Hotelier Highlights: July 24-30
16 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.
You should enter your email below to receive new tips like this each Monday morning:
+1 347 422 6784
Some interesting viewpoints once again Katie ! I am sure you particularly enjoyed reading about the correct use of apostrophes !
I really really loved the blog post on Lady Gaga. I am not a big fan of Lady Gaga (even though I like the sound of ‘Alejandro’) but this blog post really changes everything.
If you only have enough time to read one of Katie’s Hotelier Highlights, then read this one:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/07/26/9-proven-tips-for-creating-an-extraordinarily-successful-blog-lady-gaga-edition/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney+(ProBlogger:+Helping+Bloggers+Earn+Money)
Little Monsters anyone ?
Cheers
Mihir
Thanks, Mihir; you know how I love apostrophes…
The Lady Gaga post was one of my favorites this week, too! What do you think about calling our fans “Shakers”? Like “movers and shakers”, innovators, pragmatists, creative business people that act on new ideas and technology until they find out what works best?
Also, please send me any great links that you find throughout the week! I found many of these by browsing hoteliers’ Twitter Feeds, and I’m sure that thousands of awesome articles slip through the cracks.
Also, considering making the highlights a bi-weekly, because I tend to unintentionally exclude content that I find earlier on. (What do you think, J?
)
Always look forward to your weekend insights; thanks, Mihir!
Heyy Katie
What a strange coincidence !
I was just replying to your email when I say your comment. A long life for you is now guaranteed
What a coincidence that the Lady Gaga post was your favourite too ! Great minds think alike eh
As I told J, I think Shakers is a great term to call all the Young Turks in the hotel industry. We certainly need more Shakers to shake up the old and bring in the new in the ever changing world of hospitality.
I DO send you loads of links on Twitter. Don’t you get them ? I was surprised you didn’t mention any of them this week. Could you also please send me a list of the hoteliers you follow on Twitter ? I would like to follow them too.
My suggestion: Don’t make the highlights bi-weekly. Instead use Evernote or Google Docs to immediately add any links you find during the week so that you don’t miss out a thing. Remember, DO IT WRONG QUICKLY
Have you ever considered publishing your Hotelier Highlights on MONDAYS ?
Mondays are the days when people get back to work, mondays are dull and boring and mondays are the days when people are looking for great stuff to read and implement. Perfect then for Hotelier Highlights.
Satuday nights on the other hand…well, lets just say double martini not hotel marketing is on the top of everyone’s mind
Just a thought!
Cheers
Mihir
A long life? Well that’s a relief! I was afraid I wouldn’t have time to read all of the good books
I don’t have that email yet, though, and where are these links?! Sometimes I feel that when it comes to Twitter, I manage to “do it wrong slowly.”
And here are a few tweeters that make my link hunting a little easier: HotelChatter, SubvCopyEd, dcraig, nametagscott, PMedanTuanku, ThisIsSethsBlog, lonelyplanet, JDVHotels, plus a ton of random streams that I happen across but can’t commit to following
I already use Google Docs to catalog early links, but still tend to replace them with later ones that I like better — maybe people write better content later in the week, in which case, yes! I should tackle the beginning-of-the-week-doldrums by posting highlights on Monday.
Fewer double martinis, more sending my email!
And thanks for your help, Mihir; have a good start of the week over there on your hemisphere.
Do you use Delicious to keep track of things you come across? =)
I’ve found their browser bookmarking tool extraordinarily helpful – allowing me to save stuff with one click
I knowwwww ! I too am worried that my life will be over before I manage to devour that long list of must read books
Don’t you get any of my links on Twitter ? How come ? I always send it to @swimkatieclapp
Thanks for your list of Tweeters to follow… I hope that I am on that esteemed list of yours as well
The perfect anecdote to Monday Morning Blues – Katie’s Words of Wisdom
Are you listening J ?
And with regards to your email… it is still work-in-progress…but I promise you this…Good things come to those who wait !!!
Cheers
Mihir
PS. You do know that we live on the same hemisphere, don’t you ?
I’m always listening
J, hadn’t tried Delicious, but have an account now — it looks so useful, which explains why everyone else uses it… *smacks head*
Mihir, the only link I’ve seen is that airline horror story. Are you possibly posting them to swimMkatieclapp? I remember you wrote my username that way that way when I first signed up. Otherwise I have no idea; try try again, or I’ll just follow you more closely!
Also, where in the world are you? Isn’t India in the Eastern/Northern hemisphere? Aren’t I on the Western hemisphere? Up is down, down is up, dogs and cats living together, etc…
Wonderful email, by the way — I’ll summon my best words of wisdom for a response, or at least some hilarious rambling anecdotes.
And J, you’re such a creeper.
Thanks for the help, guys!
What ? Are you serious ? I keep sending you links on Twitter on always wondered why you never replied to them. I did post one link to SwimMkatieclapp but then I realised my mistake and rectified it. After that I always posted them to single M. Try putting me on your marketing list to avoid missing out any links I find.
Instead of using Delicious, I try and retweet any interesting links I find. All part of DO IT WRONG QUICKLY.
My geography isn’t the best but don’t we only have 2 Hemispheres ? North and South ? Or is it 4 ? Katie, you were the bright one in class…
And where do dogs and cats live together btw ???
I am waiting eagerly for your words of wisdom and your anecdotes…you know how much I love corresponding with you
Cheers
Mihir
Katie, doesn’t J sound like something from Big Brother ?
Big brother? Hopefully I’m not that sinister
It’s just I’ve setup systems that cause a huge stream of messages to go by me all day….so I see everything, but unfortunately my replies are sometimes delayed a bit.
But I appreciate all the conversation here – it’s great to bounce ideas around like this.
Hahahahaha Lets say a nice Big Brother
It is indeed very rare to see you commenting on HMS these days, unlike in the past where we used to have great discussions with each other.
But Katie (who I must say I was quite apprehensive of in the beginning
) has been doing an excellent job of holding up the fort here on HMS in your absence !
I really enjoy my discussions with her about hotel marketing and loads of other stuff
Cheers
Mihir
haha, “Big Brother”. Does that make me “Little SIster”? I think I could live with that
I’m finally seeing those links, Mihir, and looking forward to your response to my novel-of-an-email.
Impromptu geography refresher! There are four hemispheres: North, South, East, West. India is North/Eastern and California is North/Western. If West were East and up were down, I imagine that would be the land where “dogs and cats live together.” It’s an expression my dad uses — the nicer version of “when H*** freezes over”, I suppose…
And it’s interesting you mention that J’s commenting less — I think he’s commenting almost as much at before, but posting twice as much content, which spreads the discussion between a broader range of topics.
And I’m glad to hear you’re not as apprehensive of me, now! As you said once, it turns out that “not all American girls are spoiled rich kids like on TV”.
Really though, I’m grateful for the warm reception I’ve gotten from everyone since joining Josiah on HMS — these kinds of work-inspired exchanges and new friendships are a rare commodity in so many fields; I hope we’re helping to change that for hoteliers!
*shake shake*
Katie
Hahahahaha more like Big Mama to ‘us boys’
Good to see that your finally getting my links on Twitter…better late than never !
I just got my mobile broadband tonight…I promise to work on your novel like email this week…
I’ve never heard of the Easter and Western hemispheres but I’l take your work for it Professor ;p
I take back all the comments I first made about you Katie…you’re like an onion with different layers to your wonderful and warm personality. And it sure is fun unravelling them one email at a time
Cheers
Mihir
Haha…this is hilarious!
funny