6 Tips for Social Media Success

Tips for social media success according Professor Dimitrus Buhalis (Bournemouth University):

1. Start with the right strategy;

2. Know your objectives;

3. Deliver relevant content;

4. Develop meaningful relationships;

5. Integrate into your marketing mix;

6. Measure what matters.

Big Interview: Hospitality, Tourism & Environment

Cristina Calheiros holds a PhD in Biotechnology with specialisation in Environmental Science and Engineering from Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Currently she is a Post-Doctoral researcher on the subject of wastewater treatment with biological system using constructed wetlands applied to tourism facilities and Invited Assistant Professor at UCP where she teaches courses related to wastewater treatment and environmental rehabilitation. It has been involved in several scientific research projects related to bioremediation and wastewater management and treatment.

1) How the Environment and Tourism / Hospitality are related?

Tourism does not exist without the environment. In fact they are clustered and dependent considering the social-economic feature. The tourism activity must be sustainable economically and environmentally  in order to be competitive and prevail in the market. With the influence of global market and turnover dictated by trends the relation between Environment and Tourism is a key issue to succeed.

2) In your opinion  tourists are more and more concerned about the Environment?

I believe they are. The coexistence with the environment is the platform for a sustainable economic activity. As soon as the tourists realize and foresee the impact that they have with their choices all the chain related with tourism will change in order to fulfill does demands. In fact, those  changes have been arising and implemented with success.

3) Tell us about your project. Why is innovative?

The aim of the project was to apply a biological treatment to wastewater coming from a tourism unit in order to reuse it for irrigation, thus allowing to support an efficient management of the hydric resources. The system comprises a constructed wetland, that through vegetation, expanded clay and microorganisms, intended to mimic the depurative conditions found in natural wetlands. Besides that, the different plant species used can serve ornamental purposes and promote local biodiversity. Also, there is the educational and pedagogic component which the tourists can recognize.

4) Do you believe  the sustainability or “Green vision” will be the future of tourism?

There is an awareness rising concerning environmental sustainability applied to tourism. In fact I do not believe that in the future there is a place for tourism which does not consider and respect the environment. The pad is thus to improve and enhance this sustainability. The opportunities are immense and should be considered as a possibility to promote and diversify the touristic products. There are a panoply of options to guests when the Environment is taken in consideration being a chance for tourism houses to stand out and make a difference in the product that they are offering.

Constructed wetland implemented at tourism house for wastewater treatment and reuse

Constructed wetland implemented at tourism house for wastewater treatment and reuse

Social Media on the Travel Industry

“Social media impacts on the travel industry are predicted to be tremendous, especially in leisure and holiday travel, the industry’s most important segment. There is a plethora of studies focusing on the role and impact of social media in travel related decisions; however most are either medium or community specific. Through an empirical study among travellers from Russia and the other Former Soviet Union (FSU) Republics, this paper provides a comprehensive view of role and impact of social media on the whole travel planning process: Before, during and after the trip, providing insights on usage levels, scope of use, level of influence and trust. Findings suggest that social media are predominantly used after holidays for experience sharing. It is also shown that there is a strong correlation between level of influence from social media and changes made in holiday plans. Moreover, it is revealed that user-generated content is more trusted than official tourism websites, travel agents and mass media advertising.”

Fotis, J., Buhalis, D. and Rossides, N., 2012. Social media use and impact during the holiday travel planning process. In: Fuchs, M.,Ricci, F. and Cantoni, L., eds.

Find out more: Social media article

mile by mile walking in 2012

Let us honor those who think differently.

The hotels that do not follow the rules of others.

To those who seek to find the answers.

To those who gather the courage to move forward with their dreams.

Those who do what they really love.

To those that build the path, walking.

In 2012, overcome their barriers and go further.

 

Best wishes for a great year with strong paths.
Milestones. mile by mile walking.

