DDIH Newletter October 2011

Digital Developments In Hospitality October, 5st 2011

Analytic Trends -‐ -‐ Digital IQ Index p.2 -‐ -‐ Web Analytic Tools p.3 -‐

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Mobile Trends

Digital Developments in Hospitality is a division of Oneglobe Network dedicated to exploring Net capabilities and innovations facilitating differentiation via breakthrough services.

DDIH explores the impact of apps, tools and platforms, already adopted in the marketplace, and the impact on users’ service expectations.

-‐ Mobile Applications p.4/5 -‐ Augmented Reality p.5

September 2011: New Digital Marketing Opportunities for Hoteliers!

Social Media

-‐ Facebook’s new face p.6/7 -‐ Social Media Solutions for Hotels p.8

Online Trends -‐ Online Services for Hotels p.9 -‐ Online Booking Engines p.10

Big news for hoteliers: the summer break inspired many digital oriented firms. Online, Social Media, Mobile or Analytic oriented companies launched or improved new services that should make hoteliers happy. It is a matter of technological evolutions that are going to impact the online marketing and communication strategies within the hospitality industry. For those who can’t follow DDIH blog regularly, this newsletter summarizes the biggest digital trends of the previous month.

The DDIH Team

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Analytic Trends

Digital IQ Index

What's Your Social Media Marketing IQ? September 6, 2011 As you make your 2012 marketing plans,

consider what you need to do to take your social media marketing to the next level. To ensure your firm's maximizing its social media effectiveness, now's the time to check your organization's social media marketing IQ. Here are 30 questions to help determine

your firm's social media marketing IQ. These questions will help you assess where your organization is in terms of social media marketing maturity and where you may need to improve effectiveness. http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2106136/whats-‐social-‐media-‐marketing-‐iq

Dachis Group Debuts ‘Social Business Index’ – Think Of It As Klout For Companies September 13, 2011 Today sees the launch of the Social Business Index, a project from social business services

company Dachis Group. In essence, the information service aims to provide some insights into how ‘social’ companies are, and how they stack up against similar corporations in their respective industries and their competitors, and provide some ‘social business’ benchmarks by company, subsidiary, geography, department and brand. If Klout and PeerIndex are about trying to measure the ‘socialness’ and influence of people and

rank them, Dachis Group basically wants to do the same for corporations, in real time. The Social Business Index is free, with advanced features available to companies and registered users for a fee. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/dachis-‐group-‐debuts-‐‘social-‐business-‐index’-‐–-‐think-‐of-‐it-‐as-‐klout-‐for-‐companies/

Digital IQ Indexes and analytic tools are good online performance indicators for hotels. More and more research centers classify hotels according to their Digital IQ Index (IQ meaning Intellectual Quotient) after having evaluated their online influence. The Digital IQ Index enables hotels to position themselves according to their competitors’ position in the market. Download L2 Digital IQ Reports:

-‐ Travel -‐ Facebook

Analytic tools such as Klout and PeerIndex measure the online performance of a website taking into account their social media influence.

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Twitter Releases Web Analytics Tool September 14, 2011

Twitter Web Analytics is intended to give website owners more data on the effectiveness of their Twitter integrations. It’s powered by BackType, the social analytics company that Twitter acquired in July.

Twitter Web Analytics will help publishers and website owners understand three key things: How much of their content is being shared on Twitter, how much traffic Twitter is sending their way and how well Tweet Buttons are performing. The tool is free and currently in beta. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/twitter-‐releases-‐web-‐analytics-‐tool/

Klout Adds Topic Pages To Give Users More Context Around A Subject And Its Influencers September 15, 2011 Klout aims to provide more context about a specific topic. On the topic page, Klout shows the top influencers in a given topic, regardless

of their overall Klout score. Pages showcase content that recently influenced others, as well as top +K recipients (+K is a measurement tool Klout offers users to vote for peers’ influence in topics). Klout says that it plans to add analytics, trends, and more to topic pages.

Topic pages can be accessed by clicking through any topic link on the site, such as from someone’s topic page. Top influencers on a topic are determined based on interactions and engagement from other topical influencers on content. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/klout-‐adds-‐topic-‐pages-‐to-‐give-‐users-‐more-‐context-‐around-‐a-‐subject-‐and-‐its-‐influencers/

Web analytic tools

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Mobile Trends

hotels.com Launches Integrated Marketing Campaign Surrounding its Mobile Booking App September 7, 2011

hotels.com® launched an exciting, “extreme” campaign centered on the company’s high-‐speed mobile booking application, which allows users to book rooms at its network of almost 140,000 worldwide hotels.

The video features the world-‐renowned skydiver booking a hotel room while flying at over 115 miles per hour in a 15,000 foot freefall before landing on the Lake Tahoe beach of the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa & Casino.

