The Future is now: The emergence of the Customer Engagement Channel in Hospitality

For a few years, very significant developments have occurred, and, radically changed the marketing of hotel, the distribution content and the customer engagement in hospitality. In this direction, the increasingly important use of Internet and social media changes the consumers' behavior, and the hotelier must adapt and change their strategy marketing, their manner of communicating with their customers. 

This article is very interesting, and, is focused on the emergence of a new Customer Engagement Channel. It gives and explains the forces that have been combined to lead to the emergence of this new customer engagement channel.  Indeed, this customer engagement channel is the result of several things, of the combination of several forces, according to this article.

• Internet => Today, it is considered as the main travel planning tool and booking channel. We are increasingly numerous to carry out our booking online, and to plan all our travels with internet.  

• The hyper-interactive travel customers => Thanks to Internet, to Social media, and to Mobile apps we are hyper-connected, hyperactive, hyper-engage and hyper-informed.

•  Social Media =>Today, hoteliers need to engage their customers via social media. Social networks should have a big part of a marketing strategy of a hotel. Hoteliers cannot ignore the success and the importance of social media. 

• Mobile Web => The mobile channel has become a very important travel planning and transaction channel. 

• Channel convergence => There is a convergence of of marketing and distribution channels. As I said below, travel consumers are hyper-interactive, so they need to collect and to share information (actual and interesting) about a hotel, with their communities, at any time. For that, they use various distribution and marketing channels (Traditional website + social media or social media + mobile apps...).

• Multi-channel marketing => It is a new norm. Today, with the development of Internet, of social media, of mobile apps... As the hyper-interactive consumers of today choose how and when they want to interact with the hoteliers’ campaigns, it is essential for hoteliers to reach them at multiple touch-points, and for that, they need to utilize multi-channel marketing for all their campaigns. As you can see on this image, the hotel website will be the hub of multi-channel marketing. 

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I think this article is very interesting because it shows and explains why a there is the emergence of a new Customer Engagement Channel, and what is the most important impact of this emergence.

To conclude, I can say that today’s consumer, considered as the hyper-interactive travel consumer, is communicating every day, at any time, via social media, blogs, mobile applications, internet... This behavior is forcing a channel to change and to have a new approach to hotel marketing and distribution. For that, according this article, the best is a complete channel convergence, in which all marketing and distribution channels are combining into only one and unique channel, in order to engage the customer.

 So, the Customer Engagement Channel is the result of the convergence of all marketing and content distribution channels and of the new hyper-interactive travel customer. The most important impact that this emergence has, it is the influence of the customers (who are in this channel) on their communities about the hotel. Now it is a reality, when we have a good experience with a channel, with a hotel, we commit ourselves promoting this hotel or this chain via social media, or mobile applications… near our community. It is a reality and a new thing to take into account when hotelier wants to establish a marketing strategy.

How can a hotel use Klout scores to improve customer communications?

Klout scores is online software which permits to measure your influence online regarding to some factors (it is not only the number of fans, followers that you reach...). The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. 

The use of Klout scores permits: 

•   To find and reach your social influencers, to communicate with them.
• To use your influencers in order to communicate a positive image of your hotel at their communities : potential guests,...
•   To observe and know better your guest’s reactions : more feedbacks, your image according to your fans, followers or influencers...
• To know better the preferences of your influencers : with that, you can offer them advantages in order to encourage your influencers to communicate positively about your hotel.
• To establish loyalty programs and rewards : a hotel can use Klout Scores, to know who are its influencers, and, can proposed some advantages like free wifi, free breakfast, free upgrades...everything that can permits to communicate better with your influencers and, so with their communities.
• To reach different types of targets, communities : Klout scores measures your influence on different social networks, where you are present, so, you can know who are all your influencers, and you can communicate better with different targets and communities.

Comments about Aude's article

I totally agree with Aude. I think it is a very good and interesting idea to develop comprehensive online booking in Chinese. As she said, China will be, in few years, the largest tourism market of the world, so it is essential to facilitate the reservation process for Chinese customers. 

Starwood has understood that and, as you said it is a plus to have a booking on hotel website in Chinese in regard to the others groups of hotels. 

To conclude, I think it is a very good thing because, when a Chinese customer does not speak English, it can have many difficulties to make a reservation online. Indeed, if you want to book a hotel in China, and the booking on the hotel website is only available in Chinese, I think you would have many difficulties to understand how to book a room online!! It is the same thing for Chinese customers when they do not talk and understand English. Then, as it is a huge market, for me, it is essential to propose on your hotel website the possibility to book in Chinese!!

Link to Aude's article

How Travelers consume hotel visuals?

In the hospitality, internet has a place more and more important in the marketing strategy of a hotel, because, it has a place more and more important in the decision process of the customers. In this sense, before to choose definitively the hotel,  most of the time, clients visit the website of the hotel, its social networks...

As this article explains, VFM Leonardo shared some statistics about consumer behavior in term of hotel visual content viewing across their social network. With these statistics, the owner of the largest media syndication network for the travel industry, gives five reasons to show why travel shoppers want to see hotel visuals.

1. Million of travel shoppers view hotel media online each month.
2. Travel shoppers view hotel visuals on a variety of sites (TripAdvisor, Travelocity...)
3. Number of hotel media views continues to rise year over year.
4. Travel consumers are sharing hotel visuals with their networks.
5. More hotel marketers are syndicating rich media and getting results.

Consumers want to experience hotels through rich visual content (videos, photos, pictures,...).



I think that when we search a hotel, and we go on internet to find the perfect hotel for our travel, we want the same thing : a hotel with a rich and good visual content ; a clear and attractive website with photos and videos; clear and attractive social networks with photos and videos but also with comments and reviews of fans and followers of the hotel ; a presence on websites like TripAdvisor...

For me, a good and rich visual content is a clear and attractive webiste, with imformation, but also with photos and videos of the hotel, in order to give a real image of the hotel at the viewer. It is also a hotel present on social media and it is easy to find its facebook page for example. And, a hotel with a rich visual content is also, for me, a hotel present on some reviews websites like TripAdvisor and Travelocity.

Personally,  when I need to choose a hotel, the two first things that it is important for me are : photos and videos of the hotel on the hotel website ; reviews and comments of persons who know this hotel on TripAdvisor and sometimes of the social networks of the hotel.

And you, How do you consume hotel visuals? Do you sensitive to the hotel visuals in your decision process?

What will delight today's customers who are mobile lifestyle travellers?

DDiH, think tank 2011, cmh oneglobe, hotel think tank

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Comments about Lauriane's article

I totally agree with Lauriane. The combination social media + loyalty program is very clever and it is a very good strategy.
Today, it is essential to be present on social networks, like Facebook...with these social networks we can attract a larger number of people, fans, followers. Social media is a new way of communication , and permit to us to collect more feedbacks and reviews in a short time, and at a low cost, as Lauriane said.
Finally, I think that American Airlines is a very good example of a successful combination social media + loyalty program (or marketing campaign). American Airlines made this campaign on Facebook and on Twitter (post on February 22nd), two of the most important social networks, which have each a huge community.
The success of American Airlines' campaign will be to convince and encourage other companies to adopt this same strategy.

Link to Lauriane's article