Share authentic guest stories in a snap

Authentic stories shared by your guests first hand provide the most candid and genuine insights into your hotel. With Flip.to, we help you unlock these moments—experiences that resonate with travelers.

So what can you do you with it then? The boundaries are limitless, but first up—share it! This is real, relevant content that your followers want to see.

We’ve made this incredibly easy—it just takes a few clicks, all the while adding a bit of fun back in your day.

Plus, finding the perfect story to share is simple. Every story that your hotel receives is automatically fitted with descriptions and tagged during the curation process. Easily search, choose and share exactly what you want without the headache of manually organizing your guest-created content on your own.

Start inspiring travel by sharing your guests’ favorite moments. Future travelers learn more about your brand, and your hotel tells a richer story—without any heavy lifting needed.

Canning spam: Relevancy, graymail, and the path to better communication for hotels

Unwanted email is something everyone can relate to. We’ve all been on the receiving end of what’s universally labeled as “spam.” Spam has become such an issue that it’s received intense, global legislative attention. While this has benefited consumers, it’s led many hotel marketers to err on the side of caution—what is spam? Too much email? In reality, this should beg the bigger question, “How do I better communicate with my guests?”

First, let’s look at Google’s definition of spam:

“Irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of recipients”

The key term in that definition is “irrelevant.” So, to try to prevent content from being flagged as spam, many marketers simply send fewer emails.

And sure, timing is important, but I’ll ask you this—when did relevancy come to be synonymous with quantity?

To some degree, what constitutes spam is ultimately the subjective opinion of the recipient. That makes it challenging for marketers to know definitively whether what they’re sending out will strike a chord or not.

Enter “graymail.” HubSpot defines graymail as “email you opted in to receive, but don’t really want.” (So blurred have the lines become that we needed a term for that in-between message that maybe you want, but not necessarily right now.)

Graymail isn’t necessarily spam, but it’s also not especially relevant to your customers either. In fact, email providers are often able to treat graymail differently from spam even though consumers are still not likely at all to engage with those messages.

For this reason, as marketers, it’s clear that how you communicate with your guests is equally important as what you’re saying.

For hotels this can be accomplished through real personalization, (more than just “Hi [firstname],”) and by considering where the guest is in his or her relationship with the property. For example:

Suppose you have a past guest from about a year ago that booked direct with you at a standard rate. From your post-stay communication, you know they enjoyed their stay. Here’s a common situation for hoteliers. Let’s take inventory of what you know:

Past guest = name, email address (possibly more)
Travel dates + booking dates = planning window
Standard rate = no discounting; they booked for intrinsic value
Overall a satisfied guest = no clear reason NOT to come back

We’ve learned a LOT— I’m only scratching the surface of what most hotels actually know. (Especially if you’re employing a CRM.)

However, what typically happens is this guest goes into a database, starts receiving the exact same emails as everyone else, and becomes progressively less interested until they eventually unsubscribe and start shopping around.

Instead, they could have been spoken to in a way that acknowledges the things they’ve told you and infuses them into your communication. And this is just a single example.

Whether it’s a past guest or a potential future guest, each may be at a different point in their relationship with your hotel. Once your messaging is on point, email volume doesn’t matter nearly as much because what you’re saying is relevant to your standing with the guest/prospect.

Understanding and expressing this through your communication is key to canning spam.

Watch now: Spark worldwide conversations with the excitement of travel

Strike up compelling conversations with your guests across their entire guest journey. It’ll mean a richer experience for your guests, and a growing team of advocates for your hotel. Watch as your guests bring a level of authenticity that resonates, leading future travelers to experiences that convert. Best of all? There’s no heavy lifting on your part.

