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.

Have you ever wished that your property would appear first when customers search for hotels in your area when using Expedia? Think of TravelAds as your own personal “Jeannie;" with a simple nod of your head and blink of an eye your hotel can be at the top of the results!  Alright, so maybe it’s not THAT simple, but I promise it takes minimal effort and time to create a TravelAds account that can unlock an ample amount of revenue-generating power for your hotel.

Why should you use TravelAds: To increase your visibility of course!

Recently, we discussed the billboard effects of hotel listings on OTAs, based on an article that was published by the Cornell Hospitality Report, entitled, “The Billboard Effect: Online Travel Agent Impact on Non-OTA on Non-OTA Reservation Volume." Within the document, they discuss the value of hotel placement on an OTA.

Through their research, Cornell discovered:

• Nearly 31% of consumers start their travel research using an OTA.
• When hotels appeared on Expedia at the top of the first page, their average daily bookings increased from a low of 7.5% at a branded hotel to a high of 25% at the single independent hotel, as opposed to the days where they were not displayed on the OTA.
• In total, the billboard effect was estimated at 20%
  • A hotel that receives 10% of its overall contribution from the OTAs also received another 10% in direct web bookings through their official brand website by being promoted on the OTAs.

Brian Ferguson from Expedia reinforced these finding explaining that 95% of Expedia bookings occur on the first page and 47% of those are in the top six spots.

The Breakdown

We know that, like most search engines, hotels benefit the most when they appear near the top of the first page. Ranking well organically on sites like Expedia can be difficult due to an algorithm that accounts for many factors--including each hotel’s margin, look-to-book ratio and inventory--that determine a hotel's ranking on the page. By utilizing paid search, hotels can appear at the top of the search results in highly competitive markets without having to change its OTA strategy (increasing margins, lowering rates or increasing inventory). Because more consumers use OTAs as their research tool over any other method, hotels can’t afford not to be found. As they say, you can’t play the game if you aren’t even on the field.

Are Expedia TravelAds right for your hotel?

If you are wondering if TravelAds are a good idea for you to invest in, your answers to the following questions may provide some insight:

• Are you organically ranking below the top 6 listings on the first page of Expedia within your market?
• Do you have distressed inventory that you wish you could sell?
• Would you like to appear at the beginning of a consumer's search cycle?
• Would you like your initiatives on an OTA to directly impact bookings on your official brand website?
• Does your forecast predict periods of low demand?
• Is your competitive set ranking above you organically in Expedia?
• Do you want to be "top of mind" with your consumers?

How do TravelAds Work?

TravelAds operate under an auction model--a pay-per-click program that allows hotel partners the ability to create advertisements, control spend, monitor effectiveness and optimize campaigns.

Advertisements display on the top of each page as well as the bottom two slots of each page. Paid listings are tinted yellow, making your ad stand out while drawing additional attention. Whether these ads appear at the top or bottom of a page depends on how much you are willing to spend per click. Those hotels that are willing to pay a higher cost per click, will display higher in the rankings. If your hotel is listed on the 4th page but can't afford to bid for the top listing due to budgetary constraints, appearing even at the bottom of the first page is very beneficial.

Getting Started

• Choose a budget - Set the media spend (either weekly or daily) that you are willing to pay to target customers looking for hotels in your area.
• Determine your maximum CPC – The amount you are willing to spend for a user to click on your advertisement.  Expedia will provide you with the recent market price which represents the highest amount paid for a bid in the past 7 days.
  • You can set your ads to run for different window periods depending on your need dates. For those of you with limited budgets, price your max CPC much lower than the market price. This will ensure that you are maximizing the number of clicks you receive due to budge restrictions. Depending on your competitor’s budget, you may appear in a higher ranking later in the day as their budget has been exhausted.
• Write your ad copy
  • Your headline--which is 40 characters long--is used to promote the best feature of your hotel. If your customer only had time to read one sentence about your property, what would you use to sell yourself and highlight this feature or amenity.
  • The ad copy is used to describe other important features that are unique to your property. Keep in mind you are only allowed 130 characters in this section, so make the best of them!

Once you have completed all of these tasks, your ads will begin running. In the meantime, get your running shoes on because you’ll be running to the bank with the additional revenue generated from this initiative in no time.

