The hotel management or hospitality industry and keeping up with the SOCIAL age

The importance of social media cannot be ignored and the same is seeing a significant growth in all fields. The hotel and the hospitality industry is one such field. The social media is a proven way to increase your quality and revenue. The online community is a great area to build up relationship with your customers.

In survey, * almost 80 lakhs people in India, now go for direct online hotel booking. It will not be wrong to say that the people nowadays are embracing their mobiles, tabs, laptops to an extent like never before. Whether it is to pay your bills, shopping online or book your hotel, just take out your gadget and you are good to go. Now you can plan your vacation on your fingertips. It is well known now that people are surfing on the internet to find their needs rather than to have a physical look at them.

As a coin has two sides, the online market too has a flip side. If you do not meet the expectations of your customer then be ready to face the consequences too. The ease with which bookings can be done online is the same ease with which one can leave a bad review on the social platforms. The reviews play an important role as tourists rely on the experiences from other travelers and are considered a great way for recommendations.

Here are a few points to get you started with:

1) A website: Or should we say a responsive website. One that looks and adjusts itself on all screen sizes. It should have genuine photographs and data. Clear contact details and should be easy to navigate. Allocate money from your budget to marketing, i.e. SEO (search engine optimization), facebook marketing, youtube marketing, getting yourself registered on all the top websites related to your area i.e. makemytrip, booking.com etc to make yourself visible in this over crowded market of internet. There are many companies which can help you develop your brand and handle your marketing.

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2) Your online reputation: Take care of all the reviews you get, whether they are positive or negative. Be gracious enough to thank the customer for reviewing it. If there is a genuine negative review, work towards improving it. Be prompt with any queries, issues or feedback you receive.

3) The staff: In an industry which demands exceptional communication skills, one needs to assess the performance of their staff on a regular basis. Hiring people who have come out from a reputed institute is very important. One institute is this. They have high quality Certificate, Diploma and Degree courses in Hotel and Hospitality Management available with excellent infrastructure and faculties. One who is interested and has good interpersonal skills can enroll here.

In the end I would say that social media is indeed an effective tool with a faster response rate and minimum investment to increase your sales and make you stand up apart from the counterpart. One should have a clear and a creative strategy to make your brand stand out.

* http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/over-8-mn-indians-to-book-hotels-online-by-2016-says-google-report-115041500626_1.html