HOTELS

Scott van Hartesvelt

Experiences, Not Things, Confer Status
May 15, 2008

TrendWatching.com is one of my favorite resources to generate new marketing ideas. Based in Amsterdam, the group’s sole purpose is to research and document consumer trends. I was reading a recent TrendWatching feature on “Status Stories” trendwatching.com/trends/statusstories.htm and began thinking about its application to the hospitality industry. TrendWatching basically argues that people are beginning to associate status with unique experiences more than tangible things. Owning a Bentley is nice, but playing golf with Tiger Woods connotes amazing status. Traveling to the rainforest on a photo safari is far more interesting than talking about a new Rolex watch. 

As I see it, the travel industry is perfectly positioned to benefit from this trend.  Emerging travel journal sites like VirtualTourist and IgoUgo are a major departure from review-focused sites like TripAdvisor and allow travelers to share stories about their experiences, embedded with travel tips ranging from where to stay to the best live music venue in town. People are looking to define their identity through the travel experiences they have, and to share those stories with like-minded people.

How would a hotel capitalize on this trend? First off, remember you are not the subject of the story. Stop talking about your beds, linens and rainforest showerheads.  Who goes home and tells compelling and memorable stories about the ergonomic desk chair in their room? Instead, focus on how people’s experiences are staged by your property. Does your location amplify a nightlife experience? Does your meeting space and service allow a business person to wow a client? As TrendWatching points out, “Expect a shift from brands telling a story, to brands helping consumers tell status-yielding stories to other consumers.”

Using social media to allow customers to share their experiences remains a hot topic.  Francine Cohen wrote a great article about a recent hotel industry conference session in which she quotes Trent Blizzard as saying, “You guys don’t get it. Consumers are leaving your site and you are diminishing the impact of your Web site. If you want to add value to your site and keep them on it, give them what they want. Get some guts and let people put honest reviews on your site.” Trent is a brilliant marketer, and he is right. If hoteliers can’t overcome their fear of the consumer, they will never empower them to tell stories about their hotels. 

But the industry has been talking about reviews for two years. Guess what? Reviews are not the only form of social media. If you want to truly innovate, truly understand the trend that requires you to turn your marketing over to your customer, then you have to break away from the argument about reviews. 

Personal travel stories are a great place to start. How do you empower your customers to tell theirs? What if you gave them a nice digital camera to use for free during their stay? Even better, what if they could upload those pictures to your site for free and instantly share them with friends, including a personal message about their visit. How about a contest that asks people to talk about the most romantic experience they had at your property? Human beings learn and grow through stories. The winning entry from that contest will be far more compelling than copy written by marketers like me.

When you break through the paradigm of “traveler reviews” you will find a world rich with opportunity. Empowering your customers to create their unique story with your hotel as a player, and then sharing that story with their friends, colleagues and loved ones, will build long- term brand loyalty and fuel an inexpensive, but effective, grassroots marketing effort.

Posted by Scott van Hartesvelt on May 15, 2008 | Comments (4)