REPORT FROM THE U.S.—While the social-media space offers a wealth of opportunity for hoteliers in building revenue and guest loyalty, companies are still playing with the best ways to communicate with guests.
Some hotels are finding their guests are primarily interested in discounts and specials, which are often sent out exclusively to their Facebook fans or Twitter followers. Others also are utilizing social media as a relationship-building tool and a way to have back-and-forth communication with their guests.
The best way to develop dialogue with guests on social media networks is to simply have a casual conversation with them, suggests John Wolf, director of public relations for Marriott International. “The way you engage people doesn’t really change; it has to have all the hallmarks of a good conversation, whether it is in person or online. It has to be honest and welcoming,” he said.
That type of back-and-forth dialogue involves developing compelling posts that are not simply ads for the next package or special. “It is about engaging customers and quantifying how much that engagement is worth. It is about putting forth information that is engaging and shareable,” Wolf said.
For example, Courtyard by Marriott guests are big sports fans, so the brand often posts messages about football and other sports on the brand’s Facebook page. One recent Facebook post that garnered some reaction and interaction was: “Playoffs begin on Saturday! Which two NFL teams would you like to see play in the Super Bowl?”
On Marriott’s Twitter page, public relations executives develop interesting and unique topics that encourage guests to respond. “One time, I learned that the one thing that guests must have on breakfast menus is oatmeal. So we started a conversation around oatmeal,” Wolf said.
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Ellis |
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants’ public relations executives take a similar conversational approach with the brand’s Twitter and Facebook posts, according to Stacey Ellis, senior director of public relations for Kimpton. In addition to letting guests know about specials, Kimpton runs informal, fun surveys, such as: “If you could ask for any amenity in our hotels, what would it be?” and “What new print should we put on our robes?”
Kimpton’s PR team also goes beyond news about the hotel chain itself and asks about guests’ travel plans for the weekend, or posts interesting facts about travel and locales. “Last year, there was an incident at JFK Airport (in New York City) in which airplanes had to wait to take off because a herd of wild turtles was on the runway. We tweeted it, and people loved it: it was a funny thing,” Ellis said.
Informal surveys and contests have garnered some of the highest responses on Facebook for Tablet Hotels in New York, a distribution network for global luxury and boutique hotels. “We had a contest where we requested customers send in their most interesting and exciting hotel stories, with the winner receiving a very large prize. We then used the Facebook ‘like’ capability to allow people to vote on which story was their favorite. In just the span of a couple days, Tablet received hundreds and hundreds of unique likes,” said Mark Fedeli, a marketing associate for Tablet.
“One of the advantages of Facebook and Twitter is that they allow companies to adopt a more playful and intimate personality. It is a unique situation, in that your promotional marketing messages can be designed to be as fun and interesting as they are informative,” Fedeli added.
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Taylor |
Meanwhile, the top three topics that Fairmont executives communicate about on its Facebook and Twitter accounts are: Fairmont hotels, travel, and social media, said Mike Taylor, director of public relations for the Toronto-based chain. “We will talk about an interesting trend or story on social media, or let people know when Facebook and Twitter are changing something. If they are engaging with us in that social-media space, it is an area that is important to them,” Taylor said.
Fairmont also engages guests by running informal surveys on Facebook and Twitter. “We have asked what guests would like to see in their ideal package. We gave them 10 choices, and they could write in their favorites. We then created Twitter-only packages, which were designed by our followers,” Taylor said.
Responding to issues
When guests bring up issues or problems on social media websites, Kimpton executives respond publicly to guests and acknowledge the issue, according to Ellis. “We then invite more dialogue around the issue privately. At that point, we listen, make sure our guests feel heard, then involve appropriate people in the recovery of the situation,” Ellis said. The “appropriate people” are typically the GM at the hotel or restaurant involved in the situation.
As a follow-up, Kimpton executives find the guest again on Twitter or Facebook, and ask them if the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, we recover people right at ‘hello.’ People seem to need to feel heard more than anything. Often, guests will tweet on their own how pleased they are that we noticed, and are jumping in to help,” Ellis said.
When guests bring up a problem on Marriott International’s Twitter feeds, the chain’s customer care team asks guests to direct message their contact information, so representatives can handle issues beyond the 140-character limit on Twitter. “In a test project, the Marriott Twitter feed is monitored by customer care. They handle guest issues in line with their current procedures on such issues,” Wolf said.
Other top tips for social-media communication:
• Respond in a timely manner. “We have expanded the number of people who oversee Twitter. You need to respond to what they (guests) say. If you don’t, they assume you don’t care,” Wolf said. “I respond to any negative thing or anything that looks like people asking questions. There are lots of things that people post that are sweet and nice too, but I don’t have time to answer all those.”
• Listen to all the positive and negative comments in the social-media sphere. “I have Tweetdeck up all day. I scan for anything that is said about Kimpton, and how we can help (with guest questions and issues),” Ellis said.
• Develop a good mix of promotions and content on other topics that fit the brand. For Kimpton, marketing executives decided to post specials and promotions approximately 30% of the time, and post fun conversations about its hotels and other topics 70% of the time. “Seventy-percent is engagement: listening, having fun and showing personality. We consciously decided when we started our program that it wasn’t primarily a marketing tool, that it was about extending our brand voice,” Ellis said.