NEW MEDIA HOTEL MARKETING

Many hotels have launched a new, comprehensive digital strategy that includes social media, e-commerce and a brand new website.

Concorde,for example, a brand within the French hotel company Groupe du Louvre, will launch a mobile version of its new website www.concorde-hotels.com, an initiative that is part of a three-tier e-commerce plan that includes mobile reservations and special offers, harmonized Facebook pages for all the brand’s owned hotels and a new Concorde website will include integrated videos and photos of the hotel property’s interiors and exteriors to “bring the brand experience to life.”

The company is spending a total of US$568,000 (€400,000) on the new digital strategy with an expected return on investment of 13% to 20% within 18 months.

“Our e-commerce strategy has gained momentum over the first six months of 2011, beginning with the launch of individual Facebook pages for our owned hotels in March. This new phase with our website continues to optimize the multiple communication channels that enable us to create web-based interactions,” the hotel said.

Concorde anticipates an increase in bookings via mobile and the Concorde smartphone application of 20% to 30% over the next five years.

In addition to e-commerce, the digital strategy’s social media changes include harmonizing all the Concorde pages on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter with the help of the Paris-based social media marketing agency Influence Digitale.

“Guidelines and SOP manuals have been distributed to every hotel. Training and on-going communication meetings are being organized between the head office and the hotels to keep the momentum going and to share best practices,

“We monitor our presence through a dedicated person at each hotel level. All of these new job profiles have been recruited during this year and, by the end of the year, each property will have its own e-commerce/community manager.”

Since their launch in March, the individual Facebook pages of Concorde’s owned hotels had an average following of about 1,040 users with the two largest being Hotel Concorde La Fayette, located in Paris with 2,717 “likes” and Hôtel de Crillon Paris with 3,899 as of Wednesday. The Concorde Hotels & Resorts brand fan page had 4,632 “likes.”

Concorde’s digital strategy continues to be refined with new marketing and sales initiatives. “Our digital strategy is an ongoing process. Concorde’s new web-booking engine will be launched by the end of this year.

An online self check-in/check-out app is to be launched by the end of this year, as well,” he said. “An ongoing project with Influence Digitale is launching special initiatives dedicated to our social media followers and fans, such as the ‘Summer Private Sale’ that will launch July 21 for Facebook fans only