Has your hotel made the list?

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It’s time for this week’s Top 30 Irish Hotels on Twitter. 1 hotel has moved up the list this week!!!

Sheen Falls Lodge celebrate their 3rd week victory at the top of the table this week.

Download the list as a PDF here

(List is correct as of 27^TH January 2012)

The data in this list differs slightly to that of our Facebook list and is ranked according to the hotel’s influence on the twitter verse.

We’ve used twitter.grader.com to rank each hotel on twitter. This clever little app considers many different factors including number of followers, number of followings and number of posts (among many others). This creates a score, enabling each twitter account to be ranked out of all the accounts that have been graded in the twitter network.

It basically gives you an idea of the impact each tweet has.

The grade is out of 100 and represents the percentage of accounts that have less of an impact than yours. For example, a Twitter Grade of 95 means tweets from your account has more of an impact than tweets from 95% of all other graded accounts on twitter. Pretty impressive hey?!

As with our Facebook list, we’ve done our best to recognise every contender for the list but a few are bound to have slipped through the net. If you think your hotel should be included on the list, please let us know by commenting below, remembering to include your “@” twitter account name.

The list is open to all hotels in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Be sure to check back each week to see if your hotel has made the list

2011 closes with positive indicators for hotel business throughout the European Union, with an average of 5.5% growth in the RevPAR as a result of increased occupancy combined with growth in average daily rates. Yet, the dynamic that was seen until Spring 2011 slowed in the last quarter, ending with the start of decline last December. Europe is facing the challenge of renewing its hotel supply and of taking back control over distribution by the hotel operators. Europe is facing the challenge of renewing its hotel supply and of taking back control over distribution by the hotel operators.

It is important to observe that for the 27 countries in the European Union, the results of the hotel business for 2011 are positive. No country closed the year with a downturn for its reference indicator (the RevPAR) even if there is a broad range between stabilization in Sweden (+1.8%) and strong improvement in Poland (+9.3%), which occasionally benefited from its presidency of the Union. The European countries with the strongest hotel activity (United Kingdom, France, Germany or the Benelux) are positioned within a tighter range: between 4.5% and 6% growth, which better reflects the state of Europe’s marketplace.

With an average European occupancy rate higher than 66%, hotel occupancy gained two points over 2010, which was already in a strong recovery after the crisis of 2009. The leaders are the international gateways, capitals and business cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, London, Munich or Paris, which flirt with or surpass an OR of 75% across the year. With an OR close to 85% London beats all records, and is close to saturation, stimulating the whole of UK’s performance with 75%. At the bottom of the table is the OR in Italy, Spain and Poland which reflect the difficulties of the national markets. The only two drops in occupancy with respect to 2010 (Sweden and Austria) are less than 1.5 point.

This strong demand justified a significant improvement in the average daily rate (over 2.5% for the whole of Europe), with higher performances, around 6%, in Austria and Portugal. Generally speaking, it is the good results in upscale hotels that have allowed this progression.

Read More at HSMAI

Google recently rolled out “Search Plus Your World,” a layout that includes social recommendations made by users in your Google+ circles. When logged into your Google account, not only do you see results with recommendations…:…if there is enough interest, there is a separate sidebar dedicated to relevant Google+ pages:

You can also toggle between showing and hiding “personal” results in the upper right-hand corner. Showing these results displays relevant articles/posts/shares on friends in your circles:

This hyper-personalized results page lets you see what your friends are saying about a topic. Since users are much more likely to rely on friends’ recommendations, this is a powerful search tool. The other effect “Google Search Plus Your World” has on search is how you collect data. When logged in, users’ search terms are encrypted, meaning they show up in analytics tools as “unknown.” With more benefits available to logged-in users, the number of encrypted searches is bound to rise. Ostensibly the goal behind this new offering is to provide users with a more personalized search; however, the social benefits tend to heavily favor Google.

What Does it Mean for Hoteliers?

With such a large market share, Google is somewhat able to dictate what businesses must do to be successful. With a greater emphasis on social relevancy and personalization comes the expectation that businesses will catch up – sooner rather than later.

As Google seems to be favoring its own social networks, it is imperative that hotels develop a Google+ page. While some hotels have already created pages, the adoption rate is not as quick as Facebook and there is still room to be an “early adopter” in this channel. In no uncertain terms, the more you interact with other Google+ users in your circles, the greater the likelihood that your content & activity will show up in personalized search results.

What is the Solution?

First, create a Google+ business page. Add a quality photo and fill out the ‘About’ section to get started. Good examples to follow here are Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, and the HeBS Digital client, Sorrel River Ranch (screenshot below). This will make it easier for people to find your page and add it to one of their circles.

