Exploring and Evaluating Hotel Success on new Social Platforms

“We have been using Clubhouse for a few months now and have found it to be very effective for building awareness of our brand in new markets. Clubhouse can help reinforce the notion of your brand as industry-leading. It can also be used to increase your network and build your personal brand too. Its success can be evaluated in new business leads and it feeds into followers on Instagram and Linkedin too.

We have also started using IG reels for our brand videos. Here, we can measure engagement in the reels alongside engagement on our stories and posts, it’s a great brand awareness tool.”

“Over the past number of months we’ve become active on Clubhouse, and together with 21 other thought leaders in the Vacation Rental Industry worldwide, we founded a Club together; the “STR Professionals Clubhouse”. I’ve enjoyed hosting a dedicated room there called “Thursday Luxury Secrets” each Thursday at 4 pm CEST and have found that Clubhouse is a great platform to extend your marketing span and to learn from others as well.

Because Clubhouse is connected directly to Instagram, it’s the perfect opportunity for a company to simultaneously work on their Instagram presence too. We’ve spent a lot of time and effort on building our presence and now have over 25.000 followers on Instagram.”

“We have found that TikTok and Instagram Reels are great for hotel exposure. The algorithms are still very favorable, and if you have an aesthetically pleasing “Instagrammable” property, it should be documented!

In our experience, Clubhouse is better for B2B networking, and it can certainly be useful if you’re engaging with the right audience.”

“Individual hotels are now increasingly using some of the newer platforms, particularly Instagram Reels, as it’s part of an existing platform that we have already developed and grown familiar with in recent years. Expanding our presence to additional platforms like ClubHouse involves committing what are already highly leveraged resources, so prior to that, we have to look at a cost-benefit analysis for those platforms that are completely standalone.

Once we know that they’re here to stay and are popular with our core market groups, then we would look to find ways to develop a community and share our message. Ultimately, these decisions are taken by the marketing team and the senior managers within each of our hotels. When I research new ideas and find platforms that I think are a good fit, I will certainly recommend them and exchange ideas and experiences between our five hotels or bring them together to discuss.”

“Yes! We have adopted both Clubhouse and Instagram Reels. We’re using Clubhouse as an industry networking and positioning tool, connecting with colleagues and supporting our wonderful industry. Instagram Reels is the perfect platform for excellent engagement opportunities as well as showcasing the different sides to a brand’s story.

Using personality and beautiful imagery, engagement on IG Reels has been wonderful for us. But don’t forget your overall social strategy and have a purpose for each channel. All content is not created equally, so investment in styling, editing, video and assets is so important.”

“Social media usage will continue to grow every year and while I do not have a direct experience (from a business perspective) with TikTok, ClubHouse, Instagram Reels etc., one thing is clear to me: if an organization decides to establish a presence on a social media platform, it needs to have a strategy in place to support this over time.

It is better to be on fewer social media channels in an appropriate, sustainable way (i.e., with a clear strategy and objective – for example, to build an engaged network) than to dilute efforts across a larger number of social media channels. Also, you need to make sure you have “something to say” that’s authentic and engaging for each channel; otherwise I feel it’s a waste of time.”

“As a hospitality consultant, I’d suggest that a hotel with great views, spa, pool or an outstanding restaurant should consider establishing a presence on TikTok and Instagram Reels. That being said, the choice of channel really depends on what your objectives are, who your audience is and what type of location/hotel you are.

I’ve found that the more we can be creative, even involving our staff, the better! However, it’s important to avoid being a “catch-all” project, i.e., in the past, hotels tended to subscribe to all sorts of social media, just for the sake of “being visible”. If you are a high-budget hotel it could also be an option to bring influencers onboard (for example, on Instagram) though I’m not fond of this approach.”

“Absolutely. We are seeing 10x the engagement when we post video content to our social feeds as opposed to static imagery. Instagram is prioritizing video content and de-prioritizing static, traditional feed content. If you want to be seen, get with the times!

Meanwhile, Clubhouse is a powerful tool to connect within our industry and make valuable inroads with brand and influencer partners. We’ve had incredible conversations surrounding industry recovery, the Airbnb effect, brands Vs. indies, diversity, inclusion and much more, on Clubhouse. We’ve packed rooms with hundreds of guests, and learned from hospitality professionals all over the world.

From the hotel side, I recommend that managers hop into Clubhouse to join the conversation, share ideas about sales, marketing, and development, and connect with partners, including travel influencers and brands that share your values.”

“We’ve all become publishers of ourselves and our business through social promotion and selling. Social media has become an interaction tool between customers and companies and has a strategic impact on the latter. Listening to our customers and tailoring our content to match their expectations helps us to reach them effectively, increase customer satisfaction and improve guest loyalty. The domino effect does not stop there, as loyal customers become a multiplier of the business, bringing in new customers. As a result, brand awareness grows and the web reputation is built.

For companies preparing to start their social presence, it’s essential to have an appropriate relational strategy, focusing on the following three points:

1. Who to interact with (target)
2. With what objectives (value of your brand)
3. With what value proposition (how can you deliver your company promise to customers)

The past year has significantly changed the habits of the social world. The lack of face-to-face contact between people due to the pandemic has meant that social channels have become a familiar tool for us to express ourselves and feel connected with one another.

The great protagonists of social networks have been Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok and Clubhouse. Clubhouse facilitates real conversations between users in private rooms where everyone can discuss, confront, laugh and chat – all important activities that we were not able to do in person – so it is no surprise that Clubhouse jumped from 3.5 million downloads to 8 million in a matter of days.

Without a doubt, social activity has an impact on marketing strategies, and it’s becoming increasingly challenging for brands to stand out from the crowd and convey their brand messaging in an original and attention-grabbing way. With this in mind, I always think of this quote: “Content is king” – i.e., talking about myself, my story, my journey, producing exclusive content, that’s useful to my audience, because they want to know and understand my brand.

The key takeaway is that we do not need to just be on social media channels, we have to be where our clients are looking for us and tell them what they want to hear. Without a good analysis of the market, target audience and a great web marketing strategy, we will not reach the right customers and not be as successful as we could otherwise be.”

“At the time of answering this question, I own an Android! Therefore, I haven’t yet been able to reach & intercept my audience in Clubhouse. However, while I am not worried about social platforms for my agency, I have asked my clients to begin posting online at a more frequent rate. I believe there is power in endorsements and one suggestion is to hire a professional videographer or local influencer (perhaps give them a night free at your hotel) to create some highly engaging content (portrait) and share it on your social platform as sponsored content with other local micro-influencers.

You are then intercepting the influencer’s audience, i.e., a local audience that is likely to visit you. You are also giving them an incentive to book with you by linking each social platform and post to an irresistible offer. My advice? Don’t view social channels just for likes and comments. There’s no point in having 10,000 likes and 5000 comments if the result is only 5 sales worth $1250 (assuming $250 per sale average). If 10,000 people saw your content and visited your hotel landing page, on average 0.73% (2.35% for non-hotel websites) should convert. That’s at least 73 people paying $250 each which will equate to $18,250. That’s a huge 1,360% increase!

So if you’re not converting at least 0.73% of your website visitors, something is wrong on your page and it all ties back to deep research and crafting an irresistible offer. I say this to encourage you to keep posting online and engaging your audience. However, spend more time working on your offer, backed by deep market research, so you can be sure that your marketing system will be as easy as turning on a ‘tap’ to receive an influx of itching-to-buy customers.”

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