When Google announced the exclusive, invite-only launch of their new social media platform, Google Plus, people had mixed reactions. While the early adopters heard the term "exclusive" and desperately sought out an invite, most others rolled their eyes and wrote it off as yet another one of Google's failed attempts to steal Facebook and Twitter's thunder (Google Buzz, anyone?). A lot of people who had taken the plunge and created a profile for Google+ had abandoned it soon after. It seemed as though individuals and brands were satisfied with their current social media marketing strategies and couldn't quite determine how to use Google+ effectively. So why, over 6 months past its release date, is Google+ gaining so much buzz in the online marketing world?

Google+ and Your Natural Search Results

Recently, Google began implementing a revolutionary change to their search results page called "Search Plus Your World." If you rely on Google to answer all of life's questions, you will soon notice that Google+ suggestions are merged in with your organic search results. Although this change hasn't rolled out to the masses yet, SEO man Danny Sullivan's first-hand experience can pose as a warning for us all: Google is now devoting prime SERP real estate to Google+ people and page suggestions, while neglecting to suggest profiles or pages on any competing social media platforms (ie. Twitter, Facebook, etc). So, if you haven't jumped on the Google+ bandwagon yet, jump fast! By integrating Google+ into all Google user accounts, across most of their products, Google has just made social media, and specifically Google+, an integral part of every business's SEO campaigns.

The Google+ Basics for Hotels

Like most social media networks, Google Plus allows you to showcase all the fabulous things about your hotel by uploading photos and filling out standardized text fields. It is important to fill out as much useful information as you can; incorporating keywords, highlighting unique amenities and mentioning special awards. Make sure you don't pass over the field titled "Bragging Rights." Even if your hotel has not won a prestigious award or is not ranked #1 on Tripadvisor, you can brag about your free airport shuttle or your outstanding customer service!

As you're setting up your profile, be sure to include:

• Photos- Showcase attractive photography with descriptive captions that highlight your hotel
• Brand.com website- A link under "Other Profiles" should direct people to your official Brand.com website
• Other social media accounts- Feature any other active social networking profiles (Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter). You can also provide links to your hotel's Tripadvisor page or Yelp reviews.
• Videos- Upload and share videos that provide tours of your hotel's guest rooms or meeting spaces. Want to add a little more splash to your page? Interview your staff to document their charming personalities or offer behind-the-scenes footage of your head chef preparing his or her signature dish!

Label Your Friends & Segment Your Circles

Circles gives Google+ users a way to categorize their community. People or businesses you follow on Google+ may be filed into designated Circles that you have labeled "friends" or "local businesses" or "meeting planners", etc. When you add someone to your Google+ Circle, you are opting in to that persons's stream of posts, much like the Facebook Newsfeed. However, you have probably elected to add each of these individuals or businesses to your circle for a particular reason. Sure, it all boils down to the fact that you're interested in what he or she has to say, but you probably plan to use that shared information in different ways. For example, a hotel may add their own brand's corporate Google+ page to a Circle so as to stay current on brand promotions or news. However, the hotel may choose to follow the city's science museum Google+ page with the intention of learning about valuable deals or packages and upcoming events that they can share with their hotel guests. By segmenting all of your Circles into specific categories you will be able to easily filter your incoming stream of posts depending on what kind of information you are looking for. In addition, you can also filter the information you share so that it is only visible to specific circles.

Hotel Circle Recommendations

Here are some recommendations for segmenting your circles to best benefit your hotel and your hotel guests:

• Brand- Create a Brand Circle where you can segment any hotels within your brand family. Not only will you stay updated on brand activities and corporate news, but you will also be able to monitor events and package promotions at hotels that are in your same chain scale. You may come across a promotion that sparks an idea for your hotel.
• Local Sports Teams- Organize your city's professional or regional sports teams together to stay current on upcoming games, scores, contests and giveaways. You can scroll through this circle when you are looking for information to post your own trivia question or you can simply re-share the teams' posts to educate your hotel guests. They might want to catch a game with their family while in town.
• Groups or Organizations- Combine any groups or organizations that often stay at your hotel or frequently host large meetings or conferences in your market. Establish an online relationship by welcoming them to the city using the tag feature (@Google+ Name). This will ensure that you are top-of-mind for their future events in the area.
• City Attractions- CVBs, restaurants, museums, theme parks, theaters and the like can all fall into a broad circle that will keep your hotel informed about fun, exciting and unique happenings in the area. Imagine that you are the hotel's online concierge and you want to discover the best tourist tips to present to your guests. Share your local expertise. Your guests will appreciate the personalized customer service.
• Niche Markets- Determine what sets your hotel apart. Is your hotel pet friendly? Dog owners lover to spoil their pups and usually feel guilty leaving them at home, so you shouldn't be surprised to find quite a large community devoted to sharing pet friendly accommodations. Just check out DogGeeks Google+ tagline: "Dedicated to helping dog businesses promote their business and dog lovers find dog friendly resources." So, if you have a niche market or a special amenity, start a circle of likeminded Google+ pages and start a conversation. You will likely get a Google+ shoutout which will help inform that niche market about the added value your hotel offers. And the added value to you? You will likely see an influx of adorable puppies popping up in your stream.
• Travel Publications- You will benefit from creating a stream of travel publications or popular industry leaders when you find inspiration. You may see a page that has strategically placed their photos to resemble a creative mural or you may observe how the Travel Channel posts engaging content to stimulate conversation with their own circles.

While Facebook and Twitter are leading forces in social media for now, Google+ may soon result in the most SEO value due to its standard integration with Google's search results. Get on board and create your own Google Plus profile and business page here. Use Google+ as a medium to interact with your customers on a "virtual concierge" level. Use your segmented circles and the search box to monitor everything from local news, brand buzz, competitor packages, incoming groups to your city, customer feedback and guest reviews. Share your promotions, announce renovations and brag about your latest awards. Although direct Google+ ROI may be difficult to measure at this point in time, if you establish a personality and effectively target your potential markets your Google+ efforts will ultimately drive bookings through natural search results! Google+ is challenging hotels and marketers alike to think of social media as a core component of search engine optimization and no longer just a mere afterthought.

By now you probably understand the importance of social media for your hotel: your Facebook page looks great, you are tweeting and posting regularly throughout the day, and you have a strong number of fans and followers. Way to take the initiative and take advantage of your social media channels! But ask yourself this: While utilizing social media is an opportunity not to be missed, are you using your opportunities to effectively benefit you? After all, you can post all day to your social media fans and followers, but are you truly engaging them and calling them to action?

Ask Yourself These Questions

• Are my fans engaged?
• Am I gaining fans and followers?
• If the answers to these questions are no, then what can I be doing to improve?

Because social behaviors on various networks effect search results, we know all too well how important social media is to the travel industry. While you may be off to a good start, it is crucial to address these questions to maximize how effective your social media campaigns can really be for your hotel. We are constantly consuming content online. From websites and blogs to podcasts and videos, there is perpetual exposure to content, so capitalize on that.

What Constitutes Captivating Content?

First, evaluate what types of content you already use to market your hotel. Maybe your Facebook photos visually captivating, but what about textual content? Is your content cliche? Have your visitors heard it before? Is your content too "salesy"? What about video content? Textual, image, and video content all have different appeal and can effectively market your hotel in different and interesting ways, but the key factor here is finding what makes these mediums captivating to your audience and visitors. Get inside the mind of your customer and find out what content he or she wants to consume, and how.

It's All In The Reviews!

Browsing through your TripAdvisor and OTA site reviews is helpful to see what your travelers and visitors are looking for, but you can also use networks and forums such as LinkedIn Answers, Yahoo Answers, reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg to find out what people in the area and potential customers care about, and what questions they are asking. While negative reviews give us insight into where we need to fill in the gaps, positive reviews can provide an abundance of ideas for captivating content:

"The room was great, the pool/spa was great, and the location was ideal. However, best of all, was the service. I spoke to the concierge on the phone a couple weeks before our trip and asked about restaurants in the area. I said it was our anniversary the next week, and there was a bottle of champagne in our room along with chocolate-dipped strawberries and a note from the manager thanking us for spending our anniversary with them. All that from a simple off handed comment made a couple of weeks before we got there!"

Just from this one review, you can harvest a few possible post topics. Boast about your amazing pool and on-site amenities, your insightful local area knowledge, and your dedicated service that goes above and beyond for all of your visitors. Are these reoccurring themes or subjects in your visitors' reviews? Click on the different categorizations to see what other travelers are saying, and have said, about your hotel to help shape your posts.

