Are hotels waking up to Social Media? (video)

HVS Executive Search and ESSEC Business School conducted a roundtable in Paris in February inviting hotels to discuss how the industry is embracing Social Media.
The table was moderated by both Professor Peter O'Connor and HVS Executive Search director Chris Mumford.
Sofitel, Rezidor, White Line Hotels and the hotel online reputation tool ReviewPro were discussing:
"How are we doing on Social Media today?".

Peter O'Connor thinks the industry is way behind what they should be doing on Twitter and Facebook. He doesn't see many hotel companies using resources to respond to tweets, engage with their customers on social media platforms. Peter warns that using a slick and professional voice to manage Facebook and Twitter won't feel genuine by their followers. He worked with hotels where they put in place a policy to respond to all reviews and also implemented a bonus reward with their staff based on the reputation score. Peter thinks the industry is afraid of taking risks by not engaging fully with customers online. Iain Ainsworth from White Line Hotels points out that the hotel industry is not alone and definitely not the worst sector in terms of embracing Social Media. He advices hoteliers to use their personality to engage with people and also working with locals to write interesting content. As any marketing activity, it's important to measure what people say about your brand and also setting objectives with your social media activities. Iain also points out that the industry keeps messing around with their online distribution and tell the customer to go away from their website and book their hotel on OTAs.
Jacques Dubois from Rezidor explains that they aim to drive traffic to their own website which is mission critical for them. Respond quickly to customers enquiries on Twitter and so on is a challenge. He also thinks the dialogue is changing from one brand to the other. He asks a valid question: "who speaks for the brand?". On TripAdvisor, only the General Manager is allowed to respond to customer reviews. Jacques doesn't think ROI when he sees hotel reviews and management responses.
RJ Friedlander from ReviewPro stressed out the importance of creating great content that matter to your audience. He notes that hotel chains are thinking internally to add reviews on their websites.
Geoffray Maugin reveals Accor and Sofitel in particular haven't figured out yet how to manage these new communication channels.
The roundtable ended with predictions. Peter is looking up at Facebook Places. Geoffray thinks immediacy which will play a big factor in our business. He also thinks the concierge department will be transformed radically with the Internet. RJ believes text based reviews will be shorter and Facebook will play a big part in branding and transaction. Jacques also thinks highly on Facebook Places as a future trend and also the Groupon phenomenon. Iain predicts organising information will be key in our daily life.
Great discussion on this roundtable. Enjoy!