There’s no doubt that travel lends itself to online discussion. Travel blogs, community sites, and user reviews litter the internet landscape. What’s interesting though is how being a part of the online conversation is fast becoming an integral part of strategic planning as oppose to being an added ‘nice-to-have’.

Intelligent travel and hospitality companies now have to carefully plan their social media and user-generated strategies to ensure that they are in line with not only their marketing objectives but also that they form part of their broader strategic business goals.

In addition, with Google’s recent investment in spidering Twitter and other social sights in real time, travel companies need to ramp up monitoring and response times.

EyeforTravel spoke to over 45 of the biggest US-based travel companies in September and the research points to a distinct shift in emphasis towards an integrated social media strategy.

‘Gone are the days where you could hand over your social media campaigns to a marketing intern and hope for the best. One wrong move could cost the business thousands of dollars. More and more we are seeing CEO’s and SVP’s involved in the strategic planning of social media initiatives’ says Gina Baillie, EyeforTravel.

For over 75% of the travel companies spoken to, social media will be a top priority for 2010. They are also willing to devote more time and resources to social media than in previous years. How to ensure that resources are deployed effectively and that they achieve the desired effect was still cited as a key challenge.

‘The disconnect between those individuals actually managing social media initiatives on a day-to-day basis versus those deciding strategy and setting the budget and resources still exists in many of the travel businesses we spoke to,’ says Baillie. ‘However there are signs that companies are overcoming this divide.’

Further information about the strategic importance of social media to travel businesses will be presented at EyeforTravel’s upcoming Social Media Strategies for Travel 2010 conference. The 2 day conference will take place in San Francisco, March 24-25 and brings together top travel brands to share key insights, ideas and drive discussion on this theme.

Top travel brands speaking at the event include JetBlue, Virgin America, Hilton, Southwest, STA Travel, IHG, Vail Resorts, Morgans Hotel Group, Orbitz, Google, Planet Hollywood, Expedia, Joie de Vivre and more.

Gina Baillie
GM, EyeforTrave
+44 (0) 207 375 7197
Reuters Events (former EyeforTravel)