The REALLY Big Show
“The Rise of the Metamediaries” sounds like a science fiction horror show.
The “rise” occurred on Tuesday afternoon and It was a REALLY big show starring senior people from Facebook, Google, Trip Advisor and Room 77. The stage was groaning with all these heavyweights in one place. Cindy Estis-Green did a great job in getting each to discuss their strategies of:
- Dreaming
- Planning
- Booking
- Experience
- Sharing
She had two pundits that started the Q&A into a frank and lively discussion.
- “Share everything”
- They have been successful as they are always in “beta”
- “If the channel doesn’t have the ROI, don’t use it”
- Demand, suggest, advise
- Hotel Finder has 70 partners in 100 markets supplying pricing
Room 77
- There are annually 12 billion Web hotel searches
- Hotels spend $20 billion annually to acquire traffic
- Price is king
- Rate parity is under fire
Trip Advisor
- They have 100 million reviews
- 30 percent are linked to Facebook
Decoder Ring
Buzzwords and phrases galore.
(Please see my previous post on how to obtain and use the decoder ring.)
- Hyperpersonalization
- Dark search
- Vacation citation
- Attribution modeling
- Geosense
Arrival is going to change bigtime
Remember when the airline selected your seat for you?
You didn’t know how full the plane was.
Whether the seat next to you was empty.
When the airlines spent $$$$ on card stock to print boarding passes.
Now you can fly without talking to anyone.
“Customer service” has abandoned us as we step up the “buffet of transactions” to serve ourselves.
Now here comes the revolution for hotels.
Advanced hotel web check-in is being marketed by several PMS companies.
Prior to arriving at the hotel, a guest will be able to check in on the Web by confirming and completing all the details of a normal registration card. Upon arrival at the hotel, the guest will go to a key dispensing machine and input a code or their credit card.
A key is dispensed, and the guest receives a text or e-mail instantly that advises them of their room number.
And they are checked-in.
Without talking to anyone!
The “Achilles Heel” for any advanced check-in has always been getting the key to the guest. That challenge has been solved through the development locking systems utilizing wireless (RFID, Bluetooth, wifi, smoke signals). It’s just a matter of time as hotels will replace current lock systems.
Warren Markwart is a seasoned international hospitality professional with over 30 years of experience in all aspects of hospitality
operations and corporate brand headquarters. He is currently principle of an international hotel consulting practice, MK2 Hospitality, in Toronto, Canada.
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