One of the most important tactics in optimizing your website for search engines actually takes place off-site.  Link building is the on-going and at times daunting task of connecting with other relevant, quality websites to add a link back to your web property.  The benefit is twofold: not only can you tap into new traffic sources from these link partners, but increasing your link equity actually has a tremendous impact on your site's ability to rank in the search engines.  Every good link increases your site’s SEO relevance, ultimately causing it rank higher on search engine result pages.  We search marketers refer to it as "link juice." It signals to engines like Google and Bing that your site is a credible and useful page for searchers.  As you learn to link build you will be better able to determine which sites are more valuable link partners and which sites can actually detract from your SEO power.

One of the first steps you will want to take is to research the different industries relative to your hotel that you would want to link back to your hotel website.  Think about what services your hotel offers and what current industries already drive business to your hotel.  Then begin searching online for these types of sites that can link back to your website and ultimately drive these searchers to book their stay with you.

Suggestions for relevant link partners in other industries:

• Attractions – Start by contacting larger local attractions like museums, zoos, theme parks and sports teams that attract the most visitors to your hotel’s local area.  Then think on a smaller scale of the local businesses that bring out-of-towners to the area.  It can be beneficial to team up with attractions such as a local golf course, mall, garden, winery or state park and request to have a link to your site added on their website.
• Schools - Top level domains such as .edu are some of the most valuable sites in terms of link juice.  That is because .edu, much like .gov, .mil and to some extent, .org, are usually domains reserved for well-known, established institutions--a highly desirable link partner.  To connect with .edu sites, search local universities for accommodation pages for campus visitors, parents and alumni.  Special events like homecoming, parents’ weekend or graduation often have their own landing page and can be a great place to add your hotel as a nearby lodging option.
• Local Events – Nothing brings people to an area quite like a popular event.  Know an annual event that happens in your area? Find the event website and request to have your hotel added as a nearby place to stay for people traveling into town for the big event.  Think beyond events happening directly in your town.  Often times events taking place in the second town over will have an overflow of visitors needing to find a hotel outside of the event’s immediate location.
• Restaurant – Building links to promote other products and services your hotel offers is a great strategy to bring in additional revenue at the hotel beyond room nights.  If your hotel has an on-site restaurant, look for websites supporting local area restaurants and request to have your hotel restaurant added.  Follow these restaurant link building tips to get started for your hotel.
• Event Space – Similar to link building for the hotel restaurant, you can establish links that feature the hotel’s event space.  Search for websites about local meeting rooms, banquet halls and conference space as appropriate to have your hotel facilities included.  Start with wedding sites like theknot.com and mywedding.com to add a listing for your hotel.  Also connect with Convention and Visitors Bureau websites to ensure your hotel is not only mentioned as nearby lodging, but also lists the hotel event space available for business conferences and conventions.
• Pet-Friendly – Are pets welcome at your hotel? Be in front of people searching for pet-friendly hotels on sites such as TakeYourPet.com and BringFido.com.  Ranking organically for pet-friendly hotel keywords may be difficult, but being present on pet-friendly hotel directories is an excellent plan to be found for pet owners looking for hotels where their furry friends are welcome.
• Blogs – Another smart way to build links is to connect with local bloggers and travel bloggers.  Reach out to bloggers who write about the local area and ask to have an article written about the hotel.  There are many bloggers who write about travel experiences, who will offer to write about your hotel and the nearby things to do.  Being featured in a blog is great exposure and can even go viral when shared across social media channels.

Pursuing these industries is a great starting point for your hotel’s link building efforts.  Acquiring new links to your hotel website is a never-ending task, and searching for industry-relevant sites is just one tactic you can take.  Create a strategic link building plan for your hotel and see your hard work pay off in the form of higher search rankings and increased site traffic.

What is a Business Listing?

