raised (separately) in the American Midwest, where Mr. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip emerged as “one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium.”

His characters, based largely on himself and good friends, felt like many of us felt growing up: awkward, shy, hopeful, and occasionally cynical before our time. But mostly hopeful.

I’m not knocking California – or the rest of the world, for that matter – but Mr. Schulz managed to inspire and capture a resiliency of spirit that I associate with the people I grew up with, and that I keep tucked away when the daunting prospect of wasted time and energy threatens my work ethic. Michael Koresky’s thoughtful analysis does a beautiful job of explaining the episode’s significance.

In the spirit of Halloween and the great Charles M. Schulz, a few choice quotes…

Charlie Brown: You just want me to come running up to kick that football, then pull it away so you can see me fall flat on my back and kill myself.
Lucy Van Pelt: This time you can trust me. See? I have a signed document testifying that I won’t pull it away.
Charlie Brown: It is signed. A signed document. I guess if you have a signed document in your possession, you can’t go wrong. Maybe this is the year I finally kick that football.
[Charlie Brown runs to kick football, but Lucy pulls it away]
Charlie Brown: Aauugh!
[falls on his back]
Lucy Van Pelt: Peculiar thing about this document. It was never notarized.

Lucy Van Pelt: Not again! Writing a letter to a stupid pumpkin? You make me the laughing stalk of the neighborhood! All they talk about is my little brother who always writes to the Great Pumpkin! You’d better cut it out right now, or I’ll pound you!
Linus: There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.

Linus: Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He’s gotta pick this one. He’s got to. I don’t see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there’s not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.

Linus: You don’t believe the story of the Great Pumpkin? I thought little girls always believed everything that was told to them. I thought little girls were innocent and trusting.
Sally Brown: Welcome to the 20th century!

Linus: [to Sally as she walks away with everyone else] Hey, aren’t you going to stay to greet the Great Pumpkin? Huh? It won’t be long now. If the Great Pumpkin comes, I’ll still put in a good word for you!
[realizes what he just said]
Linus: Good grief! I said “if!” I meant, “when” he comes!
[calmly]
Linus: I’m doomed. One little slip like that could cause the Great Pumpkin to pass you by. Oh, Great Pumpkin, where are you?

Linus: Have you come to sing pumpkin carols?

Happy Halloween, Shakers!

[Feature Photo from our Hotel Design Pool: One of the pools at the RIU Tikida Dunas Hotel in Agadir, Morocco. Thank you, Daniel Atkins!]

This week, I’m departing from Hotelier Highlights’ usual format and instead featuring the best hotel marketing sites and the innovators who publish them.

These featured sites:

• Frequently publish, guest-publish, or host free and original digital hotel marketing strategies content.
• Communicate effectively with readers via Twitter, Facebook, online forums, blog comments or though interviews and personal exchanges.
• Prove through their own Google searchability that they know how to create and sustain a visible online presence — lending real-world cred to their digital marketing advice.

Basically, they encourage beginners like me to wrap our heads around a barrage of new digital applications, the hotelier-mindset, the shifting world of social media marketing, and every other development that’s shaking up the hospitality industry.

Even better, they inspire hoteliers and marketers to discuss and develop their own strategies. Haven’t given yours much thought? Eager to become an expert in your own right? There’s no time like the present; dive in!

14 Great Hotel Marketing Websites

1. HospitalityNet.org
Contact HospitalityNet.org
Recent Highlight: Revenue Management or Urban Myth?

2. Hotel-Blogs.com
Meet and Contact the Blogger: Guillaume Thevenot
Follow Guillaume on Twitter
Recent Highlight: This Week in Hotels #5 (Foursquare, Online Concierge, Hotel Website Review)

3. FabriceBurtin.com
Meet and Contact the Blogger: Fabrice Burtin
Follow Fabrice on Twitter
Recent Highlight: Managing the Last Impression in Hotels

4. a.nthonygreen.com
Meet and Contact the Blogger: Anthony Green
Follow Anthony on Twitter
Recent Highlight: What to Look for in a Hotel Booking Engine?

