Digital IQs

Big Picture

The social media landscape is always shifting, so it’s no shock to know there is yet another influential player on the scene. But, while some hoteliers are familiar with Pinterest—the newest outlet for social sharing on the web—there are plenty more who aren’t quite sure how to tackle it as a marketing opportunity. With over 4 million people currently registered and about 1.5 million visits to the site each day, Pinterest is quickly and steadily gaining popularity over other social networking sites. Consider tuning into this channel to start leveraging the very attributes and characteristics that make your property and your customer experience unique and unforgettable—not to mention boost traffic to your website while doing so.

Read More

For ideas on how to optimize Timeline for your hotel’s Page, sign up for our live webinar on March 8th at 2:00 PM EST.

Big Picture

Since the initial roll-out of Facebook’s Timeline for personal profiles, the question of when the updates would be expanded to Pages has been quite a hot topic. Officially announced during the FacebookMarketing Conference last week, Timeline for brands has finally arrived. With a heavier focus on a more personalized social experience, the new Facebook Pages invite businesses and organizations to tell their unique stories through a visually engaging and streamlined format that provides more flexibility and emphasis on images, special posts, and more. With all Pages due to be moved over to Timeline by March 30th, you will need to consider how your hotel plans to adapt and move forward with the new features.

Read More

Big Picture

ADA compliance has long been a concern for hoteliers. Navigating the complex rules and regulations can be cumbersome, but vital for complying with the law and for catering to special needs guests. A new facet of ADA compliance has been introduced for websites—referred to as “Website Content Accessibility” or “508 Compliance.” And while not mandated by law yet, it is something your hotel needs to be aware of and begin to implement to stay current in providing for special needs guests.

Read More

Big Picture

For travel shoppers, finding the perfect hotel online, at the right price, is a difficult process that involves reviewing and analyzing multiple sites and toggling between tabs or windows to compare individual hotels and rates. To make it easier to find and compare hotels, Google has introduced a new experimental search tool – Hotel Finder. With Google Hotel Finder, consumers can view hotels in user-defined areas and easily compare them using one simple tool. Think of it not as another
merchant site, but rather a comparison shopping site.

Read More

Big Picture

The mobile market is growing at an explosive rate, and travel shopping and bookings are at the forefront.

• Nearly all smartphone users (94%) and iPad users (91%) use their mobile devices for travel-related activities, including researching and planning travel. And beyond just planning, over half of smartphone and tablet users use their device to make a travel booking (according to recent research by Greystripe).

• eMarketer predicts that 29 million consumers will plan travel on the mobile Internet in 2012, a more than 50 percent increase over 2011.

Having a strong mobile presence for your property is absolutely essential. But there’s still a question of what is best for your property-a mobile website or a mobile app? How can you best connect with travel shoppers and on-property guests?

Read More

Big Picture

To date, Facebook has been the leading player in the social sharing arena. But powerhouse Google is once again attempting to enter the social sharing space, after a rocky start with Google Buzz in 2010. Google has officially released Google +1 as a way of keeping up with the Facebook “like” button. While both the “like” button and “Google +1” are ways to tell your social network, “hey, check this out”, Google +1 takes it a step further, combining organic search and the social graph, giving each consumer a little power over what content is served up via Google search results.

Read More