TripAdvisor boasts 40 million monthly visitors.  Knowing people consult TripAdvisor for recommendations from friends and strangers makes managing your hotel’s listing on the site a top priority.  So when looking to make the most out of your TripAdvisor listing you may want to consider investing in a TripAdvisor Business Listing.  The Business Listings are enhanced listings promoted on several pages within the review site.  They offer more information to a searcher and ultimately make the booking process easier for the consumer.

The new components of a TripAdvisor Business Listing consist of:

• Link to your website
• Email address
• Phone number
• Link to special offers
• Special offer tag
• Custom photo slideshow

The enhanced listing is also featured on TripAdvisor’s mobile site.  Mobile searchers looking to book a hotel room are much more likely to make a same day booking than a customer who visits the non-mobile site.  Having a Business Listing would be even more beneficial for this market to make it easy for people to connect with your hotel with the click-to-call feature, which allows the user to call the hotel by touching the phone number in their mobile browser.

Why should my hotel upgrade?

Purchasing the upgraded TripAdvisor listing will not affect your ranking on the site.  Your hotel’s rank will still be determined by the standard TripAdvisor algorithm, which considers (among other things) the number of positive reviews, the recency of comments being made and the frequency of reviews left on your listing.  The cost of the TripAdvisor Business Listing varies by hotel and is determined by location of the hotel and the number of rooms on property.

Already ranking well? Convert those lookers to bookers!

If your hotel is ranking near the top of the page you may find many benefits by upgrading to the Business Listing.  Hotels near the top of the page receive the most visits and, in effect, convert the most bookings.  Instead of referring all the traffic from your TripAdvisor Listing to an OTA like Expedia or Travelocity, direct all your traffic to your brand site instead.  Lead people to book on your brand site and avoid paying the third party sites' commissions for your bookings.

Not ranking well? Get better exposure!

For hotels not ranking on the first page of results in their area, a Business Listing exposes the hotel on other pages of the site.  TripAdvisor displays the hotels with Business Listings and their special offers at the top of the results page.  So even if you aren’t ranking on the first page, you will at times appear at the top of the page along with your special offer.

In addition, hotels will also receive more exposure through TripAdvisors Special Offers emails.  TripAdvisor emails members who are interested in travel to certain regions and includes special offers from hotels with Business Listings.  The additional exposure via email and placement at top of page will drive more traffic to your listing that people wouldn’t have seen on the first page of search results.  More traffic to your listing will result in more direct bookings, and your TripAdvisor audience will be all the more likely to leave a review after staying at your hotel.  The more (hopefully positive) reviews will, in turn, help raise your ranking on TripAdvisor so your hotel will eventually rank on the first page of results organically.

Upgrading To A Business Listing

If you are looking for more results from TripAdvisor and have the budget to upgrade, then visit here to begin the process of creating your Business Listing.  Then, continue to improve your listing on the site by following TripAdvisor best practices.  With a little attention and some time your hotel will start ranking well in your city organically and your TripAdvisor Business Listing will have paid for itself!

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?

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.

Are you a Twebie (Twitter newbie) and looking for ways to better your hotel’s Twitter strategy? Sending a message in 140 characters or less seems simple enough, but there are many actions you can take to grow your followers and create interest about your hotel on Twitter. Follow these seven steps and soon you will be on your way to being twitficient (knowledgeable when using Twitter)!

1.) It's All In The Name!

Create a username that is closest to your business name and easy to remember. You will want other twitter users to be able to know what you represent just by seeing your Twitter handle. Consider including the brand name and location in your username. As you grow and connect with other Twitter users you will be mentioned and your messages will be retweeted. It’s best if people remember your name and who you are; the more simple and clear the name the better!

2.) Appearance Is Everything!

Just like your hotel's website, you want your Twitter profile page to clearly represent the atmosphere of the actual hotel. Create friendly background colors and textures and include easy-to-view pictures of your hotel. Let followers know what your hotel looks like and give a picture to your Twitter voice!

3.) Content is King!