Also remember to think about how travelers absorb information. If your guests are enthralled with your dazzling pool, pair your post with a high quality image. Online users like to see what they will encounter on property, so use these opportunities in social media to draw in fans and followers, and help them picture themselves at your hotel.

By formulating answers to your visitors' questions and addressing their concerns and praises, your content will be fresh, relevant, engaging, and useful to them. Furthermore, when you are the one to address their questions or concerns, you become the local digital concierge, creating a trust with your fans and followers. B&Bs and smaller boutique hotels often have great success with social media because their size makes it easy to connect with their customers in-house. On the other hand, online networks allow larger hotels to easily create a more personalized voice behind their corporate brands. Regardless of whether you are an independent B&B or part of a larger hotel chain, make sure that your voice is connecting with fans and followers and is providing customers with the information that they actually care about.

What's Happening At The Hotel?

A great way to engage current guests, and catch the interest of future guests, is by posting guest photos (with permission!), comment card responses, and events that are happening at the hotel. Are you a pet friendly hotel who just saw a dog wearing a cowboy hat walk into the lobby? Get a picture and feature the 4-legged guest on your social media! Did a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at your hotel just tell you the story of how they met? Tell your Facebook fans! Is there a birthday party happening in your lounge? Wish them the happiest birthday through Twitter. When you ask your guests about posting their story or photo on social media, you are sure to gain a follower, and your current social media followers just might start to plan their next celebration with your hotel in mind.

What About Discounts?

If information that fans and followers care about often translates into them wanting special discounts and promotional values, then present your content in an intriguing way that allows you to give a little and get a lot. A recent Constant Contact/CMB study shows that approximately 48% of brand followers will follow you on Twitter in hopes to receive deals and discounts. Share an exclusive social media promotion that can't be found anywhere else and make it intriguing. Not only does this have the potential to capture a person's attention, but it will also make him or her feel privileged to be getting the scoop first. Try a tweet like, "Psst! Have Valentine's Day Plans? Ditch the card aisle and be the first to book our exclusive Valentine's Day special. Stay with us for a celebration that you will not forget!" Hook your fans, reel them in, and get them excited to ensure that your promotions, as well as your entire social media presence are strong and beneficial to your hotel.  Just be wary about fostering a community of nothing but deal seekers.  Use discounts sparingly.

And don't forget to keep in mind that the success of your social media campaign should not necessarily be measured by your ROI, but rather how you are engaging with your fans and inspiring your customers, current and potential, to do something. Sometimes visitors aren't ready to book, but having engaging content that inspires your followers to comment, retweet, share, link out, review, or tag you in will not only help your SEO, but it will also keep your hotel top of mind, or inspire someone else to book!  Social media is word of mouth marketing at its best!

You have heard all about how important social media is to the travel industry and more specifically the importance of social media for the hospitality industry.  You have listened and hopefully you have taken action to introduce your hotel to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, FourSquare, TripAdvisor and other relevant social media sites.  But now, you are finding your foray into social media has fallen flat.

Start the year with a focus on spicing up the hotel’s Facebook page to grow fans, increase interactions and ultimately prove a return on investment on your page.  Pepper in some of the best hotel apps on the hotel’s Facebook page to attain your social media goals.  Adding tabs to your hotel's Facebook page will not only make your page appear more interesting, but will actually give visitors more to do on your page!  Applications capture visitors’ attention, draw them in, push them to interact with the page and provide opportunity for fans to take action with the brand.

Flavor the Hotel Facebook Page with these Apps:

1. Welcome Tab – Greet newcomer’s to your page as you would welcome guests into your hotel.  I would even recommend setting this tab as the default page that appears to new visitors.  Utilize the page to invite them to your hotel and ask them to like your page! Simply create your welcome app as an iframe and you are on your way to gaining fans to the page.
2. YouTube – After you’ve welcomed your guest to the page, offer a tour to show them around.  By adding a YouTube app that connects to videos of your hotel, you can show off the property without leaving Facebook.  The video component is engaging and a fantastic way to show searchers your hotel beyond the photo albums.
3. TripAdvisor – You can only say so much about yourself; offer visitors a chance to hear what others have to say about your hotel by adding a TripAdvisor app.  TripAdvisor will provide the html code to add a snippet of current reviews and hotel ratings along with a link to write a review.  This app is a great addition so long as your hotel has a high rating and mostly all positive reviews.  Otherwise it will just advertise the hotel’s weaknesses and have a negative effect on goals to drive revenue from Facebook.
4. Twitter – Looking to share even more information with your fans?  Then add the Twitter application to the page.  The Twitter app pulls in all your tweets from Twitter to your Facebook page.  The app promotes your Twitter page to attract fans from Facebook to convert to followers on Twitter too.  Be sure to optimize your Twitter page with these helpful tips.
5. Coupons – Everyone is looking for a deal!  Create a Coupons app to offer a deal such as 10% off dinner, or a free room upgrade to your Facebook fans.  The coupon app encourages visitors to like the page and is an extra incentive to take action and visit the hotel.  Plus, hotels can track the coupon and in turn measure ROI.
6. Email Sign Up – Your page offers fans so much information but they still can’t get enough!  They want the opportunity to join a mailing list.  Add an Email Sign Up tab for fans to add their contact information.  Check out Constant Contact or MailChimp’s app to add a basic form and start transferring fans from Facebook to contacts on your email list.
7. My Top Fans – Reward your fans and encourage interactions at the same time with the My Top Fans application.  The app evaluates interactions between the page and its fans to determine which fans engage with the page the most.  Once the app calculates the most interactive fans it features the fans on the page.  The app is great motivator for fans to interact with the hotel’s page to earn "Top Fan" status.
8. Booking Widget – Let me guess, your primary concern with managing the Facebook page is proving a return on investment.  Add a booking widget to the page and start using Facebook as another source for making direct reservations.  Fans will love the convenience of booking a room right from the page and the hotel can start measuring a quantitative ROI.

Use this list of hotel Facebook applications as a starting point to add some more flair to the page.  These apps all aim to help increase page fans, lure fans to interact with the brand and in due course bring business to the hotel.

What other apps would you find beneficial to hotel Facebook pages?

By now, most hotels have come to understand the importance of social media, but many are missing out on a rapidly growing social media opportunity...Foursquare. Foursquare is a location-based service, which can be linked to a user's Facebook and Twitter account, and allows visitors to check-in to a place to accumulate points, earn badges and unlock special deals.

For the uninitiated, here is how Foursquare works from the user's point of view:

1. Download: Users start by downloading the Foursquare app to their smartphone or other mobile device.
2. Open the App: When a user visits a particular location (store, library, train station, airport, park or other point of interest), they open the app on their mobile device to "check in" on Foursquare.
3. Let Your GPS Do the Work: In order to "check in," the Foursquare app relies on the mobile device's GPS location to determine points of interest in the vicinity that the user might want to check in to.
4. Select Your Location: The user scrolls through the list of nearby places and selects the coffee shop they just entered.
5. Check In and Leave a Tip: The app asks if the user would like to check in to the selected coffee shop.  In addition, it asks if you'd like to share this "check in" with other friends in your network, which might include other friends on Foursquare, Twitter or Facebook.  Users can also write tips for those who may consider checking in to the business in the future.
6. Get a Discount: Some business offer discounts and freebies to encourage users to "check in" on Foursquare.
7. User Benefit: The benefit to the user is that it's a fun game that awards points for achieving various check-ins.  For instance, if you check into 5 coffee shops in one week you might earn the "Coffee Achiever Award," worth 5 points on Foursquare.  While the points themselves don't necessarily mean much, they do foster a healthy competition among friends.
8. Business Benefit: The benefit to the business is the viral sharing of a user's check-in.  Other friends in a Foursquare user's network will see where the user checked in, as well as any tips or recommendations on that business or point of interest.  For such little effort on behalf of the business, the organic spread of the business name can work wonders for your hotel's social reputation.

How To Get Your Hotel Started On Foursquare

Whether you realize it or not, your hotel is most likely already listed on Foursquare. Whether the business wants to participate or not, users can create their own check in locations, so it's best to claim your business so you can use it to your advantage.  Hotels and other businesses are slowly noticing their presence on Foursquare and are leveraging themselves to engage more customers and guests. Here are a few steps to optimize your hotel's presence on Foursquare to connect with your guests and grow customer loyalty.

Customize Your Foursquare Page

Foursquare recently allowed for businesses to create pages for free. Hotels can now add customized banner images, create hotel descriptions, add a link to their website and more. Customizing your page will set you apart from other nearby businesses and will provide guests with an access point to your website.