Sound interesting? Introduce your hotel to the world with Flip.to. Take a tour, or continue on to inspire a global audience below:

Take a tourorWatch next video

The Pines Resort hits major milestone as hotel is introduced to over 100,000 travelers with Flip.to

Advocacy platform drives revenue, marketing, and even off-season success for lakeside resort

ORLANDO, FL — August 08, 2016 — Flip.to, the advocacy platform for hotels has attracted a massive audience of over 100,000 travelers for The Pines Resort in just the first year, while boosting the resort’s brand with compelling, co-created stories from their guests.

A mountain lodge nestled the Sierra National Forest near Yosemite National Park, The Pines Resort launched Flip.to in August of 2015. The property has seen enormous success, reaching this major milestone in less than 12 months. Flip.to has driven over 5,000 unique site visitors back to The Pines Resort’s hotel website, converting 450 warm leads and over 130 booked room nights for the hotel—and growing.

Lauri R., past guest at The Pines Resort.

“There’s no better way to learn about our scenic experiences at the resort than through a friend or family member—someone you know and trust,” noted Mark Choe, Director of Business Development at The Pines Resort. Choe went on to add, “Our guests are sharing everything from incredible mountain views and lakeside watersports, to exploring our area’s national parks. Flip.to lets us capture these amazing stories and use them to engage future travelers. The return on our investment far exceeded our initial expectations, even helping drive our most successful shoulder season to date.”

The Flip.to platform has thoughtful touch points throughout the entire guest journey, bettering the conversation hotels have with guests from well before they stay until long after they leave. Flip.to lets guests share everything from their excitement for an upcoming trip to the favorite moment of their stay, tracking the entire conversion funnel down to how many travelers convert. The result is a huge driver of traffic and warm leads—potential guests who fall into a pool of like-minded travelers with similar interests and purchasing habits as the advocates for the hotel.

The Pines’s Photo Explorer turns memorable guest moments into highly engaging interactions with every type of site visitor.

“I’ve been amazed at the stories our guests capture, and it’s been even more exciting to see that when combined, they shape a candid story of our property,” emphasized Choe.

The Pines Resort inspires new audiences of travelers worldwide with Photo Explorer, a powerful digital experience by Flip.to that tells a rich story of the hotel through the compelling experiences shared by their guests. It showcases a library of authentic content that is an entirely new look at the hotel. Plus, with the recent launch of Vision AI—a new feature by Flip.to that uses artificial intelligence to let hotels better understand and curate content—hotels have insight on image attributes, colors and more, with the ability to filter and source content in seconds.

“With Flip.to, The Pines Resort collects authentic content from their guests detailing the highlight of their trip. Moments like these become introductions with worldwide reach when guests share to friends and family.” said Deborah Moses, Senior Director of Sales, Americas at Flip.to. “Not only do these warm introductions drive site traffic, they help convert warm leads for the hotel inspiring more travelers to book direct.”

David M., past guest at The Pines Resort.

Tucked within towering pines alongside Bass Lake, the Pines Resort accommodations reflect a contemporary mountain décor inspired by the scenic, natural surroundings. Guests choose between 84 inviting mountain chalets, 20 deluxe lakefront suites or two private, fully-furnished houses that feature stunning forest or lakefront views and are within easy walking distance of the lake, the resort’s restaurants, recreational activities and retail shops. To reserve a stay, visit http://www.BassLake.com, or call 800-350-7463.

Hotels vs. OTAs: the issue isn’t what you think it is

At Flip.to, we’re constantly working with people in the industry that inspire us. Here’s a special post from our own team member, originally featured on LinkedIn Pulse. Looking to collaborate? Get in touch and let’s do something amazing together.

It’s virtually impossible to read hospitality headlines nowadays without seeing at least one piece on how hotels can “take back control” from OTAs. A noble pursuit indeed but do hotels know what sort of “control” it is they’re trying to take back? I would argue the answer to that is no in most cases.

Let’s look quickly at what OTAs are designed to do and why they’re good at it. OTAs are conversion machines. They bring in massive amounts of traffic and then excel at converting that traffic into room nights, car rentals, airline tickets, etc.