This can't be said enough and it's so incredibly true. What you post on Twitter must be relevant and interesting to your followers. Engage your audience with interesting content and you will find more people responding, retweeting, and mentioning you on the network. Tweet about happenings at your hotel, new specials, highlight the on-site restaurant, feature star employees, and anything else exciting about your hotel. Position yourself on Twitter as an expert on the local area. Make recommendations for local attractions, the best spots to dine, and all upcoming events in the area. Within your tweets include links to informative sites, pictures, hashtags and Twitter lingo to connect with your followers and gain even more!

4.) Interact!

There’s more to just sending messages on Twitter; it’s a great place to listen to other Tweeters and join in on the conversation. Connect with past guests, current guests, potential guests, travel enthusiasts, other hotels, local businesses and attractions, sports teams…the list is endless! Respond directly to their tweets, ask them questions, retweet interesting messages, give a shout out to another Tweeter in a message, and follow back other accounts. There are many ways to interact with other Tweeters and it only helps to establish your hotel as a significant Twitter account. Twitterers will easily find you on the network, see you are an active and captivating Twitter account and quickly hit the follow button.

5.) Talk to Your Guests!

It’s as simple as asking your guests to follow you on Twitter. Just like you want a good review left on TripAdvisor, you want your guests to follow you on Twitter. Let the front desk be an additional voice and advocate of your Twitter account. When you have a satisfied guest inform them of your Twitter account and ask them to follow you! Stay in front of your past guests on Twitter, and they will remember you and make you the hotel of choice in your area. Plus past guests can recommend your hotel with a mention on Twitter and continue to interact with your tweets about the hotel.

6.) Create Hype!

What better way to grow your network than create an incentive to follow you. Offering a prize will grow interest and followers on your page. You will find new followers that are interested in the prize, but create a new customer by captivating them with your content, promotions, hotel specials, and events.

7.) Promote!

Go beyond creating your account, tweeting good content and connecting with travelers, businesses, and community. Promote your Twitter account through offline channels and sites apart from Twitter. As mentioned above, gain followers from guests at your property. Besides asking guests to follow, create flyers to place on property with information about your Twitter page. Even direct them with a link or use QR codes for guests with smart phones to immediately connect with your page. Add a link to your Twitter page on all hotel personnel’s email signatures. Add Twitter widgets to the hotel’s webpage for travelers searching the hotel to connect with on Twitter. Don’t forget about other social media networks. Use Facebook as a platform to direct current fans to your Twitter page. Get creative and promote your Twitter page through different channels and watch your followers grow and interactions increase!

Google is the Search Engine King

Either you live under a rock or don’t own a computer if you’ve never heard of Google. Since you are reading this blog it is safe to assume you know and probably use Google daily. Google Places is a primary resource for local searches, and Places pages are key to helping hotels (and local businesses in general) rank better on Google. Everyone wants to be at the top of the search results for keywords in their industry; it’s where all the action is! Over 50% of all clicks go to the first four organic results on a page, and nearly 70% of searchers don’t even click on the second page.

How to Optimize Your Google Places Page

Every local business has the opportunity to create or claim a Place Page, and there are several factors that influence ranking. From our experience, and the general consensus among various other experts, is that the following factors can have some of the greatest impact on local search rankings:

1. Physical address of the business in the city that's being searched
2. Has the Google Places listing been claimed and verified by the business owner?
3. Is the business associated with relevant categories?
4. Volume of traditional structured citations (Internet Yellow Pages, Data Aggregators, etc.)
5. Crawlable business name and address match info on Google Places listing

Is Your Business Name the Same?

Google’s goal is to provide searchers with the most relevant and trusted results. An important best practice in optimizing for Google Places listings is to ensure the business name, address and telephone number are correct on the Places page and match what's listed on the business's website verbatim. This means that if your address on your website spells out the word "Street" you should not list your address as "St" on Google Places. Providing a link to the actual business website is necessary. As search engine spiders crawl the Places page and read the link to the business page it will pull the meta-description into the blended organic search results. The listing on the search results page will then display even more information: the title tag, link, meta description, address/phone number and even reviews.