The Future: Mobile Technology in Hospitality Sector

The advancement in mobile technology and wireless, the products and services are dramatically changing in the hospitality industry and how it operates. Meanwhile, the customers are more demanding and equipped with an increasing number of smart phones, tablets, laptops or iPads. Thus, the IT departments recognized the need for hotels to upgrade their WLANs in order to improve network capacity and coverage, to support consumer interaction with the applications, as well as internal services that enable their own mobile operators and to improve the guest experience.

Recent research by Motorola Solutions, Inc. (2011) shows an expected increase in investment in information technology (IT) by the Hotel market in 2012, the guest experience is the main factor mentioned. Among the hotels that participated in the survey, 56% plan to increase investment in mobile technology, in order to improve operational efficiency and customer experience.

The Motorola Solutions Barometer of the Hotel market reveals that 91% of decision makers in the industry are aware of the significant increase in mobile technologies, while 78% recognize that the mobile technology plays a competitive advantage to their business. As a result, hotels are investing in new technologies, as well as powerful wireless networks to handle larger data volumes and increased customer demand for mobile operators and high-speed access.

Important points to highlight (Motorola Solutions, 2011):

Improve the guest experience

• A better experience for the guest is the main factor to invest in mobility, according to 76% of hotels surveyed.
• Decision-makers are investing in mobile technologies to support consumer interaction with the applications that improve guest service through wireless; access to e-mails, check-in service, especial orders, payments in restaurants, tickets for events, among others.
• 61% of respondents plan to install some video tools, including monitoring, video conferencing and broadcast content in real time.
• 58% of respondents that have already some king of mobile technology observed improvements on customer satisfaction.

Increase operational efficiency

• 75% of companies surveyed have wireless.
• 42% of respondents who have WLAN networks expect to be fully up to date by the end of 2012.
• Improve productivity and increase reliability and extend the current wireless networks are the three main factors.

The hotel industry is facing a fast adoption of mobile technology, the organizations are finally recognizing the benefits and competitive advantages associated with its use. More and more companies are looking for a full-service solution to prepare to all the challenges in this sector – the major goals are: increase sales and productivity, simplify the operations and increase customer satisfaction.

Big Interview: Crisis & Hospitality Sector

Pedro Maia lives in London where he is a Partner of a Risk Management Consultancy firm. He started nearly ten years ago as a Brand Analyst, for a major Portuguese Brand Association, and then changed path to pursue a career in Risk Management. For the last six years, he has been advising major Global Investment Banks on their Risk Profile.

1. Everyone is talking about crisis but what should our readers know about the world Economy?

That’s a very interesting question as I don’t believe it is possible to perform a credible sector analysis without a geo-political strategic consideration.

During this last decade the world has witnessed an Economic shift from Western Countries to the BRICs. Particularly, since the Credit Crunch became apparent, 2008, it is painfully obvious that Western Economies are decaying and, simultaneously, the ever-emerging Economies finally emerged. Bluntly, this means that the world is facing its most significant crisis since the Great Depression.

It is my personal view that under the current EU (and US) leadership the crisis will be deeper, more violent and more life changing than the Great Depression, particularly for us westerners.

We are facing a global debt problem, with an apparent government/regulator consensus around infinite bailouts and/or printing money. What does this mean for the Economy? We will see a substantial increase in inflation, a step up in the austerity measures, reduction in Government spending, decrease in European transfers to the peripheral countries, substantially higher unemployment, loss of trust in currency and loss of trust in Government’s ability to solve problems, an increase in social unrest and political instability.

Unless politics and politicians change, we’re heading for a re-make of the Weimar Republic’s hyperinflation event.

2. How will this crisis impact the World’s hospitality sector? And what about Portugal’s?

I suspect that, in the near future, you will see a significant crisis impact to the real economy, particularly in western economies (US and EU). The true consequences to the economy haven’t yet begun to be observed in their full breadth.

