Facebook Travel Marketing & Reservations - The Personal Touch

Written by Sue Cromby Tuesday, 17 May 2011 06:39

Hospitality providers are turning more and more to Facebook Hotel Marketing & Bookings to attract business. The New York Times ran an article in April 2011 reporting that hotels now offer reservation services through Facebook (FB) and smart phone apps using 3rd party apps supplies by travel companies that have these advanced Tourism Marketing Platforms

Hospitality providers are turning more and more to Facebook Hotel Marketing & Bookings to attract business. The New York Times ran an article in April 2011 reporting that hotels now offer reservation services through Facebook (FB) and smart phone apps using 3rd party apps supplies by travel companies that have these advanced Tourism Marketing Platforms

A poll conducted by a marketing research organization showed that more than 30% of smart phone users plan to make hotel reservations using their mobiles some time during the next year and more than 10 per cent of social networking users intend to shop for hospitality services on FB and similar sites.

Many large hospitality chains have pages on FB. A particularly famous international hotel chain offers booking widgets on their FB pages. When a prospective client clicks on the 'Like' button, this enables the company to open a window of discovery into what the customer wants to find in their mini bar or what time they want their wake-up call. Since 2009, a Barbados company has assisted more than 30 Caribbean hotels and resorts to offer reservations via Facebook.

Some large chains are offering check-in by smart phone. This allows guests to check into the room while waiting for their baggage and simply collect the key on arrival. Another offers a mobile phone application that enables guests to make a reservation or request a hot meal on arrival!

FB as the inherent flexibility of guests adding up to the minute comments on the company's 'Wall', either reviewing their experience afterwards or communicating with staff during their stay. Guests can even communicate with each other, either making real time social arrangements or catching up long after they've gone home. The company, on the other hand, has the ability to post updates, contests or special offers. These options simply aren't available on conventional web sites or online travel agencies.

Twitter provides unlimited opportunities for the hospitality industry to keep in touch with its clientele. Large chains have individual accounts for their businesses in every city and separate corporate streams for general info and updates, a 'concierge' stream and a separate account yet for recruiting staff. A popular socialite who is married to an iconic hospitality mogul and a shrewd businesswoman in her own right, for example, has over a million followers.

Offering direct online booking through social networking sites and mobile phone apps means that hospitality providers save money by not having to pay commissions to online travel agencies. Another critical difference is that by using agencies, the client builds their relationship with the agency instead of the company itself.

Maintaining a presence on social networking sites enables travel companies to entice potential clients away from online agencies, which charge a fee for each reservation. Not only does this save money by having customers book direct, it enables them to monitor complaints or let customers know when someone has posted a review of their experience of their stay with the company.

Social networking sites offer travel companies the ability to obtain demographic information about their users and learn the times of day and months of year when people are seeking information about travel and what sort of activities motivate users to click further. This allows companies to produce targeted advertising campaigns, contests and special travel offers.