The Revinate Blog

Location-Based Services for Hotels - A Best Practices Webinar

'Checking In' means one thing to hoteliers. It means something very different to the millions of people who use location-based services like Foursquare, Facebook Places, Google Places and Gowalla. Join Benji Greenberg of BCV and Linden Freeman of Revinate for an hour of straight talk about what hotels should, and shouldn't be doing on these social platforms.

During the session we will:

• discuss the leading location-based services and explain how they differ
• share best practices from the hospitality industry
• provide recommendations for rewards and deals
• see how Revinate incorporates LBS into its industry-leading software solution for hoteliers

When: Tuesday, September 13th at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern

To attend, you must sign up in advance here. We will be recording the session so even if you can't attend, please sign up and we will notify you when the recording has been posted.

See you online.

 

Hotel Data Conference - August 3 and 4

If you're coming to the Hotel Data Conference in early August, please be sure to come to the "Owning Your Guest" breakout session. I am starting to put together some great data about guest reviews that I will share with attendees at the session... and then with blog readers. With millions of reviews to analyze, I'm sure we'll be able to pull out some great nuggets that will help you understand who is writing reviews, who is responding to reviews, and why it matters. If there are any stats you would like us to look into, please let me know!

Thoughts from The HSMAI Revenue Optimization Conference

I'm not a revenue manager but I get to work with many of them in my role at Revinate. Revenue Managers are data driven and approach problems in an analytical way. They are often blown away by Revinate because it takes unstructured guest feedback and makes order of it by finding trends and easily allowing you to see quantitative analysis of how your property is doing against the comp set. (Or, if you are a corporate user, which properties are leading your portfolio and which ones might need an extra hand.)

Yesterday I attended HSMAI's Revenue Optimization Conference. I attended the event last year but our software was relatively new and we didn't have nearly the customer-base that we have today. It was amazing to hear people talking about Revinate, both in the sessions and in informal conversations about technology.

I wanted to share my five take-aways from the day:

• Step up: Many speakers mentioned that revenue managers need to make more market aware business decisions and take a larger role in the organization. They were encouraged to try to stimulate demand, not just crunch numbers. Since they are at the convergence of social media, distribution and revenue management, they are in a unique position to try new things and really make a difference. Revenue managers were urged to work on their communication and persuasion skills to become leaders.
• KISS: There was a lot of talk about how hard it can be to bring in new technology, especially if there isn't a culture of adopting new things. Hoteliers urged technology providers to keep things simple, versus throwing too many features into products.
• Despire Google's plea that it's just a content aggregator, there is concern that Google search results display OTA prices first, often driving people to book off the brand.com Web site. With the acquisition of ITA, many hoteliers wonder if Google might look at a hotel booking engine next.
• While there was some animosity expressed at Expedia for how long it takes for hotels to be paid for bookings, Amy Severson, the Director of Strategic Accounts make the point that hotels don't realize how much it spends on behalf of the hotel in advertising fees, search fees and credit card fees.
• A new consumer service has hoteliers gasping for air. The service allows you to book a room at a hotel but then allows other hotels to bid for your business. If you can get a better rate, you cancel and book elsewhere. Talk about creating competition.

All in all, an interesting event.

Webinar - Integrating the Online Reputation Management Function into Hotel Operations & Culture

With the explosive popularity of social networking, online reputation management has emerged as one of the foremost issues on the minds of hospitality professionals today. But with so many priorities to juggle, finding the time and dedicated resources is challenging.

Join Michelle Wohl of Revinate and special guest Daniel Edward Craig, former hotel GM turned consultant, for a free, engaging Webinar that will explore ways to manage the social media and online reputation management functions on property.

The Webinar will cover:
* Assembling the right team and allocating resources
* Monitoring and disseminating reviews and feedback internally
* Publicly responding to reviews
* Using reviews and feedback to enhance the guest experience, drive revenue and build loyalty and advocacy

We will have two live Webinars and will be recording the session so even if you can't make it, sign up for one as we will alert all registrants when the Webinar recording has been posted.

Session one: Wednesday, May 25th at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern. RSVP Now.

Session two: Wednesday, May 25th at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern. RSVP Now.

Webinar Materials - Facebook and Twitter For Hotels

Thank you to everyone that joined us today for our Webinar. We hope that those who joined were able to learn something from the examples of hotels doing great, and not-so-great things on Facebook and Twitter. A special thank you to Benji Greenberg of BCV for his social media expertise.

If you missed the event or would like to share the materials with your colleagues, please find a PDF of the presentation here. And please find a recording of the event below. We would also love any feedback in the comments section, below.

