You just got done cleaning up your continental breakfast.

Then it hits you…. your vacancy rate for tonight is way too high!

Did you know there are hotels leveraging Facebook to get a 0% vacancy rate?

If you’d love to book 100% of your rooms automatically, you cannot afford to ignore the power of social media!

Want to get more guests and keep them coming back?

Keep reading to learn more… (But I’m warning you- you’re going to need more rooms!)

Imagine how quickly your hotel would fill up if you brought relevant information to these active audiences:

– Facebook has a growing base of 900M+ users, with 483M users logging in on any given day

– 2.7 Billion Likes and Comments happen each day

– 66% of Facebook users are out of college (fastest growing segment = users 35+ years old)

In our current marketplace, hotels are finding incredible gains in bookings through these 4 ways:

1. Customer Loyalty & Satisfaction

2. Direct Sales

3. Branding

4. Presence & Reputation

So you have a Facebook Page for your hotel, now what? Time to start bringing in bookings!

Remember that song by the Eagles, Hotel California? Sing it with me…”You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!”

Every hotel would kill for this right? Your guests stay may come to an end, but no one wants to actually leave because you’ve created an incredible experience.

1. Customer Service: One of the most profitable uses of social media

Creating incredible experiences, and cultivating loyalty has never been easier than with social media.

Dave Kerpen, CEO of Likeable Media marketing firm and author of the book Likeable Social Media, gave the following example from personal testimony…

Standing in line at the Aria hotel in Las Vegas for nearly an hour, Dave became restless. He had just gotten off a 6-hour flight from NY and the last thing he wanted to do was stand in another line.

He pulled out his phone and tweeted “No Vegas hotel could be worth this long wait. Over an hour to check in at the Aria 🙁 .”

What happened next was very interesting – rather than the Aria hotel responding to Dave’s tweet, the Rio Hotel tweeted at him instead, just 2 minutes later!

Guess what they said…

I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t “Come check out how short our line is,” or anything similar.

Give up?
The Rio actually tweeted the following: “Sorry about your bad experience, Dave. Hope the rest of your stay in Vegas goes well.” And in the words of Dave Kerpen, himself:

“Guess where I ended up staying the next time I went to Las Vegas.”

The story goes on. Before staying at the Rio, Dave Liked their Fan Page – giving recommendation to all of his 3,500 friends, and essentially the world. Then, a couple months down the road, a friend sent Dave a Facebook message asking what his thoughts were on staying at the hotel.

Because a friend’s recommendation is more effective than any ad, not only did Dave’s friend end up staying at the Rio as well, but he was also able to influence many other friends through his Likes and Tweets.

So let’s recap…Just one tweet, led to one Fan Page Like, which led to literally thousands of dollars in sales!

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter give you the power and ability to establish a personal connection with your customers. This creates an organic attraction to your hotel within the customer’s thoughts and purchasing behaviors – and isn’t that the way social media is meant to be?

2. Direct Sales: What if sales were really direct and quick?

Use Facebook as an exclusive, members-only access to specials and promotions. Offer meals, deals, and downright steals to those who have connected with your hotel on Facebook.

The easy way to do this? Using a “Fan Gate.” Put simply,  FB gives your Page the ability to differentiate between what your Fans and non-Fans see through a Fan Gate.

Give incentives for people to Like your Page – coupon codes, special offers, or fan-only content!

WorldQuest Orlando has figured this one out. With a Fan Gate offering exclusive promotions to Fans, the resort has successfully gained over 9,300 Likes!

Once you’ve gained this exposure and connected with new customers, you can easily post your availability, rates, and amenities right on Facebook for them to see!

3. Branding: The experience you create should live on virtually

Establish your hotel as a traveler’s guide and resource to wherever you are located. Post reviews, offer travel advice, and keep a running list of local events for your customers and potential-customers to easily reference.

However, effective branding requires a unique voice and personality!

– Keep your company logo visible as much as possible – cultivate that top-of-the-mind awareness.
– Keep coloring consistent along with the background – give your brand a clean, elegant, and smooth feel.
– Give people something valuable – create both the information and motivation to achieve the desired action from your Fans!

Goal: Make it easy for users to find the answers they want!