The hotels.com mobile booking app, which is available for iPhone and Android, features specialized offers, including exclusive mobile deals and over 20,000 last minute deals. It is available in more than 30 languages in more than 70 countries, and can access past and future reservations, even when offline. Mobile GPS functionality will allow the app to find the closest hotels with the best deals, based on a user’s current location. Welcomerewards® loyalty points can also be tracked and redeemed through the app. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/hotels-‐com-‐launches-‐integrated-‐marketing-‐campaign-‐surrounding-‐its-‐mobile-‐booking-‐app/

Mobile Applications

World Hotel groups and chains being mobile oriented, it is in the interest of Independent Hotels to keep abreast with the latest trends in this field. Mobile booking engines with the

ability to modify reservations are more and more expected by hotel guests. Photo and Video platforms on mobile are also being developed, especially for leisure travelers. Augmented reality, with geolocation systems, starts becoming a real need for every type of traveler.

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Mobli’s Social Broadcasting App Is the Closest You’ll Get to Being Batman September 8, 2011 Mobli, a social video and photo platform, is updating its platform and adding Android and BlackBerry apps to the service it launched on the iPhone in April. Here’s how it works: Users take photos and videos; the app automatically tags each image with a location (courtesy of Foursquare’s API) and major events in the vicinity. The tagging system enables you to follow specific users, locations and topics. You can also search images for any keyword or place. Mobli has unlimited video and an option to respond with a photo or video. Both of these contribute to an effect that’s something like an interactive visual diary. And what’s more compelling than someone else’s diary? http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/mobli’s-‐social-‐broadcasting-‐app-‐is-‐the-‐closest-‐you’ll-‐get-‐to-‐being-‐batman/

Hotel portal boosts mobile via augmented reality app and touchscreen website September 28, 2011 The Hotels Now augmented reality app enables users to search for and view properties with price, distance and reviews information also available.

The iPhone app has also been updated to include predictive destination search, find local hotels via GPS and share properties via social media channels. HRS has also improved its mobile website adapting the design to make it more suitable for touchscreen technology. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/hotel-‐portal-‐boosts-‐mobile-‐via-‐augmented-‐reality-‐app-‐and-‐touchscreen-‐website/

Augmented Reality

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Social Media Trends

Facebook’s new face

Responding to expansion of Facebook’s location-‐based check-‐ins as a hotelier September 8, 2011 Starting last Friday, you may have noticed that

the “X check-‐ins” verbiage has been removed from Places Pages and merged Facebook Pages and has been replaced with “X were here”. Users will still be able to “check-‐in” to businesses but instead through their status updates by adding City Location and Tagging a Business in a post. With this change Facebook is looking at

location in three different ways – Where I’m going, Where I am, and Where I have been. Depending on how Facebook continues to roll this out could be a huge plus for hotels to play in the location-‐based marketing space. We recommend that hotels merge their

duplicate places pages and claim Place Pages of any of their business entities. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/responding-‐to-‐expansion-‐of-‐facebook’s-‐location-‐based-‐check-‐ins-‐as-‐a-‐hotelier/

NewsMix Makes a Magazine From Your Facebook “Likes” September 21, 2011 The NewsMix for Facebook application

presents updates from the Facebook Pages you “like” in a magazine-‐like fashion. The company’s primary goal is to create a digital newsstand relevant to each user and appropriate for each platform. In the Facebook application, collected

stories represent the articles, photos and videos as posted by Facebook Pages. The application will appeal to the subset of Facebook users who want a unique and aesthetically pleasing way to discover news items from their favorite brands, media companies and celebrities while on Facebook. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/newsmix-‐makes-‐a-‐magazine-‐from-‐your-‐facebook-‐“likes”/ -‐ more-‐1086

In September, Facebook hit the headlines on blogs and news websites with the creation of new apps and the reorganization and redesign of its website… the result is something between Twitter and Google +, not surprising ! In parallel, Hospitality and

Marketing oriented firms are turning towards online visibility and social media management to help independent hotels increase revenue.

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How the new Facebook will impact travel September 28, 2011 In the last couple of days I (Travis Pittman) have dug further into the new Open Graph developer documentation Facebook. In doing so, I have attempted to briefly summarize how the Open Graph changes may affect its users and the travel industry.

Now instead of just being able to “like” a book, users will be able tell friends when they have “read” a book. Or “listened” to a song. Or, in the case of the travel industry, “booked” a flight, “hired” a car, stayed” in a hotel, “‘done” a tour, “reviewed” a point of interest. This might sound rosy. However, there could be some negative impact, too. After giving permission to an app, little messages are automatically (what they’ve named “Frictionless sharing”) being sent back to Facebook, your girlfriend, your co-‐workers and your friends about your actions on external websites. What about travel? I’m sure it would be interesting/distracting for people who are about to plan a trip of their own, are having a bad week at work or haven’t taken a holiday in a while when they see a flow of messages like: “Travis read a review about xyz hotel in Cape Town on TripAdvisor” …to eventually things like: “Travis ate a steak at a Cape Town steak restaurant” http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/how-‐the-‐new-‐facebook-‐will-‐impact-‐travel/ M

ark Zuckerberg at f8

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Social Media solutions for hotels

