The Revinate Blog

Announcing Instagram Integration in Revinate

Last year, we wrote about how hotels can benefit from engaging on Instagram. L2 reports that 82% of hotel brands have created a presence on the platform, with the majority of brands identifying Instagram as a social media priority for 2013.

For hoteliers that haven't been introduced to the application, Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables users to take pictures, apply digital filters, and share them on a variety of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. With over 100 Million users, knowing what Instagram photos your customers and prospects are posting about your property, your competitors and your market is a critical component of proactively managing your online reputation.

Instagram provides hotel marketers with an excellent opportunity to share professional and user-generated photos about their properties, and it is quickly becoming a popular channel for travelers to share their travel experiences.

Today, we are excited to announce that Instagram photos will now be included in Revinate search results. This feature is a major time saver as all of your hotel-related Instagram content will be visible to you without having to visit the application. When you click on your search tab in the Revinate dashboard to view your social media mentions, any Instagram results with a matching hashtag (#) will show up in the photos section. You can then click on the photo so you can comment and engage with the user, provided you are already logged into the application.

 

In addition to being able to view and comment on the photo, you will be able to save it, share it with colleagues via e-mail, add a ticket for a colleague to take action, share it on Facebook or post it on Twitter, all straight from the Revinate dashboard. Moreover, when you share the photo, its link is automatically shortened with our custom URL shortener, allowing you to measure and report on social media engagement metrics directly from our system. With this new integration now available to you, your proactive reputation management efforts will be even more comprehensive.

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Create & Run foursquare Specials with Revinate - How to get Started

Foursquare allows businesses to create Specials, which can be thought of as virtual coupons. This is a great way for hoteliers to attract new customers, reward your most loyal ones, start driving immediate ancillary revenue and help to stand out from your competitors. The best thing is that it’s completely free – no commitment, no credit cards, no risk! Foursquare doesn’t charge any fees for businesses to run Specials, so the only cost to you is the economic value you offer to foursquare users. 

When a foursquare user opens up the “app” on their smartphone they can see a list of venues that are nearby, as well as those that are running Specials. This is a great way to entice people to stop by your business, rather than one down the road. 

Get started with foursquare Specials on Revinate!

As part of Revinate’s foursquare integration, you can create and run Specials directly within your account.  Once you’ve linked your venues into Revinate, click on the “Start a Campaign” link on the foursquare mission control homepage, then follow these easy steps:

1. Select from the list of venues linked to your Revinate account, that you want to apply the Special to.
2. Select the type of Special. Depending on the type of Special, you may need to fill out criteria for when the Special gets unlocked.
3. Describe your Special, including the offer description and optional custom unlocked text and fine print.
4. Select a start and end date for your Special.

It’s also easy to end a Special. Just click on the Special from the “Campaigns” box on the foursquare mission control page, and you’ll see the option to end the Special (you can only retire Specials that you have created). 

Here’s just some examples of Specials you could run. Of course feel free to get creative. Chat among your colleagues to find out what Specials they would like to receive. Are there any amenities at your hotel that you want to drive people to during a given time? Check out what your competitors are doing – are they even running Specials? 

• Check-in special: When a person checks-in to your hotel they get 15% off any treatment at your spa.
• Mayor special: When the mayor checks-in, they get a free room upgrade.
• Friends special: Check-in to your bar with five or more friends and get 10% off your next stay at the hotel.
• Newbie special: First time staying at your hotel – check-in to earn a free drink at your lobby bar!

Approved by TripAdvisor

Revinate clients will notice a cosmetic change to the service this week. We will now be displaying the 'Approved by TripAdvisor' logo to show that we are licensed by the company to use TripAdvisor content on our site. 

 

Revinate's Social Buzz Is Live

We are pleased to announce that the newest Revinate feature, Social Buzz, is now live. You can see it in action on the Paradise Point web site. (Click the image on the left to see a larger screenshot.)

Revinate's Social Buzz is a powerful system that makes it easy for you to promote your public feedback from across the Web on your own sites. Why does Social Buzz make sense for hotels? Honest recommendations from guests is now the most significant driver of booking decisions. But feedback from your guests is being posted to review and third party booking engines, so the value of the feedback is benefiting their sites, not your own.

Destination Hotels & Resorts is the first client to go live with the new feature. Isaac Gerstenzang, Corporate Director of E-Commerce, explains his decision to roll out Social Buzz, saying, "When you have visitors on your site, you want to keep them there. The last thing you want is for them to leave your site to read reviews and then get distracted or lured to another property. The beauty of Social Buzz is that we're able to easily share the most recent reviews right on our own Web sites. Also, the fact that Social Buzz can contain reviews from the 10 major review sites and OTAs, and is authorized by TripAdvisor, lends incredible credibility. "

Social Buzz is a premium feature, so clients must upgrade for activation. If you're interested in rolling out Social Buzz or want to learn more, please contact your sales rep or email info@revinate.com.

Revinate Adds Tickets and Action-Oriented Alerts

Today we're excited to launch a few very important updates based, as usual, on the invaluable feedback we receive from our clients.

Among other great improvements, today's release includes two features that should help clients more easily engage with their customers.

