A hotel's ultimate goal is to put heads in beds while increasing ADR, so it's not surprising that most hotels focus all of their online marketing budget and efforts on promoting the hotel's rooms, amenities and location. In regards to SEO, a hotel is typically concerned with website optimization, link building and OTA management, all of which ensure that the hotel is targeting the appropriate keywords and highlighting the best aspects of the hotel across all online channels. With so much emphasis on filling hotel rooms, hotel restaurants often get left in the dust.  While you work towards increasing occupancy in your hotel restaurant, you will inadvertently market your hotel's guest rooms as well.

Follow these five extra tips to optimize your hotel restaurant's online presence to improve your restaurant occupancy as well as supplement your hotel's overall SEO strategy.

1. Linkbuilding

Creating inbound links to your hotel's website is vital for both SEO power and referral traffic, so why not build some links that highlight your onsite restaurant? There are several marketing opportunities for restaurants to list their address, phone number, hours, menu, photos, and of course, website!

Whether you choose to promote your official brand site or a custom, independent site, establishing a link to your dining page will benefit your hotel in more ways than one. Not only will you spread brand awareness to local folks who may not think to dine at a hotel restaurant, but you will also be creating a new online citation with a link!

Hate linkbuilding? Don't worry! Many of the sites that collect and share local restaurant information are user-generated, meaning you can manually upload and edit the information yourself rather than seeking out a third party website's IT guy. Create a login for the hotel and find the add venue, add menu, edit or claim button to submit your requests. Here are a few sites to get you started: Urbanspoon, Metromix, MenuPages and Yelp.

2. Local Listings

Hopefully, you have already grasped the importance of claiming and optimizing your hotel on the various local listing channels, such as Google Places, Bing Local, etc. Search engines are becoming more personalized, offering tailored search results that are narrowed down by your city or zip code; thus, it can be extremely beneficial to optimize and claim your hotel restaurant as a separate entity from your hotel.

Since your restaurant most likely uses the same address as your hotel, it is important to differentiate the restaurant listing slightly so that it is not considered a duplicate. For example, use the restaurant's direct phone line rather than the hotel's front desk number. Also, direct the website link to the interior dining page that offers the visitor relevant information rather than the hotel homepage.

Creating a business listing for your restaurant will allow you to target an entire range of new keywords, which will populate as a search result for people intending to find a bite to eat rather than a hotel room. This also gives your hotel a new platform for receiving and responding to reviews, opening up another channel of communication with customers. As Google is the biggest player in the game, start by making sure your Google Places restaurant listing is owner-verified and optimized, but also check out Yahoo! Local, Bing Business Portal and MQVibe, which is MapQuest's newest local business center.

Some of these local sites also give businesses the opportunity to create special offers. For instance, after claiming your Google Places listing you can craft a coupon to redeem special offers that will display prominently for viewers to see. Be creative (but follow Google's guidelines) and establish enticing offers. Try giving away something like one free dessert with the purchase of one entree or complimentary valet parking when you spend X amount. Also, make sure to include terms and conditions as you see fit!

3. Keyword Research & On-Page Optimization

Your hotel's website should already be optimized for the appropriate keywords that you have decided to target, but take that a step further and ensure that you are actively SEOing your dining page as well. Use Google's Keyword Tool to determine what restaurant keywords you might want to target and include them seamlessly throughout your copy. Check that your meta-title incorporates highly-searched city dining keywords too!

4. Social Media

Does your hotel restaurant feature special events periodically that might garner a following? Special happy hour deals? Live bands on Friday nights? Monthly wine tastings? If so, your restaurant may deserve its very own social media profile to showcase its personality.

While managing two separate pages can create a bit more effort on your part, it may be worth it since it can actually extend your fan base. Your restaurant will likely target a more local or regional market whereas your hotel's official Facebook page will appeal to a much wider audience. To make it easier to manage, set up the two unique Facebook pages under the same Facebook account so you can easily switch back and forth to scour your newsfeed and review your analytics. Post high-quality pictures of your best dishes with detailed captions, boast about your exceptional cocktails, announce your daily chef specials and, most importantly, engage with local customers on your Facebook wall. Don't forget that Facebook is a two-way street! Why not use it as an outlet to ask your followers what they'd like to see on the menu? Keep in mind that you can use the @tagging feature to create a partnership between your hotel's official Facebook page and your hotel's restaurant Facebook page.

Facebook also recently introduced Facebook Deals, a similar concept to Foursquare Check-In Specials, which encourages guests to check-in on their mobile device to redeem special offers. Foursquare Check-Ins and Facebook Deals both promote a healthy word-of-mouth marketing that takes very little management effort. Businesses can select from a variety of deal options depending on what your objective may be. You can opt for a simple check-in reward, you can foster a sense of community by requiring X amount of friends to check-in together or you can encourage loyalty by requiring X amount of previous visits, like a virtual punch card. Just make sure that your restaurant staff is well-versed on the deal's stipulations to ensure all transactions run smoothly!

5. Flash Deal Sites

Hotel restaurants share a common challenge: distinguishing themselves as local dining establishments rather than the food and beverage department within a hotel. Because a restaurant is often hidden within the hotel's intricate design, it doesn't typically offer as much curb appeal as an established, individual restaurant; therefore, it's easy for local folks to disregard a hotel restaurant when selecting a lunch or dinner spot. However, in some instances, restaurants can be a significant revenue generator for hotels, so how can hotels market their restaurants to people living in the area who may not think to frequent it? This is where flash deal sites come into play!

