I recently came across this June editorial from HOTELS magazine (Thanks to Jens).

“Travel 2.0 - As the Internet evolves, latest tactics and new rules change the way hotel marketers reach customers.”

It looks at a number of examples that demonstrate the importance of online experiences that add value to hotel web sites and build communities.

In this post I’ve pulled together some of these examples and a few others. Unfortunately the article does not link to the external sites mentioned.

For those interested to read more on hotel marketing, Travolution ran a series of articles in Issue 8 earlier this year.

For an introduction or a refresh, there are two whitepapers worth reading. They both look at web 2.0 for the travel and tourism industry.

1. Web 2.0 for the tourism & travel industry – from Reactive
2. Web 2.0 and the travel industry - from Ellion

Even with the improvement of hotel sites getting the basics right sometimes gets lost with the myriad of new technologies and buzzwords.

This should include:

> Easy navigation
> Searchable and accessible content
> Lots of excellent images
> Reassuring and simple booking engines
> Up to date offers

According to an emarketer.com survey earlier this year, only 17% of hoteliers believe emerging media (blogs, user generated content, video etc) result in a high return on investment.

Many of the examples below are from larger hotel groups. This may be explained by greater budgets or that certain approaches are more suitable to the type and scale of the business.

However, there are plenty of opportunities and benefits for the smaller hotels to adopt and experiment with their online strategies.

As the common bond of social media grows, more information arrives on the screens of viewing prospects. And with it many new ways to connect with customers, build strong communities and increase revenues.

Emerging technologies combined with the power of user generated content will help level the playing field and promote trustworthiness over marketing budget.

Blogs

> Starwood assembled a team of travel writers for The Lobby
> Active Hotels
> The Fowey Hotel in Cornwall
> Opus Hotel in Vancouver
> The Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, Massachusettes
> A day in the life of a Scottish Hotel - The Isle of Eriska

I’d like to see more blogs from smaller hotels. The ability for hoteliers to connect by way of more personal stories is a great advantage over bigger hotel groups. Blogs like the Hawthorne Hotel (updated daily) or The Fowey Hotel (updated more or less monthly).

People readily relate to a story and they create emotion. Not to mention the ability to enormously raise the hotel’s profile online due to the extremely search engine friendly nature of blogs.

RSS

> Superbreak
> Marriot eBreaks
> MGM

Podcasts

> JCasts by Jumeirah
> MGM
> Kimpton Hotels - An impressive series, unfortunately the links are not working for me at the moment.
> Red Carnation Hotels



Video

> MGM Grand Las Vegas - a very polished award winning video demonstrating the experience and facilities at the hotel.

User-generated content and social networking

> The Sheraton web site - encourages visitors to share stories, advice and photos relating to their travel experiences and favourite destinations.
> A different approach is taken by Affinia where they link directly to their TripAdvisor page.
> Joie de Vivre Hotels’ online community, California Connect. Travelers share travel tips, write blogs/reviews and upload photos.

Desktop

> Best Westerns KnockKnock desktop download to keep up to speed with the latest offers.
> Kimpton’s Hotels