Hotelier Highlights: July 17-23
7 Comments
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.
You should enter your email below to receive new tips like this each Monday morning:
+1 347 422 6784
Hi Katie
A few thoughts on this week’s highlights
I loved the CopyBlogger.com’s foolproof cure for weak content. Even though I still subscribe to the DO IT WRONG QUICKLY school of thought. While his tips might work well for an important sales pitch or a book that is to be printed, blogging should be much more spontaneous, even if it isn’t perfect. In it’s wrongness lies its unique character.
It’s quite interesting to see Joie de Vivre’s Schmocial Schmedia strategy. Is Schmocial Schmedia only meant for giving out the latest deals ? Should SS only be used as a direct revenue generating tool ? In my humble opinion, NO ! While you might share a deal once in a while, SS should be used to build loyalty with your supporters by revealing the personality of your brand, preferably through the person of your brand’s CEO. Remember, anonymity is bankruptcy !
I totally agree with “Most every business these days is really a publishing business of some sort, whether they think that way or not.” But instead of hiring a journalist, why not be a journalist yourself ? Writing may not come easy to you but there is nobody who knows your business better than you do. And nobody more passionate. So get writing !!!
And finally, the one thing that most hoteliers forget to check off on their TO DO list is FUN ! How can we hoteliers change that ? This is going to be my mission in the coming weeks… Any ideas Katie ?
Cheers
Mihir
Hi Mihir!
Thank you for your thoughts, and I agree that CoppyBlogger’s foolproof cure for weak content is best applied to content that has to be clear, factual, concise, and generally “polished”, but, being an editor, you know I dig that kind of stuff; can’t help it! Spontaneity and character certainly enhance the authenticity of bloggers’ stories, but can’t correct apostrophe use and creative tangents happily coexist?
Joie De Vivre certainly has the “deal-doling” aspects of Smocial Shmedia down, but I also noticed this: “In terms of using s[m]ocial [sh]media for customer service, Nadeau says that each property hotel manager is responsible for monitoring conversations and reviews on Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp.” I hope by “monitor” they mean “interact and join”, because that would take their strategy to new level of awesome.
In a perfect world, every business owner is a passionate and communicative journalist, but I’m not sure if that’s realistic for everyone. Your father was a journalist, so you’ve had the fortune to understand and learn about effective communications, but I think many hoteliers prefer to focus on select aspects of their businesses, then outsource others to the appropriate professionals. I wish all hoteliers believed in the value of personally communicating their passion and stories (and that’s a big reason we have this site!), but until then, it’s better to have a journalist than stay completely off the radar. Like you said, “anonymity is bankruptcy”!
Fun is so key! Your packages are a great start. And you could try playing around with extra ways for couples to surprise and delight each other — secret roses ordered by the husband ahead of time with a sweet note, upon arrival? Surprising amenities or souvenirs? A take home package with little things to keep the romance going even when the kids are back in the picture?
I’m sure you can think of a ton of fun touches.
Thank you again for always reading and giving me your feedback, Mihir!
Katie
Wow Katie…that was a very informative response ! Now you can add Hotel Marketing Guru to your list of accomplishments
But I would like to join issue with you on a few points, if I may.
Can correct apostrophe use and creative tangents happily coexist ? Of course they can. But the going gets tougher when you try and clinically analyse your content each and every time, like a good friend of mine does. And the result is that he ends up managing to put up only 10% of the blog posts he would like to !
I am quite passionate about the DO IT WRONG QUICKLY philosophy. I completely understand where you are coming from and how ‘you dig that kind of stuff’
But I suggest you read Mike Moran’s book DO IT WRONG QUICKLY and actually try to implement it in your own lifestyle. Basically what Mike is trying to say is no matter how much you try, things never end up perfect. And you end up losing lots of time in the process. So why not Do It Wrong Quickly FIRST and then go back and correct it if need be.
Just try it out for a week and see how much you end up achieving which you would never have achieved before ! (Take your Tumblr account as an example) I know lots of Zodiac Signs that are perfectionists (Which one are you ?
) but trust me, once you try out this philosophy, it will really change your life !
Yes I did notice this (“In terms of using s[m]ocial [sh]media for customer service, Nadeau says that each property hotel manager is responsible for monitoring conversations and reviews on Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp.”) but it was only in the last paragraph and added almost as an afterthought. Implementing your personality via Schmocial Schmedia should be your #1 priority, not a footnote, don’t you think ? I mean, we all know PEOPLE BUY PEOPLE so establishing your PERSON as the face of a business is the best way to sell your service. As Joe Girard says in his book ‘How to sell yourself’ (another must read to be added to your list), no matter what you sell, you always sell yourself !
In a perfect world, every business owner is a passionate and communicative journalist. But we don’t live in a perfect world, hence the DO IT WRONG QUICKLY. I firmly believe that what a hotelier lacks in communication skills, he can easily make up in passion for his hotel and his profession, don’t you think ? And this is where your Insider Circle can help motivate such hoteliers to go out there and DO IT WRONG QUICKLY
I thought fun was great but surprise and delight are even better ! Truly Katie, you are indeed a genius
Just how do you keep coming up with such amazing ideas for my hotel ? Thank you so much for your time and effort.
I think I really need to employ you as my Couples Hotel Consultant…how does $ 1000 an hour sound ?
Cheers
Mihir
P.S. I have really strived hard to use apostrophes correctly in my reply. I hope it meets your expectations
haha, okay Mihir; you totally have me sold on picking up Mike Moran’s book! It obviously made a huge impact on your business/life philosophies and would help me because, yes… I am one of those “perfectionist” signs (Sag)…
Also, I agree wholeheartedly with all of your points that don’t involve me being a genius worth $1000 an hour, and your apostrophe use was most excellent.
Happy Monday!
Katie
HahahaKatie, Pick it up Mike Moran’s book ‘quickly’ and tell me how it changed your life…
Ahhh Sag… I know quite a few and they suffer from the same problem…Being a perfectionist is great and commendable but we rarely end up doing a perfect job despite spending all that time worrying and pondering and hesitating…
I always used to be stressed and worried about getting things done and in the meanwhile, time used to just fly by without waiting for me at all…
Now I wonder what the stress was all about and I am able to achieve so many things I never thought possible with loads of free time to spare…now doesn’t that sound enticing ?
Cheers
Mihir
Wow!!! Katie….you done a good job as usual….Anyone wants to get hotel updates. read articles by Katie…Well done ….ferienhäuser spanien
Thank you very much, Ferienhauser!