Groupon, Living Social, Travel Zoo Local Deals, Google Offers and countless local "knock-off" deal sites are popping up left and right. They offer people unbeatable dining deals based on location. While restaurants do have to offer a steep discount to make their deal shine, the value to both the customer and the restaurant is very strong. Deal sites take a creative approach--they encourage people to spend money locally, while still inherently saving, and they offer restaurants a unique, online advertising opportunity with a targeted reach. Who can say no to a good deal on food?

There is no doubt that a hotel's online marketing efforts should largely concentrate on promoting their accommodations, but that doesn't mean it should miss out on additional services that can bring in revenue. These simple suggestions to market your hotel's restaurant online will ultimately direct more traffic to your hotel's website and location.

The importance of social media to the travel industry is a well-known fact by now, and we’ve helped to show you the way to the best Facebook apps, how to optimize on Foursquare, how to create captivating content, and even persuaded you into building a Google+ profile.  Just as you thought you had everything under control on the social media front, Facebook unleashed a new format for brand pages last month called Timeline and brands everywhere are working hard to make their pages look their best.  Looks like it’s time to roll-up our sleeves once again and tune-up our Timelines.  But, before you jump into your Facebook makeover, take a minute to read over these five tips.

1.  IDENTITY CRISIS: New format for Business Pages looks just like the format for Profile Pages.

The new brand pages (for businesses) now look just like personal profile pages (for people) with a large cover photo and two columns with the “timeline” in the middle and a sidebar timeline to jump through the years.

How you can optimize: Use these new features to your marketing advantage by featuring an attractive, focused cover photo that your guests will see as soon as they go to your page.  Your cover photo will need to be 850 x 315 pixels and you can add a welcome tagline, such as the one in the example below. However, be sure to read Facebook’s guidelines, as cover photos cannot contain ANY of the following:

• price or purchase information
• contact information
• any reference to user interface elements (such as “Like Us!”)
• calls to action

If you include any of those elements, Facebook will penalize your page.  

Optimize your Timeline features by adding important milestones relevant to your business.  Some examples include your business’ opening day, renovations, re-openings, or top sales days.  You can also pin important posts to the top of your timeline, which will stay there for 7 days or until you pin another post.  Pinning posts works best to advertise a sale or event that you want guests to see immediately.  Similarly, highlighting a post will also call attention to important events, updates, or sales, as that post will expand it to the entire width of your Timeline.

2. FACE-LIFTED: Tab Visibility has been reduced to only 3 tabs

The panel of tabs on the left-hand side of the old page, which many brands used as landing pages to introduce potential fans to your brand, have been moved and reduced.  On the new Timeline, tabs (which contained Facebook applications) are now displayed as application boxes under the large cover photo.  Additionally, now only 3 tabs are visible before expanding the “see more” option.  Be sure to note that the “Photos” application box will always be visible and automatically consumes one of the 4 available boxes on display.

How you can optimize: Although the old tabs/landing pages were very useful in personalizing a brand page and adding content, this new arrangement forces brands to consider which three tabs are the most important to your company’s current marketing objectives.  The tabs can be re-arranged as often as you’d like in order to focus on ever-changing goals and targets.  The new Timeline application icons are 111 x 74 pixels, so you can incorporate attractive photos into your icon to draw guests’ attention to your tabs.  Without updating the icon picture, the old tab icons will be centered in the middle of the new application boxes without any adjustments, so it’s best to update the new format.

3. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: No Default Landing Pages

Without the aforementioned tab pages used as landing pages, brands no longer have the ability to send visitors to designated landing pages upon arriving at a business's Facebook page.  Instead, the "homepage" of a business Facebook page will always be the new Timeline page with the large cover photo. This change will dramatically affect the user’s first impression of your brand, and it changes marketing strategies for “Likes” and email signups.  Brands that previously relied on "Like walls" (where users had to like the page before viewing exclusive Facebook content) will no longer be able to grow their community base in that way.  However, on the positive side, removing this marketing tactic for “Likes” means the guests who continue to “Like” your brand page will be high-quality fans, which translates into high-quality engagement with people who really DO like your brand.

How to optimize: It’s time to re-think your marketing strategy since you can no longer force new visitors to navigate through the calls-to-action on your landing pages before reaching the wall of your Facebook page.  The best way to ensure your new or returning guests have a positive user-experience on your page is to create an attractive cover photo that highlights your best amenities, guestrooms, or products.  Feature a pinned post at the top of your page with a great rate, sale, or event. Highlight an even better post to expand it across the width of your page to make a great first impression.  Bring your applications front and center, which shouldn’t be difficult to accomplish since the new app boxes are much larger than the old 16x16 icons and encourage guests to expand your app list with attention-catching visible tabs.

4. OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW: Fresh ways to feature content

With the tried-and-true methods of marketing to new fans and incorporating fresh content removed from the Timeline format, marketers need to learn innovative ways to feature fresh content.  Luckily, as the saying goes, “When one door closes, a window opens.”  In this case, although landing pages have been removed from marketers' arsenals, pinned and highlighted posts have been added as new opportunities.

How to optimize: Facebook added new features to posts on your Wall, including “Pinned” posts and “Highlighted” posts.

• Highlighting a post: When you hover over a given post and click the star icon that appears, the option to highlight that post appears.  Highlighting a post will stretch the post to the entire width of your Page, thus calling attention to that particular message among the hodge-podge of other posts.  The highlighted post will remain this size until you highlight a different post.  Use this feature to draw attention to contests, sales, or to market special events.  Multiple posts can be highlighted at any given time.
• Pinning a post: Similarly, by hovering over the pencil icon in a post you can pin the post to the top of your Page.  This post will remain at the top of your page until you pin a different post, for a maximum of 7 days.  A ribbon on the right-hand corner of the posts indicates that the post has been pinned.  Again, pinning posts to the top of your Timeline is a great marketing strategy for flash sales, approaching events, or contests.