On the public end, macro level, both in Western Economies and Portugal, Governments have less money to spend, including tourism, advertising, marketing, etc. The Governments will tend to focus on the regions that have historically proven to produce high income to the country and will drop any project to “create”/promote/sponsor new regions.

The Hospitality Sector (HS) private players, both in Western Economies and Portugal, will not be immune to this impact. The challenges that the HS faces are:  funding, costs and demand.

On the funding side, the HS will have a very limited amount of money coming from Government or European Funding (be it: cohesion funds, social funds, subsidies). This will represent a severe strain to small private players who will not have financial support, other than their own funds, to refurbish, improve or simply just adapt their facilities to new customer demand.

On the cost side, one can expect increased fuel costs, increased electricity costs, increased taxes (National and regional), increased VAT and decreased margins, i.e. overall players will see increased amount of revenue being used to pay the bills. This will happen in parallel to an expected demand shift, i.e. there will be a change to the customers.

On the demand side, customers will change. This change will be based on: 1) lower income tourists will disappear (priced-out due to unemployment, etc) 2) mid income customers will have less available income and will reduce their travelling 3) high income customers will always want the best value for money, i.e., they will continue to stay in expensive resorts, spend large amounts in travelling, etc, but they will require superior service for their money.

3. In your opinion, what are the main changes that this industry will incorporate to face the crisis?

The challenges that the HS players face are enormous. This, by now, should have been thoroughly understood.

In my opinion the tourism industry faces two big challenges: 1) no available funding, 2) less customers with less available income.

Differentiation will be the key for HS Player’s survival. With the expected decrease in number of customers the HS players will focus on differentiating their products. Although this already exists, I trust we will see a big increase (or concentration in) in specialised tourism: Religious, Spa, Cultural, City Breaks, Country side, Golf, design hotels, period buildings or niche/boutique hotels.

Also, independently of this focus, all organisations will try to deliver “Green”/ ”sustainable”/ eco-products / natural products which not only attract premium margins but also imply a back to basics with an implicit cost reduction.

4. What are the competitive factors of this sector in the future?

The main intuition is that, due to less available income, HS players will compete more intensely for customer’s money. The second intuition is that because the world that is changing at a lightening speed HS Players should ask themselves: “Who” is the new customer? What does he/she like? What will capture his/her attention? What will make him/her come to their business?

Obviously, the ‘new’ customer depends on the business/location/target the plan originally defined but in general I would expect to see fewer clients, older and with more money to spend, coming from Northern Europe (Nordics & Germany). These have been largely unaffected by the crisis and want to spend quality time away from their native countries, particularly during autumn/winter months where the Southern Europe has a milder climate. During spring/summer months the target should shift towards the high income individuals looking for a work break.

As I am a believer that there will be a large amount of bankruptcies in the HS, the surviving players will typically invest on specific areas depending of their focus:

Business – These players will greatly reduce their operation costs, reduce the luxuries, reduce the ‘perks’ in favour of a quality, minimalistic, service at the best possible (minimum) price.

Leisure – These players will invest heavily into quality. This investment in quality may mean fewer rooms, more space, better room service, better overall service, state of the art aesthetics and comfort, state of the art connectivity such as high end TVs, Wi-Fi. The businesses will accommodate for an older customer, with more money, who wants better service, immediate care and attention, building heating (winter) & A/c (summer), pool & pool service, relaxed and private environment.

5. How do you think Tourism authorities reacted in order to adapt to the crisis? How do you see Portugal adapting?

I have observed that the emerging economies are spending significant amounts of money to boost their tourism. I am thinking of Brazil, China and India. These countries, particularly because of their exotic landscape, natural attractions, culture, etc, will represent major competitors/alternatives to the EU/US players.

In Portugal I don’t see enough being done to take advantage of our Historical links to Brazil, Macau/China, Angola/Mozambique and our privileged position in Europe.

