Five Ways Hotels Use Facebook | By Josiah Mackenzie

Five Ways Hotels Use Facebook | By Josiah Mackenzie 25-03-2011.



Lately facebook has introduced new features that may be considered as opportunities for hotels. In this article that was recently written on 25-03-2011 by Josiah Mackenzieand and posted on http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news, the author discusses 5 approaches how hotels are using facebook .

1) Facebook as exclusive source
In this section Mackenzie uses the example of Hotel Seven in Paris that uses facebook to inform fans about news and lowest available room rates. This was more than just an one-time PR stunt. "We've continued our strategy after opening, and made it clear to our colleagues that it was Facebook that attracted our fans initially," said Martin (Mackenzie, 2011). Accordingly not only did Hotel Seven's Facebook fan page attract more that 12,000 fan but also fans where the first to know about any new things or events happening at the hotel.
2) Facebook as a local community hub
Here the author states that both hotels in rural and urban area can use facebook to promote, inform, connect, and engage people in a certain area. Moreover it may be true that locals may not be interested in staying at your hotel, moreover locals may be interested in using your spa, or dinning at your restaurant. Also facebook can help hotel owners to position and differentiate their hotel in a certain area
The Marriott Napa Valley Hotel & Spa for example organizes several contests to keep fans excited in one way and aware of new events.
3) Facebook as a local guide
The example used here shows how Distrikt Hotel in New York city uses facebook to inform their community about new things in the city. This enables the hotel to be a reliable source to visitors( See the page:http://www.facebook.com/DistriktHotelNYC?sk=app_161118960597645)
4)Also facebook can be used as a sales tool, supporting his statement by using The Beacon Hotel in South Beach. This hotel uses facebook to promote special offers such as 2 free mojitos and a 15% off discount ( see http://www.facebook.com/beaconsouthbeach). The author also quotes the words of David Godsman, VP or global web for Starwood who stated in one of his intervies that " ...What we are seeing now is an emergence of technology that that we didn't see six months ago. There is an opportunity for ourselves and other hotel brands to enable these type of transactions within Facebook." (Mackenzie, 2011). Starwood believes using Facebook is an opportunity to increase revenues, for instance Starwood introduced a "Shop" tab on their page which enable guests to book directly

5) Facebook as a mini website

As the author stated "One & Only Palmilla uses advanced design to create an experience like browsing their website" (Mackenzie, 2011) different dynamic pages are setup for outlets such as spa and restaurants.
Rich media is something of extreme importance today this reflects the tendency to use it to build interactive pages. Also industries not related to hospitality such as Redbull and Harley Davidson are using this trend.


Eventhough no one can calculate the real impact of social media on a certain destination or hotel, moreover it is important to realize the great role that facebook and other social media are playing in today’s hospitality and other business. If we just have a look at the number of fan pages created for hotels on facebook, we realize that most hotels, from big chains such as Starwood brands to small family owned hotels, all have realized the importance of facebook, as it is a trendy new, easy, and maybe the fastest way to guarantee that information will reach the right target market i.e. the " Fans". This is considered a win-win situation for both hotels and people. In such a way hotels can promote themselves, keep fans updated of new projects, offers and events, and thus considered an opportunity to increase sales and revenues. Similarly, facebook users look at such trends positively; we personally believe that free, up to date, and credible information are being read by users which can help us expand our knowledge about a certain area, and a specific hotel.
Must social media be used by business as a way to promote or advertise themselves? Are such ways professional? We don’t know, but one thing we can assure is that facebook helped hotels in a way.


SOURCE:
Mackenzie, J. (2011, March 26). Five ways hotels use facebook . Retrieved from http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4050753.html