5. PERSONAL CONNECTION: Engage with your fans privately

As you may know, private messaging was not available through the original Facebook pages.  However, the Timeline format encourages more socialization, and with that comes deeper interaction between the brands and customers through the addition of private messaging.

How to optimize: Although this isn’t exactly considered “optimizing,” there are times when it’s best to use private messaging.  For example, the Timeline format creates a scattered, disorganized feel for some users.  When a customer or guest posts an inquiry on your Wall, it can become overwhelming and appear scattered as the responses multiply or when multiple people begin posting.  This would be a perfect opportunity to move the conversation into a private message so that you can address all the customers’ questions without clouding up your valuable Timeline space.  One thing to note: Brands can receive and send private messages with users, but the user has to initiate the private conversation by sending the first message.

If you're anything like me, you've jumped on to the Pinterest bandwagon and have never looked back. Actually, I have a true-to-life re-enactment of the first day I discovered Pinterest:

If you're not yet pinning all the things, here is a quick overview of Pinterest.

Users can create virtual bulletin boards to "pin" images from around the web. It's basically a bookmarking site for everything from the delicious bacon recipes you want to save, secluded beaches you want to visit, IKEA furniture you want to buy, etc. When a user pins a photo to one of their boards, the image links back to the original website where it lives. Pinterest is a more visually appealing way to save all of those links you would like to refer back to in the future.

At its core, Pinterest is incredibly social. You can follow other users, re-pin their pinned images, comment on pins and "like" pins. When you pin an image, it is not only shared with everyone who follows you, but is pushed out to the general Pinterest community. Once you pin an image, the re-pins, comments and likes come rolling in!

What Does This Mean For Hotels?

Pinterest offers a unique opportunity for hotels, especially destination hotels and hotels with a strong gallery of beautiful photography. Not only does Pinterest get your hotel images (and website link!) in front of potential guests, but pinning is a great way to engage others.  Although links from pinned content are designated as no-follow links (meaning your website doesn't get any SEO boost from millions of users pinning your content), the benefit comes from the organic social spread of your photos across the Pinterest community.

According to Google, the 5 stages of travel start with a dream. Most of the users on Pinterest are sharing images of future plans, or where they hope to visit. This is the perfect time for hotels to interact with Pinterest users and make it onto their travel boards!

The most successful hotels on Pinterest have a wide range of pins - everything from local attractions to cute animal photos. An example of a hotel using Pinterest is the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. This is a great example of how to get successfully involved in Pinterest - post a variety of images that users are likely to re-pin, not necessarily focusing all of your pins on hotel-specific images.  Users don't spend time on Pinterest sharing photos of ADA approved bathrooms.

5 Pinterest Board Ideas for Hotels

1. Room and Hotel Photos. Although this shouldn't be the focus of your Pinterest, it is important to showcase your hotel. Pinning images from your hotel website provides users with a direct link to your site, potentially providing a small boost to your web traffic!
2. Local Area Sites & Attractions. Along with creating a Pinterest board for your room photos and amenities, a board with local attractions will really give users a feel for your hotel area.
3. Wedding Trends & Locations. Wedding planning ideas and tips are extremely popular on Pinterest. I know a handful of soon-to-be brides (and maybe a few single ladies) that are virtually planning their weddings. If your hotel has a beautiful wedding location, pin it! Or, if you've seen some creative wedding crafts, share them!
4. Favorite Travel Items. Having a travel-themed board is important in your hotel's Pinterest strategy. This could include some great travel gadgets or travel games for children--things your guests (or those looking specifically for travel images on Pinterest) would be interested in.
5. Vintage Hotel Photos/Local Historic Photos/Vintage Travel Photos. Basically, any vintage photographs and images of times of yore are pretty popular on Pinterest. This would be a great board if your hotel is housed in an historic building, or has a rich history. Vintage images from your local area would also be great for engagement, as you would capture the attention of those familiar with your city and capture the imagination of others in the Pinterest community.

Pinterest users are looking to be inspired! With a bit of planning and some time spent browsing, your hotel can create quite the presence on this popular social media site. Before you go pinning all the things, however, just be sure you are clear on your Pinterest goal. Although your hotel images on Pinterest could lead to a boost in traffic to your website, the ultimate benefit of Pinterest is engagement. Happy pinning!

You read the informative post by the lovely Miss Mann about why your hotel needs a Google+ page. You jumped on the Google+ train and created a Google+ page for your business, but now what do you do? As you know from managing your other social media accounts, maintaining lively and active pages with fresh and exciting content is key to successful social media strategies. In addition, it is also imperative to optimize these social channels! It is Google we’re talking about, after all. Because Google’s natural search algorithm now incorporates social behaviors and factors from Google+, it is crucial to effectively optimize your Google+ page.

Before we get started, make sure to change your profile into a Local Google+ page. By doing so, you will be able to select a local category, which will also add to your optimization. Much like the categories for Google Places business listings, this category selection will help users find your page easily, give visitors a better understanding of your business, and add your relevancy to nearby attractions and local hot spots.

Google+ Business Page Optimization: Let's Get Started!