Want 2 easy ways to do this?
1) Give directions using pictures
2) Create how-to travel videos!

The Hyatt Regency hotel in Chicago has utilized Facebook and YouTube videos to show their customers and others interested about what goes on at the hotel, as well as the surrounding Chicago area.

What have they received in return? Over 10,000 Likes, thousands of videos views, and nearly 450 people currently discussing the hotel via social media!

4. Reputation: You only get one shot

To make your reputation squeaky clean and shiny, your social media strategy must be centered behind relevant, interesting, and good-quality content.

– Inform your audience of current events related to their interests (both local and national/global).
– Excite them by using entertaining, funny, or beautiful HD pictures and videos, infographics, etc.

The closer you come to providing “viral” content, the more likely your audience will be to Like and share that content with their own massive social networks. Create and/or share something useful or genuinely interesting, and your Fans and followers will thank you by spreading their own social word-of-mouth.

It doesn’t take thousands of Likes on this one particular post to be successful at this, though.

Take this post by Pelican Grand Beach Resort on their own wall: a cute picture of two employees that met, dated, and are now getting married since working at the hotel. Make note of the solid amount of engagement created through originality and genuineness.

Also, check out the other photos they’ve posted and the comments/interactions generated through them. Just a few Likes and shares on consistent content can lead to tons of Fans – 3,300 for Pelican Beach, to be exact!

They try and stick to the 80/20 Rule when it comes to posting – 80% fun stuff, and 20% marketing stuff, targeting primarily hotel guests. Give it a try, and see if that won’t work for your hotel too!

How you can make a remarkable hotel Facebook Page

Want to turn your hotel into a friendly Hotel California? Want to increase your bookings and keep those customers coming back? Then you’re in the right place!

In 30-seconds, you can increase your Fan base, giving you the ability to connect with and close more bookings, all from inside Facebook!

Now, I know what you’re saying…”This is all well and good, David, but I have a great website that gets a good amount of traffic. What happens to that?”

First, great question. Second, I want to show you something remarkable.

You don’t have to change a thing to your current booking system. Using Heyo’s iFrame widget, you can literally place your exact website into your Fan Page – complete with all the functionality of your original site!

Customers can visit your website without even leaving your Fan Page, giving you the ability to bring in reservations as well as display promotions, contests, give-aways, or anything else you want your customers to see.

Remember how WorldQuest Orlando created a Fan Gate to gain exposure and buzz through receiving Likes from Fans? With Heyo, it is unbelievably easy and simple to do this – using just 2 Steps!

1. In Heyo’s Fan Page Editor, simply click on step number 3 in the progress bar up top, called Like Gate Setup
2. Drag and drop images, text, links, anything you want onto the page and, VIOLA! Non-fans will see this page until they click the Like button – it’s that easy!

Or, what about how the Hyatt Regency Hotel uses YouTube videos to show their customers what’s going on in and around the hotel?

With Heyo, it literally takes less than 1o-seconds to make a library full of any videos you like.

Quickly drag and drop the YouTube widget onto your editing page, type in the URL of the YouTube video you would like to embed, then reposition and resize however you like.

Remember, keep consistent branding through using like colors and motifs. Using Heyo’s side power bar, you can quickly and easily change your background with a solid color or image of your choice. Simply click on the Image icon, and use the super simple image uploader.

And let’s not forget how Rio Las Vegas hotel used Twitter to establish a personal connection with potential customers. You can easily add your Twitter stream directly onto your Facebook page using our Twitter widget. Just click on, drag, and drop the Twitter widget icon onto the editing page, enter your username and then select a color scheme and how many tweets t display.

In just a few seconds, you can combine your Twitter stream with your Fan Page to show your current and potential customers what people are saying about your hotel! It also gives you an easy reference to follow what people are tweeting to you without even leaving your Facebook Page.

Your Turn

Yes or no: has your favorite hotel engaged with you online outside of your stay? Tell us in the comments below!

Meet David George

David A. George is the Chief Content Creator at Heyo. I'm passionate about marketing, Android, being at the beach, and breathing underwater. I'd love to connect with you on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Or email me at dgeorge(at)heyo.com