The first one is 'Tickets'. Tickets is a complete workflow solution to manage and collaborate on your responses to the reviews you receive. Use tickets to:

• Add Notes to reviews
• Ask a colleague to respond to a review
• Discuss a review internally
• Ask a colleague to investigate an issue reported about a stay
• Provide information to colleagues that can be used for marketing purposes
• Or for any other collaborative purpose

The second is 'Daily & Weekly Alerts'. Now more action oriented, the alerts now include "Recommended Actions" along with additional data on Social Media Mentions, TripAdvisor Market Ranking, and Review Keywords.

Revinate clients can check out the help desk for details on the new features. If you're not yet a customer and would like a demo of the new features, please contact info@revinate.com.

Coffee is the new bed

Remember the days when hotels were trying to differentiate on beds? There was the Westin Heavenly Bed, the W Bed, the Grand Bed and more. Today, it appears that many hotels are looking to differentiate their offering with coffee. USA Today wrote an interesting article about how various hotels are allowing guests to caff-up on site, from in-room espresso machines to pod machines.

I chuckled when I read the article because when I demo Revinate, I almost always show people how you can search reviews for coffee to see what guests really think about your coffee service, whether you have free coffee in the lobby or in-room coffee makers. Then, once you have a sense for whether people like your coffee policy, check out your comp set's reviews that mention coffee to see how it compares. To do so, click 'Search' and enter in the word 'coffee'.

 Try it out and let me know what people are saying about your coffee service.

 

Why Revinate is Important to Everyone in the Hospitality Value Chain

At Revinate, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with professionals from all walks of hospitality life. I have noticed that whether you work at a hotel or for a brand, at an asset management company or for an ownership group, everyone is seeking a different spin on the same thing - - reliable, actionable data on guest satisfaction and hotel performance. Thanks to the breath and depth of social media channels and new technology aimed at the hospitality industry, information on both is easily available for the entire hospitality value chain.

Properties:

At the highest level, properties are most concerned with driving more bookings. The web has made hotel marketing infinitely easier as properties no longer need to rely on their destination sites to produce bookings. In addition to online travel agents, there are dozens of travel sites that are more than happy to advertise and market your property for a cut of the sale.

Many of these sites also include user reviews. The rise of user generated content means guests can share their hotel experiences with the public. For better or worse, prospective guests now know what they can expect before they step foot on your property.

Getting serious about 'check ins' to win loyalty

Yesterday the New York Times wrote a great article about how small businesses can use Location Based Services like Foursquare to drive sales.  Ever since I started using Foursquare (and now Facebook Places) to check in to businesses and places I visit, I have been advocating that businesses closely monitor their check ins to surprise and delight customers who check in. Customers who check in to a business are broadcasting their patronage to their friends, and as a result should be considered a brand advocate.

Revinate customers can easily monitor for Foursquare check ins using Social Media Searches. Each time a user checks in to a hotel using Foursquare and simultaneously tweets it out, it will appear in the activity feed. (You will notice the 4sq.com url.) Stay on top of these feeds. Tweet back and welcome these guests or take the next step and buy them a drink. I guarantee your gesture will be repaid many times over as the guests tell their friends about your tremendous service.

If you're interested in learning more about using Geolocation services, the NYT article has a lot of great advice.  If you have ever surprised a guest in this way, please share your story by commenting below.

"Social Media Searches" aka The Opportunity Finder

Last week when I was QA'ing our newest feature, Social Media Searches, a light bulb went on in my head. We had created what Scott Johnson, our sales director coined an 'opportunity finder' for our clients.

The way Social Media Searches works is that you can create up to 10 searches for your property that are constantly running. Each search is comprised of up to 5 keywords or phrases. The first obvious search is for your hotel name. (Roger Smith Hotel might use the following phrases to ensure it captures all mentions: Roget Smith New York, Roger Smith Hotel, @rshotel, Roger Smith NY.) You should also set up searches for your competitors, your restaurants and bars. That likely leaves one or two searches to play with. I suggest setting up a prospecting search.

A few of our ingenious customers have relayed stories of winning business by doing live searches in Twitter for things like 'napa valley wedding venue recommendation' or 'hotel recommendation las vegas' or 'spa weekend ideas'. Now, with Revinate searching millions of sources including forums, comments, Facebook and blogs in addition to Twitter and news, now is the perfect time to turn social media into a new lead funnel.

For example, I created a prospecting search for one of our resorts in Phoenix. I used the following phrases: Phoenix spa, Phoenix wedding venue, and Phoenix resort recommendation. Within minutes, I began to see the results populating in Twitter, Facebook and on Forums. I was able to see people who were looking for recommendations in real time, for places to stay. We link you directly to the source so you can jump in and show you're listening and you're willing to win the business with a great offer and some reasons why he/she should stay with you. 

Happy prospecting!

 

"Social Media Searches" - - now live in Revinate

We are happy to announce that Social Media Searches is now live. When you log into Revinate, you will see the new feature in the left-side navigation. The biggest change, however, is happening behind the scenes. "Social Media Searches" will cover millions of new sources, including Facebook, comments and forums, in addition to Twitter, videos & photos, blogs and news to show you what people are saying about your hotel in real time.

Use Social Media Searches to...

• Track not just your hotel, but also your competitors, restaurant or bar


• See who is talking about your property in real time… and easily join the conversation


• Prospect for new business


• Find your key influencers on Facebook, Twitter and other sources


• Quickly share important mentions with colleagues

 Download the Getting Started Guide to learn how to set up your searches... and watch this blog for details and best practices on using Social Media Searches.