• Consistent Name, Address, Phone & URL - Much like your Google Places listing, ensure that your Google+ page name, address, phone number, and URL mirror that which is on your brand.com. Ensuring that these four factors all match up with your Google Places listing will not only impact your ranking in local search, but will also add to your on-page optimization of your Google+ page.
• Describe Your Business - The About section is the space for you to tell users about how lovely and accommodating your hotel is, but make sure to optimize this section to tell Google of your relevancy to your targeted keywords. Determine what search terms you want to pursue and naturally incorporate those keywords into your content. For example, if you are ranking on the first page for local, organic and paid search for “hotels near Navy Pier,” effectively targeting that same search term in your About content will only help to add to your SERP real estate, further increasing your visibility and relevancy. As for Bragging Rights, use this section to flaunt your hotel’s greatest attribute while targeting a keyword at the same time. Is your complimentary airport shuttle always prompt, ensuring that every guest makes it to his or her flight on time? Let your users, and Google know about this valuable information.
• Make it Visual.  Upload some photos - Showcasing appealing photos of your property is a no-brainer when it comes to portraying your hotel anywhere online! Virtually transport your users, and help them envision themselves relaxing in your hotel spa, sipping a refreshing drink with a cocktail umbrella poolside, or drifting off to sleep in your serene suite featuring fluffy, luxurious bedding. Your Google+ page can feature five main photos. Choose five visually-captivating images that will pull users in and show off your hotel’s best features. In addition, optimize your Google+ images by including photo captions that contain your keywords. This will also increase your visibility in the Google Image SERPs.
• Add relevant people and places to your circles of trust - In my fellow BMI-er’s post about why hotels need Google+, Andrea outlines the different types of circles that would be beneficial for hotels to create. She suggested creating circles such as one for your brand, local sports teams, groups and organizations, city attractions, niche markets, and travel publications. Of course, you want to have fans adding your page to their own circles, but it is important to have other people, businesses, and organizations in your circles, especially if they are relevant to your hotel and your business in general. When a user clicks “View All” to see those in the hotel’s circles, users can view by name or by relevancy. You can arbitrarily add pages of interest to your circles, but by adding relevant people and businesses, Google will sort them and show off your relevancy to these area attractions, sports teams, and other big businesses and people in your area.
  
  
  
  
• Interlink with your other social accounts - The last tip is to remember your links! Google+ gives you the ability to link out from your page to other social media channels and sites. In the Other Profiles section, link out to channels such as your Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Pinterest or YouTube accounts. Does your hotel have a blog? Link out to this in the Contributor section. For Recommended Links, utilize this space to link out to relevant sites that will continue to provide useful information to your users. Is your TripAdvisor listing overflowing with glowing reviews? Do you love your eBrochure, filled with gorgeous 360 degree tours and elegant wedding menus? Recommend links to information that your users will find interesting, engaging, and relevant. As for off-page optimization, link back to your Google+ Page! Does your email signature have links to your other social media profiles? Add a link that directs people to your Google+ Page, and include targeted anchor text to achieve some Google+ link building.

Reactions to Google+ have been all across the board, but whether you are a skeptic or +1 enthusiast, Google+ will continue to be integrated into natural search results, and proper optimization is the key to having a successful Google+ page.

If you were to ask most travelers how many distinct stages are involved in the general act of travelling, I would guess that most people would identify two: the research phase and the booking phase.  And for most people that's what they do--they research the destination, the transportation, the rates, and then make a final decision that leads to the booking for hotel rooms, flights and car rentals.  It's a good start, and I'm guessing that many hoteliers are only concerned with the actions a potential guest takes up to the point where they actually select their hotel, but it's not the whole picture.  In fact, Google has identified 5 stages of travel, and as online marketers its important for us to target customers at each point in that buying process.

Research and Booking: A Fraction of the Travel Cycle

For most hotels, the booking is the final goal of their online marketing efforts.  It is seen as a linear path that starts off with the consumer planning and researching their travel plans online, and finishing at the checkered flag at the hotel reservation.  Unfortunately, once that guest crosses the finish line some hotels will wipe their hands clean of that customer.  Well, you could stop there...but then you'd be missing out on a huge opportunity to foster brand loyalty and have guests' experiences at your hotel work in your favor long after their stay in the form of word-of-mouth advertising.

Google's Take On How We Travel

Just take a look below at this nifty little infographic that Google developed, identifying what they consider the 5 Stages of Travel.  Whether you agree or disagree with the specific stages featured below, there's no denying that there is a multi-faceted sales cycle and different online marketing tactics can and should be used to target travelers at each of the various phases in this process.  Whether the customer is dreaming about their next vacation or experiencing it firsthand, it provides a huge opportunity to connect with your customers at each of these key moments in their travel buying cycle.

So based on this interactive infographic from our buddies at Google, how can hotels target potential customers as they move from stage to stage in planning their vacation?

Stage 1: DREAM A Little Dream

As a traveler, you've got to start with a dream.  Maybe you saw a billboard of a spectacular Hawaiian sunset emblazoned with the simple phrase, "Visit Hawaii."  Maybe you're friend just posted a video of their hilarious attempt at surfing in Maui on Facebook.  Or maybe your little nephew just picked up the ukulele and suddenly your mind wanders to the land of luaus, leis, and lava rock.  And then again, maybe it's 3 degrees in Chicago and you just need one sweet week of pure tropical escape.  Regardless of how the idea entered your head, you're now starting to talk it over with your friends and family, casually tossing out the idea of sometime heading to the Aloha state in the next year.  The seed has been planted...and it won't take long for that palm tree to grow.

Why is this stage important?

