Last November, Pinterest, the photo sharing social network, introduced Place Pins 'for the explorer in all of us'; it allows 'Pinners' to plan trips by creating location based boards.
As soon as a user pins a place, Pinterest adds the relevant information (address, phone number…), using Foursquare's location API. It isn't a surprise that Pinterest is entering the travel industry, having realized that more than 1.5 million pins relating to travel are added every day.
For hoteliers, this is a way to boost interest and traffic to your city, as well as to introduce attractions around your local area. Here is how to use the new Place Pins for your hotel:
Work with your concierge to create a board of recommended places to visit in your city or local area. Create a new board that you can create self-explanatory names for like "Things to do in Paris", or make it more specific and create several guides for your future guests like "Maldives for Two", "Taipei with Kids" and add a map to it. Adding a map is relatively straightforward:
Create a new board and turn on the "Add a map?" button:
Then add the places that you have previously discussed with the concierge at your hotel:
Finally, start pinning pictures and recommendations associated with these places. You can use your own pictures or select one from the user-generated pictures suggested by Pinterest:
If you already have an existing destination board, don't worry; there is a way to add a map to an existing board by just changing its settings. Simply click on the "+" button on any regular pin to add the pin on the map.
A few tips:
- Before you start your new map board, have several Place Pins ready so the guide contains a collection of useful tips for travelers,
- Add a description for each pin – why is the place worth a visit, what is the best dish on the menu…
- Share your maps and place pins – Pinterest makes it easy for you to share your maps on other social networks as well as via email so that you can share it with your customers once they have confirmed their room reservations.
- Answer queries from your customers with a link to your Pinterest map to start generating traffic to your board
www.brand-karma.com 