5. Hotelinsight.wordpress.com
Contact Hotel Insight
Follow Hotel Insight on Twitter
Recent Highlight: Nite Nite

6. YoungHotelier.com
Meet the Bloggers: Jitendra Jain (JJ) and Erin O’Neill
Recent Highlight: Hotel Stories: Exceeding Expectations with Exceptional Service

7. HappyHotelier.com
Meet the Blogger:Guido vanden Elshout
Contact Guido vanden Elshout
Follow Guido vanden Elshout on Twitter
Follow Happy Hotelier’s Favorite Hotel Marketing Tweeple
Recent Highlight: Using Tweepml to Manage your Twitter Contacts and do away with #ff and #tt

8. Blog.DanielEdwardCraig.com
Meet the Blogger: Daniel Edward Craig
Contact Daniel
Follow Daniel on Twitter
Recent Highlight: Is the Role of the Hotel Concierge Going Obsolete?

9. eHotelier.com
About eHotelier
Contact eHotelier
Follow eHotelier on Twitter
Recent Highlight: Revenue Management or Urban Myth?

10. HospitalityeBusiness.com/blog
About HospitalityeBusiness
Contact HospitalityeBusiness
Follow HospitalityeBusiness on Twitter
Recent Highlight: Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS) to Present during Mobile Technology & Travel Keynote Session at EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit

11. HrabaConsulting.com/blog
Meet the Blogger: Michael Hraba
Recent Highlight: Facebook & TripAdvisor; an issue for Google or Yelp?

12. HotelMarketingStrategies.com
Meet the Blogger: Josiah Mackenzie
Contact Josiah
Follow Josiah on Twitter
Recent Highlight: Top 10 Reports for Hotels to run in Google Analytics

The next two blogs aren’t exclusively hotel marketing focused, but they’re joining the conversation, testing strategies, and producing some great content. Rock on.

13. MitaroyGoaHotel.com
Meet the Blogger: Mihir Nayak
Contact Mihir
Follow Mihir on Twitter
Recent Highlight: How Social search is Replacing Google

14. OnlineFantastic.wordpress.com
Meet and Contact the Blogger: Lucie Hys
Follow Lucie on Twitter
Recent Highlight: Social Media & Hotels: Top 5 Blunders

I’d love to find, read and share even more great sites. Give your favorites some love in the comments!

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

We received some great entries to our Hotel Design Pool this week; thanks for sharing your beautiful images, everyone. Dublin’s Gibson Hotel submitted our favorite: this beautifully lit internal garden. In their words, “Chic, understated and right in the heart of Dublin’s brand new cultural hub, the gibson hotel captures the essence of a vibrant city with a music pedigree that runs deep. Subtle, yet surprising, understated yet complex too, our hotel takes inspiration from its central location and unique design – the ultimate urban retreat.”

• Not sure if guests are irked by your hotel’s fugly carpet? There’s a Facebook group for that! (Facebook.com)
• Last week, we suggested that you hire a journalist. Mihir (rightly) insisted that “there is nobody who knows your business better than you do. And nobody more passionate. So get writing !!!”. How’s this for a feasible middle ground, hoteliers? (CoulourLovers.com)
• If you’re struggling with grammar, word-use, apostrophe placement, or even just stringing words together coherently, this round-up of blogs devoted to language is for you. (MentalFloss.com)
• Ready to take involvement a step further by supporting your hotel’s fan base? Mashable.com explains how to manage a sustainable online community.
• Can these Lady Gaga-inspired tips make your hotel’s blog more successful? Inspired by her term of endearment for fans, “Little Monsters”, we came up with one for you all; will you be our “Hotel Marketing Strategies Shakers”? (ProBlogger.com)
• Our savvy shakers would never commit these annoying faux-Tweets, but I’m sure you know someone who does. Please help them. (SocialTimes.com)
• Lego’s brand revitalization success illustrates one of my favorite creative principles: “limitations are liberating.” Could focusing your hotel’s marketing strategy liberate you from the excesses of limitless choice? (BusinessWeek.com)
• Bonnie Buckhiester’s explanation of your revenue manager’s social media role is a must-read. And in case you missed it, here’s Josiah’s super-condensed recipe for success. (HospitalityNet.org)
• The Mustafa-saga continues. Last week, we said:

