Flip.to faves: our top thought-starters to kick off 2019

From kicking off the year with team week here at Flip.to HQ, to hosting our very first Hacktoberfest, 2018 had more than a few high points worth looking back on—from people to product. So we’re celebrating! We assembled a few favorite thought-starters from right here on the Flip.to blog as we gear up for the new year.


The hotel marketer’s guide to the galaxy: Facebook’s search for authenticity

Hotel marketer's Guide To The Galaxy Header

Facebook announced big changes in 2018. We weighed in on the need to shift your marketing–or be left light-years behind.

  • Take an editorial approach to content marketing
  • Become the topic of conversation
  • Reimagine an audience-focused approach to paid advertising

Audiences and influencers: the good, bad, and the fake

Influence Travelers

Reaching & inspiring quality audiences has always been a cornerstone of any effective travel marketing strategy. But now, more than ever, there are more factors to consider—from demographic, to conversion, to even the realness of the audience (all thanks to bots and “follower factories”).

We explore this and more—including our take on sparking authentic conversation—in under 5 minutes.

60 days in: How Tourism Australia won the Super Bowl

Tourism Australia Dundee

At this year’s Superbowl, destination marketing took center stage thanks to Tourism Australia. And (aside from being incredibly fun,) we speak to why it worked, the impact of Australia’s faux-film, and what the future had in store.

All this plus a visit from Mile Marker 630’s own Allison Schult, all in 3 minutes. Watch on!

Cardinal rules: how marketing got off track and a new era ushered in change

Cardinal rules: how marketing got off track and a new era ushered in change

Conversations on marketing and data are no longer confined within the walls of brands alone. As headlines around the world show, now more than ever the general public wants to know that brands are trustworthy, especially when it comes to how their personal information is being used.

In this video, we set out to help travel marketers adapt. Tune in for a discussion on a short history of how we landed here, plus the first step–being a good steward of customer data, and thus a better marketer.

Four get-yourself-thinking tenets of marketing from travel pros

Hacktoberfest guests

If there’s one thing we learned from Hacktoberfest, it’s that you really can’t go wrong with great product & brats.

A few special guests came by to leave their stamp on the creative process, sharing their industry insights and some true tenets of travel marketing.

Shaping an industry: four travel-pro-approved takes on VR for 2019

Head shots of Adam Norko, Alex Husner, Colin Morrison, and Paul Hanak

Heading into 2019, we tapped a few of the folks we call friends on how vacation rentals and property managers should be thinking about growth into 2019.

The scope of these insights were incredibly diverse, with something valuable for everyone to take away. Read on to hear more from some of the industry’s best. 


What were your favorite stories from 2018? Drop us a note to let us know. In the meantime, enjoy the final hours as this year comes to a close. And join us as we continue to shape travel marketing in 2019!

Florida favorites: inspiring stories from our home state

Florida’s the place we call home. But aside from calling it our home state, it’s also one of the top destinations for travel worldwide. Not only is tourism the Sunshine State’s No. 1 industry, we also welcomed a record 116.5 million visitors in 2017.

As travel marketers ourselves, we’re in good company. So what better way to show some love to our the place we call home than to share some of our customer’s brightest and best stories from the Sunshine State!

 

Costa d’Este Beach Resort & Spa — Vero Beach, FL

Coste d'Este

With advocacy, Costa d’Este is winning over new audiences who are the perfect match for their resort. Dennis captured the expression of pure bliss with her dog while she and her family were on vacation. Her story was shared 250 times, introducing friends and family to Costa d’Este.

Coste d'Este

Kim was a fellow guest at Costa d’Este Beach Resort & Spa. Not only did the property provide an incredible homebase for her stay, but she had memories to last a lifetime. Together with her fellow travelers, Costa d’Este reached 160,257 travelers in 92 days alone.

 

Playa Largo Resort & Spa — Key Largo, FL

Playa Largo Resort

Yvonne visited Playa Largo Resort for relaxation and left with a lasting impression that she shared on to her friends and family. Her picturesque story captured the attention of 166 like-minded travelers who showed interest in a getaway of their own.

Playa Largo Resort

Playa Largo Resort was at the center of this memory for Ginger and her family. Not only was her story shared 178 times, but the impact of she and fellow travelers just like her led to over 2,789 warm introductions to Playa Largo.

