Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog 1.0 - Hotels

Growth of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in Asia

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:22:00 -0700

I was recently in Singapore for the Global Board of Directors meeting of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) and to speak on a panel at the HSMAI Asia Connect Conference. I then had a day before flying back to Vancouver to spend with some old friends, inlcuding Ian Wilson. Ian is the new General Manager of the Raffles The Plaza Hotel in Singapore and the Regional Vice President Asia for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. So I packed my little Flip Video Camera (just a wonderful little toy...a video camera for just $100), and decided to ask Ian a few questions about how he personally has been enjoying his first few days in Asia (since he is still living in the hotel), how he sees Fairmont's growth in Asia, as well as the integration of Fairmont-Raffles-and Swissotel.

As a background, Ian and I became friends when we used to work together quite closely together when I headed Internet Strategy for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and him overseeing Global Distribution, Revenue Management, and Reservations. Originally from Banff, Alberta in Canada, Ian started his hotel career at the Fairmont Banff Springs and also attended Cornell University for his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Most recently, he was the General Manager at Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, now together with Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Swissotel, has ambitious plans for Asia. Some of the first projects that have been announced include the famous Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai and the new Fairmont hotels in Yangcheng Lake Hotel, Kunshan in China, Macao (also a Raffles), as well as Beijing (have a look at the interesting design).

Enjoy our litle video clip, which is taken in various locations, including the pool of the Raffles The Plaza Hotel, in one of the gardens at the famous Raffles Hotel, the entrance of the Raffles The Plaza Hotel, as well as from Ian's hotel room (during a quick but heavy rain shower).

Thanks for your time Ian, and all the best of luck in Asia!

Hilton Hotels promoting kindness...

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:57:00 -0700

Hilton Hotels has been promoting a very interesting, clever, and interactive campaign (Be Hospitable) with a positive-messaged idea in print magazines such as Newsweek as well as on US Cable TV. The site allows people to record hospitable deeds and outstanding acts of human kindness that occur around the globe. According to Hitlon Hotels, this is the philosphy upon which the Hilton experience was founded.

Be hospitable is both a tag line and a philosophy of which consumers are invited to share stories. Stories are linked to dots on a map of the United States which is a bit awkward to navigate. The value of this is effort is to reinforce the quality of hospitality with the Hilton brands. It doesn't take the place though of the basics of figuring out how to build the individual brands (e.g. Waldorf Astoria, DoubleTree) while still associating them with the parent Hilton brand and of ensuring that the most important features of the hotels are present every time - for example, the bed must be comfortable! Associating the Hilton brand with hospitality and acts of kindness will ultimately mean nothing if the experience of staying in a Hilton brand hotel isn't enjoyable and doesn't meet the traveler's needs.

But linking the brand essence to a well executed social media viral marketing campaign - I have to say that I am very impressed. Another great use of social media to connect people in travel has been done by KLM Airlines.

Bill Marriott launches his own Blog

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 23:21:18 -0800

The almost 75-year-old Chairmon of Marriott International launched his own blog this past Tuesday. To prepare for his blog, Mr. Marriott read blogs from CEOs and politician. In his first posting, he promises to add audio podcast versions.

His first posting reads:

Uncharted Territory
By: Bill Marriott
Posted: January 16, 2007 12:01:00 AM

I'm venturing into uncharted territory as I launch this blog. A year ago, I didn't even know what a blog was -- until my Communications team began telling me about all the blog traffic on travel and tourism. Now I know this is where the action is if you want to talk to your customers directly -- and hear back from them. Soon we'll add an audio version of the blog. That's how I'm most comfortable: telling stories and listening.