Answer just one question and your answer tells us if you are in the 20th or the 21st century.

This assumes you are in management at an independent boutique hotel.

Here's the question: Do you sell guests on booking? Or do other guests?

If you think you do the selling - or that your DoSM does - you are stuck in the 20th century. That's how it worked then. No more.

In the 21st century it is plain that our booking decisions are heavily influenced by what our friends tell us - on Facebook, TripAdvisor, Instagram, maybe Twitter and Snapchat.

This quotation from Marcello Gasdia, director of consumer research at Phocuswright, sums it up: "The end of one traveler's trip often sparks the beginning of another's," he told Travel Market Report.

Phocuswright research says that 16% of us indicate that ads or posts by travel companies are important in their travel decisions. That is one in six of us. Meaning that five in six pay no mind.

Phocuswright also says that 59% of us say online reviews are important (say hello, TripAdvisor) and 54% say pictures and videos on social networks (think Facebook and Instagram) are important.

Crunch those numbers and this is plain: in independent hotel marketing we need to be doing a lot less talking at guests and prospects. They are not listening.

But this does not mean there is nothing we can do. There in fact is lots to do to stimulate guest and prospect interest.

It's all the more important to do this right at an independent.

A chain hotel has the marketing clout - and budget - of a big company behind it. They can amplify their messages - via paid ads - and although that method may not be especially effective, when enough money is thrown into it, results may well follow.

Independents don't usually have that kind of money.

At an independent - at least the ones I know - every dime is counted, efforts are shoestring, but that - in many ways - is ideal in a social media-focused world where creativity, verve, and imagination are much more important than a large budget. Big chains can outspend us, but that does not mean they will outthink us or exhibit more imagination than we do,

In fact at the recent BLLA conference in New York a large theme was how independents can get ahead via social media. Experts shared many tactics. Here's a sampling as reported in "Hotel News Now:"

  • Design the property with Instagram moments in mind. Make it easy for guests to see that special shot. Understand that this year's great shot will be next year's bore, so stay flexible. But always think about the guest's next, great shot. That's advice from David Kuperberg, chief development officer at Dream Hotel Group. He singled out an American flag made from beer cans at the Dream Downtown. "We see people are constantly taking pictures in front of that flag and posting them," Kuperberg said.

What can you create that is as distinctive and eye-catching? Even better if it is unique to

your property, such as a dramatic backdrop of Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley.

  • Tell compelling, authentic stories. Guests will retell your great stories and in fact that is a good metric: are your stories getting retold? If not, the market has spoken. My advice to hotels is to maintain a steady stream of posts on Facebook, Instagram, even Twitter. Avoid clumsy hard sells. Go for clever and - definitely - go for compelling visuals. Be witty, informative, fun.
  • Rely on social influencers. That's advice from Daniel Hostettler, president and managing director of Ocean House in Rhode Island, and to me this is the real takeaway. Stimulate others to tell you story. "We had some social influencers stay at the property and before we knew it, one of them shared a picture of his pancake breakfast, and it had 15,000 likes on it. That's big," Hostettler said.

In those three steps is 21st-century marketing in a nutshell. It's that simple - and that hard.

But it also is a lot of fun. And if it's not fun for you, it won't be fun for your guests.

Babs Harrison
Babs Harrison + Partners
Babs Harrison + Partners