 

Resort Collection — Panama City Beach, FL

Resort Collection

Phil’s breathtaking experience of his adventures with Resort Collection at the center is compelling for any traveler—but it’s the most compelling to his friends & family. Thanks to Phil and other traveler-turned-storytellers, a new audience of over 4,000 future travelers are being reached each and every day.

Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort — Sandestin, FL

Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort

For Caleb and his family, time spent at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort are full of moments to rekindle. This one in particular helped drive impact for Sandestin—to the tune of over 1,000 site visitors and 95 warm leads to folks just one degree away from Caleb—and the perfect fit for this beachside resort.

Hammock Beach Resort — Palm Coast, FL

Hammock Beach

Nicole’s story reminds us that there’s beauty waiting to be discovered around every corner. For Hammock Beach, memories shared by guests like Nicole have a lasting impact for their resort. She joined her fellow storytellers for the resort to help reach 177,127 friends and family in the most authentic way possible.

South Seas Island Resort — Captiva, FL

At South Seas, Lorne returned to nature, surrounded with peace and quiet, sharing the resort with more than just other travelers!. She joined 90 fellow storytellers to share her “South Seas Sun & Fun”, one of many compelling stories that captured the authentic experiences at South Seas.

Trump International Resort Miami — Sunny Isles Beach, FL

Trump International Resor Miami

Melissa basked in honeymoon bliss at Trump International Resort Miami. She went on to share her incredible story with her friends and family, other like-minded travelers, helping their resort earn 111 warm introductions一all just one degree away.


These are just a few of the many unforgettable Florida experiences being shared to new audiences of travelers each and every day. If you’d like to see more, let’s talk!

Plus, if you’re a fellow-Floridian and want to learn about something special we’re doing in our home state—take a peek here to how to let travelers reach & win over entirely new audiences with Flip.to and VISIT FLORIDA.

We’ll share how advocacy powers awareness, warmer relationships, and a whole lot more.

Shaping an industry: four travel-pro-approved takes on VR for 2019

A few weeks ago we hit the VRMA circuit at the 2018 International Conference in ‘Viva Las Vegas.’ Not only was it a great time to catch up with old friends (and make new ones) it was also an insightful few days of meaningful conversation that got us thinking about where the VR industry has been, and where it’s going—from marketing to tech and beyond.

As we pondered these questions, we weren’t alone. In fact, we tapped a few of those folks we call friends on just what takeaways came out of the conference, but at an even higher level, how vacation rentals and property managers should be thinking about growth into 2019.

Here’s what they had to say:


VRMA International is a great space for vendors & property managers to exchange ideas. Going into this conference, what were you hoping to gain from these conversations? Any fun learnings that you were surprised by?

Alex Husner, CMO at Condo-World Resort Properties

This year’s VRMA International had the largest quantity of attendees in the organization’s history, as well as the widest variety of vendors and speakers.

Many of the panel discussions spoke to the complex nature of vacation rental connectivity. I found the most interesting conversations revolved around this issue, both at a global level for the future of the industry as well as for our own pursuits at Condo-World.

Despite unprecedented attention and investment funding being directed at vacation rentals, I’m concerned that there still seems to be a large disparity between the understanding of how our product differs from hotels, as well as how much our product differs from market to market.

Commoditization is clearly a priority of the major OTAs, which may be attainable…but if it comes at the expense of changing the core value proposition of a vacation rental to make it more like a hotel so it’s easier to sell, we need to be worried about the long term effects this will have on our industry.

One of the speakers used the phrase “constructively unhappy” in their presentation. Better, more flexible solutions can be developed as long as they’re growing alongside the needs of those who will use it. The more open communication that can be had between vendors and property managers at events like VRMA International are certainly a step in the right direction.

We’re big on seeing where the trajectory of travel is headed. At a high level, what are the needs and expectations you see for vacation rental marketing in 2019? What are the small changes that marketers need to be making today to adjust?

Paul Hanak, Director of Digital Marketing at ICND

Getting website traffic has dramatically changed over the last year. Not only are individual companies having to battle with the likes of HomeAway and Vacasa for search rankings, but they’re also having to fork out cash to invest more into Pay Per Click as well.

