Welcome to my Hotel Marketing Blog. I am Josiah Mackenzie and I write about how hotels can use the internet to increase direct bookings. You may want to start with the biggest hits page, enroll in the 5-day e-course, or get weekly email updates.

Three reasons to keep an eye on foursquare

February 26, 2010

I don’t use foursquare. At least not yet.
But every time I go out to lunch with Michael, I see him checking in to the restaurant on foursquare with his mobile phone.
I’m at the place where I don’t feel like joining yet another social network. But as a marketing professional, I need to stay ahead of [...]

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How Mosaic House Re-designed Their Website & Added 800 Facebook Fans Before Opening

February 23, 2010

Megan Harrod is the director of marketing for Mosaic House. I’ve been watching them develop a new website for their soon-to-be-opened property for a while now. When they added Facebook Connect to the homepage, I knew we had to talk…
Josiah: What were some of your goals when redeveloping the website?
Megan: We wanted to focus on [...]

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Google Buzz: A Guide for Hotels

February 22, 2010

Google Buzz has received a lot of, well, buzz over the past couple weeks. When it comes to reviews, we have everything from Jason’s sugary love note to the Wall Street Journal’s piece on why Buzz isn’t humming along.  I wanted to take an open-minded look at it from a hotel marketing perspective.
What is Google [...]

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EyeforTravel’s Social Media Strategies for Travel 2010

February 21, 2010

I’ll be attending quite a few conferences this year, but one of the ones I’m looking forward to most is EyeforTravel’s Social Media Strategies for Travel USA 2010 (March 24-25).
At most conferences, social media may be the topic of a few workshops, but it doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves. I’m pleased [...]

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Building a ‘Preferences Center’ for more relevant emails

February 17, 2010

I’ve been doing a lot of work helping clients plan e-mail campaigns lately. In my experience, what separates great e-mail from mediocre e-mail is the level of personalization and customization. The more relevant you can make your offer, the better ROI you’ll get, and the happier the recipient will be.
Collecting guest preferences should be an [...]

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Permission isn’t forever

February 15, 2010
Thumbnail image for Permission isn’t forever

Ever since reading Seth Godin’s book (has it been 10 years already?!), Permission Marketing has been the cornerstone of all marketing I’ve tried to do since.
Creating an environment where people request information from you sets the stage for them to be much more receptive to your messages, and is much more in line with the [...]

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My Favorite Untapped Source of Hotel Website Traffic

February 9, 2010

Sometimes I feel we talk ad nauseum about the same channels for driving website traffic. In all this chatter, we may be overlooking the most important and most profitable source of website traffic:
Past guests

Past guests are easier to bring back to your website
Past guests are usually much, much more profitable

As marketers we tend to spend [...]

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Hotel Marketing Ideas Guide Giveaway

February 8, 2010

Today we just finished an extensive revision of our core product: the Savvy Hotelier’s Guide to Hotel Marketing Ideas. Since you have supported me so much through the development of this project, I wanted a way to give back to you, my readers.
So each day this week I’ll give away one free copy of the [...]

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Book Summary: Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

February 5, 2010

Gary Vaynerchuk is often used as a social media success story. Through his video blog show – Wine Library TV – he built his local, family business into a national leader.
As he says in the book, “I write about things after I do them.” I like that. I enjoy learning from people who have tested [...]

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Fairmont uses Twitter to create special package

February 2, 2010

Many hotels use Twitter to communicate with their fans, but Fairmont is taking it a step further.
The Fairmont Chateau Whistler (@fairmontwhistlr) asked their Twitter followers for input in building a winter travel package. A poll was created where people could vote for the top activities they wanted included.
The result? A “Twinter Travel Package” that includes [...]

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