Flip.to Blog

Quantity, meet quality—what happens when reach and trust combine for your hotel

When you use the term “reach” in social marketing, you’re probably referring to level of social connection measured in followers—for example, your hotel’s network of fans. Other times, it may also mean the number of users touched by a paid campaign, from social ads to remarketing and the like.

And these aren’t bad things—your hotel’s social channels are just another way for guests to subscribe to your content and for you to promote your hotel. Nurture this audience by providing relevant and timely content to keep them coming back. (Read more on why great content is a really good thing.)

However, there are some obvious shortcomings to social if the above describes your hotel’s only approach. Here are two:

You’re limiting your opportunity to reach a new audience by solely communicating with your existing followers.
Your content is de-prioritized so only a fraction of your existing audience will see it and have the opportunity to engage.

So even if you’ve built a great base, growing and reaching new followers is a challenge. Facebook has dramatically limited organic reach, and as mentioned above, marketers must resort to paid to get exposure to their own fans, as well as have the opportunity to reach new ones.

Or do they? It’s time to rethink reach.

The new opportunity to grow.

The key is to rethink your approach to social. Rather than a house for your content to live, think of your social channels as a distribution vehicle instead—and your guests are in the driver’s seat.

The landscape of social for hotels is constantly changing. There are challenges in the ability to see measurable results and the limitations introduced by many of the large social networks have made it even more difficult for hotels to stay relevant. So where can you get real value? The key is to rethink your approach to social. Rather than a house for your content to live, think of your social channels as a distribution vehicle instead—and your guests are in the driver’s seat.

On average, travelers have about 225 friends and colleagues in their social networks. While that may initially seem small, consider the number of guests that visit your hotel. Multiply that by 225, and it’s not hard to see the enormous, untapped opportunity to grow your reach, every single day.

This potential can even exceed that of your existing marketing efforts—with one key difference. This reach leads to new introductions to your hotel coming from a familiar face of someone they know, making the interaction more engaging and far more trustworthy than paid ads. (More on that below.)

Here’s a real world example.

Since joining Facebook in 2009, Caribe Royale Hotel & Convention Center, an all-suite property in the heart of Orlando, has built a following of well over 10,000 fans. This is an outstanding audience who are opted-in, and Caribe Royale do a great job of providing engaging content like real guest stories and candid experiences of their hotel.

caribe-advocacy-infographic-v2 — On average, a single advocate reached 285 contacts, introducing Caribe Royale to an incredibly receptive audience. See the full story here.

But what happened when the hotel started asking its guests to be the promoters? In the last 3 years with advocacy, they’ve reached a potential audience of over 1.6 million people. That’s a new audience 160x larger than their existing fanbase on Facebook!

Since each guest is sharing to their own network, the hotel is not only reaching a new audience of future travelers with every advocate, but the content also has a higher priority.

Quantity, meet quality—when reach and trust combine.

What’s even better than multiplying your reach by a hundredfold? Every person in that new audience learned about the hotel through an authentic story from a friend or colleague—someone they know and trust.

In fact, a recent study found that 63% of travelers worldwide rate friends and family recommendations as a top influence when selecting a vacation destination. The case is even more compelling when you consider that 92% of travelers worldwide say they trust earned media above all other forms of advertising.

Did I also mention that these networks tend to be full of like-minded individuals with similar travel and purchasing habits as your hotel’s advocate?

With advocacy, your hotel’s reach is not only at a massive scale, but the quality of these 1-to-1 brand introductions can’t be achieved any other way.

Interested in learning about how you can go global? Give one of our certified advocologists a shout.

Flip.to on the road: NAVIS Leaders Conference

This year’s NAVIS Leaders Conference (NLC) recently wrapped up and we are honored to have been invited to participate. There were about 80 different companies represented, ranging from vacation rentals to large resorts and historic properties all over North America. Also represented were many industry leading companies like GCommerce, HeBS Digital, and Miles Partnership.

What I found particularly interesting were the keynote presentations where Peter Yesawich and Larry Mogelonsky dove into the experiential economy and how hotels can and must adapt their strategies (online and offline) to remain competitive.

And the Navis partner hotels couldn’t be in better hands to deliver on those challenges. It was evident that Navis took great care to focus more on the “why it should be done this way” and less on the “how-to” aspects of their services. This is precisely what an attendee is looking for both in a partner and in how they put their travel budget to work.