For the past couple years, Google has really focused on User Experience and actually made User Experience a ranking factor. Think about this:

  • Making your site secure with HTTPS… ranking factor.
  • Making your site mobile friendly… ranking factor.
  • Page load speed… ranking factor.

Even the RankBrain algorithm that tracks if a user visits your site and bounces to find another is a key component. All of these metrics directly and indirectly affect how the user acts on your website. Google’s ultimate goal, and always has been, is to serve the user with the “best possible user experience” on the websites it serves to users.

The new trend, however, has switched to the E-A-T principle: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust.

A recent algorithm update demoted websites that didn’t seem trustworthy, despite the fact they had loads of information and content on their respective topics. While Google hasn’t come out and specifically said that E-A-T is a ranking factor, they are putting more stock into how trustworthy a website is based on the authors behind a website.

Takeaways?

  • Have a good reputation on the internet with good reviews from various sources.
  • Use trust signals on your website, ESPECIALLY your “About Us” page. (Team photos, smiling faces, guest reviews, community involvement, etc etc. are all great examples to instill trust into a user.)

Amy Hinote put out her recap of VRMA last month. One comment she made: “The accelerating pace of change in the vacation rental industry was apparent to all.” And she also notes something else that stood out to her: “the addition of representation from venture capital groups, private equity firms, global travel industry consultants, OTAs, urban short-term rental providers, and even Google.”

That’s a lot of new big players getting involved. For property managers, what does this mean and how should they be thinking about their approach? For travel tech?

Adam Norko, Director Short Term Rentals (STR) Sales at PointCentral

The short term rental space is growing and maturing at a rapid pace. As VRM Intel points out, this was very evident at the VRMA International trade show with the presence of large household names and deep investment pockets.

This is great news for the entire industry. As the saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

However, change does bring challenges and difficult decisions. Property (perhaps we should start saying “Asset” instead) Managers need to be willing to embrace change and be very selective with their time and resources.

The focus needs to be on streamlining processes and improving the guest experience.

From a technology perspective, this means a focus on tech that reduces friction points in operations and guest experience.

This rapid growth also brings increased scrutiny. As we continue to compete with hotels, we need to be prepared to meet the same hotel standards. Regulations, guests, and homeowners are all demanding improved standards.

As an industry we need to improve our standards proactively rather than waiting to react to negative market forces.

The quickest improvement is the need to embrace safety standards, starting with controlling who has access to the homes through enterprise smart home control.

This small step improves safety, streamlines operations, and provides a great guest experience. At this point in the industry growth, it’s hard to find more “bang for your buck.”

What did you feel were the big solves lodging providers were looking for at VRMA? Do these point to bigger shifts in how vacation rentals are thinking about marketing?

Colin Morrison, System Consultant at NAVIS

More and more VRMs are looking for ways to decrease their dependency on more expensive channels so that they can reduce their cost of sale. While there is no “one perfect solution,” there was a strong contingency of experienced vendors at the recent VRMA conference who provide cohesive tools and strategies for growing the direct booking channel.

Hotels determined in August 2011 that the most profitable distribution channel is the direct channel and savvy hotels are starting to use metrics like “net RevPAR” as a way to analyze their business. The vacation rental equivalent of this is net RevPAU which translates to “Net Revenue per Available Unit.” This is calculated by dividing the sum of all gross rental revenue less the acquisition costs by the number of homes or units in a rental program. This could also be analyzed post owner split as a net-net RevPAU.

When the cost of sale by booking channel is analyzed at as part of an evaluation of a company’s effectiveness to drive revenue to the bottom line, even with the strategy whereby VRMs are passing OTA fees onto guests or shared with homeowners, the direct channel is still the most profitable channel in the Vacation Rental industry. The reason for this is the customized and relevant experience that the VRM can deliver to a direct guest as part of the guest journey from looking to booking and beyond.

Conversion is also the highest for this channel and there is a high likelihood that over 50% of guests who book directly on your site have reached out to your reservations team directly as well. Furthermore, direct channel guests have a high likelihood at becoming guests for life and the acquisition cost for repeat guests is far lower than new guests, so guest experience is paramount for a successful VRM.