They’re able to do this because they’re better at getting consumer attention than hotels are and their websites are better at selling than hotel websites are.

Expedia spent, collectively across all of its brands, nearly $3 billion on marketing in 2014. If they’re willing to put that kind of money into the marketing aethers then it’s a sure bet they’re serious about converting that traffic when it lands on their sites.

Beyond that they’ve also invested heavily in keeping those customers coming back. They’ve accomplished this through a loyalty program, long-term nurturing, and a purchasing/discovery experience that favors the user. Not one of these three things is beyond the ability of any hotel reading this.

In most cases when I read these articles about wresting control from the OTAs the focus is on share of revenue and room nights. How can hotels shift more of that into their ecosystem? The issue with this “control” narrative is that it’s focused on symptoms and not the causal factors mentioned above.

Share of attention

As a hotel, it can be overwhelming trying to compete for the fleeting attention of travelers. Never before in human history have so many sources been competing for a person’s attention. OTAs are good at this because they have scale and budget. They can be in most places the consumer cares about, but not everywhere.

For hotels this means competing in spaces where OTAs are not yet part of the equation, and via means unavailable to them. To achieve this the hotel needs to be in front of the guest before that person is even in the travel-planning mindset. It’s better to stand out early than to be part of an arbitrary sorting algorithm on a third-party website.

On top of this, social media is so underutilized by hotels it’s hard to believe it’s actually 2016. This is a low-cost platform that can drive massive value for the guest both pre- and post-stay and yet more often than not I see hotels sending people there versus collecting traffic from those sites.

Experiences designed to sell

OTAs are good at selling. They’re really, really good. That’s because they don’t really care that much about which product someone buys, just that they buy any product while they’re on their site. That’s their advantage, money notwithstanding.

Conversely, for the average independent hotel, they have a single product to offer. Sure there are different rate plans, add-ons, packages, etc. In the end though the guest can only buy that single experience. That being the case, why is it that most hotel websites feel and function like digital billboards? It’s like, “hey, you’re in my shop but here’s an ad for my shop anyway.”

Bulleted amenity lists, professional photos of rooms, and canned descriptions of the product abound. It’s incumbent upon the hotel to nurture that visitor down the path to becoming a guest. Hotels can provide insight into the experience the guest can expect unlike any OTA possibly can.

Remember, the OTA is putting piles of hotels in front of the consumer. That person is there for options.

When a potential guest lands on a hotel’s website something has already grabbed her attention and she’s interested. Give her something worth her time, not a product spec sheet.

And on the subject of time, the importance of design cannot be overstated. Imagine if, instead of feeling like work, learning about a hotel was an experience in and of itself. An experience that’s just a taste of what the guest can expect during a stay.

That’s the sort of “control” that wins the day. Winning more share of attention and designing experiences that convert will ensure more business comes direct. But it has to be earned, not taken back.

Travel Trends that Matter: Insight from Flip.to and GCommerce

At HITEC we collaborated with Google and GCommerce to discuss up-and-coming travel marketing trends. Hosted at La Louisiane of New Orleans Hotel Collection French Quarter fame, it was an incredible opportunity to share what’s driving hospitality today. Guest experience, content marketing and personalization were the topics at hand. Explore more below from Chris Jackson, GCommerce President & Partner, and myself. Enjoy!

Richard Dunbar and Chris Jackson give their presentations on emerging travel marketing trends.

Travel Trends that Matter By Richard Dunbar, Flip.to Director of Partnerships

Travel Trends that Matter with Flip.to from Steve Stevenson

Hotels are facing a set of competing interests in the market that enjoy the benefits of large budgets, ability to scale, and share of consumers’ attention. These competing interests have invested heavily in designing user experiences that keep consumers engaged throughout the planning process, ultimately converting more business.

OTAs and sharing sites such as AirBnB are spending massive amounts of money to capture and retain share of attention, driving interested shoppers into compelling experiences that are designed to convert.

