In the past, a good customer was someone who didn't bargain too much, was loyal (almost always) and spent constantly and consistently; they were predictable, reliable and fair.

However, with the rise of social media (and the new forms of accountability and reputation management that inevitably come with it), hoteliers are being forced to re-evaluate how they interact with their customers, while revenue managers are looking at ways to incorporate this into their revenue management strategies.

The question that many hoteliers are asking today is: How much is the rise of social media changing the conversation?

The uses for social media are varied for hoteliers. Typically it is used to develop communities of customers, collect feedback and monitor the overall sentiment of the hotel, all of which are important. Ensuring that your customers feel like they have a special relationship with the hotel means that they will keep coming back and social media allows hoteliers to not only engage with customers on a one-to-one basis, but also track behaviour and loyalty to a greater extent than ever before.

In most cases, the core values of loyalty remain the same: hoteliers still need to identify their best customers, track their total/spend value and their interactions, provide special deals and special pricing as appropriate.

Follow the link below to read the entire article in a new window:

www.webintravel.com//blog/the-new-good-bad-and-ugly-customer-has-social-media-changed-the-conversation_609