“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. 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)”

• This Friday morning, I was reminded again of the value of mindfully-published print media when Time Magazine reported a 107% increase in Old Spice’s Body Wash sales between May 19th and June 19th, a far cry from the alarmist findings reported on their website last week. They attribute their misleading analysis to having ”been a little too specific with the sales stats. Though Red Zone After Hours sales went down, overall body wash sales actually went up 107 percent, according to PRWeek.” (Time.com)
• If you believe that — in the long (or short) run — consistent, creative and authentic content prevails, head over to HelloMyNameIsBlog.com and learn how to be timeless.

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

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.

Happy Saturday, everyone, and welcome to the newest installment of Hotelier Highlights: the week’s best hotel marketing posts, tech news, photos, and any other inspiring or entertaining stories that we stumbled across.

Thank you, Darnajat, for submitting this week’s featured photo to our Hotel Design group on Flickr: Morocco’s Riad Dar Nagath. In Darnajat’s words, “I cannot speak highly enough of this riad and it staff. There were places that I could sit and relax all over; I could mingle with other guest or just “vanish” into my own space if I wanted to…. From the moment I arrived, I felt at home; the smell of fresh flowers and the burning oils took my senses to another level.”

• Pandas and lobsters and Google, oh my; I’m so down with this digital metaphor. (iFindKarma.Posterous.com)
• Another metaphor-master, Scott Ginsberg, presents a feel-good guide to “defying gravity without defaming your good name”. (HelloMyNameIsBLOG.com)
• Hoteliers: are you having trouble finding passionate employees? You just need more “Spirit Fingers”! (HotelChatter.com)
• HotelChatter.com asks: Should guests get a hotel discount just for being a fan on Facebook? My opinion? Facebook “friendship” does not a loyal fan, make. Save those perks for guests that engage in meaningful follow-through.
• Holy, “glamping”, Batman! It’s another tree house hotel: Swedish edition. (HotelChatter.com)
• Just in: Luxury and Independent Hotels lead the occupancy rebound, with increases in all three key performance measurements. A few big names weigh in. (Hospitalitynet.org)
• Do you need to re-evaluate your “hierarchy of failure”? Seth Godin thinks so. (SethGodin.TypePad.com)
• Feeling a little lost? Check out Mashable.com’s 5 online tools for answering your small business questions.
• Yet another incentive for Hoteliers to invest in the Ipad: “Virgin is looking to expand into the publishing market with a new magazine called “Maverick” that targets the upscale international audience with content on entrepreneurism, technology and travel. The kicker is that Maverick will be an electron magazine only, first available on iPads and later available on iPhones and Android devices.” (TechCrunch.com)
• Then again, you might want to hold out for this year’s rumored Mac Book Pro and MacBook Air. (TechCrunch.com)
• Of course, you could also get a Microsoft tablet. Steve Ballmer insists that they’re pretty “hardcore”.(TechCrunch.com)
• More than half of travelers share vacation info on social media sites; HotelMarketing.com offers a few safety tips. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; you don’t want to be left out of this conversation.
• You know you love this guy; here’s why Old Spice is the archetype of a successful social media campaign. (AbcNews.Go.com) (Mashable.com)
• Last week, Josiah discussed the value of sharing your back story, and Mihir rose to the challenge. Do you have a compelling story behind your business? We’d love to hear it, and so would your guests. (MitaroyGoaHotel.com)

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

Welcome to round three of our hotelier highlights Saturday feature: the week’s best hotel marketing posts, tech news, photos, and any other inspiring or entertaining stories that we stumbled across.