• In 2011, 49% of leisure travelers reported researching online after viewing an online ad.  Start that spark early and get potential guests moving through these 5 stages of travel.  The dream is what starts the potential customer through the buying cycle.

So how does a hotel reach this dreamer in stage 1?

• Email marketing: Reach out to your past guests with a well-timed email campaign.  Hopefully you've made good use of your email collection form on your website or have been diligently collecting emails at your front desk and now have a solid list of interested travelers just waiting for that perfect vacation idea.  Put an idea in their head.
• Social media: Encourage past guests to share their experiences on your social media channels.  The end of their trip can be the spark that ignites the start of a future traveler's trip.  Expand your word-of-mouth reach by encouraging your guests to share and interact with your communities online.  The social media component should be present at all stages and helps to tie the hotel to the user throughout the process.  However, it's more critical as a word-of-mouth marketing opportunity when people start dreaming about and researching their potential trip.
• Blog about it: After a while websites for big brand hotels can get a little stale.  There's only so much new content than can be run through the limited pages within the official brand site.  Standalone websites allow for a little more flexibility but can still run into the same problem.  Creating a blog allows you to open the floodgates of possibilities for new and exciting content.  With a blog you are not bound by the confines of an accommodations page, a dining page, a services page and so on.  Blog about top things to do in your city; write about the amazing new restaurant that just opened up near your hotel; or, inform readers of the Star Wars convention that's coming to town and what to do if you encounter a Jawa.  The blog allows you to generate plenty of new content on a regular basis, and best of all, search engines crawl this new content quickly, giving you plenty of opportunities to rank for new niche keywords.

Why is this stage important?

• The average traveler visits over 20 different travel websites before making a booking
• 62% of leisure travelers use the internet for researching their trip

So how does a hotel reach this planner in stage 2?

• Diversify: Did you read that? Consumers research at least 20 different travel websites! Yikes! This means that travelers are going to be checking all kinds of channels to compile their research about their vacation: TripAdvisor, OTAs, hotel websites, Google searches, blogs, social media channels and more.  It's true that you probably can't be everywhere online at once (particularly with a modest budget), but the key is to create enough of a presence on these sites to at least have a fighting chance.  Just be careful not to spread yourself too thin!
• Search engine optimize your website: Hopefully you didn't wait until now to realize that your website should be optimized.  Stage 2 and 3 are where your SEO efforts should start to pay off. Make sure you've conducted thorough keyword research to determine what your customers are searching for.  Did you optimize the content on your official hotel website?  What about any independent websites you own?
• Optimize your local listings: Nothing helps a traveler orient themselves like local mapping sites such as Google Maps or Bing Maps.  Make sure your hotel's listing in the local search results is claimed and fully optimized so travelers can find you as they investigate their potential destinations.
• Clean up your OTA listings: I know.  You don't like the OTAs.  They don't always rank your hotel first in your city and they eat away at your rates with their ever-growing commissions.  Still, if you opt out of OTAs or don't optimize your listings, you're missing out at likely one of the first opportunities your hotel will have at getting in front of the customer.  Let's face it, whether you like it or not, people love to comparison shop.  Hotels are no exception to this online shopping trend.  And sites like Expedia make it so dang easy to compare you and all your competitors it should be criminal!  ...if it wasn't so helpful for the consumer.  And when it comes down to it the OTAs aren't all bad for hotels.  You may have to play the game, but you don't have to like it.
• Manage your online reputation: Sign up for Google Alerts to monitor online buzz about your hotel, respond to TripAdvisor reviews (good and bad), address comments on your social media channels and just be aware of what users are saying about your hotel online in general.  If you don't speak up for your property then the public will have the final say in your reputation.  If you don't communicate you let the most vocal consumers determine your fate.  Don't sit on the sidelines.

Stage 3: No Reservations About Making A BOOKING

By now the research stage is just about over and Johnny McHotelguest is ready to lay down some clams for what he hopes will be a vacation that lives up to his dreams from stage 1.  How easy is it for this consumer to find your website now that he knows he wants to book?  Will he find you though your official brand website?  An OTA?  Groupon?  Ideally, you'd like him to book through your official brand site, but what have you done to ensure that your site is found first.

Why is this stage important?

• 37% of travelers said the internet was the primary source prompting them to book (word-of-mouth was the second most important factor to influence bookings, coming in at 16%)

So how does a hotel reach this booker in stage 3?

• Don't make people think: Make your website easy navigate and easy for users to reach their goal.  Usability is crucial to getting users on your site to convert to booking guests.  If you make the booking process too cumbersome or make it difficult for users to navigate your site, potential guests will look elsewhere to book their vacation.  Include a reservation widget on every page of your site; don't call the link in your main navigation bar "Your Special Day" instead of "Weddings;" and don't clutter pages with unnecessary bells and whistles that overshadow the main site content.  Precious seconds lost to these usability disasters can mean the difference between a booking guest and just another free-loadin' website visitor.
• Optimize for your brand - In the previous stage, users were researching their travel plans and were likely searching for more generic keywords such as "downtown Chicago hotels" instead of "Hilton Chicago."  Now that they have narrowed down their search and are ready to book, make darn sure that your site appears for its brand keywords.  It seems like a simple thing that should be common sense, and most websites should already be ranking well for their brand terms, but this is key and isn't always guaranteed to be the case by default.  Some smaller brands may need to work to optimize for their brand name.  Also, travelers may not know your domain name, so they'll likely run a search using some variation of your brand name.  Make sure that your site appears in natural, local and PPC search for brand-related terms.  They're in the home stretch of the buying funnel and it would be awful to work so hard to drive qualified website traffic, only to lose the customer right before they cross the finish line.