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Facebook and Twitter for Hotels – A Best Practices Webinar

Facebook and Twitter for Hotels – A Best Practices Webinar

With Guest Speaker, Benji Greenberg, President of BCV

While most properties have already signed up for Twitter accounts and Facebook Pages, the majority are still not sure how they should be using the social networks.  Join Benji Greenberg of BCV and Michelle Wohl of Revinate for an hour of straight talk, example sharing and best practices for driving loyalty and sales.

 

During the session we will:

• take a realistic look at how much time it takes to build relationships online and how to resource for social media
• look at examples of Hotel Facebook Pages that get it right and discuss why they work
• discuss ROI and what metrics you should and shouldn’t measure
• discuss the pros and cons of offering deals to followers
• provide advice about what to do with ‘squeaky wheels’ and irate customers

 Two sessions will be offered to accommodate multiple time zones:

Wednesday, April 20^th – 8:00am Pacific / 11:00am Eastern RSVP here.

Wednesday, April 20^th – 11:00am Pacific / 2:00pm Eastern RSVP here.

New Webinar Announced - Thursday, March 31st

For the first time, online reviews and recommendations are driving more bookings than either location or price. Your reviews have never been more important in the definition of your hotel. But you don't have to sit back and watch your reputation get formed. You can play a large role by responding to reviews and engaging with your guests and prospects on the leading review sites and OTAs.

Join Michelle Wohl of Revinate and special guest, Daniel Edward Craig, former hotel GM turned consultant, for an engaging Webinar that will cover real-life examples and success stories. You will learn:

    * The differences between the review sites and site guidelines for responding to reviews
    * Best practices in responding to negative AND positive reviews
    * Tackling the most difficult issues that come up in reviews
    * Putting together an action plan for your hotel

This free, 1-hour webinar includes 45 minutes of content, inspiring case studies, and concludes with a 15-minute question and answer period.

Who Should Attend:
General Managers, Directors of Revenue Management, VPs of Sales and Marketing, E-Commerce Managers, Social Media Managers and any hotel associate that’s passionate about growing their hotel’s online reputation in 2011.

Register by clicking here.

Upcoming events in Q1

We are hitting the road this quarter. Come see us, in person, at the following events.

February 1: HSMAI Digital Marketing Strategy Conference - New York

March 2-3: Social Media Strategies for Travel Conference - San Francisco

March 7-9: Hotel Association of Canada & Online Revealed Canada - Toronto

New Webinar Announced - February 8th, 2011

Growing Your Hotel Business 

Best Practices in Reputation Management

Hotels can no longer afford to let their online reputations be defined by others. Now, there are more opportunities than ever for hotels to build a strong online reputation that attracts more guests.

 Join Ann Manion of Hotel Advantage and Michelle Wohl of Revinate for an engaging Webinar on:

• 3 key components of building a strong online reputation.
• How to overcome roadblocks in developing a social media strategy.
• The best metrics & qualitative markers for measuring success.

This free, 1-hour webinar includes 45 minutes of content, inspiring case studies, and concludes with a 15-minute question and answer period.

Date and Time:

February 8^th, 2011 - 1 p.m. Eastern Time

Are you doing all you can to build a strong online reputation for your hotel? Sign up here: http://revinate.me/2l8 and find out how to grow your hotel business in 2011!

Who Should Attend:

General Managers, Directors of Revenue Management, VPs of Sales and Marketing, E-Commerce Managers, Social Media Managers, Digital Facilitators, Facebook Administrators, Hotel Twitters, and all hotel associates that are passionate about growing  their hotels' online reputation in 2011.

Revinate on Stage at The PhoCusWright Conference.

Today is a big day for the Revinate team. Kyle Duffy and Marc Heyneker are at PhoCusWright's Travel Innovation Summit, where, earlier this morning they presented on the big stage in front of a live audience and a panel of judges.

Like any socially connected start-up, we tracked their progress on Twitter. We knew they were about to go on stage when we saw this tweet:

#revinate taking the stage at #phocuswright; "hotel mission control for social media."

Once they got started, it started to get exciting, with dozens of tweets about the presentation. Here are just a few:

#revinate has more focus than trustyou, if I was a hotelier, which I am not, I think I'd roll with them. Consumer space=distraction.

#phocuswright #revinate this should be a popular tool for hotels since most property owners are obsessed with Tripadvisor reviews good idea

#revinate is a pretty neat b2b tool for hotels. #phocuswright

And when the presentation ended, Kyle was put in front of the 'Critics Circle' for American Idol-like feedback. As expected, the feedback was positive:

Critics Circle at #phocuswright give support and kudos to Revinate for their hotel reputation mgmt solution

More updates to come...