VERDUGO: a whopping 85% of the hotels have no guidance on monitoring responding or reacting to guest reviews. VERDUGO: a whopping 85% of the hotels have no guidance on monitoring responding or reacting to guest reviews.

Hotels need to start maximizing the potential of online social media or risk becoming vulnerable or irrelevant, according to a social networking expert.

Social media guru Ernesto Verdugo, who headed the Social Media & Internet Marketing session at METMS, Shangri-La Dubai, said that only 50% of hotels had policies and guideline on how to manage user generated reviews despite nearly 90% of GMs claiming user reviews were important.

“A whopping 85% of the hotels have no guidance on monitoring, responding to or reacting to guest reviews,” Verdugo asserted.

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“Social media has certainly caught hotels off guard, most hotels don’t have a person handling online social media and that is a big problem.”

Verdugo said the hospitality industry was still in the beginning stages of establishing how to master “the exciting potential of this emerging medium”.

But, he added it was essential hotels learned to deal with consumers’ new found control of the communication process as it was deeply impacting on their business.

“If you are not part of the dialogue and embrace all new information your hotel will become vulnerable and worse, irrelevant,” he said.

“Jump on to the social media bandwagon — it’s very, very important.”

Online marketing executive for IHG Dubai Festival City Robert Singleton acknowledged that hotels in the region may have been a “little slow” on the uptake of social networking’s potential, he believed the medium had come of age in 2009.

“More and more Facebook fan pages and Twitter accounts are emerging for companies across the board in a multitude of industries,” he said.

“I think it’s evident that marketers are now aware of, and exploring their opportunities online. Social networks have seen phenomenal growth over the past few years, with many users visiting these sites daily.”

However, Singleton highlighted that in order to utilise online social networking, there needed to be an investment in time.

“The internet presents an ideal platform to monitor ‘chatter’ and act accordingly to comments, complaints or enquiries coming directly from our guests or customers, but someone is required to take ownership of this task,” Singleton explained.

“If you present your company as an approachable, communicative entity, then someone needs to constantly monitor and provide this dialogue.”

Within the first month of joining Twitter, InterContinental and Crowne Plaza in February 2009, both grew to have more than 1000 followers each, and a 'fan base' of regular followers responding to tweets.

The group also increased its fanbase by more than 5000 on Twitter by running Twitter giveaways in the form of an online treasure hunt.

Each second week during the summer months, a concierge from the hotel was hidden at various Dubai landmarks with a prize worth around AED 10,000 each time.

“Other ways the hotels have utilized Twitter are by complimentary drinks with restaurant reservations to increase bookings, promote exclusive online deals and answer direct questions from current or potential guests,” Singleton explained.

“The hotel was also delighted when special guest Paris Hilton who tweeted to her 300,000 followers “At dinner with my parents @ The Reflets Restaurant in the Hotel InterContinental, the food is amazing!”