Here’s a short video recapping the 3-day event from our perspective. I was only left with one question: where’s NLC 2017 going to be?

Unlock our new e-course: Reignite your loyal base

Together, loyalty and advocacy spark huge return for repeat business. Enroll in our e-course to learn how to harness recognition and extend personal interactions with your guests.

With a new lesson sent to your inbox each week for 5 weeks, we’ll cover the industry shift towards aspirational marketing and what it means for hoteliers, plus how to attract, inspire and keep loyal guests.

As you’ll soon see, loyalty done right fosters advocacy, and the two are a more powerful than the sum of their parts. Each read takes only 5–8 minutes, so, you’ll be able to apply these lessons and lift your loyalty program to new heights in no time.

Join us as we explore more in-depth lessons with every installment.

Get enrolled

Meet the instructor

Richard Dunbar

Director of Partnerships

Hi there—Richard here at Flip.to. I’ve been in the hospitality space for over 15 years, including several at one of the largest providers of independent loyalty reward programs worldwide. After picking up my fair share on loyalty, I’ve been able to put it all together with revenue management, e-commerce, and now advocacy. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned with you as you come aboard.

Advocacy is knocking: 50 booking partners open new doors

Reaching 50 booking engine partners is a huge milestone for our team, but an even bigger deal for hotels.

Why’s it such a big deal? It’s because we’ve built deep relationships with our partners so we can ensure quick and simple onboarding for our customers.

Getting started with Flip.to is as easy as a copy and paste into your booking engine and website–similar to how you’d set up a Google Analytics tracking code. That’s it. Once you’re set up, the whole platform is out-of-the-box and ready for your hotel to start letting your guests introduce your hotel to their friends and family across the globe.

Check out the full-list on our Partners page. If you don’t see your provider, just let us know! Thanks to our strong industry relationships, there’s a good chance we know your provider, and can get you up and running in no time.

200K and beyond: a huge milestone in record time

nick-hotel-200k-presentation-2 — Nick Hotel team celebrating their milestone

In just 56 days, Nickelodeon Suites Resort reached over 200 thousand friends and relatives through guest stories—that’s over 3,500 warm introductions for their hotel to like-minded future travelers around the world every day.

We’re thrilled to see Nick Hotel succeed in such rapid time. We recently caught up with Deanna Padilla, Marketing Manager at Nick Hotel, who said, “If you are looking to increase your social awareness and reach new audiences while building your relationship with existing fans, then Photo Advocacy is a must for your property.”

The guest stories have poured in. Here are some of the incredible moments Nick Hotel has seen since going live with Photo Explorer.

To see how Nick Hotel and other hotels are capturing their guests incredible travel stories, be sure to check out See it live: how hotels are using Photo Explorer.

Watch now: Inspire a global audience

Something special happens when travelers discover your hotel through real experiences shared by friends & family. Capture these memorable moments and let your guests introduce your hotel to the world. You’ll inspire an entirely new audience of future guests with Flip.to.

Sound interesting? Introduce your hotel to the world with Flip.to. Take a tour, or see how to introduce your hotel to the people who matter most below:

Take a tourorWatch next video

40 percent of guests become ambassadors for San Francisco’s newly minted Hotel Zephyr with Flip.to

Star of the revitalized Fisherman’s Wharf reaches 200,000 future travelers in first 6 months of operation

ORLANDO, FL — February 8, 2016 — Flip.to, the advocacy platform for hotels that captivates and inspires new audiences of travelers, has helped Hotel Zephyr amplify its reach to over 200,000 potential new guests in only six months. Hotel Zephyr is Davidson Hotels & Resorts’ first property within its new lifestyle & luxury collection, Pivot, and one of San Francisco’s newest boutique hotels.

The Yard at Hotel Zephyr

The hotel has seen enormous guest engagement since partnering with Flip.to, which coincided with the hotel’s opening after a multi-million dollar renovation in the summer of 2015. Over 40% of guests have shared their travel experience with their network of family and friends, driving quality traffic back to the property’s website, and introducing Hotel Zephyr’s playful maritime concept to thousands of leads for future travelers.