The scope of these insights are reflective of just how diverse this conference was—there was something valuable for everyone to take away, from listening into the panels, down to personal conversations to be had.

What are your thoughts on the trajectory of travel marketing? Join the conversation by saying hello or shooting me a note here.

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Resort Data Processing and Flip.to announce new preferred partnership: bringing high-performance operations and advocacy together to boost revenue

December 11, 2018 — Vail, CO — Leading property management software, Resort Data Processing (RDP), and Flip.to, the advocacy marketing platform, are proud to announce a new partnership to help hotels, resorts, vacation rentals and travel brands worldwide grow booking potential and win more travelers.

RDP and Flip.to bring unique solutions to travel

Flip.to is reimagining hotel marketing with a powerful platform that lets travelers share the high points of their experiences with the travel brand at the center of the story. This taps into the warmest, most receptive audience yet, while tracking back all the impact, driving revenue and creating a lifelong return traveler base.

Paired with RDP’s latest update in property management software, RDPWinV5, the ability to earn impact and grow revenue for your property with these new tools is easier than ever, enhancing technology and marketing stacks with solutions built for the 21st century hospitality industry.

This seamless partnership will amplify the impact of your PMS solutions. With RDP, data is readily actioned to build impact for your property—from easy-to-run, premade reports to SQL access for super-users.

In fact, RDP allows segmentation for your campaigns by many metrics such as prior dates of stay, guest type, region, source of business, nightly revenue, and many more.

This pairs easily with the advocacy platform, building richer profiles that help build stronger relationships with guests and travelers. And together with the Flip.to platform, is proven to increase bookings, as well as return guests reservations.

Get in touch

With RDP, travel marketers get back to spending time putting heads in beds, we will handle the rest. Get in touch at http://www.resortdata.com for a walk through.

Spark interest in your property with Flip.to, today. To learn more about the impact of advocacy for your resort, hotel, vacation rental or destination, take a tour.

Experience Cocoa Beach and Visit Myrtle Beach shine at Adrian Awards

Hands down, our customers rock. We see this time and time again with their outstanding engagement and conversion rates. When they win, we cheer.

Out of more than 1,100 entries submitted to the 2018 HSMAI Adrian Awards, two of our very own won awards for Digital Marketing! Experience Cocoa Beach and Visit Myrtle Beach cut through the noise.

Experience Cocoa Beach: One year strong with silver

Westgate Resort tapped into Flip.to to help boost the marketing efforts for Experience Cocoa Beach. In just one year, Experience Cocoa Beach reached over 1.4 million travelers with the help of their guests, leading to over 11 thousand authentic warm leads.

 Top featured photos from Experience Cocoa Beach for Adrian Awards

Christina Leake, Social Media Director for Westgate Resorts had this to say about the platform:

“As organic reach for businesses on social becomes more and more limited, the Flip.to platform provides a powerful solve for the challenges facing brands.

Their authentic approach to enlisting real people to tell their real stories is incredibly potent. It’s not just one of the most innovative ways to use social—moving forward, it will be the only way to truly reach these audiences in an organic way.”

What else about their performance stood out? Earning 2.4x higher lead conversion compared to industry paid search benchmark.

Visit Myrtle Beach wins bronze

In one year for Visit Myrtle Beach and their properties, over 30 million friends and family were reached worldwide—each with a personal introduction to the hotels.

Top featured photos from Visit Myrtle Beach for Adrian Awards

Scott Schult, Executive Vice President, Visit Myrtle Beach had this to say:

“It’s nearly impossible to effectively compete with AirBNB and the OTAs at the point of purchase. They invest billions a year in marketing, advertising and technology to win guests.

Our goal as destination marketers is to compete well before that and reach travelers at the point of inspiration.

That’s exactly what we’re doing in Myrtle Beach with Flip.to. We’re building partnerships to benefit both our hotels and destination, and together, we’re well on our way to growing and inspiring the largest new audience of Myrtle Beach travelers, ever.”

Even more—their Destination Advocacy Cooperative is the first of its kind, bringing big wins to the region, partners and travelers.


Congrats to these two outstanding travel brands for being marketing rockstars! If you’re ready to switch on advocacy, let’s chat. We’ll share how advocacy is changing the game for the hospitality and tourism industries worldwide.

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