Contagious Book Cover

When being contagious is good

In the Flip.to family, we’re readers. So when we came across this particular book, we couldn’t resist—the description for Contagious: Why Things Catch by Jonah Berger happened to match up with a conversation about how ineffective advertising can be, and that consumers usually just listen to their peers. The book discusses why some things go viral regardless of how mundane they might be (blenders eating an iPhone) and other inherently cool things never catch fire. It suggests six basic ingredients for being contagious, whether for messages, products or ideas.

As we  read it, we  thought about how Flip.to naturally fits into each of these ingredients. We’ll  will save you a few bucks and share the principles (with the added bonus of how it fits with Flip.to).


  • Social Currency – People talk about things to make them look, cool, smart, rich, etc.
    Let’s face it, your guests telling their friends they are staying at your hotel makes them look really cool, exceptionally smart and depending on your rate, perhaps even rich.
  • Triggers – These are the stimuli that make people talk about your product.
    Flip.to creates top of mind awareness during your booking process and entices your guests to share into their social networks with a small incentive.
  • Emotion – People share something when they feel emotion so we have to craft messages that make people feel something.
    As part of the Advocate process the hotel creates a branding message for the guest. We can help you kindle a fire that embraces this emotion.
  • Public – Letting people see when others are using your products.
    Every time one of your guests becomes an Advocate, they publicly show their friends they are using your product.
  • Practical Value – Put simply, people like to help other people.
    The Advocate includes an incentive for their family and friends. And, they exclusively get it because they are friends with your guest.
  • Stories – People like to share their stories. If we can make our products part of those stories, we can be viral.
    Our post stay process can help your hotel capture and curate those stories in a way that you can use them to market your hotel.

Clearly, we only covered the highlights. So, you might still need to spend $18.99 (and I highly recommend that you do). However, whether you do or not, Flip.to can definitely help your hotel become a bit more contagious.

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Flip.to

Flip.to, the advocacy platform for hotels and the most trusted way to earn new guests