Second, maintain your Google+ page. Think of it as an extension of your Facebook page or a blog – it needs to be updated regularly to avoid becoming stale. Nothing is worse than having a social media presence where the last activity was months ago. Share interesting articles, comment on activity within your page, and actively reach out to users you find interesting or engaging. The more circles you are in, the higher your chances of showing up in their personalized results. Posts will show up on a main “feed” where users can interact with your posts: comment, share, or +1.

Read More at HeBS Digital Blog

Following a four month investigation, the Advertising Standards Authority found that it was possible for “non-genuine content” to appear on Tripadvisor, which is designed to allow holidaymakers to share tips and opinions on places they have visited.

The advertising watchdog said that because reviews can be posted on the site without any form of verification, Tripadvisor must no longer claim that all of its reviews are honest, or even from real people. In a strongly-worded ruling, the ASA told Tripadvisor “not to claim or imply that all the reviews that appeared on the website were from real travellers, or were honest, real or trusted”.

The ASA’s ruling, which applies only to Tripadvisor’s UK site, follows a complaint last year from two unnamed hoteliers and a website called Kwikchex, which helps companies manage their online reputations.

Read More: Telegraph

Kinnitty Castle, Co.Offaly celebrate their 22nd week at the top of the list, Well done.

Download the list as a PDF here

(List correct as of 30^th January 2012)

The list is by no means final so if you feel we’ve missed you out, please let us know by commenting below and your hotel/group could appear on next weeks list.

The list is based on the number of fans the Facebook page has and is open to all hotels in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This list only considers Facebook Pages as opposed to groups and personal profiles.

A Page or a Group, which is better? Well the answer to that depends on you and what works for your business.

Facebook Groups:

1. Set up for more personal interaction, they are highly active and require constant engagement.
2. Connected to the profile of the people who administer them.
3. When you post something as a group administrator, it appears to be coming from you and is attached to your personal profile.
4. Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause.
5. If the group is under 5,000 members, group admins can send messages to the group members that will appear in their inboxes.
6. Permissions settings make it possible for group admins to restrict access to a group, so that new members have to be approved.
7. Groups can’t host applications.
8. You can advertise your group.

Facebook Pages:

1. Access to a Page, however, can only be restricted by certain ages and locations.
2. Page admins can send updates to fans through the Page, and these updates will appear in the “Updates” section of fans’ inboxes.
3. There is no limit on how many fans you may send an update to, or how many total fans a Page can have.
4. Pages can host applications, so a Page can essentially be more personalized and show more content.
5. Pages can benefit from social ads that publicize the fan connection between a Page and a specific user.
6. Pages are better for brands, businesses, bands, movies, or celebrities who want to interact with their fans or customers without having them connected to a personal account, and have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap.

Neither Groups nor Pages have great moderation features. If someone posts spam on your Group or your Page, you have to remove it manually, and you can also remove specific members.

So it’s up to you who best suits your business right now and going forward.

Be sure to check back every Monday to see if your hotel has made the list!

Dan Israel, strategy lead for the mobile practice at Sapient/Nitro, pointed out that most of the mobile traffic is coming through the smartphone, but most purchasing in mobile is done through tablets. “It makes sense. You have a larger canvas for shopping and buying,” he said.

Israel cited Sapient/Nitro research showing that 38% of consumers rated smartphones as useful for shopping compared to 56% for tablets. In a similar vein, Sheila Collins, consumer digital marketing strategist at American Express, pointed to data showing customers tend to spend 20% to 30% more on tablets than other devices.

Anecdotal findings reported in The Wall Street Journal last fall also suggested that tablet users are placing bigger orders — up to 10% to 20% more — than average shoppers on PCs or smartphones. Retailers including Macy’s, Gap and Abercrombie and Fitch all attested to seeing higher conversion rates on customers using tablets. A study in December commissioned by marketing technology firm Zmags estimated tablet shoppers would spend $325 on average during the holidays.

Read more: MediaPost

In a day when web access is clearly important no matter where you are, the ability for your customers to access your site at their convenience is vital. However, making your site user friendly on a computer is one thing – making sure your site is available from a mobile platform is another. Currently only around 5% of online businesses have a mobile compatible website.

Creating a mobile version of your site doesn’t have to be painful or expensive. In fact it’s typically just a smaller version of your existing website with a more simplistic design. Here are some points to consider:

Bad Viewing Experience-
Have you tried loading a website using your smart phone and it just doesn’t look right? Have you had to zoom in and out to find the information? Have you ever clicked on the wrong link because the font is small because it’s optimised for a desktop computer? What about load times, mobile phones traditionally don’t have the same Internet access speeds as a desktop?

