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Think Tank: Digital Developments in Hospitality

Our class had the opportunity to participate to a Think Tank about the Digital Developments in Hospitality and its consequences. I personnaly was mot interested by the Luxury Reframed theme. Indeed I already had the opportunity to study the impact of new technologies and media uses in the Hospitality Industry.

Howether, it was a chance to be able to meet creators of apps dedicated to hospitality. Indeed apps are a new trends are increasing. They do have a real positive effect in the sector.

As for the theme I was most interested in, luxury reframed, we actually noticed how much apps and technologies have changed the clients' expectations.
Indeed, as for the Iphone there are now Chanel, D&G, Gucci, Dior apps available.

In a recent article posted by Karen Weiler Escalera on Hospitality.net, we are informed that according to the Luxury Institute, "the wealthiest sector is among the most "switched on." Some 32% of affluent consumers follow blogs or vlogs, while 22% have executed a transaction via a mobile device."

Being able to see the new collection on our Iphone, make up demonstrations (by Dior), the main saling points of a luxury brand makes it much easier for such a demanding client.

However, I personnally noticed that these apps were not always updated in time.
Moreover, do they really provide something to the luxury clients?? In the end, it is only some kind of virtual showcase.

I also personnaly believe that luxury brands were affraid of being left over in the apps development. Indeed, it seems that geolocalisation or booking apps are more useful. But being present on the smartphones of the customers, showing that luxury brands are following the trends as well as the other sectors, is a marketing strategy.

It cost them almost nothing compared to what they earn, and it makes them able to be present daily on the phone of their clients and, as a consequence, in their mind.

I am convinced that this is the point of developing apps for luxury brands. For the moment at least.

An other development was based on another technology: using Facebook pages (fans or groups ones) to keep in touch with the clients.

As far as I am concerned, I think it is a far more useful and ingenious technique. Indeed, the ones who really who uses them as much as possible.

For instance, Versace posts its new collection - the entire collection and all the pictures of the creations - and also all the publications in the medias. They keep in touch almost daily with their clients but all attract potential clients. Indeed it gives the impression to its "fans" to be as important as VIP clients who buy and ware Versace clothes or shoes or accessorizes.



An other example is Calvin Klein, who has been the first to make it possible to all its Facebook fans to watch the direct broadcast of thefashion show during last fashion week.

Luxury is all about feeling cherished, a bit exceptionnal, special. And thanks to this innovative concept, thousands of people were able to be part of one of those exceptionnal moments that are fashion shows:



They also are able to make special offers:



All of these services are part of what we could call 'tech exclusivity'. They increase the feeling of being part of a community based on luxury. According to surveyx previously quoted, it seems that it helps brands increasing their sells.

Guid’el app economy

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Guid’el app economy

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Hilton Worldwide, IBM Ink Global Technology Infrastructure and Solutions Agreement | In This Issue | Hospitality Technology: Technology Resource for Restaurant/Lodging Executives

Hilton Worldwide, IBM Ink Global Technology Infrastructure and Solutions Agreement | In This Issue | Hospitality Technology: Technology Resource for Restaurant/Lodging Executives

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Hilton and IBM are now bound by a contract as they entered into a global collaboration.
This is a giant collaboration between a most famous hotel group and the well-known IBM group. It would probably increase the management results of Hilton and generate a new dynamism.
As for IBM, it would be a proove for them to be able to adapt their offer to their clients, as specialized they are, since it is here linked to hospitality industry.

Louis Vuitton Company to Manage Hotels

LV is about to manage 2 hotels, one in Oman and one in Egypt, but without owning them, in a first time at least.

They already opened a very luxury hotel in Courchevel and called Cheval Blanc. This property is a major success since then, even since the beginning of the economic crisis.

Bernard Arnault is actually a challenger who always needs to find new challenges. So it was predictible that after this success they were about to try to extend this new 'department' of the company.

Moreover, more and more luxury brands open hotels so the fact that the most successfull luxury brands of the world could perfectly succeed and in the end owning hotels and develop it own chain.

Tiara Hotels & Resorts

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Tiara Hotels & Resorts

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Facebook More Popular Than Google: The Big News Not So Big After All

This article has been written by Mark Starkov on March 29, 2010 on Hotelsmag.com website.

This article is an analysis based on an Experian Hitwise survey which conclusion is that Facebook is a most popular website than Google in the US.