Stage 4: It's About The EXPERIENCE

At this point you've got the customer right where you want them...at your hotel! While online marketing can still help to some degree, for the most part, it is up to the hotel staff to create a memorable experience for the guest on site.  Do you provide good service? Is your property remarkable in any way? Have you exceeded the customer's expectations?  The greatest impact to a guest's experience happens on property and will influence their decision to return to your hotel in the future and share their experience with friends in Stage 5.

Why is this stage important?

• 53% of travelers have used a mobile device to find travel-related information

So how does a hotel impact a traveler's experiences in stage 4?

• Presentation is everything - You're only as good as the product you're selling.  If your hotel is dated, dilapidated and disgusting then no amount of friendly, attentive customer service is going to win your guest over.  Take care of your product.
• Service with a smile - Make sure that the friendly, accommodating attitude conveyed through your website and social media channels is reflected in the service the customer receives at the actual hotel.  Keep a consistent voice online and offline.
• Tie offline marketing with online marketing - Speaking of keeping consistency from the last point, make sure that you are promoting your social media channels in the offline world at your property as well.  Whether it's Facebook and Twitter decals at your front desk, readerboards that flash "Like our Facebook Page," or Foursquare checkins at your restaurant, you have people at your hotel that like your product enough to give you money.  Why not remind them to participate in your social media communities as well?

Stage 5: SHARING The Moments

This is the point at which the traveler who just experienced their dream vacation can help plant the seeds for someone else to start their journey down the 5 stages of travel.  Whether it's a well-written user review, a great photo of the hotel's pool deck, or a quick tweet about all the great restaurants right next to the hotel, harnessing this word-of-mouth marketing is the key to a successful social media marketing campaign, and perpetuating the 5 stages of travel for others.

Why is this stage important?

• 53% of leisure travelers say they share pictures of their vacations online
• 49% of leisure travelers enjoy reading about others' online experiences, reviews, opinions and general travel information

So how does a hotel encourage travelers to share their experiences in stage 5?

• Tell them where to share: Similar to the final bullet in the previous stage, let guests know where they can share their experiences.  Hotels should have Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, TripAdvisor and other icons present at the front desk, to alert guests that they can engage with your property and share their opinions through those participating channels.  Make it even easier for guests by providing a friendly URL or a QR code that takes guests directly to those sites.  You may even want to have a card in the room near the high speed internet instructions that mentions your presence on these social media channels.
• All you have to do is ask: Front desk agents should encourage satisfied guests to share their opinions on the various channels mentioned above.  While bribing or forcing the customer to leave good reviews is against many sites' terms of service--not to mention a generally bad approach--it doesn't hurt to remind guests to share positive experiences with others.
• Reward creative user-generated content: Host a contest at your hotel that seeks to reward the guest who posts the funniest/wackiest/most entertaining photos/story/experience about the hotel or the city on a social media channel of your choice.  This not only gets guests to interact with your brand, but it also encourages them to spread the word about the contest and consequently your hotel.  Better prizes can lead to better reach, but sometimes just the satisfaction of winning the competition can go a long way towards spreading the love.
• Collect contact info: Be sure to collect info from customers who may be interested in dreaming about traveling to your hotel in the future.  Have front desk agents ask for their email address or Twitter handle so that you can plant the seeds of travel in their head and start the cycle all over again.

Congratulations! You’ve taken the big leap and jumped into the unknown and ever-changing (sometimes overwhelming and scary) realm of social media.  You have read and understood the importance of social media, you’ve created captivating and useful content, and now your social media outlets sit anxiously waiting those fans and followers like a new hotel awaiting its first guests.  However, what happens when you’ve spent all this time, energy and money in learning about social media, creating and implementing a strategy, and are finally ready to see your efforts through to fruition with no fans or followers to tweet or post?   Part of your social media strategy should include creative ways to get your ONline channels in people’s OFFline views.

How to Promote your Social Media Efforts Offline:  Let Guests know you are Online

When asking guests how they heard about a hotel, the majority of those surveyed replied from a friend or family.  Social media is the perfect tool to strengthen this response and increase word of mouth communication.  Here are six ideas to help promote your online efforts to the offline community.

1. Create a QR code

As Blue Magnet Interactive has demonstrated in our posts, a creative QR code can have various capabilities for a hotel.  One of these capabilities is to bring offline activity online – specifically to your social media sites.  Most people have seen these and aren’t quite familiar with how to use them, but they are slowly gaining understanding and popularity. Create a QR Code (Quick Response Code) to connect to the hotel’s Facebook and Twitter pages and then prompt the guest to become a fan or follow the page. Build a better fan base on social networks and create current dialogue on the site with guests.  This QR code can be used in conjunction with the other popular social media icons which we will talk about in a second.

2. Social Media Decals

When your guests first arrive on property, they’ll pass through the entrance to your hotel.  A subtle way to introduce your social media presence is to purchase social media decals to adhere near your hotel entrance.  This will notify guests as soon as they enter your property that you are present on social media.  An added bonus of these decals is that if you are located in an urban area, passersby will also notice these subtle decals and be able to follow your social media channels.  Social media decals are available to purchase online and can include your social media username, web address, or QR code to get people to your online site fast.  Popular social media decals are utilized for Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.