Josiah recently wrote about the importance of recognizing loyal fans and their contributions. Dedicating some space to your favorite photos and hotels is a good start. If you can think of more ways to improve your experience on this site, send us a note!

This week’s feature photo was submitted to our Hotel Design group on Flickr by Brazil’s Hilton Sao Paulo Murumbi.

In their words, “Modern art hangs down from the high ceilings of this dramatic Sao Paulo restaurant, themed like an artist’s studio. Savor the Brazilian-flavored contemporary cuisine, special wines from the 170-label wine cellar or a creative drink from the bar.”

• Love or hate it, you need to see these 10 innovative uses of the iPad for hospitality. (psfk.com)
• Addressing the herbivore’s dilemma: how to travel as a vegetarian. (Aswetravel.com)
• 3 out of 4 consumers don’t trust your message; how can hotels, airlines and online travel companies monetize their social networks? (Travel-tech-trends.blogspot.com)
• Hotelchatter.com wants to know: would you take your family “Glamping”?
• Another outdoorsy option: Safariland Treehouse Resort. (www.besthotelamenities.com)
• Would you book a hotel room one year in advance? Mickey Mouse hopes so. (Hotelchatter.com)
• Followers come and go; here’s why you should be your own biggest fan. (HellomynameisBLOG.com)
• Hospitalitynet.org shares 5 ways travel companies are using social media to add value.
• Want positive hotel reviews? The ever-entertaining and on-the-mark Daniel Edward Craig thinks you should toss the script aside. (Blog.danieledwardcraig.com)
• Seth Godin asks: are you betting on smarter, or betting on dumber? You can probably guess which route he endorses. And because we love us some Seth Godin, check out his take on the difference between fans and participants. How’s your conversion rate?
• Get out your lucky pennies! This month, The Tune Hotel London is offering 200 rooms for 1 cent on a first come first serve basis. Bookings start at 12:01am Tuesday, July 13th. (hotelchatter.com)
• Are you ready to jump the Facebook bandwagon for Google’s oft-rumored social network alternative, Google-Me? Not so fast. First, check out this excellently illustrated post on Mashable.com: Google’s Long History of Forays into Social Media.
• Can’t make it to Isabelle’s Parisian Hotel for Bastille Day? Hotelchatter.com found four more hotels that are “getting all French next Wednesday”. Vive le France!

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

Welcome to the second installment of our new Saturday feature: the week’s best hotel marketing posts, tech news, photos, and any other inspiring or entertaining stories that we stumbled across. Enjoy!

Welcome to The Hotel Concorde Berlin lobby, our first reader-submitted photo of the week.

Josiah recently wrote about the importance of recognizing loyal fans and their contributions, and while we can’t offer you a Ford Fiesta, we can dedicate some space to your favorite photos and hotels.

This week’s photo was snapped and submitted by The Concorde Hotel Resort. In their words, “The modern and cutting edge design of the lobby is also amplified by this cool looking circular lighting in the Hotel Concorde Berlin in Germany.”

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

Welcome to our new Saturday feature: sharing the week’s best hotel marketing posts, tech news, and any other inspiring or entertaining stories that we stumbled across. Enjoy!

• If you’re tired of all the social media noise, Mashable explains why we need a social media filter.
• What do you get when you cross a truly mobile internet with location-aware services? The (literal) information superhighway.
• Seth Godin proposes the pricing question of our time; “what’s included?”. We’re moving from one-time transactions to subscription-based sales. Are you considering the “lifetime” costs?
• Pragmatic consumers want assistance, not a hard-sell. Trendwatching.com explains how to build a BRAND BUTLER omnipresence.
• This September, The Plaza will offer iPads in each room, allowing guests to control their entire stay.
• The Wall Street Journal suggests Twitter and Facebook allow guests to get better service, while Adage wonders if we’re training people to whine.

What inspired you this week?