To combat this, it’s imperative that hotels focus their efforts to be in the places where OTAs and sharing sites are not strong. These are the low-cost, high-reach channels where hotels have a competitive advantage. The tools of that game are:

Guest advocacy
Nurturing past guests
Content marketing

Content marketing uses a hotel’s intimate knowledge of the destination but combined with guest advocacy it can be massively amplified. Content can be crowdsourced, and the potential exposure can be exponentially magnified.

This also helps to address the precipitous decline in organic reach via social channels like Facebook. User-generated content, shared by the user, means hotels are able to reach an audience far beyond the typical means.

Combined, these strategies ensure hotels can reach and inspire guests at the right time and in the right way. Aspiration and experience are the key competitive advantages in today’s market.

Hospitality marketing trends that matter by Chris Jackson, GCommerce President & Partner

HITEC 2016 – Travel Trends that Matter with Google, GCommerce, & Flip.to from Steve Stevenson

Rising Cost per Acquisition

Phenomenal growth won’t hide your rising cost per acquisition (CPA) any longer, so it is critical to understand and manage your CPA. How can you combat a rising CPA? Adjust your KPIs and the way you measure them:

Measure holistically
Measure on an attribution model
Measure from an online & offline perspective
Evaluate your data to see what works and what does not
Regain control of your inventory and pricing
Understand and determine your appropriate media mix

Predictive Analytics

Accurately predict customer behavior and buying patterns, and as a result, predict demand through Predictive Analytics.

Collective and shared data is far more powerful and useful than a single data report on a single hotel. Consider who you can partner with – airlines, golf clubs, spas, retail providers and your local tourism marketing board are all contenders.

Personalization

Connect with your audience! Focus less on selling your product and focus more on telling a story – sell the experience.

Micro-Moments

Billions of times per day, consumers turn to their search engine browser on their phone for “I want to know”, “I want to go”, “I want to do”, and “I want to buy” moments. Be prepared and targeted in your marketing efforts for when your product is presented during a micro-moment.

GCommerce is a digital marketing agency that works closely with hotel, resort, casino and restaurant clients to develop everything from website design to social media campaigns. Be sure to visit their site to learn more about their services and explore their work.

Flip.to unveils Vision AI, breaking new ground for hotels reaching travelers worldwide through advocacy

Advocacy platform leads travel tech with innovative application of artificial intelligence

Flip.to has unveiled Vision AI, the newest layer of their advocacy platform that helps hotels reach a global audience of travelers perfect for their brand.

This powerful new feature uses machine-based insights to let hotels better understand and effortlessly curate their vast, ever-growing library of guest-created content. This innovative use of artificial intelligence is the first of its kind in hotel tech. With Flip.to, hotels may now amplify their brand by delivering incredibly authentic, personal content to different segments of travelers and better convert them into future guests.

“Amazing tech lets us gather real insight on the guest stories we capture. What’s different is that for the first time, hotels can apply these insights to deliver content in a way that truly resonates with their future guests,” said Brian Kent, CEO & Co-founder at Flip.to. “Vision AI is the start of some pretty exciting new opportunities of real personalization at scale.”

Vision AI taps into machine-based learning using Microsoft® Cognitive Services. By processing visual data, Vision AI extracts rich information to return insights on content, image attributes, colors and more. Guest stories are automatically fitted with descriptions and tagged during the curation process, saving hotel marketers time and eliminating the inefficiencies of manual organization. Instead, hotels can easily search the authentic content their guests provide in seconds.

Faces AI, a component of the artificial intelligence by Flip.to, detects human faces and can identify attributes like age and gender in a guest story.

Vision AI and Faces AI make the impact of the advocacy platform for hotels even more potent. By thoughtfully applying artificial intelligence, Flip.to gives heightened context to the content and interactions of advocacy for hotel marketers worldwide.

