Over the past year, I have looked at turning kitchens, housekeeping departments, hotel reservation offices, and engineers more social, but I haven’t yet talked about one of the most important “departments” when it comes to a hotel or restaurant’s success in social media: senior management, i.e. the GM and his or her executive team.
I spend a lot of time working with hotels and social media and in my experience hotels with a social GM or a social management team are far more successful with their social media efforts than other hotels. We all know that hotels are still fairly hierarchical organisations, so it’s no surprise that a property’s social media activities take off faster and reach further if the folk at the top set a shining example.
If you’re based in Dubai, you don’t have to look far for another very good example of social leadership – just visit the Facebook or Twitter pages of UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum or check out the Instagram account of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and you’ll see the amount of followers, likes, and comments their posts generate.
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Their updates really help to boost the value and visibility of “Brand Dubai” (just think of the very popular #MyDubai hashtag on Twitter or Instagram) and hotel general managers and their teams can do the same for their hotels, albeit it perhaps on a slightly smaller level.
I recently came across what I think is the region’s first hospitality CEO with his own Facebook page – say hello to Laurent A. Voivenel from Hospitality Management Holdings who has got over 12,000 fans on his page.
Are you secretly raising your eyebrow and mumbling “hotel CEOs aren’t rock stars”? You may want to stop mumbling, because this is the future of social organisations and hospitality companies that offer their guests, staff, suppliers, and the general public means to reach their senior management team that go beyond a boring contact form on a website.
If you’re more of a Twitter than a Facebook person, follow @jpkdubai and see what happens behind (and often enough in front of) the scenes at the Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates. The content is often insightful, sometimes entertaining, and always brand building.
Staying with Starwood’s flagship brand, did you know that you can reach the GM of the Sheraton in Riyadh via @GMSheratonRUH? Give it a try and say hello.
Building “social” into your management team has many advantages. It doesn’t only increase your hotel’s visibility in the online and social media space, but it’s a fun challenger that can also improve your communication skills and increase the amount of useful feedback you receive. It can do all that and more for very little money and time. You can get started tomorrow if you want and 10–15 minutes per day is all it takes to make an impact.
Do we have other social hospitality CEO, hotel GMs, or senior hotel managers out there? I’d like to know! Tweet @iconsulthotels and use the hashtag #SocialHotelsRock. Whatever you do: Keep it social!
About the Author:
Martin Kubler is owner, director and chief cook and bottle washer of Iconsulthotels FZE, an ultra-boutique hospitality consultancy in Dubai.
Email: info@iconsulthotels.com or visit facebook.com/iconsulthotels
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