A light hearted chuckle for all of you. Many of you know I started in F&B, and it spanned much of my early career. The trends for F&B, and already difficult business, are brilliantly highlighted
Onity’s Door Hack scandal isn’t as big a problem as their opaque response & poor PR.
I would hate to think that Onity’s botched public relations in response to this lock hack issue is the real issue that would actually endanger our business relationship. Their obviously panicked, and confused, response could destabilize our long time relationship to the point of ending it. But it’s simply whether they are more interested in their current business and bottom line, or the bottom line that they may or may not have in the future. It’s about relationships, guys – don’t forget it, and you’re not handling your relationships very well. Why is every single aspect of this handled via the press? Why hasn’t there been any direct communication? Fix this with your hotels – YOUR CLIENTS AND PARTNERS – or the impact of this somewhat tiny battle will forever be pointed to as when you started to lose the war.
Brutal awareness in marketing: “Nobody gives a s**t”
Recently, I saw a hospitality marketer post something that I found completely objectionable. It stood for just about everything wrong with the current state of marketing within our travel world. In deference
Amazon just moved into Travel Distribution, & quietly sets up Amazon Local
Here’s something interesting…. and for my money, you might want to start focusing on Google vs Amazon in Travel, as the past fades away. I understand that Amazon Local is angled as a coupon site right
Hoteliers need to start using Tripadvisor Forums (or) Hotels are the new Destination Experts
I know it might sound needlessly hopeful, but Tripadvisor forums can transform your brand, and help you become more successful in the long term. Having hotels move away from ineffective social campaigns on Facebook, to ROI producing ones that root you as experts in travel and hospitality, is something we have needed to do for years. The internet doesn’t happen on Facebook, Facebook users aren’t consumers. The internet happens on forums, and those forums are populated with potential guests that are ready to spend money. Help out that person asking questions with an interest in having hospitality change lives, and that virtual stranger might just end up as a physical guest. Even if we are exhausted by the end of a work day, it’s still our job to mentor up and coming hospitality professionals, and to help connect them with the spark that you once felt about hospitality. These forums might be a simple, easy first step to making that hourly desk agent who thinks of hotels as a “job”, into understanding that hospitality is a noble profession. When you start helping people, and you feel that positive reaction for having done so, it gives life a sense of purpose and hope…. so let’s get excited about hospitality, let’s realize we can make the world a better place with all that we do…. and helping a stranger in a Tripadvisor forum can be one small part of that.