Fill in the Blanks

Optimize the Google Places page by filling in as much information as possible. A more complete page will help it rank higher than lesser-filled Places pages. When filling in descriptions be sure to use specialized keywords a searcher may be entering to find your business. The categories are just as important. For example, with a hotel you would want to enter all facets of the hospitality industry beyond being a hotel/motel. Categories such as wedding venue, meeting space, and conference venue are extremely relevant and will help your business appear in the search results of those targeted keywords.

Review Your Reviews

Another important section of Google’s local search-blended results page is the reviews. Google will pull in reviews from several other local search sites in addition to reviews left on the Google Place Page. On the results page at the bottom of the listing, reviews from sites like TripAdvisor, Priceline and Yelp (just to name a few) will appear along with the number of reviews per site. It is extremely crucial to have your business listed on these local search sites. The more reviews a business has, the higher it tends to rank on the results page (particularly if the majority are positive reviews).

The Evolution of Google’s Local Search

Just a year ago the 7-Pack (local listings next to a map on Google's organic listings) was replaced by the Places page and a floating map to the right of the results page. Now Google Places "local" results blend in with the organic listings when conducting geocentric searches (ie, "New York hotels"). By claiming and optimizing the Places page, more information is able to pull into the results and thus help the business rank higher on the page.

It will be interesting to see what Google does next with Local Search. Now that Google+ has been released, it will definitely be a game changer. Searchers will soon find their own networks recommending businesses within the results page; creating yet another factor that will influence the rankings of results on a more personalized level. Plus, Google is crafting another opportunity for a business to create a brand page on the Google+ social network. Local search is ever evolving, so make sure you are staying current on the trends and continually optimizing your listing to boost it to the top of the results page.

Your hotel’s website is search engine optimized and ranking number one on Google for your most competitive keywords; the website is enhanced with incredibly riveting content; the hotel’s pay-per-click program is performing exceptionally well; hotel review sites are filled with positive comments glorifying your hotel's service; and the property is engaging with the community on major social media channels.  In short, your hotel is an online marketing pro.  But why isn’t it bringing in more reservations through these online channels?  Maybe it's time to take a look at the hotel’s photos.

Travelers Searching Online for Hotel Photos

A major source of all hotel reservations results from online channels.  Travelers search and compare hotels online before making a reservation.  Studies show the top two main factors in the decision process are reviews and photos.  People look online for visuals of what will be offered at the hotel.  Beyond the textual content, photos create the first impression of the hotel for travelers. Professional photos accurately depicting the hotel’s exterior, lobby, guestrooms, restaurants, recreational areas, local attractions and other features the hotel may offer can make all the difference.

Even the number of photos a hotel offers can influence the searcher.  The more high quality photos the better.  Additional photos keep potential guests engaged with the hotel online.  Twenty photos are recommended, and according to Brian Payea from TripAdvisor, hotels with over twenty photos see travelers 150% more engaged with the online listing.  As sites realize how important photos play in the booking process more attention has been given to photo opportunities.  The VFM Leonardo VScape tool increased the number of photos from 20 to 50, and Google Places now allows 10 photos instead of 5 to be added to the page.  Trends prove the more photos a hotel displays the greater the engagement and reservations made through the hotel's online channels.