Create Hotel "Check-In" Promotions

Hotels can get creative with their promotions on Foursquare, offering everything from free wi-fi to a complimentary dessert in their restaurant. When a guest checks-in to your hotel through Foursquare, their check-in is shared not only with all of their Foursquare friends, but also to everyone connected to them through Facebook and Twitter. Offering an incentive to your hotel guests is a quick way to get your hotel name across to hundreds of people at the click of a button!

Create a List of Nearby Restaurants and Attractions through Foursquare

A list of nearby attractions to your hotel is an added value to your Foursquare page. This is a great way to engage your guests and give them a reason to return to your Foursquare page while they're staying with you.

Let Guests Know That Your Hotel Is On Foursquare

Remind guests to check in when they enter your hotel by including a "We're on Foursquare" decal or flyer at your front desk.  Most heavy Foursquare users will check anyway, but it helps to have the reminder to encourage participation.

If you follow these tips to optimize your hotel on Foursquare, you'll have your guests checking in while they're checking in at your front desk in no time!

If hotels and TripAdvisor were in a relationship their status on Facebook would read: It’s Complicated.

TripAdvisor has been feeling the heat lately.  The consumer-voiced travel review site has dealt with issues in the past, such as hotels claiming certain user reviews are fake, which ultimately harm the hotel’s reputation.  More recently TripAdvisor is facing claims from the Advertising Standards Authority that reviews from unverified authors cannot be published on other third party sites. Proving reviewer credibility is an on-going issue for TripAdvisor and, for that reason and many others, the relationship between TripAdvisor and hotels remains complicated.

Nevertheless, consumers continue to turn to the site for travel recommendations, making the site a constant concern for hotels and an online space hotels must maintain. So, the predicament remains for hotels stuck in a love-hate relationship with TripAdvisor.  Let’s dive into the issues at hand for hotels, why hotels need to play the game, and what you need to do as an online hotel marketer to make the best of this troubled relationship.

Pros:

Let’s start with the positive effects TripAdvisor has on hotels.  There are many components that make TripAdvisor a valuable tool for promoting a hotel and increasing bookings:

• Popularity: TripAdvisor is easily one of the most popular travel review sites.  Often consumers check this site in the beginning of their search process to determine where they will stay.  Hotels want to be found in this space by the masses.  Go where your customers are and uncover additional reservations by maintaining your listing on TripAdvisor.
• Found on Search Engines: Since it is such a popular site it's no surprise that it ranks well on search engines, often at the top of the page.  The first step for many consumers is to go straight to Google and search “Seattle hotels."  TripAdvisor ranks #2 behind Expedia and before any hotel website.  If the hotel is ranking well on TripAdvisor, it will be found quickly after a search on Google.  Hotels struggling with ranking well on search engine results pages will likely see this as an added bonus.
• Dialogue: Not only can travelers post reviews about hotels, but hotels have the option to respond directly to consumers (and the general TripAdvisor audience).  TripAdvisor is an open forum for hotels and guests to discuss their visits, answer questions and resolve any issues.  By giving hotels the ability to respond hotels can useTripAdvisor as a customer service channel. Hotels have a voice on the review site and this can certainly help sway searchers to pick a hotel that is attentive and responsive to guests.
• Ranking: Hotels in a given region are ranked on TripAdvisor by the number of positive reviews.  The more positive, recent and frequent reviews will increase a hotel’s rank on the site.  This is a great tool for hotels to assess and determine where they need to improve.
• Competitive Research: Hotels can also see information about their direct competitors in the area.  What are their strengths?  Weaknesses?  Look for what other hotels are doing well and then go above and beyond for your own guests.
• One Stop Shop: TripAdvisor is a recommendation site for travelers looking for where to stay, eat, fly and do in a given destination.  It is a comprehensive site where consumers can do all the necessary research and book from there.  The site offers booking options through the hotel brand site and other third party sites such as Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and others.  Additional sites encouraging a booking are a positive effect for the hotels.

Cons:

With the good comes the bad.  As recent claims against the leading travel review-site prove, hotels find faults with TripAdvisor. Here are some of the issues hotels must deal with in their relationship with TripAdvisor.

