Pinterest for Hoteliers – A Guide to Pinterest for Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants
Pinterest has been all the rage recently, with various news sites and brands sitting up and taking notice. Pinterest.com isn’t new, though…it was (Beta) launched in 2010 and rose to fame in 2011 when it was declared one of the 50 best websites of the year by TIME magazine. By the end of last year, it garnered a lot more attention as it made it to the Hitwise list of top 10 social networks, Techcrunch’s best new startup title and also gained a reputation for driving more referral traffic to online retailers than YouTube, Google+ or LinkedIN.
So what’s the big deal, you ask? And, what, pray tell…is it exactly?
The curse of too much choice
A great TED talks video by Sheena Iyengar that talks about the perils of too much choice. To quote from the video blurb:
We all want customized experiences and products — but when faced with 700 options, consumers freeze up. With fascinating new research, Sheena Iyengar demonstrates how businesses (and others) can improve the experience of choosing.
We all know what happens when you’re faced with too much choice…if you’ve ever stood in the local hypermarket aisle, facing endless brands of washing powder, you’ll know exactly what I mean. We all love choice…but do we really need 25 varieties of washing powder? Humans are great at processing 6-7 pieces of information at a time and at eliminating the choices we know we DON’T want.
Hotel Internet Marketing by 2013 – Are we on Track?
I came across a piece I’d written about 17-18 months ago on the future of hotel internet marketing. The article talked about 5 broad tech trends that I thought would radically alter the way we approached digital / internet marketing for hotels back at the end of 2008. I thought it’d be fun to take a re-look at the article and see how far we’ve actually come in the last year or more and if those predictions still hold water… here goes:
1. Choice is king.
The clear winners of the online distribution race will be suppliers and 3rd parties that provide the most choice to the customer. “Experience building” will become key to the looking and booking process online. This will mean that successful suppliers (hotels) will have to break down elements of their inventory like rooms, dining, sports, spa and supporting services into individual units that can be booked and packaged both internally and externally. The more elements you provide to what I like to call the “Experience Engine”, the better the choice available to customers to personalize and tailor their experiences. This creation of experience units will also allow tourism industry suppliers to collaborate more effectively online, as well as spur the evolution of 3rd party providers who provide superior experience engines, taking destination marketing to a whole new level.
Augmented Reality Maps make their debut
After Blaise Aguera y Arcas offered a tantalizing peek at the world of Microsoft PhotoSynth a couple of years ago, he recently made a return to TED to demo the latest incredible innovation in mapping.
Watch the video as he offers a preview of the incredible mapping advancements Microsoft has made and the augmented reality features to come:
Video – Socialnomics and the Social Media Revolution
A great new video doing the rounds on the Internet, in true ‘Did You Know’ style (the original video by Karl Fisch that captured our imaginations). This video asks – Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Welcome to the World of Socialnomics:
YouTube Video (watch above)
Creating virtual holographic worlds – One Step Closer?
Watched this remarkable video and couldn’t help noticing the striking similarity in some of the applications as MIT Media Lab’s Sixth Sense Project (except the holograms, of course…surely those shouldn’t be that far away too?)
YouTube Description: “A strange man uses holographic tools to build a world for the woman he loves. This is a short by filmmaker Bruce Branit known also as the co-creator of 405.” WATCH YouTube version above (full post)
Say “cheese” – You’re on candid cam!
A picture may be worth a thousand words…but most hotel PR & Marketing managers today would be at a loss for words at the plague of user generated photos out on the Internet today. Hoteliers may need to get used to the fact that competing with their ‘official’ previews of what to expect, past guests have provided quite an unflattering visual footprint for those to follow. It’s no secret that hotels pay thousands of dollars for painstakingly taken, doctored photos that would entice even the most hardened globetrotter to positively drool in anticipation…and hit that book button. Great pictures DO sell.
Just as the transparency offered by the Internet in terms of rates has given many a hotel revenue manager gray hair, the ability to easily share rich media on the web promises to do the same for the marketing ilk. One only needs to turn to photos posted on TripAdvisor or Flickr to obtain unflattering photos of virtually every nook and crany of your hotel these days. Plus aesthetic slip-ups and the dreaded ease with which users can now take and publish photos online virtually guarantee that any dirty rooms, dropped drinks, deteriorating facilities and other ‘oops’ moments get their 15 mintues (or perpetuity) of fame on the Internet (as if old high school photos resurfacing on Facebook wasn’t bad enough!).
So is it all bad news?
Video – The Dramatic Shift in Marketing Reality
A great animated video by Michael Reissinger, based on a concept by Scholz & Friends, titled “Dramatic shift in marketing reality” that illustrates how the producer/marketer – consumer interaction has changed drastically in just a couple of decades. Also known as “The History of Marketing” Enjoy!
Hotel Jobs – A Hoteliers Guide to Job Hunting in the New Online World
Hoteliers are fantastic with people. Isn’t that what we’re paid for? But not all hoteliers are comfortable with technology…yet. Especially when it comes to getting the max out of the social revolution online. The good news is that every hotelier CAN make the best use of the Internet to boost their professional profiles as well as hunt for career opportunities more effectively. And all thats needed is the drive, common sense and the vital skill hoteliers already have…that of dealing with other human beings!
Though the Internet has revolutionized the way we interact and access a wealth of knowledge and information, great job leads these days are still a matter of ‘who you know’. Therefore getting connected with the right people the right way is crucial to job hunting success. Here are a few do’s and don’ts from experience:
5 Future Internet trends that will change Hotel Internet Marketing
5 Future Developments that will revolutionize Online Hotel Marketing: “For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”, says a famous proverb…and what better fit to apply this than in the world of technology and marketing?
The breakneck speed of tech evolution is inspiring (and often scary) but the two keywords that will set winning developments apart from the ‘also ran’ are ‘love’ and ‘simplicity’. It doesn’t take a degree to understand that people adopt technologies that fuel their imagination & passions…and the rate of adoption is in close sync to the simplicity of its interface and operation. Great technology needs to adapt to the needs of the user and future breakthroughs will bear testament to this.