Don’t Forget About Hotel Photography on Other Travel Sites

Loading new and improved photography to the hotel’s website isn’t the final step.  Hotel photos need to be monitored across all travel sites.  Travelers search and review hotel photos on third party travel sites, review sites and social media.  On these supporting sites it is important to verify all photos are up to date and match the imagery presented on the hotel’s official website.  Any old and unprofessional photos can hinder the hotel’s conversions by diverting searchers away from the page and to other hotel listings with better photography and more pictures to browse through.  Some sites like TripAdvisor even allow guest photos to be posted.  While these are not professional photographs, they are visual reviews of the hotel and should be monitored as a part of the hotel’s reputation management strategy.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Hotel photography can convey a thousand words about your hotel.  Supplement your online marketing plan with professional photos and numerous images of room types and public areas in the hotel.  The imagery presented online is the first tour guests will take of your hotel.  Guests are looking to place themselves walking through the lavish and welcoming entrance, relaxing in warm and comforting guestrooms, socializing in the beautifully decorated common areas, taking a dip in the large, clear blue pool and finding entertainment at nearby local attractions.  Make sure your hotel photography is enticing and not distracting the traveler with outdated styles, poor lighting and blurry images.  Make a professional photography shoot fit the hotel’s budget to further enhance your online marketing efforts.  The online marketing initiatives you are employing create the traffic and attention your hotel needs; now show off your hotel through proper and stunning imagery and convert searches to more bookings.

Thinking your hotel needs some updated photography? Here at Blue Magnet Interactive we partner with Ira Wexler, an excellent hotel photographer who has worked with a variety of hotel brands across the country. Regardless of who takes your hotel's photography, make sure that they have experience conducting professional photo shoots.  Nothing screams Bates Motel quite like an amateur Polaroid of your hotel gift shop.  Spend the extra cash to make sure the photos are done right.  Your revenue manager will thank you in the end!

You know you’ve seen them. You might not be sure what they are, and maybe you’ve never even scanned one, but it looks like they might be sticking around for a while. QR codes continue to grow in popularity and find more and more use.

What is a QR Code?

First let’s define it: QR codes are "quick response" two-dimensional barcodes. Just as it sounds, the codes are a way for people to quickly interact with whatever is behind that black and white grid. The code can be scanned with a phone camera and then directed to a webpage, phone call, or to send a message. QR codes are used as a marketing tactic engaging people through offline means and converting them to online interactions. The codes are becoming more recognizable and can be seen in advertisements, on business cards, on consumer products, clothing, and even body art. They can easily be created online at any number of sites.  In fact, Google even offers its own free QR code generator.  Same with popular URL-shortener bitly.

The capabilities of a QR code seem endless; certainly there is a creative use for them at a hotel, right?

Unique QR Code Uses For Hotels

• On the Spot Reviews – Create a QR code that directs guests to review sites like TripAdvisor. The code will certainly help increase number of reviews online, and get fresh-on-the-mind opinions from guests at the hotel.
• Connect Socially – Have codes 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.
• Enroll Loyalty Members – Place a code at the front desk that takes guests to the hotel’s loyalty member sign-up webpage to increase hotel’s return-customer base.
• Inform Restaurant & Bar Patrons – Print a code on the napkin of on-site restaurant that connects to a webpage with the nutritional value of meals on the menu.
• Online Concierge – Use a QR code to take guests to a local guide webpage. Guests unfamiliar with the area can quickly find and contact local attractions and restaurants.
• Your Way Home – Create a code that links to a map and directions page. Guests can easily find way around town and return safely home to the hotel.
• Talk to the Manager – Enable guests to send emails to the hotel. Use a code linking to a message form for guests to leave questions, comments or concerns for the manager.
• Plan Your Next Visit – Have a QR code set up to take reservations for guests’ next hotel stay. Better yet, showcase other functions of the hotel with options to book meeting space or even wedding receptions.

Things To Consider Before Creating QR Codes

These are just a few ideas, but the trick is not to get carried away. The purpose of a QR code is to provide instant information to the end user on their mobile device. Before ever publishing any QR codes make sure the barcode scans correctly. Also consider the webpage to which the QR code is linked. Scanning takes place on a mobile device, so it is best the code links to a mobile-optimized website, or content that is easily readable on a small screen.

QR codes are fun and enable hotels to interact with guests in a whole new way! Create some QR codes for your guests to scan and engage with your brand online.