Marketing and the Hotel Travel Industry.......Today

Marketing in todays business worlds can be challenging at times. Many, if not all industries have changed there advertising approach. Today I am going to blog about one particular type of  industry,the hotel industry.
Prior to the web many businesses had few choices to get attention to there organization. They depended on purchasing expensive advertising  media like TV, Radio, newspapers ,and print magazines or getting a third party ink write up  . In todays internet world its a whole new game , especially for the hotel industry.
Most Hotels no longer rely on the USA TODAY or the  travel magazines. Many rely on our(meaning the public) reviews that we post on the web.One of the biggest fears among General Mangers in the industry is getting a negative review in on any online booking agents. For example, Trip advisor has thousands of reviews for hotels. If a hotel has a poor public reviews there prices and occupancy will suffer.

It is not uncommon for some hotels to have there own social media department.
The internet is not just another Medium . it is a valuable communications tool. Hotels today are better today at  finding out what there guests want. Most hotels have there own website, they have a fan page on   Facebook, are members of  twitter, you tube, and even there own blog.A simple tweet from a friend saying  that they stayed at the Delano hotel in south beach can be seen by thousands of potential guests Utilizing  these tools help them communicate better with potential clients. These tools also help the Delano show who they are. Before when we used travel gents or the phone book very few times we could see the what the property and surrounding area looked like. Today we do not even consider a room at a hotel that does post any pics.


http://www.milestoneinternet.com/html/web2.0-social-media-optimization.asp

http://www.milestoneinternet.com/html/web2.0-social-media-optimization.asp

Why sponsered tweets are not the end of the world

We have all received a tweet that looks like the image above.For the past couple years sponsored tweets and blogs  have been have been a norm on twitter and like services.While they can be undesired and feel like an  annoying Tv./radio commercial or an unwanted piece of junkmail in your mailbox(not inbox)  I have decided to look back at some of the resistance  sponsored tweets had and some of the positives( if any) they offered.

"sponsored Tweets will purposely mislead the public because we wont know whats an ad or real authentic info". While I question all the content my friends tweet about is authentic at times a know non of them " are  on the take" because sites like sponsored tweets required full discloser on all tweets. Refer to the image above (dollar. #ad http).

While I understand that there some reason for concerns I believe the benefits outweigh the negatives. We all follow people on twitter for some reason or another . Some are friends and family,  but other such as celebrities, athletes, and professional/amateur bloggers. Those that we dont know personally give us something through entertainment or information we want or are interested in. Why should they not  be compensated as a spokesperson just like every celebrity who tries to sell me shoes , deodorant, cars, financial service and cel phone through commercials.

I would also like to note its not just major celebrities. Many small bloggers who have built up a good following participate in programs like ad.ly and sponsered tweets.
This form of advertising can also help all businesses not just big business. For about a hundred dollars you can get someone to tweet to 50 thousand people a promotion for your small buisness.

However if these reasons are not good enough and you want no ads on any tweets you receive, you still reserve the right to unfollow that sponsored tweeter...

http://sponsoredtweets.com/about/ethics/

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/05/twitter_bans_sponsored_tweets.html