Below is the ranking of the most popular websites in the US:



Because of this analysis we could wonder wether Facebook is going to replace Google or not?

The conclusion of this article is that there is no chance/risk for Facebook to replace Google as a travel planning tool since:
- the online travel consumers first look on (Meta) Search Engines, OTAs...
- they might ask to their friends some advice concerning a destination or an hotel but Facebook still as a small part to play in the final decision and even in the planning and booking process.
- the revenue generated by the websites are far much higher than the ones by Facebook that barely count...

I also personnally agree with the author. Indeed, online travel cnsumer do not use Facebook to look for best prices, hotel bookings or travel destination. In these cases, Facebook is only used as an opinion exchange mean.
But if the hotels trully want to measure the impact of Facebook in their marketing, they shoul not consider the revenue generated by Facebook but the Fan metrics, their comments, their frequency...

So Facebook will not replace Google, and especially not in the travel industry.
They are complementary and Facebook help increasing a specific part of hotels' marketing such as word to mouth but adapted to the Internet.

Can the Design of Guests Experiences be Copied?

This article has been posted on March 22, 2010 on Hospitality Net website by Osvaldo Torres Cruz.

Differentiation is one of the main way to be well positionned on the market and is a major competitive advantage. It is a fact that hotels tend to copy services that are successfull for competitors.

The article deals with the specific experience of a guest while staying at a specific hote. If he ever has a wonderful experience, could it be also copied by competitors??

According to me, I do believe, just like the author does, that experience is linked to feelings and unmaterial things. It is more linked to the empathy, the service quality and so on that could make the experience being unique.

Therefore I would say that it cannot be copied. It is linked to an environment, to a specific place and the services it provides, linked also to the staff and the empathy they are capable of.

Hotels Uses Language To Change Service Culture

This article has been posted on March 9, 2010 by Adam Kirby.

As far as I am concerned, I found it pretty interested since it deals with a new service vision and vocabulary.

It actually seems crazy: the idea is that in this hotel -the Glenn Hotel located in Atlanta- they have chosen a specific vocabulary for each job of the personal member, so that it would valorize the staff, their part in the hotel management and the value of the service they offer.

For instance they call housekeepers "designers", considering they are preparing the future stay and well-being of the guests.

On the one hand it could seem strange and not valuable at all, but considering it from an other point of view, it cold actually create a new consideration for staff members, and more 'funnier' way to see the big picture that is a hotel employees team.

Hotel Direct Bookings

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Hotel Direct Bookings

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Hotels' Green Images Don't Match Reality

This article has been posted by Adam Kirby on February 12th, 2010 and deals with the result of a Canadian survey lead by a green consultancy.

This survey has compared what has been done by 6 hotel chains to be 'greener'and how it has been perceived by customers. The results are presented on the Green Perceptions Chart below:



To lead this study 2 different methos have been used:
- to evaluate the actual improvments, they used a scorecard that tracks the actions do in favor of the environment
- to evaluate the consumers' perception, it is an online survey that was used.

It is obvious on this chart that only Marriott's actions are perceived at the exact same level as the reality, on the opposite to Hilton and Hyatt which benefits from a better perception than the reality, and on the opposite to Wyndham, Carlson and Starwood which have an actual policy that is not perceived by customers.

So why is that?
Is it due to the promotion of their actions? Or the lack of promotion?
According to me, no matter the reason is, what is really important is what they do for the environment. Indeed, hotel chains might have get promotion on the few actions they realize and be in the reality not as 'green' as they pretend.
And on the contrary, some hotel chain might consider that what really matters is what they do in favor of the environment, and not how much more clients it might attract.

So what really matters?
The perception or the result?
On an economic point of view, of course it is the result. Greener hotels might attract a lot more clients who are concerned by this issue.
But on the other, we might consider that only the results of those environment-friendly actions are really important...

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Marriott's Newest Brand

This article has been posted on Hospitalitynet.org on 25 January 2010.

It deals with the launching of a new brand: The Autograph Collection.
This brand actually features "independant hotels and resorts from around the world representing upper-upscale and luxury properties with distinctive personalities". The brand will gather at first 7 seven hotels, all based in America.

According to me, Marriott has got a very interesting and even fascinating development strategy: indeed they already have launched the Renaissance Collection that gathers 140. Each of them has a specific history and a unique character.

