Earlier this year when we asked hoteliers what they are reading for their hotel marketing and distribution news, we heard from many about the time it takes to read more than just a small handful of publications each week. Our new weekly round-up blog includes a summary of some of the highlights of last week in the news and out in the field related to marketing, social media, hotel distribution and other hospitality news. Here are just a few of the items from last week that we thought were worth sharing:
Brands: Do online reviews actually make brands irrelevant? This article and some of the comments offer a perspective on brands and the importance of reputation management:
http://gigaom.com/2011/09/17/the-tripadvisor-effect-are-online-reviews-making-brands-irrelevant/
Customer service: Pro-active customer service: Increase your customer service by telling the guests what you will do, instead of asking what you can do:
http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=P21723
In the News: Below are two articles packed with tips from our EMEA and APAC leaders that you may have missed this week:
How to balance key new marketing trends with limited time and resources
Creating a channel-specific strategy based on your market segment
http://www.eyefortravel.com/news/hotels/creating-channel-specific-strategy-based-your-market-segment
Facebook: It’s hard to miss the recent social media chatter around Facebook changes following the F8 conference last week. We found Mashable’s conference coverage detailed and thorough. This article does a great job of listing all of the changes in one overview:
http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-changes-roundup/
And in case you missed this one, Facebook’s changes mean that marketing-driven content will need to be particularly valuable and relevant to followers to keep company writing on the walls:
http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebooks-changes-marketers/?WT.mc_id=obnetwork
Events: Our team joined the Eye for Travel online marketing and distribution conference in Las Vegas last week, presenting on the future of mobile (Robert Dawson) and social media (Erin Riley). Check out some of our pictures via our Facebook page. Below are just a few of the many interesting takeaways we noted from the event presos:
- NFC Technology is going to change the way we do business in travel space
- 61 % of online consumers are willing to book travel via their mobile devices
- ComScore says 7 million people are using mobile for travel services
- According to Google, travel bookers spend 41 mins on YouTube prior to booking