“When launching a new brand, momentum is critical,” noted Harry Carr, director of Revenue Management for Hotel Zephyr. “Our guests have become ambassadors for our hotel, helping us connect with other travelers seeking Hotel Zephyr’s spirited atmosphere. Flip.to unveiled a completely new channel to identify and reach the right guests for our property. It’s been an outstanding complement to our revenue and marketing efforts.”

The Lobby at Hotel Zephyr

Hotel Zephyr’s transformation, aimed at travelers seeking a fresh, lively and one-of-a-kind San Francisco experience, not only included a complete redesign and renovation of the hotel, but also consisted of a newly launched website and tech-forward approach to the property’s digital presence. Flip.to was a key component of this effort, increasing guest engagement, integrating social mediums and driving loyalty, while also shifting attention away from online travel agencies.

The advocacy platform has attracted thousands of new visitors back to Hotel Zephyr’s website through the warm introductions of their guests. Each guest is greeted by distinct, unique experiences designed to convert, taking these curious onlookers down the path to becoming future loyal guests.

“Thanks to connectivity in the digital world, your guests have more influence than ever before,” said Debi Moses, Senior Director of Sales for Flip.to. “Flip.to gives hotels the ability to tap into that influence by letting them share their travel experience with their personal connections—a like-minded network of travelers who are perfect for your hotel. Their combined reach truly gives you global exposure.”

Guest Quarter at Hotel Zephyr

Hotel Zephyr features 361 stylishly appointed guest quarters and suites. The property’s artistic design brings a new dimension to the upscale vibe that defines San Francisco. The only waterfront hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf, guests enjoy stunning panoramas of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, Coit Tower and the Bay Bridge. For reservations, visit www.HotelZephyrSF.com, or contact Reservations at reservations@hotelzephyrsf.com.

How to engage your hotel’s secret sales force

Here’s a special guest post from one of the number of incredible innovators, subject matter experts, and just all-around big idea folks that we love hearing from. At Flip.to, we’re constantly looking to collaborate with people in the industry that inspire us. Get in touch and let’s do something amazing together.

From e-commerce to digital marketing, Tim Peter has been putting the web to work for hospitality for over 20 years. Today he’s sitting in on the Flip.to blog to share a bit of that knowledge. Check out his take on the truly impactful marketing team for your hotel that’s been hiding in plain sight.

I really hate marketing sometimes. I know that’s a weird thing to hear from a guy who does marketing for a living. But the simple reality is that finding and attracting guests isn’t always easy. Far from it. Not only are you constantly competing with companies that possess a seemingly-endless mix of people, data, and budgets to chase down potential guests wherever they may be, but all of you compete with your customers for a tiny sliver of their attention. And that tiny sliver is only getting smaller every year.

Check this out: According to research from Expedia, guests visit 38 sites on average over the course of 45 days before they make a reservation. 38 sites! 45 days! That’s crazy, right? And, remember, that’s not 45 days prior to the stay date; it’s 45 days ahead of the booking date.

Seriously, what’s taking them so long? Why can’t they make up their mind?

Well, for starters, most of them don’t know where they’re going. Google’s Road to Decision study suggests that over half have no particular destination in mind when they get started, while 84% of travelers aren’t sure which brand they’re going to choose once they do.

Want an even crazier—and more troubling—stat? About two-thirds of guests don’t really understand the difference among the brands available to choose from. Sadly, this holds true even among many heavy business travelers. And the flood of information your potential guests face each day usually only adds more confusion, rather than simplifying the solution.

What you and your guests both need is someone who can help ease the guest decision process and cut through the cluttered content landscape, pointing out the benefits your property offers in a timely and efficient manner.

And, yes, that’s what your sales force and marketing team strive to do every day. Most do a pretty good job of it, too. But, let’s be fair. It’s really hard work (see above, for instance). Google’s made it more challenging to rank in search, favoring PPC ads over its traditional organic results. And as Richard Dunbar pointed out here on the blog recently, getting your content in front of guests on sites like Facebook has gotten both more difficult and more expensive due to the social media giant’s algorithm changes over the past couple of years. And even those messages that make it through Facebook’s filters are fighting for your guests’ time, attention, and action.

The simple fact remains that you’re competing against the hundreds or thousands of marketing messages that your guests see every single day. In such an oversaturated media environment, it’s no surprise that even well-trusted brands and long-standing relationships sometimes struggle to make an impression—to say nothing of close the sale.