3. Electronic Picture Frames at the Front Desk

One of the first things that guests do upon arrival to a hotel is check-in. Some hotel brands feature electronic picture frames at each guest service agent station at check-in.  Here hotels feature pictures of guest rooms, opportunities to up-sell executive levels or suites, photos of the pool or fitness center and other amenities/special offers.  This is a perfect opportunity to create a slide showcasing the hotel’s Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, or YouTube account names.  Each social media channel could be displayed as a separate slide or combined into one single slide.  If the guest sees the slide and mentions it to the GSA, this could be a perfect segue into further explanation of what the hotel’s social media channels can offer the guest– and the guest will be more likely to engage with your social media channels during their stay.

Another idea promotion idea involving the front desk includes having a guest check-in on Foursquare and showing that check-in to the GSA, which could result in a exclusive amenity or coupon for that guest to use during their stay.

4. Electronic Key Cards or Key Packets

If guests miss the electronic picture frame or your property does not have those, you can still capture the guest’s attention upon check-in by printing the social media icons or QR code on the guest’s room key packet or on the keycard itself.  Since guests will have their room key on them at all times, this will help remind the guest to go onto your social media outlets when they have a moment.  You can also use the key cards or key packets to promote outlet specials or other property amenities.

5. Printed Material/Signage in Guest Rooms

Once a guest arrives at their guest room, most will look around the room to inspect it to make sure it is up to their standards, figure out the amenities and get comfortable.  Printed material placed in the guest room is the perfect place to add the social media icons that won’t intrude on a guest's stay.  Information about the hotel history, hotel amenities, and local area attractions is usually located in a binder in each guest room.  Make sure there is printed material either in the information binder or on the desk/dresser area that has the QR code you created and the social media account addresses listed so guests can easily access those from their guest rooms.

These subtle hints will remind guests that they can interact with the hotel through various outlets.  Also, if the guest has a problem and posts about it on social media during their stay, the hotel has a better opportunity to catch it and enact service recovery while the guest is still on property.

6. Electronic Reader Boards

Similar to the concept presented for the electronic picture frames at the front desk – electronic reader boards are a great use of digital advertising space.  Create a slide or a banner ad that can be displayed on the electronic reader boards on property.  Conferences, groups-in-house, or transient guests will look at these reader boards for information regarding maps, meeting agendas, and see the advertisements for social media.

Tips to Remember to Include in your Online Marketing Strategy:

Social Media Icons Displayed Prominently on your Website

Depending on your brand guidelines and brand web pages, this option might not apply to all hotels.  However, this is a very vital link that will help you drive the most traffic to your social media sites.  Your social media icons/links should be prominently displayed on your hotel website.  You could even include just the “Like” button from Facebook or the “Follow” button from Twitter if you wanted to ensure that your potential guests stayed on your website and visited your social media sites at a different time.

Social Media Links in your E-mail Signature

All hotel team members that have an email address should have a uniform email signature.  On this signature, be sure to include your standard contact information, a link to your hotel website, a small photo banner of your hotel and links to all of your social media outlets.  These links can be in the format of written out links such as facebook.com/yourhotelusername or the recognizable social media icons.  This will provide a direct link for your email contacts to find you on social media.

As fellow Blue Magnet team member Katharyn said best: "Social media is word of mouth marketing at its best!" Word-of-mouth marketing can drive significantly higher traffic and value to your business. Make sure you implement the proper offline marketing strategy to enhance and power your online marketing strategy. The suggestions I provided will only help strengthen your connection with customers by letting them know you have a presence on social media channels with which they can engage and benefit.

When it comes to your hotel's online reputation management, think of the internet as high school and you’re trying to win the popularity contest. With Google’s plans to incorporate Google+ into personalized search results and the backlash of TripAdvisor’s misleading reviews, I think it’s fair to say that there’s a considerable focus on what people are saying about your brand. More than ever before, people are turning to each other through the internet to glean opinions about hotels, their staff, and even how the hotel dealt with problems, before making any concrete decisions about where to stay.

Here’s the real clincher: consumers aren’t just looking for their peers’ reactions; they’re also taking into account how the hotel responded to both positive and negative reviews. Your online reputation management will continue to be increasingly important as “likes,” “+1’s,” and reviews are intertwined into how we discover new information on the internet.

So, how will you amp up your online reputation management to make sure small blunders inside the hotel don’t go viral?

1. Listen to the locker room gossip

Know what people are saying about your hotel. Like any good prom queen in the running, you need to know what’s being said and where people are saying it. One simple and free way to oversee mentions of your hotel is to set-up Google Alerts. With Google Alerts, you’ll be notified via email every time your hotel name (or whatever keywords you deem relevant) are mentioned anywhere in search results.

Another key strategy is to monitor your social media profiles daily. There are more opinions posted on those sites besides just reviews. Tracking the increase in visits, likes, re-tweets, shares, etc. can give you a good idea over how buzz worthy your hotel is or not.

Finally, if you’re a one-man show and need some minions to help build your reputation, you can employ technology services to help manage the process. Bookassist offers a service called “Reputation Alert” which not only collects reviews from guests who book through your brand.com, but it also crawls hundreds of sites to gather comments or reviews and brings them to you in one place. Some more comprehensive products to consider are ReviewPro or ReviewAnalyst. Not only do these services monitor and collect all reviews, but they also compile the data into easy-to-use reports.

2. Be a social butterfly

Be engaged with your online community. If you’re going to gain entrance into the cool crowd, you need to be outgoing and diplomatic to others. The same goes for your hotel’s image online. Similar to how you want to be accepted and liked by others, your guests or reviewers want to be heard and acknowledged, too! Responding to positive reviews about your hotel is easy enough to do, but a lot of hoteliers shy away from responding to negative reviews or complaints. These are the reviews that need the most attention, as these guests may have felt as though their issue was ignored on-property or not handled properly. Now they want to lambast your hotel for the whole world to see.