Appnostic enables hotels to manage social networks and Facebook September 22, 2011 According to Brian Dass, Founder and CEO of Appnostic, the company focuses

on the development of its Travel PartnerNetwork program. “The objective being to make social media even more accessible and measurable than it used to be”. Social Promoter, the first tool developed by Appnostic is a universal project management tool for facebook and twitter able to evolve and take care of numerous accounts. Appnostic will create a partnership with hotels and hotel chains by offering them tools,

promotional materials, sales trainings, marketing support, tutorials on the way to proceed, workshops and technical assistance to help them better manage their customers’ social media channels. SocialPromoter, TweetAgent and ProjectInteractive solutions have been especially

personalized to answer the needs in the travel and hospitality industries. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/appnostic-‐permet-‐aux-‐hotels-‐de-‐gerer-‐les-‐reseaux-‐sociaux-‐et-‐facebook-‐appnostic-‐enables-‐hotels-‐to-‐manage-‐social-‐networks-‐and-‐facebook/ -‐ more-‐1102

TripAdvisor Launches Widgets For Hospitality Industry September 28, 2011

NEWTON, MA – TripAdvisor launched its new Widget Center that makes it easier for the

hospitality industry to find and display TripAdvisor content, such as ratings and reviews, on their own sites. The center offers a wide array of thematically organized widgets and includes new features,

such as a “see it in use” option that shows how other sites are successfully displaying TripAdvisor content. The center also allows business owners and managers to email widget code to their site administrators for easy installation. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/tripadvisor-‐launches-‐widgets-‐for-‐hospitality-‐industry/

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Online Trends

TravelClick launches full-‐service web solution for hotels September 13, 2011 Custom Pro is the newest product available through TravelClick’s Web Solutions group and

provides hotels with a custom website design and on-‐going services with no long-‐term commitment and no upfront fees. TravelClick’s award winning web team will concept, design and program a distinctive site that

is optimized for lead conversion and to maximize organic search traffic. Custom Pro sites utilize best practice functionality including booking widgets, eRFP functionality, email capture, special offers rotators, guest comments, etc. to help hoteliers drive revenue and increase lead flow. Clients will also receive a robust content management system, on-‐going maintenance, web

hosting, regular search engine optimization (SEO) updates, and a full site re-‐build every two years at no additional cost. Additional services can be added for incremental monthly fees, including a mobile website,

media services and advanced search engine optimization programs, as well as the development of a social presence on Facebook, TripAdvisor and other review sites. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/travelclick-‐launches-‐full-‐service-‐web-‐solution-‐for-‐hotels/

Online Services for Hotels

Gaining online visibility, being the main objective for Independent Hotels in order to remain competitive with the “big boys”, web solution platforms are getting specialized on the hospitality industry. Online booking systems and

attractive review tools are still part of hoteliers’ main needs.

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FastBooking Engine Lux Takes Hotel Online Booking to the Next Level September 27, 2011

FastBooking, one of the world’s leading online

solutions providers for the hospitality industry, announces general availability of the recently released FastBooking Engine Lux. This new front end enhances customers’ online booking experience and offers new options to better fit the hotelier’s needs, in particular those of the luxury hotel market. FastBooking Engine Lux is built on the same

robust, high performance online booking technology as the company’s time-‐tested FastBooking Engine Classic. · 30 languages and 62 currencies for users to select from when making their reservations. · Four step booking process. -‐ Multiple rooms bookings for separate dates at the same time. -‐ Industry record conversion rate. -‐ Lightening speed display of rates and availabilities. -‐ Advanced reporting tools to keep track of your Key Performance Indicators. -‐ Particularly attractive for luxury properties FastBooking Engine Lux includes a number of sophisticated tools to help users make their buying decision and hoteliers increase online bookings. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/fastbooking-‐engine-‐lux-‐takes-‐hotel-‐online-‐booking-‐to-‐the-‐next-‐level/ -‐ more-‐1147

New hotel booking site targets travelers with hotel reservation September 12, 2011

BACKBID, a revolutionary hotel booking

website which offers hotels a way to earn new online business from confirmed travelers with existing reservations, has just launched in private beta mode. The site allows hotels to see which travelers are coming to their market, how much they are willing to pay and what their travel preferences are because BACKBID travelers already have a hotel reservation, confirming their intention to travel. With this insider knowledge, hotels are able to create personalized offers and deliver them directly to consumers, enticing them to book with their property and abandon their original reservation. http://ddih.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/new-‐hotel-‐booking-‐site-‐targets-‐travelers-‐with-‐hotel-‐reservation/

Oyster gives new (high) definition to panoramic hotel photos September 26, 2011

Oyster.com, the lodging review and

booking site, likes to skip the marketing shots in favor of realistic hotel photos and the website just implemented panoramic photos in a very big way. Oyster provides high-‐definition 360

degree panoramic image of hospitality properties. The company claims to be adding 200-‐300 hotels per month and will be giving some of these panoramic treatment for free. http://ddih.wordpress.com/?s=Oyster+gives+new+%28high%29+definition+to+panoramic+hotel+photos

Online Booking Engine

Digital Developments In Hospitality

A word from the team…

“ We are pleased to share through DDIH blog, all the pieces of information related to the latest digital trends in the objective to inspire independent hotels when creating marketing strategies.”

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DDIH Newletter October 2011