Hotel Wi-Fi, Facebook News Feed, and the Guest Experience

In recent hospitality news, the Telegraph reported on hotel wi-fi and Hotel News Now gives advice on how to plan for the 2015 Facebook News Feed changes. Also, join us next week for a free webinar on delivering the perfect guest experience for today’s traveler.

Hotel Wi-Fi Charges

Recently the Telegraph reported on wi-fi charges at a hotel in Cannes. A guest who stayed for a night at The Majestic Barriere hotel found that she’d been charged €300 (about $374 USD) for 24 hours of high speed wi-fi use. The guest claims she was not informed of the cost when she checked in.

“While the majority of hotels now offer free Wi-Fi to guests – a report earlier this year suggested that 90 per cent of hotels in Europe do not charge for access – a number persist with high fees,” writes Oliver Smith of the Telegraph. Additionally, a 2014 Revinate study found that problems with wi-fi, including charges and performance issues, are keeping hotels from receiving 5 star reviews.

“A survey carried out this week by Amba Hotels – whose first property opened in Charing Cross this week – found that free Wi-Fi is a more important factor than location when looking for accommodation,” writes Smith.

CLICK HERE to read the full Telegraph article.

Facebook News Feed Changes

As we’ve previously talked about, Facebook has recently announced plans to reduce the number of promotional brand posts in users’ News Feeds. According to Facebook users surveyed, there are some consistent traits that make organic posts feel too promotional:

• posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app;
• posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context; and
• posts that reuse the same content from ads.

This can potentially be problematic for hoteliers with smaller marketing budgets, as they will either have to change their marketing strategies, or risk not reaching their audience on social media. Samantha Wargull at Hotel News Now advises that hoteliers tweak their strategies in four ways:

1. Create content that is valuable to your audience (not just promotional)

2. Don’t click-bait

3. Keep testing!

4. Take advantage of cross-posting on different social networks.

Ultimately, the changes reflect a general shift in consumer attitudes toward marketing. To continue to run effective marketing campaigns, hoteliers need to shift to a more guest-centric marketing strategy, regardless of how Facebook decides to disseminate News Feed information.

To learn more, CLICK HERE to read the full Hotel News Now article.

The Perfect Guest Experience

From research to booking to checkout, the experience a guest has with your hotel is complex, with multiple touch points and opportunities for both disappointing as well as surprising and delighting your guests. As a hotelier, how can you appeal to both the millennial traveler looking for a unique experience as well as the baby boomer looking for a great deal? Once your guests are on property, how do you customize the guest experience to please your diverse guests?

Join Main Street Hub’s Andrew Glass and Revinate’s Betty Mok on December 17th as they do a deep-dive on industry trends and innovative yet simple solutions for driving revenue through guest engagement and the perfect guest experience.