By simply acknowledging that there was an issue and offering a diplomatic response, you are engaging in an online conversation that other potential guests will see. People are eager to see how the hotel will respond or react to a negative situation.  Furthermore, the way in which its handled will give potential guests insight as to what they’ll be up against if a problem occurs during their stay. In fact, there have been cases in which a once disgruntled reviewer was so satisfied by the hotel’s response to their issue that they removed the negative review and became a cheerleader for the hotel. The more you engage with your online community through responses, blogs, and social media, the more positive your brand image will become.

3. Transform your ugly duckling into a beautiful swan

Interesting images and other content are key to growing your community. If you’re going to be a front-runner in the popularity game, it’s important to always highlight your best features. High quality and complementary images of your property will draw consumers’ eyes away from any negative reviews and into your photo gallery. New social media sites, like Pinterest, showcase destinations with beautiful landscapes or neat décor with a link back to the source (aka your brand.com).

What’s more, gaining new followers on your social media channels is more than just skin deep; you have to show your inner beauty. Provide content that followers will want to share with their networks. Interesting blog entries, fun contests, and “featured guests” posts are sure fire ways to gain attention and keep your current followers interested. Finally, posting pictures and posts about hotel staff events allows your followers to feel a connection with the hotel and helps make your hotel staff seem more approachable.

4. Campaign like a class president

Promote guest reviews. Although “Vote for Me” posters aren’t exactly within brand standards, there are other ways that you can encourage your guests to leave reviews on your social media channels that will help keep your content and reviews fresh. Adding links to your TripAdvisor, Google+, or Yahoo listings on your Facebook page is one way to ensure writing reviews is top of mind for your guests. More subtle methods include adding a link to your listings on email signatures, newsletters, and brand.com. Providing easy access to your business listings will keep reviewing from feeling like a chore to your guests.

The most obvious way to encourage exceptional guest reviews is to provide the guest with a great hospitality experience. Even if there are blunders during their stay, the way in which it’s handled can make or break a raving review. It’s important to train your staff that what happens inside the hotel may be reflected online, and reviewers aren’t shy about naming names if they’re really upset. They also aren’t shy about naming names when a hotelier helped make their stay really wonderful, so just ask yourself what kind of publicity do you want?

In the end, will you be a popular student or a wallflower? If your hotel stays in touch with their reviews and reviewers, provides valuable content on its social media channels, and encourages positive reviews when the opportunity arises, I could foresee Prom Court in your future. And remember, it’s the negative reviews that need the most nurturing and what happens inside your hotel doesn’t always stay inside your hotel. Good luck!

We know that YouTube is one of the world's largest search engines, but before you broadcast your channel to the world take a few minutes to make sure it looks fabulous! Video is a powerful tool for the hospitality industry. A video tour of your hotel, an interview with your staff or a quick cooking demo from your hotel chef can really engage a potential guest and give them a taste of the great experience they’ll have at your hotel.  You can even integrate YouTube's must-have app into your hotel's Facebook page for even greater exposure.

Your job isn't over once you've set-up your YouTube channel, that's the easy part. You must have content! When you set-up your account, be sure to have at least two videos to upload...and more in the works. These 6 YouTube optimization tips won't work for an empty channel.

Now, it’s time to optimize! Below are 6 hotel marketing tips to engage potential hotel guests on YouTube.

1. Post videos worth sharing. Your hotel videos should be interesting, informative or entertaining. It's great if you've created your YouTube account, but like they say, content is king! Great content is important in your hotel YouTube videos--even more important than high production value. Videos such as virtual tours are great to showcase your hotel, but it's not likely to be shared. Are you hosting a singing group who just did an impromptu performance in the lobby? Take a quick video and share! The more you diversify your content, the more likely your videos will appear in relevant searches and be shared.
2. Keep it short. Most shared YouTube videos are under 5 minutes. If you have a long video tour, think about dividing it into multiple videos. Shorter videos are more likely to be watched and shared by users.
3. Link with your website and other social media accounts. A link to your YouTube channel should be included everywhere you have a “Like Us on Facebook” button or “Follow Us on Twitter” link.  When you post a new YouTube video, share it! Embedding the video on your website and posting about it on Facebook and Twitter are great ways to extend your reach.
4. Optimize tags and compelling video descriptions. Optimizing your tags (similar to keywords) and video descriptions ensures that you will show up in relevant searches, not only on YouTube, but Google as well.  Tags can be specific, such as your city and hotel name, or more general, such as “hotel tour” or “chef tips”. The more relevant your video is to a user’s search, the more likely they will watch and share!
5. Monitor and respond to your comments. YouTube is social! Users are able to interact with, share and comment on videos, which can be great insight into what potential guests like about your hotel or what they want to see more of. Answering questions, removing spam or offensive comments and keeping up with user feedback are just a few reasons to regularly review your video comments.
6. Create a snapshot of your city. Your hotel’s YouTube channel is not only an outlet to post your videos, but it’s a chance to build a community. Similar to other social media sites, you have the ability to add “friends” and create a list of your favorite videos. This is a great opportunity to connect with local businesses, visitor bureaus and restaurants, or find other videos relating to your city. This city snapshot is a great resource for both current and future guests.

With these 6 tips, your hotel will be a YouTube star! It might take awhile for your videos to reach the 91 million views of my favorite dog video, but with a little optimization, users will be sure to find your hotel on YouTube.