I have suggested this from work forums to Senior Tourism Officers: Why doesn’t the Portugal invest in making the air travel costs (independently of the Airline) incredibly cheap from these destinations and literally flood the market with Brazilian, Angolan and/or other Tourists?

Governments in the West are extremely focused on the global crisis forgetting that Tourism is one of the few routes to escape it. On the contrary Emerging Market Governments are heavily investing in tourism. The only possible conclusion is that we need to have more strategic planners in Government positions.

Unfortunately, I see with some concern the surging of credible, high quality, alternatives that are extremely close to Europe (e.g. North Africa: Morocco, Tunisia, etc., Middle East, etc). Regrettably, unless we act now it will be too late.

6. In reference to the sector in which you are now working, what will happen to tourism if the banks stop financing projects that have been supporting?

The banking industry in EU and US is under high pressure to decrease risk weighted assets, i.e. the banks want less risky projects, not more.

Tourism is, by definition, a highly cyclical industry and as such currently under a severe strain. I do not think there will be any bank appetite to sponsor small scale tourism projects (< €1 million) by unknown/small players. This means that all private business owners in Portugal, and globally, need to be prepared to run their businesses without leverage/debt, Government funds (or European Funds) or any other source of money other than their own equity (available cash for investment).

The same is also true for large scale tourism projects. This means these players will also be under severe strain: large fixed costs, demanding occupation rates underlie their business plans, etc. These players will also have extreme difficulty financing themselves. For intermediate and large size players the alternative will be Venture Capital (VC) or Private Equity (PE). The big difficulty will be for the business owners to show evidence of their ability to generate income, particularly under these market conditions.

Unfortunately, without access to financing or other sources of funding, it will mean that a large amount of players (particularly the small with no quality and very large) will close their businesses.

7. What do you think ours readers should consider in the future?

I strongly believe one of the areas that will be central is Risk Management in Tourism.

In the month of April 2010 the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, brought the world to see, first hand, the relevance of Risk Management to all areas, including Tourism. At the height of that volcano crisis the air travel was brought to a halt, basically impacting everyone moving in or out of Europe. Although I did not find any study that values the impact to the Tourism, I’m absolutely sure that must have been enormous. The eruptions cancelled travels, cancelled reservations and people were re-directed to other destinations.

The same will be true if social and political unrest increases in Europe. Would you want to spend holidays in Greece/Athens while there are riots, confrontations, clashes with the police, etc?

Hence I believe it’s important to ask yourself a few questions: have you made plans to deal with an increase in the European crisis (increased social/political unrest)? How will you react if the tourists can’t reach you (Increased border/passport restrictions)? How will you deal with (hyper)inflation? Have you thought on how to adjust your pricing? If your customers fundamentally change, how will your marketing/advertising change? How will you fund it?

These are Risks that need to be adequately managed and prepared for in advance.

The First 100% Green Hotel in Portugal

The first completely green hotel in Portugal, located in Oliveira de Azeméis, Centro Region of Portugal, the Hotel is working entirely with renewable energy and able to produce more energy than need. The whole building was built in order to adapt hydropower, wind, solar, biomass and biodiesel, not to mention all the comfort and sophistication in a usual four-star hotel. The main energy source of the Hotel Vale do Rio is the water, activated by the flow of the river Caima.

Located in a quiet area, the Hotel Vale do Rio allows the peace and the  contemplation of the landscape are an asset for each stay. The idea of ​​creating the first conventional hotel in Portugal to work only with renewables was by chance, but it is certainly an idea to stay. This hotel has a bar, a museum, a library, a gym, the Four Elements Spa, a regional and international restaurant, a  events salon and is surrounding  by an amazing green area with gardens.

How to Make Your Hotel More Green?

The issue of sustainability in the tourism sector is linked to the reduction of negative impact on the environment, becoming the minimum as possible. Another feature is the appreciation of local culture and good community relations. The contribution is also of the guest, so when the client is booking or during the stay the guest should be informed about the measures of the hotel related with enviroment.