Bet you’re hating marketing right about now, too.

But here’s the good news. You’ve got a secret sales force at your disposal, one who knows all about the exceptional experience and value your property offers and represents a trusted source of information to the thousands of potential guests you’re looking to reach every year. Even better, you don’t have to cover much overhead to put this secret sales force to work.

So, just who is this secret sales force?

Your current guests, that’s who. According to Nielsen, most people trust the recommendations they receive from their friends and family on social. And on average each of your guests connects with roughly 200 friends and family on Facebook and other social media. Your existing guests offer you a trusted connection with these potential customers.

Just consider the math for a moment. Let’s say you’re responsible for a 100 room hotel, that runs at 60% occupancy and hosts 1.4 guests per room each night. That’s almost 31,000 guests per year that you can put to work telling your brand story. Which, y’know, is a lot of people. And, even using conservative numbers about how many friends each has on social media, those 31,000 guests can reach millions of other potential guests on your behalf (since most of you probably hate math way more than you hate marketing, I’ve tucked that away down at the end of this post, but those numbers are real).

Facebook has made it plain that it plans to show its users more content from close friends and family. Put your guests to work telling your hotel’s story, and the friends and family Facebook favors will be the folks staying in your rooms every night. They’re the ones who can share compelling stories about how much they enjoyed their stay, highlight the outstanding value they received, and sell their connections on why they ought to consider your property too. Their posts on social get in front of their friends and family and provide you a trusted entry into a dialogue with those potential guests. That’s your secret sales force.

And it’s one you can’t afford to waste.

It’s no secret that guests have chosen for years to write reviews on TripAdvisor and booking sites, sharing the details about their stay with folks all over the world. Those reviews often drive valuable business for your brand. But why not put content like that to work for your hotel? How about getting your guests to share on behalf of your property to a targeted audience, instead of just about your property to some random bunch of strangers on the Web? This isn’t just about Flip.to (though, as you might imagine, the company offers a really great way of empowering your guests to tell your hotel’s story). This is a huge opportunity for you to reach new business effectively and efficiently, regardless of how you choose to engage them.

The simple fact remains that your secret sales force offers you a near-perfect opportunity to connect with potential guests. Their messages get seen and are trusted by your target audience. They’re well-informed about your value, and I don’t know about you, but it’s enough to make me fall in love with marketing all over again.

Appendix: The Math Behind the Hidden Sales Force’s Social Connections

According to Pew Research, 39% of “adult Facebook users” have 1-100 friends, 23% have 101-250, 20% have 251-500, and 15% have over 500 friends. So, using the lowest possible number of friends on Facebook per brand:

(39% x 31,000 * 1) + (23% x 31,000 * 101) + (20% * 31,000 * 251) + (15% x 31,000 x 501) = 4,618,070

Which, again, is a lot. What’s even crazier is if you use the higher number in each range:
(39% x 31,000 * 100) + (23% x 31,000 * 250) + (20% * 31,000 * 500) + (15% x 31,000 x 501) = 8,421,150

Note: Since we don’t know the upper bound of friends in Pew’s topmost group, I’m still assuming “only” 501 friends for the most connected cohort on Facebook.

And here’s the thing. Assume for a moment that these numbers are way too high, say maybe twice as high as they should be. Your guests still connect you with 2 to 4 million other people on Facebook alone. Pretty cool, eh?

A sweet surprise from Chickasaw Nation

I’ve said it before—the biggest reason I love working in this industry? The hospitality. This week we were treated to one sweet surprise—an incredible selection of Bedré Fine Chocolates courtesy of Micha Krodel of Chickasaw Nation out of Oklahoma.

Milk Chocolate Oklahoma, Cowboy Boot & Hat

If the Chickasaw Nation wasn’t on your travel list, it should be. They have some spectacular offerings in store for their guests. From the breathtaking landscapes of their rec areas to a rich cultural center, opportunities to explore are limitless. Visitors can also relax in luxury at the Artesian Hotel, unwind at the Chickasaw Retreat spa, or even enjoy top-notch gaming at the WinStar World Casino and Resort.