• Lack of Credibility: Often cited as the number one issue with TripAdvisor are the unverified authors publishing reviews on the site.  Anyone can visit TripAdvisor and write their review, positive or negative, without ever actually having been to the destination.  So how can consumers trust what is written on the site about any hotel?  A hotel could abuse the system and have false positive reviews loaded to their listing and enhance their reputation and ranking on the site.  Or someone could just as easily write false negative reviews to hurt a hotel’s image on the site.  While TripAdvisor has a team of investigators to prevent these false reviews from being published, it is not a fool-proof system.  And at times can lead to worse situations, but I’ll discuss that later.
• Forum to Rant: Who do you think is more likely to take action to review a hotel: someone who had a pleasant trip, or someone who was unsatisfied with stay?  Most likely, the person who is upset.  TripAdvisor is an open avenue for critics to post the injustices they felt they encountered at the hotel.  People who are picky and have high expectations will take to TripAdvisor to rant about the unpleasant stay.  This can create a disparity of reviews on the hotel.  People with complaints will be more easily heard than people who enjoyed their stay.  While positive reviews are usually the majority of reviews for hotels, there is the tendency for negative reviews to preside even when it isn’t the general opinion.  However, hotels should take note to address these dissatisfied customers and consider it consumer research to better their product.
• Jump to Conclusions: As earlier discussed, TripAdvisor has investigators looking into false reviews of hotels.  While this may be the best protection in place for the integrity of the site, at times it can make erroneous judgments and punish an undeserving hotel.  TripAdvisor will automatically penalize a hotel if there are reviews posted about a hotel from on the property (which is against their terms of service).  A post loaded from hotel’s network is deemed suspicious activity.  TripAdvisor thinks it could be a biased employee of the hotel posting; rather than a current guest commenting while still at the hotel.  Instead of TripAdvisor contacting the hotel and determining the authenticity of the review, they’ll slap a red warning on the hotel’s listing, immediately making the hotel look untrustworthy and tarnish the image before a consumer can read anything else about the hotel.
• Poor Customer Service: For anyone who has managed a TripAdvisor listing, you are probably already aware of the lack of customer service on the site.  Spot a review on the site that you know is false?  Good luck contacting TripAdvisor to have it removed.  Have a begrudged former employee leaving unpleasant comments?  Good luck having it removed in a timely manner by TripAdvisor.  Been falsely accused of posting false reviews and have a red label plastered on the page?  Good luck convincing TripAdvisor otherwise and having it removed.   It isn’t easy to directly contact a representative and have any issues resolved in quick fashion.  TripAdvisor has recognized this fault and is working to improve their customer support with a dedicated support manager.

How To Get Along:

As an online marketing manager for a hotel there are several actions you can take to make it a happily-ever-after relationship with TripAdvisor.  Follow these basic guidelines to improve the hotel’s TripAdvisor listing and foster a positive affiliation with the review site.

• Claim Listing and Optimize: Own your hotel listing by claiming the page.  Find the hotel’s listing, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Manage your listing” to register as owner of the page.  Once you verify ownership of page, optimize the hotel listing by ensuring hotel name and address is correct.  Add hotel amenities, submit a hotel description to provide even more information to searchers and review professional and traveler-posted photos on TripAdvisor.  Enhanced name, address, copy and photos create the big picture of the hotel, making the decision process that much easier for searchers.
• Set-Up Review Alerts: An added bonus to claiming the hotel page is the alert feature.  Sign up for alerts of new reviews left on TripAdvisor to be emailed to you.  Keep on top of the comments left on the site and always be aware of what is being said.
• Respond & Listen: Remember one of the pros in the relationship with TripAdvisor is the dialogue.  Respond to reviews that are in need of answers.  Don’t let a negative comment sit on the site like a sore thumb without a response.  Respond to show the hotel cares and has taken action to correct the issue.  Also go beyond just responding to reviews; listen to all comments.  Hear what the hotel is already doing well and further improve upon it.  Find what the hotel is lacking and set out to provide what guests are asking for.  Overtime, reviews will improve and the hotel’s rank on TripAdvisor will increase.
• Play by the Rules: Prevent TripAdvisor’s warning label and follow their guidelines.  Don’t set TripAdvisor as the homepage on the hotel’s business center computers.  Don’t encourage guests to review the hotel on TripAdvisor while on property.  Don’t test the system with false reviews.

Play by the rules and follow the above recommendations and the hotel can have a long-lasting and loving relationship with TripAdvisor.