It´s becoming more popular the  companies  relate to sustainable issues, mainly because adds value to the brand because it leads to the perception that the company cares about enviroment and  the community. “The most important is the bond of the brand commitment to social responsibility and commitment to future generations”. Filipa Vinha, Partner Milestones.

Besides the beneficial about the  marketing perception, investing in sustainability leads to balance in relation to the habitat and the preservation of natural and cultural characteristics that serve as attractive, especially for tourism related to nature and historical places.

For some actions you need to invest money to make a sustainable process, such as solar panels for heating water systems or “rainwater catchment”. However, the main measures that can be implemented initially are simple and easy to implement.

The main actions to make your hotel “green”:

- Use economic lamps;

- The showers and toilets operate with low water flow, to avoid waste;

- The invidual amenities replace by fixed containers for shampoo, conditioner and soap in the bathrooms;

- Use electronic equipment with low power consumption;

- Materials that decorate the rooms (carpets, curtains) made ​​from recycled material;

- Use certified wood and recycled materials in the structure of the construction;

- Implement recycling system;

- Recycles organic waste as fertilizer;

- Re-use the rainwater in the laundry room, swimming pool for the irrigation of gardens;

- The system for opening the doors for rooms with a card key that activates the light control and regulate the temperature. In some cases, there are sensors on-off;

- The architectural project takes advantage of natural light, with glass walls and open environments and well-ventilated, tottally eliminating ou almost of the artificial lighting and air conditioning;

- Invests in the local community: hires and trains people living nearby applies of the profits in the training of employees, sponsors social projects of the surroundings and encourages guests to collaborate with these initiatives;

- The guest chooses whether to have the towels and sheets changed daily or not;

- Use local food and ingredients.

Top of the Week

Hotel Fasano, Rio de Janeiro – Brazil

http://www.fasano.com.br/site_hoteis_br.php

Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro – Brazil

http://www.copacabanapalace.com.br/web/orio_pt/copacabana_palace.jsp

Marketing in Rural Destinations

Marketing has the potential to contribute to a better adequacy between market opportunities, resources and competences existing in the destinations, allowing them to invest in this sector in a smarter, more useful, effective and sustainable way.

In the case of rural destinations of small-scale, placed in areas of great attraction and of some environmental and socio-cultural fragility, it is fundamental a plan and a careful management of the destination. Destination’s integrated and sustained marketing allows it to get connected with the market in a more effective and well thought way, looking to maximize the benefits of the tourism development and to minimize its negative impact.

Rural areas will have to carefully choose the tourist to be attracted, avoiding tourists’ masses and spatial concentration, always assuring the heritage priority.

 This way, marketing of rural destinations is something more conditioned and it depends a lot on the right definition and delimitation of the target market.

Whichever the selected target market is, its attraction and satisfaction will depend on the integration and coordination of the several components of the offer in a sense to create a regular and sustainable product.

The selection and attraction of specific segments, towards specific destinations, in a specific time, which is on the base of the destination development, can be understood as a “search management”. Although marketing is a management approach which guides its activities by the satisfaction of a target market, in the scope of a tourism destination, the “product” neither can nor should be constantly modified, towards the style of a global market. On the contrary, in this context, a view of “search management” through marketing is the most appropriate.

There are original resources which frequently constitute the appellative and differentiator element of a destination and that should be preserved, not only as a principle of the heritage conservation, in a way to guarantee the quality of the global development process, but also because it allows a long-term success of a destination in an economic scope. Therefore, economic, social, cultural and ecologic interests get together, aiming an ideal of a sustainable development of the destination. “Destination’s integrated and sustainable marketing”, based on the “tourism search management”, aims to use the marketing instruments in a sense to attract and better meet a target market, strategically chosen, always considering the destination’s sustainable development.

Planning and management of a destination is always an interesting approach, especially when tourism destinations are fragile and structurally in disadvantage, as it is the case of rural areas.