We hear you: there is a lot of news out there and not a lot of time to get through it.  Every Monday we send you some of the previous week’s articles on marketing, social media, hotel distribution and other hospitality topics that we thought were worth reading. Below are a few highlights from last week in the news:

SEO
As the writer of the article below indicates, search engine optimization is not always particularly a fun project, but definitely an essential one. If you have limited time and or resources, here are three clear steps you can take to make sure your hotel boosts visibility in the search engines:
3 Ways to Boost Hotel Search-Engine Rankings

Management Model
Managers: Do you follow a model or framework to run your business and drive desired results? This article suggests that not all frameworks apply to hotel management and are designed to support decision-making and forward planning. The author offers a process- and results-driven new framework to help hotel management approach their businesses: 
A New Management Model for Hoteliers

Next Level Social Media
We enjoy hearing about business, especially hotels, innovating in the social media arena and becoming Social Businesses. Here is a success story worth sharing: Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel combined RFID technology with their social media channels to increase fans, business, and revenue.
What Happened When a Hotel Armed Social Media-Loving Clubbers with RFID Wristbands?

Google+ Pages
Google just announced the once-anticipated launch of their Google+ Pages for brands, allowing businesses the opportunity use this channel to engage with customers and promote their products and services. The article below offers a list of examples to browse other company pages. Also, be sure to subscribe to Sabre Hospitality’s blog here for more news this week on how to approach Google + within your hotel marketing mix:
Google+ Pages for Business, Brands Now Rolling Out

Facebook
Do you like leaving comments on Facebook? Some posts get more attention and stimulate engagement more than others. According to the article below, posts including the word “like” tend to increase fan engagement, as do photos: 
What Encourages Facebook Engagement?

Travel Trends
Global travel trends were discussed during the opening day of last week’s World Travel Market in London. This WTM speaker separated travel trends by region, including a few that hoteliers may want to pay attention to in 2012, such as Mystery trips on the rise, European sustainability, re-branding of the Middle East:
8 Key Trends in Global Travel

*Image source: Search Engine Land