These days, a lot goes into choosing the perfect hotel. Hotel choice no longer depends solely on the location, price, and amenities; it depends on experience. Customers have become more interested in experiential features instead of whether or not the hotel has a five-star review. As the phrase goes, many “do it for the gram.” When looking to book their stay, the Instagram generation is interested in things that are eye-catching and worthy of sharing with their followers. Just searching the hashtag “wanderlust” reveals millions of images of different travel experiences from around the world. READ MORE

While social media has become a mainstream marketing channel, there are many variables that hoteliers are not taking advantage of to increase their revenue. Unlike other mainstream marketing avenues, social media is not static, as platforms continuously find ways to increase engagement with both users and advertisers. As social platforms have realized their massive marketing opportunities within their user base, they have increasingly capitalized on their clearly defined users by providing advertisers access to them. Today, the popularity of social channels has created a “pay-to-play” model that leaves many business owners and managers perplexed as to which channels to focus on, and the right budget to allocate in order to maximize return on investment (ROI). READ MORE

Are you approaching customer feedback reactively, trying to patch up holes in order to prevent damage to your reputation? Or, are you using it as a source of information to help you become more profitable? If the latter, then you need to know and understand the different channels for feedback, and select and combine them according to your needs. The tools to measure customer experience and satisfaction are key success drivers for your business, but in many cases, these tools are not used to their full potential. Service-driven businesses must optimize their way of listening to their customers in order to receive timely and objective feedback. This helps toward improving customer experience and, in turn, your business' profitability. READ MORE

Regardless of property type, tax assessment valuation would appear simple enough. A generally accepted definition of market value is: The probable price, as of a specified date, in cash, or in terms equivalent to cash, or in other precisely revealed terms, for which the specified property rights should sell after reasonable exposure in a competitive market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale, with the buyer and seller each acting prudently, knowledgeably, and for self-interest, and assuming that neither is under undue duress. READ MORE

It's that time of year when everyone is working hard towards their ambitious new year's resolutions. Here's one more I would like to recommend hotel owners and operators to put on their list. Join the Hotel Owners for Tomorrow (HOT) coalition to help advance sustainability for the hotel community. HOT is a no-cost initiative, bringing hotel owners, hotel brands, management companies, industry bodies, and other supporters in hotel development to build awareness and get the important discussion of sustainability started among the hotel community. READ MORE

The proliferation of travel discount websites has many hotels scrambling in a race to the bottom. So how do you attract travelers (and ideally repeat travelers) who aren't simply looking for the cheapest bed for the night? Becoming an expert resource on your city and sharing it through a branded blog is a great way to stand out from the competition. By creating and regularly publishing to a blog that celebrates what makes your city unique, you can elevate your hotel from only ranking in Google search for those looking at hotels in a specific price range to being a top destination for anyone looking to learn more about your destination. READ MORE

It seems just a short time ago that hospitality public relations - PR - was implemented as a one-way communication between a brand or hotel or resort and its potential market segments. The purpose was to gain attention, interest, and, ultimately, bookings that would turn prospects into customers and, ideally, loyal repeat clientele. Today, the media relations function represents just one component of an interactive, engaged connection between hotels (or hotel companies) and their constituents. This article takes a look at where the discipline came from, how it has evolved, and where it may be headed as a vital tool for driving revenue. READ MORE

When accessing and converting potential guests to your hotel, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns or Social Media Marketing. The most valuable tool you have in the battle for Google's favor should be the ability to evolve, I like to call this “Digital Promoflex” in today's marketing environment. We all know, just like in chess, we need a plan in order to play a decent game. This is exactly the same premise in digital and social media marketing. In order to determine what kind of channels to target your audience, READ MORE

Today, social media is a staple in most people's daily lives. In 2016, 78 percent of Americans had a social media profile, up 5 percent from 2015. Worldwide, there are 2.3 billion active social media users - 1.7 billion on Facebook alone! And popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram aren't missing this opportunity to capitalize on our need to be social. In 2016, Facebook underwent a dramatic transformation from social network to a media delivery service right before our eyes. Facebook is now the second biggest ad publisher globally behind Google, and in Q3 2016 reported record earnings of $7.01 billion in revenue. READ MORE

Is it possible for your hotel to attract millennials and boomers? Yes. It's a solid strategy. But building a brand, and generating the optimal messages for each group requires nuanced understanding of what each generation cares about and how they make decisions. The writing-duo of Yvonne Tocquigny, and her daughter, Laurel, tell hotel executives what they need to know to bridge the branding gap between generational age groups. Is it possible to build a hotel brand with appeal to both the millennial and the boomer generations? Where are the commonalities and the differences when it comes to brand loyalty in hotels? Theoretically, if you know where the points of intersection and differences lie, you can broaden the relevance of your brand and capture more market share. READ MORE

Driving Maximum Profit through More Direct Booking: In today's ultra-competitive hotel environment, every dollar counts. Any competitive edge that translates into a stronger bottom line is sought out, and every piece of hotel business is evaluated to determine its true worth. With rising costs associated with acquiring new guests through third-party platforms, hotels are rightly considering their most effective booking channels and looking to maximize business from owned assets like their own website. READ MORE

Excellent service is indispensable to a hotel's reputation and success. That fact is the one thing - perhaps the only thing - that a hotel executive can refine without great cost.For service is both an attitude and a series of actions, starting with a personal investment by management and labor to do better; to do more; to learn more; to listen more; to achieve more; to grow more; to do more of everything, for everyone, by anyone who works for a hotel. Teaching these lessons to hoteliers is a chance to give them independent analysts. It is an opportunity for them to prosper. READ MORE

Impressions. Leads. Conversion. Bounce Rate. Hands up who is really obsessed in monitoring these social media quantitative metrics on a daily basis? Quantitative metrics tends to be the main priority when analyzing social media reach or success but there are some new key indicators and metrics that have been overlooked and can also be a key element for a successful hotel social media performance. Most hoteliers are constantly worried about the same old metrics and looking for benchmarks that can help them to monitor their performance successfully on social media. But what about qualitative metrics and sentiment analysis? Are they meaningful? Which ones to use? What can we learn from them? How can we measure them? READ MORE

It's undeniable that hotel brands have found success in using social media to engage travelers. Some of the more active brands on social media can boast millions of Facebook Likes and hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. Scores of additional followers join in the conversation on Instagram, Pinterest and Google+, and the most current brands are trying out networks like Snapchat and Periscope. With this level of undisputed success at the brand level, some hoteliers might think that any engagement at the individual property level is unnecessary, but that is far from the truth. READ MORE

Where are your guests when they're not at your hotel? The answer is simple: they're on social media. But, the real question is: are they on your social media? Social media is the go-to platform for many travelers who no longer want to visit websites, pick up the phone or even send an email. It's the fastest way to communicate information about a brand. Often, it's the first resource referenced for news. While social media will always have its share of window shoppers, more followers are turning to it for specific questions about pricing, availability, onsite amenities and destination activities. READ MORE