“Flip.to is designed to capture warm leads with rich touch points across the entire guest journey. Vision AI takes that even further.” said Edward St. Onge, President at Flip.to. “It makes everything hotels are doing on our platform, as well as their others forms of marketing, even smarter and more compelling. The possibilities are limitless.”

Hoteliers worldwide use Flip.to to wield the power of a story well told and capture new guests. To begin reaching, inspiring and converting an entirely new global audience every day, take a tour or say hello.

We’re #HITECnola bound

It’s here! One of the biggest conferences of the year. We’re headed to New Orleans for the 2016 edition of HITEC. The days are full of innovation, insights, and a bit of fun. Here’s a cheat sheet of just a few of the places we’ll be. Say hello, or reach out and let’s get together.

Monday, June 20

Entrepreneur 20x
Morial Convention Center—Rivergate Room, 1–4 PM

Join our own president, Ed St.Onge, as he sits on the judges panel for the second year in a row at Entrepreneur 20x. You’ll hear pitches from innovative start-ups in hotel tech at this competition. Ed’s joining a host of hospitality veterans on the judges panel, from CIO’s and angel investors, to serial entrepreneurs and industry insiders.

Join in

HITEC Opening Reception — “A Night in ‘Nola”
Generations Hall – A Night in Nola , 6:30–9 PM

New Orleans Jazz, and classic Nola food and drinks? Say no more—we’ll be stopping by.

Say hi

Tuesday, June 21

HITEC Exhibits, Booth #1615
Tuesday, 10 AM–4 PM / Wednesday, 10 AM–3 PM / Thursday, 10 AM–2 PM

The booth! We’ve got a ton of amazing things to share this year for Flip.to. To start, we’re unveiling our newest product update—Vision AI.

This powerful new feature uses machine-based insights to let hotels better understand and effortlessly curate their ever-growing library of guest-created content. This innovative use of artificial intelligence is the first of its kind in hotel tech. With Vision AI, hotels can now amplify their brand by delivering incredibly authentic, personal content to different segments of travelers and better convert them into future guests.

Stop by Booth #1615 to see this and other product updates, check out our brand new tour, and take a photo or two with the team. Just be sure to say hello! (We’ve even brought back the comfy couch.)

Schedule timeorTake a tour

Tech Talks: Engagement Vs. Communications: What Are the Best Solutions?
Morial Convention Center, 11–11:15 AM

Industry veteran, friend-of-Flip.to, and all-around hotel tech expert Alan Young of Puzzle Partner will be sharing a bit of his knowledge in his tech talk on better hotel & guest engagement. Short but sweet, this is one you don’t want to miss.

Say hi to Alan

Travel Trends that Matter with Google, GCommerce, & Flip.to
La Louisiane, 725 Iberville Street, 4–6 PM

If you registered early, you’re one of the lucky attendees! This sought-after event features insightful discussion on hospitality and travel marketing trends as told by Google, GCommerce and Flip.to. It’s not too late to join the waitlist! We’ll keep in touch if any spots open up.

Join the waitlist

Break the Ice with Flip.to, Lanyon, NAVIS and Social Tables
Bourbon Vieux, 503 Bourbon Street, 8–11 PM

Break the ice and snap a photo with a new friend while you mix & mingle with the industry’s best. Be ready to take part in our photo contest after the event—you could end with some sweet prizes. This event is by invitation—get in touch to request yours!

Get on the list

Wednesday, June 22

HSMAI’s ROC Conference

Morial Convention Center—Great Hall, 7 AM–6:30 PM

Our very own Ed St. Onge and Danielle Fierman will be onsite for the 2016 Revenue Optimization Conference. Be sure to stop by our sponsor in the Great Hall. Drop us line if you’d like to set up time to chat, or even just have coffee.

