It’s a dramatic shift from traditional hotel marketing, where hotels were controlling the content and the communication with customers. The new strategy aims to capture the attention of Internet-savvy guests and get customers to talk among themselves on sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, promoting word-of-mouth advertising.

Hotels are becoming more serious about using online videos as a marketing tool. They’re encouraging and monitoring guests’ videos of their stays. They’re creating their own YouTube channels and other video content to showcase their properties and to launch new brands.

Hotel videos fall broadly into two categories:

• Customers’ input. Vacationers’ videos posted online have been around for years. But hotel companies are more proactive in seeking more than room footage. Last year, Best Western asked customers to submit a 30-second video on why they’re in “desperate need of a vacation.” Holiday Inn Express invited popular YouTube comedian Kevin Nalty to help produce an online show about the chain. Sheraton also is urging guests to upload videos about their experiences to its website.
• Traveler information. Hotels also are producing their own content and inviting bloggers to link them on their sites. Starwood Hotels launched Spg.tv, a site with 50 hours of videos featuring the destinations where they have properties.

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