As we approach the end of this year, our hotel advisor talk focuses first on whether Facebook has truly delivered on what many hoteliers expected given all of the hype predicted earlier. The second is how the role of the Revenue Manager, who is not associated with a brand or franchise, is evolving and adapting to the production of independent hotel bookings. According to this recent article in HotelNewsNow.com, Facebook is not meeting its expectations based on others industry prognosis. It will also become a less relevant source, even though all of the major chains are focusing on it, as more dominant platforms such as Twitter and Google+ take the lead. One concern from this hotel advisor states: “Facebook growth has stalled, while Twitter has experienced more growth in the last nine months than in their past five years. The fact that Facebook has likely jumped the shark has constantly been a user level conversation, and it’s likely that the corporate and marketing worlds, who are so heavily invested in it, will be the last to recognize,” according to Michael Hraba, project manager and communications for Waterford Hotels & Inns and owner of San Francisco-based Hraba Hospitality Consulting. On the areas of where a hotel resort management company and its revenue manager for an independent lodging property should focus, there are “three key sources” of business according to this article: 1. Data on the GDS must be complete and accurate; 2. Independent hotel websites should highlight a property’s best assets; and 3. The market manager is truly the key to capturing OTA business. In addition, hospitality management for an independent property should not overlook the most prominent social media sources for business as referenced earlier from a hotel advisor perspective.
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