A website created specifically for mobile usage loads faster, uses the correct size font and only displays necessary information for quick browsing. No need to zoom in and out or any chance of clicking the wrong link.

Read more at eTourism

Sheen Falls Lodge celebrate their 2nd week victory at the top of the table this week.

Download the list as a PDF here

(List is correct as of 27^TH January 2012)

The data in this list differs slightly to that of our Facebook list and is ranked according to the hotels influence on the twitter verse.

Weve used twitter.grader.com to rank each hotel on twitter. This clever little app considers many different factors including number of followers, number of followings and number of posts (among many others). This creates a score, enabling each twitter account to be ranked out of all the accounts that have been graded in the twitter network.

It basically gives you an idea of the impact each tweet has.

The grade is out of 100 and represents the percentage of accounts that have less of an impact than yours. For example, a Twitter Grade of 95 means tweets from your account has more of an impact than tweets from 95% of all other graded accounts on twitter. Pretty impressive hey?!

As with our Facebook list, weve done our best to recognise every contender for the list but a few are bound to have slipped through the net. If you think your hotel should be included on the list, please let us know by commenting below, remembering to include your @ twitter account name.

The list is open to all hotels in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Be sure to check back each week to see if your hotel has made the list.

Start the year with a focus on spicing up the hotel’s Facebook page to grow fans, increase interactions and ultimately prove a return on investment on your page. Pepper in some of the best hotel apps on the hotel’s Facebook page to attain your social media goals. Adding tabs to your hotel’s Facebook page will not only make your page appear more interesting, but will actually give visitors more to do on your page! Applications capture visitors’ attention, draw them in, push them to interact with the page and provide opportunity for fans to take action with the brand.

Flavor the Hotel Facebook Page with these Apps:

Welcome Tab – Greet newcomer’s to your page as you would welcome guests into your hotel. I would even recommend setting this tab as the default page that appears to new visitors. Utilize the page to invite them to your hotel and ask them to like your page! Simply create your welcome app as an iframe and you are on your way to gaining fans to the page.

YouTube – After you’ve welcomed your guest to the page, offer a tour to show them around. By adding a YouTube app that connects to videos of your hotel, you can show off the property without leaving Facebook. The video component is engaging and a fantastic way to show searchers your hotel beyond the photo albums.

TripAdvisor – You can only say so much about yourself; offer visitors a chance to hear what others have to say about your hotel by adding a TripAdvisor app. TripAdvisor will provide the html code to add a snippet of current reviews and hotel ratings along with a link to write a review. This app is a great addition so long as your hotel has a high rating and mostly all positive reviews. Otherwise it will just advertise the hotel’s weaknesses and have a negative effect on goals to drive revenue from Facebook.

Twitter – Looking to share even more information with your fans? Then add the Twitter application to the page. The Twitter app pulls in all your tweets from Twitter to your Facebook page. The app promotes your Twitter page to attract fans from Facebook to convert to followers on Twitter too. Be sure to optimize your Twitter page with these helpful tips.

Coupons – Everyone is looking for a deal! Create a Coupons app to offer a deal such as 10% off dinner, or a free room upgrade to your Facebook fans. The coupon app encourages visitors to like the page and is an extra incentive to take action and visit the hotel. Plus, hotels can track the coupon and in turn measure ROI.

Email Sign Up – Your page offers fans so much information but they still can’t get enough! They want the opportunity to join a mailing list. Add an Email Sign Up tab for fans to add their contact information. Check out Constant Contact or MailChimp’s app to add a basic form and start transferring fans from Facebook to contacts on your email list.

Read More at BlueMagnet

TripAdvisor announced the launch of the TripAdvisor Management Dashboard, a new analytics service that summarises a business’s performance on TripAdvisor at a glance. Businesses may use the data and information the dashboard provides to track how they are engaging with customers and guests online, target areas for improvement and make informed, up-to-the-minute decisions.

The new Management Dashboard, which is available for free to all registered business representatives, can be accessed via the TripAdvisor Management Centre. The dashboard provides reporting on everything from a business’s total reviews and current popularity ranking to the business’s most viewed competitors and the countries generating the most traffic to the business’s TripAdvisor page.

A more comprehensive version of the Management Dashboard will also be available in the coming weeks exclusively to all accommodations with Business Listings subscriptions. This version offers additional powerful metrics and information, including graphics depicting a property’s Business Listings performance both over time and relative to their competitors in the same geographical region. They also receive a Special Offers recommendation tool for suggestions on how to use offers to capture travellers’ attention on TripAdvisor.

Read More about the features at HotelMarketing & TripAdvisor