Boosting Electronic Hotel Sales with Social Media

With the number of user-generated content websites and social media sites today, making sales is all about interaction. These interactions need to go beyond the one-on-one interactions that characterized the hotel’s strategy in the past. Now, it is all about networked relationships that connect different people to events, places, and other people. How can this be done? Well, in most instances, the best medium for this type of interaction is the internet.

Aside from the fact that internet users and travelers booking travel over the internet has been steadily increasing, technological innovations also made it possible for properties to boost hotel sales through interactive hotel electronic sales channels. With the effective utilization of social media, hotels can increase RevPAR and achieve profit optimization.

It is important for hotel revenue managers to realize the potential of investing in technologies that will enable them to build relationship with consumers online through conversations, customer service, and honest reviews. Hotels should focus on websites where their target consumers spend significant number of hours. Social media and user-generated content can provide free marketing, connection, and commerce to the hospitality industry and ultimately increase hotel sales.

But before you engage in such endeavor, it is also important to note that leveraging on this trend relies on consumer reach and brand awareness through effective placement in social networking sites. There are some tips that will help you in this.

Identify the Most Appropriate Social Media Sites – there are numerous Web 2.0 websites over the internet. It can get expensive and confusing if you try to use every single one of them. The key is to concentrate your efforts only on the most appropriate sites to increase hotel sales and boost revenue.

Interact with the Target Market – interaction can be tricky. For example, if you decide to open a MySpace or Facebook account, it is essential for your market to be added as your “friends”. Meanwhile, blog sites can likewise be effective but it takes time and consistency to gain the loyalty of your readers.

Provide Packages that Offer Value – after you gain the trust of your target customers, the next step is to offer hotel packages or special discounts with the goal of increasing hotel revenue while strengthening customer relationship. By interacting directly with the target customer, it becomes possible to offer to best rates because it cuts the middleman, such as travel portals, out of the picture.