They are focusing on exceptionnal hotels offering to their guests unique moments and experiences. And nowadays, as so many hotels are opening -in spite of the overall economic situation- the key component of success is proposing new hotels collections and a large rank of experiences to the guests, and Marriott not only has understood that, but the group also managed to make the dream becoming true.

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4045120.html

5 consumer travel strategies for 2010

This article has been posted on USA Today on January 22, 2010 and deals with the fact that in the overall economic situation, the main point in booing a travel should be limited to searching for the cheapest price.

That is why in this article, 5 new strategies are explained to customers for them to be aware of all the parametres that need to be taken into account:
- the first thing is of course to compare prices, start quite a long time before the holiday time to be able to follo the evolution of the prices and choose the best ones; it is also mostly important to avoid the scolar holidays to benefit from more interesting prices.
- be aware of fees charged for baggage, or if you do not register online for instance
it is money that could be saved if you just consider this matter
- people should choose their destination looing for interesting opportunities on OTA's sites: indeed, in the location where the overall economic situation is the most terrible, distressed inventory could be tried to be sold by offering interesting packages.
- it is also suggested for US travelers to use a cheapest flight to go to Europe, and then if they wish to visit a specific country, book a flight on a low-cost carrier.
- last, but not least, it is important not to forget the airport security issues and that consequently more time is required...

So in the end, I think that the overal economic situation is not that bad for tourism since it seems pretty clear to me that people could take it as an advantage to travel more, if they do precise researches. And it is consequently also a good thing for travelers, who could benefit from lower prices.

Personal Branding: The Key to Thrive in Today's Marketplace

This article has been posted by Alan J Keith on 15th January 2010.

It actually deals with the fact that nowadays, each person should consider herself on the market place as an entity. Therefore, the choices made for its career have to be managed such as a business plan for a brand. And that is why the author calls "personal branding". It is actually a complete process consisting in not being stuck with our past, but try to improve personal effectiveness.

In the overall economic situation, it is most important to act differently.

I personally think indeed that it is important to be optimistic, though the current situation. It is necessary for people who are looking for a job to adjust themselves to the new employment world.

That is why following a process like the author suggests it is according to me the best advice for us, who are looking for a job. We have to build our career step by step, keep motivation, be efficent and do not underestimate our skills.

They are what we need to put a stress on.

Aggregator Travel Sites: Orbitz vs BookingBuddy

1) Definition

"Unlike an online travel agency (OTA), like Expedia and Travelocity, metasearch sites simultaneously search numerous travel agency and travel supplier (airline, car, and hotel) websites to find the lowest prices without forcing the consumer to visit multiple websites. Unlike an OTA, you cannot book your travel on a metasearch site. Once you make your selection, the metasearch site sends you to the appropriate website to complete your booking."



2) Comparison between BookingBuddy and Orbitz.com
Orbitz mainly targets leisure holidays so families most of all.
http://www.screencast.com/users/ASMBA2/folders/Jing/media/5500538b-2530-4416-af2e-67ac65221435
BookingBuddy focus one being the easiest and fastest way to book for a travel


An aggregator website makes it possible to book some package or only part of a service (hotel, flight...). Moreover it is the website that will such among all the other sites which are the best prices.

Orbitz offers a Deal Detector, meaning the client fixes the price he agrees to pay, and then the site such for it and send to the client an alert when he has found it.

BookingBuddy proposes many different booking sites

Whereas we cannot know which are the ones on Orbitz.

3)
According to this article posted by David Grossman on USA Today, it seems that the point is that these websites do not really always find the lowest price. it is true that an individual will only check 3 or 4 booking sites while Aggregator Travel Sites will browse 12 of them, but the lowest price can be proposed one day by a booking site, the day after that by an OTA and so on...

4) As far as I am concerned, I think that the meta search sites are a real improvment in the travel experience. People have always less time to spend, less money to spend and so when they have to go for a trip -either leisure or business- htey need to find the cheapest as fast as possible. And of course people cannot go on each booking sites, entering its choices and so on. So these sites make it possible for travelers to gaim time and money, having a more efficient search mean.

On Twitter and in the Workplace, It's Power to the Connectors

This article has been posted on November 16, 2009 on the Harvard Business site's blog.

In this artcile the author compares the power owners on Twitter and in the workplaces.
She explains the Twitter cycle that is to say that one person gives access to information; in exchange, as a reward, she gets more followers who will bring her more information and so on and in the end, the network will be much bigger and that is what matters.

