The buzz surrounding social media marketing hasn't gone unnoticed by the hospitality industry and many hotel brands seek to make inroads by engaging more effectively with leading social networks. 

Flip.to, which has been servicing the industry since 2010, and looking forward to the New Year, it's enhanced its platform to further improve engagement and its revenue generation capabilities for hotels, in addition to releasing new marketing components.

Follow Us Buttons are so 2011-- Introducing Flip.to's Anonymous Component

While most hotel websites include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn "follow-us" buttons, the ability to engage and convert anonymous visitors into customers is still an elusive goal for many.

Flip.to now allows hotels to curate positive quotes and reviews from recent happy guests and display them right on the hotel's homepage.

This feature not only improves the hotel's credibility, it also provides an opportunity for visitors to take an action before leaving the site.



However, if visitors are not ready to book a room before leaving the site, they are incentivized to submit their profile data to consider reserving a room in the near future.



Throughout this process, Flip.to allows hotels to learn more about their visitors (who would otherwise remain anonymous), while building an extensive pool of prospective new customers they can communicate with in the future.

Friends trust Friends – Introducing Flip.to's Suggestion Page

Social networks have made it easier for so many to solicit travel suggestions from friends. Flip.to, in turn leverages this trend with the goal to increase engagement and communication with both hotels' guests and their followers.

While review sites such as TripAdvisor are used for research before one's travels, it is still one's close circle of friends and their recommendations that most influence their travel decisions. Flip.to's Suggestion Pages incorporates these more recommendations with a component that collects reviews from one's followers onto a personalized webpage created for each and every hotel guest right on the hotel's own website.

These tailored and unique pages will collect recommendations regarding the guest's selected hotel, nearby restaurants and points of interest. It also allows the hotel's management and concierge to add updates about special offers and activities occurring during a guest's stay.



As the hospitality industry is beginning to learn, social media as a stand-alone has its limitations. On the other hand, social media that is integrated in a natural way and is used to communicate with guests during the travel cycle is much more impactful.

With these new components added to Flip.to's existing platform, guests will receive greater value and hoteliers will have a new channel to communicate with them with a more informed and meaningful dialogue.

Flip.to's 2012 launch of its new services will enhance the hotel's value proposition for guests, and will increase its brand recognition, while extending its marketing reach, utilizing social media in a totally new and effective manner.

Ron Callari is the VP of Business Development for Flip.to, a marketing platform for hotels, airlines and restaurants that engages guests as a mean to increase brand recognition and revenues.

With more than 25 years of travel industry experience, Ron has assisted in adding more than 100 hotels on five continents to Flip.to's portfolio of international clientele.

www.flip.to