Bedré is something really special, too. This small chocolatier was brought to life by the rich legacy of the Chickasaw Nation. Purchased in 2000, they’ve completely transformed it into a nationally recognized luxury chocolate brand. These sweets are offered in retail stores across the country, including The Artesian Hotel and Bedré Café.

(And our whole team can attest to the chocolate—we snagged a few pics prior to the devouring!)

We had just a taste, and it was enough for us to start planning our next trip to Oklahoma. Be sure to have a look for yourself!

Flip.to on the road: Worldhotels Annual Conference

I spent the last week in Hamburg with a wonderfully diverse group of hoteliers and industry folks from just about everywhere in the world. From a trendy, forward-thinking boutique in Sweden that will come and read you a bedtime story in Swedish to help you get settled in at night, to a designer, eco-conscious hotel on one of Berlin’s most traveled thoroughfares that prides itself on keeping walls to a minimum, there were definitely some standouts in the crowd.

What they had in common though, was that they all represented something bigger than the sum of their parts, which is exactly what brought them together in Hamburg for the Worldhotels Annual Conference.

Worldhotels Annual Conference wrapped up with an outstanding dinner

This year’s theme was focused on storytelling, and how hotels discover and share their “why” with prospective guests. There couldn’t have been a better group to undertake this exercise given the sheer diversity of the attendees, a credit to Worldhotels for assembling such a collection of properties.

Worldhotels’ CEO, Kris Intress, has done a superb job in making it the focus of the organization to tell the story of its partner hotels in a way that truly engages with their guests on an emotional level. Her opening presentation for the conference made it clear that it’s not just a corporate directive, it’s how she truly feels. With drive like that, it’s hard not to get behind the concept, and that goal was definitely met in Hamburg.

There were two things that I took away from the conference (not including this really cool virtual reality cardboard kit from Diginet Media; seriously it’s awesome).

“If you’re an independent hotel and you’re not playing the game by a different set of rules, you’re going to have a hard time.” – Richard Dunbar

The first is that if you’re an independent hotel and you’re not playing the game by a different set of rules, you’re going to have a hard time. I have a great deal of respect for hotel owners and operators because it’s a fierce space to play in. You have a huge job just in delivering on the experience the guest expects but there are also so many distractions, all vying for your attention.

The hardest part of all of this is that most of those distractions need your attention or they can become tomorrow’s problems. Worldhotels does a great job managing a lot of those distractions for hotels, (disclaimer: hoteliers’ words, not mine) but it’s incumbent upon hotels to have a firm grasp on why they do what they do. It’s one thing to point out what makes you unique, but how did you arrive there? What brought you to where you are today? That’s a much more challenging question to answer and it requires a different perspective to fully understand it.

“Let your guests help you discover your ‘why.'” – Richard Dunbar

The other big takeaway for me is that hotels are hungry for a better way to do social. Now I know, that may sound self-serving, but there were over a hundred hoteliers that attended our sessions on capturing guest stories and infusing those into the hotel’s brand identity. The message was a very simple one: let your guests help you discover your “why.”

We have this amazing vehicle for communication (social media) but it’s become congested with marketing pollution and a lot of noisy nonsense. The truth is that hotel guests have been telling their stories but hotels haven’t been listening. In all fairness, some do listen quite well and they’ve been extraordinarily successful because of it. But there are countless hotel websites out there showcasing empty rooms and public spaces, embracing this notion of the zombie apocalypse our esteemed president raised in his recent “state of the industry” address.

For the longest time social in this industry has been a one-sided conversation. Sure, guests are talking on TripAdvisor but that’s very formulaic and can hardly be considered a conversation. The stories are being told at home, to friends and to family. Those stories that make their way into the online social media space sit on the shelf of our limited attention spans and are soon forgotten. There’s no engagement and there’s no dialogue happening. When meaningful and inspirational adventures are happening everyday in and around hotels those events should be captured and sharing should be encouraged!

Attendees enjoyed an Octoberfest dinner on Friday

In the end, all of the ingredients were there, hotels just needed the recipe. Kris, Geoff, Tom, Alex, and all the others at Worldhotels have worked tirelessly to bring it all together and present it in such a way that hotels are well equipped to start their journey. I was proud to be welcomed into this group and to present our solution to this challenge. Because ultimately it’s about building a long-term, meaningful relationship with the guest. And if there’s one key ingredient to a healthy relationship, it’s listening.