To ready its members for the world of social networks, the IHA German hotel association presents its guide "Social Media – Tipps für die Hotellerie" (Social Media - Tips for the Hotel Trade). This new publication delivers valuable ammunition for starting out on Web 2.0 and helps hoteliers better exploit the potential of social networks and avoid mistakes in dealing with them.
Millions of Germans are already active in social media, and the number of users worldwide is skyrocketing. More and more travellers and hotel guests are now also using social networks to gather information before deciding on a destination or hotel.
Changing customer needs and increasing market saturation are necessitating a rethink in hotel marketing. To set themselves apart effectively from their competitors, hotel providers need to engage more closely with their guests. To do so they must develop a new understanding for a generation of consumers in new communications media.
"For such a service-intensive business as the hotel trade that interacts strongly with guests it is important to cultivate a trustful approach in the social media and to offer users and guests there real added value," Markus Luthe, chief general manager of the hotel association, explains.
At a time of heightened competitive pressure when guests are being actively courted, social media offer hotels a great opportunity to develop further information channels for their public relations and brand building and to enter into a transparent dialogue with guests. Recognising this, many hotels have already begun communicating actively with their (potential) guests through social networks.
The IHA's new guide "Social Media - Tipps für die Hotellerie" provides an overview of the social networks most relevant to hotels and also offers specific instructions on how to create profiles and user accounts on the various social media portals. Examples of best practice make the guide easier to understand. It also examines basic legal aspects in depth, since unintentional breaches of copyright, for example, can easily occur.
IHA members can download the 88-page guide "Social Media - Tipps für die Hotellerie" free of charge. It is available to non-IHA members in the IHA shop, where it costs EUR 45.00 (incl. VAT).