These people create organizations, networks, 'circles of influence'. But in the career, being technically adept is not enough.
It is necessary to be THE person who created bridges between different people and groups, looking for common points that might create relationships. This person is called a "connector".

These human networks constitute in the end qocial capital, what may able you to find a job and son on for instance. So the connectors are very much powerful. But it is a permanent job. They can not let their network down for a while. They have to keep looking for new contacts, new connections.

As far as I am concerned, I think indeed that the network means everything nowadays. It is really difficult to find a job and most often people hired are the ones who know someone in the firm... And with the development of networks such as Facebook for insance but alos Viadeo which is a professionnal one, it enables a word-to-mouth for job offer for instance. And there also are no more excuses to say that you do not know the right people. But it is true that a network is something which has to be worked on every day.

In the past, the skills which were asked were more "scolar". I mean that once people were hired, they had to do their job in a correct way and that was all. A job could last for30 or 40 years.

Nowadays people have to be aware at each minute, aloways developping their network, keeping in touch, "just in case", because the turn over is much higher. SO social skills are more than necessary. We cannot just do our job in our office and leave at the end of the day. It is a permanent effort which has to be done.

Thos skills cannot really be learned according to be. What is necessary is that once we have understood that, it is necessary to play the game... without loosing time.

But if the connector skills are really important -searching for new key contacts- the formal asignments are indispensable. Indeed, it is a prove of the job value, what can really be done. Indeed, having a great network but not being able to do the jobs cannot be successful. And people members of the network will be aware of that one day or another, and it might ruin the network.

Should Hotels respond to Online Reviews? (Part 1)

The article headed "Should Hotels respond to Online Reviews? (Part 1)" has been published on londonhotelsinsight.com website on the 10th December 2009.

This article points out the problem of the TripAdvisor comments for hoteliers. Indeed, it appears that a recent survey by TripAdvisor/Market Metrix found that "85% of hotels have no guidelines on how to handle negative guest reviews published online".

But this article is based on London hotels, which seems to deal pretty well with this new fact.

Indeed, it happens that some clients post most negative comments and even sometimes ask friends or family who do not even know the hotel to add some other negative comments. But it seems that TripAdvisor is understanding concerning these problems and if the hotel can prove foul play, comments can usually be removed.

But the question is should a hotel respond to these bad comments?
- the standard responses seem to be the worst ones, just writting their usual promoting speech
- some others thanks the client for tis comment and suggest things they could have indeed done.

The thing is if those comments are transmitted to concerned department's head who responds in person. Which is probably one of the most efficient response since it helps improving the services offered. So it is finally a top improving opportunity.

An example of the hotels who deals with those comments this way is the Lanesborough, one of the top London hotels. And this hotel do not just lives on its reputation; they are careful of the comments posted, respond to each of them and always are acknowledged, which most of the hotels -cheap or luxury ones- do not.

So we can think that since TripAdvisor does exist and is used a lot by clients, it is now part of the hospitality industry business and part of the game...
That is why hoteliers should try to take advantage of that, using it as an improving opportunity.

Loyalty Marketing: A Dynamic Process

The article headed "Loyalty Marketing: A Dynamic Process" has been published by Vijay Dandapani on the 4th January 2010.

It deals with the new ways to manage customer loyalty, taking into account the overall economic situation of high supply and low demand.

The author of this article bases its analysis on a Wall Street Journal which notes that "some large hotel chains, including Marriott International Inc. and InterCntinental Hotels Group PLC, are finding that more members of their customer-loyalty programs are redeeming pointsnot for overnight stays but for merchandise, like jewelry and electronics, apparently to use as holiday presents".

Customers are no longer using their loyalty points for getting free nights as much as they used to do. This change is for most of its part due to the economic downturn.

That is why hotels should be more focus - to develop loyalty - on design innovation which enables an hotel to be different from another and, as a consequence, attract clientele. But as being a high cost investment, it might be done on high traffic locations such as elevators and fitness centers.

But hoteliers should also essentially focus on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Nowadays, they are mostly technology driven. It is far much less expensive than the others ways and more efficient now are being in direct relationship whith the clients.

The conclusion of that is that loyalty programs are no longer the key to loyalty. The key point is the old concept of CRM.

So we can suppose that it is by offering the best service and keeping in touch with clients using the Social Media for instance that hoteliers could be now insured of their clients loyalty.

Analysis Of Community Websites: Igougo vs Gusto

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Analysis Of Community Websites: Igougo vs Gusto

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