Schedule time

Thursday, June 23

Super Session: M&A in the Hospitality Tech Sector: Who is Next? What Does it Mean?
Morial Convention Center, 9–10:30 AM

Our own Ed St.Onge takes the stage once again as part of Thursday’s Super Session: M&A in the Hospitality Tech Sector: Who is Next? What Does it Mean? Sit in as the industry’s best explore the world of Mergers & Acquisitions in hotel tech.

Ed joins a pane of other well-known names in hospitality: Larry Hall, managing director with Trillium Services Group, Alex Alt, president of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, Chris Hemmeter, managing director with Thayer Ventures, and Bob Post, CEO and president with thing5.

Stop in

Watch now: Impact of a story well told

We’ve shown you how to reach and inspire entirely new audiences of travelers worldwide with Flip.to. Now let’s see what happens when all that goodness comes together for Crystal Lodge, Adrift Hotel, Inn on Fifth and Turtle Bay Resort.

Sound interesting? Introduce your hotel to the world with Flip.to. Take a tour, or adventure on to see the impact of advocacy for more hotels below:

Take a tourorExplore more advocacy goodness

Flip.to sparks huge reach and return for SoHo’s Hotel Hugo

Advocacy platform inspires travelers worldwide, introducing hotel to a warm audience over 75,000

ORLANDO, FL — May 18, 2016 — Hotel Hugo, an independent, luxury hotel in New York City’s historic SoHo neighborhood, has tapped Flip.to to reach a massive network of global travelers perfect for their hotel. Since going live on the platform in January of 2015, the property has reached a warm audience of over 75,000 worldwide, and the advocacy platform has become a pivotal strategy in the hotel’s operations.

Hotel Hugo Lobby

The long-term impact of Flip.to has been huge. In addition to helping the 122-room boutique property get introduced to entirely new audiences every day, they’ve seen a boost in unique site visitors and have started capturing warm leads through the personal recommendations of their guests at a scale never before possible.

“It’s simple, yet impactful,” noted Kelly Sanders, Director of Revenue for Hotel Hugo. “We’re building richer relationships with our guests while receiving introductions to their network of friends & family. There’s no better way to welcome a new guest than through these interactions.”

Flip.to taps into the massive reach of their guests, allowing Hotel Hugo to reach an enormous but highly targeted audience of potential future travelers in an authentic and trusted way. “Flip.to really is the total package for platform and service,” she went on to add, “it all just works, and they have a great team behind an outstanding product.”

The move to implement Flip.to has been part of a comprehensive technology approach by Hotel Hugo. Flip.to is seamlessly integrated with every part of their hotel, from marketing to revenue and even operations. Sanders attributes this to well thought-out touch points for both the guest and hotel.

“Our guests are at the forefront of all of our technology considerations, especially since our influence on the guest experience extends well beyond when visitors are on property. The design of Flip.to lets us engage guests and their friends & family in the best way possible. On site, we can easily track results, and even identify advocates when they’re on property, making for a better stay. It’s changed our approach to how we operate.”

Bar Hugo Rooftop

For independents, unique experiences are key drivers to compete, with Hotel Hugo’s SoHo urban retreat being no different. “Hotels must distinguish themselves in the market. This can be an even bigger challenge with a small team,” said Raul Vega, Senior Director of Sales at Flip.to. “Flip.to offers huge value to disciplines across your hotel, really bolstering everything you’re doing today. Hotel Hugo is the perfect example, and continues to grow with the platform.”

Travelers seeking a stylish New York City neighborhood with timeless appeal can look no further than Hotel Hugo. A seamless blend of contemporary luxury and bohemian chic, the luxurious design pays tribute to the storied history of Lower Manhattan and enduring art-meets-industrial edge. Offering 122 guest rooms and suites, state-of-the-art meeting spaces, and a sleek rooftop bar for cocktails overlooking the stunning Hudson River, Hotel Hugo is SoHo’s most sophisticated urban retreat. To reserve a stay, visit www.HotelHugoNY.com or call 212-608-4848.