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130 – 2024 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference: Takeaways

130 – 2024 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference: Takeaways

Check out the top 5 takeaways from the 2024 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference and what they mean for hoteliers. Host Ryan Embree gives insight into key topics and conversations from the event for listeners so don't worry if you weren't able to attend or mis. All the...

Social Media Strategy – Creating the Right Plan for Your Hotel

Social Media Strategy – Creating the Right Plan for Your Hotel

What is a Strategy? A social media strategy is a meticulously crafted plan that outlines how a company will leverage various social media platforms for its specific goals. This strategy involves setting clear objectives, choosing appropriate platforms, creating...

Golden Opportunities: Using Social Media to Market Your Hotel

Golden Opportunities: Using Social Media to Market Your Hotel

In an age where social media has evolved from solely being experience-sharing platforms to being the source of all information, companies can no longer deny the importance of having an online presence. Consumers tend to trust the legitimacy and relevance of a brand if...

Winter Guest Sentiment Report: 3rd Edition

Winter Guest Sentiment Report: 3rd Edition

The winter season is a busy time for hoteliers, and this year’s winter guest sentiment report reflects just that. Even though the temperature outside was dropping, guest sentiment on online review sites steadily rose.  Guest sentiment data provides a clear insight...

129 – State of the Industry with William “Chip” Rogers

129 – State of the Industry with William “Chip” Rogers

Former CEO and President of the AHLA, Chip Rogers, joins the Suite Spot to discuss the state of the industry and how hoteliers can make 2024 a successful year. This episode is filled with expert advice, industry insights, and trending topics so tune in to get the 411...

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130 – 2024 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference: Takeaways

Check out the top 5 takeaways from the 2024 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference and what they mean for hoteliers. Host Ryan Embree gives insight into key topics and conversations from the event for listeners so don’t worry if you weren’t able to attend or mis.

All the must-know details are right at your fingertips. Tune in!

Episode Transcript

Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.

Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree. We are back here in our content creation studio in our Travel Media headquarters in Maitland, Florida after a busy week at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference in Atlanta. If you’re watching us on our YouTube page, you could see I don’t have my normal attire because that is how quickly I wasn’t even able to do laundry before I got back to the office to record this episode as this was just such an insightful, jam packed event. I wanted to make sure to get these key takeaways to you as quickly as possible. What such a great event. We’re gonna talk about that later in this episode, but wanted to spend some time just giving some key takeaways from the event, what we were hearing from our panelists, some of the interviews that we’re gonna be putting out there on our social content over the next couple weeks. So make sure if you’re not following Travel Media Group to do so, to get some exclusive insights and interviews and everyone we talk to at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. But let’s jump right into it because we’ve got five key takeaways to review. The first one is obviously the name of this is the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, right? So everyone wants to kind of know what is the state of investment right now. There was a lot of cautious optimism, I would say, from this event and some of the panelists that were speaking so much so that, you know, when asked straight out, you know, whether they would invest right now, a lot of the panelists, majority of them would say yes and answer different types of markets. But it is interesting to see with all these kind of looming factors, whether it’s geopolitical inflation, interest rates, this is an election year, still this type of optimism. And I think what this comes from and stems from is right now to invest in hotels or in properties. If you wait until interest rates are going to fall, everyone’s gonna kind of jump into the ring. So people are trying to be the first one to jump into the pool, get an advantage right now, because again, if interest rates do fall in the second half of 2024, like their expected do, and our panelists are expert panelists had said, you might be late to the party or in a very crowded party and might not have the leverage right now. So I was really surprised with all the optimism, but great to see in a conference like that, the energy strategic partnerships announced, Hotel Equities with trust hospitality have made a big announcement. We actually have an interview with a key stakeholder from Hotel Equities kind of talking about that strategic partnership. So keep an eye out on that. But it was fascinating to hear the opinions on which markets to get into. And I do think that is an interesting trend that we’re seeing right now because some markets, like, Miami and Nashville, we actually spoke to an asset management company that has a couple assets in Nashville saying that they were running so hot that the growth is just not there like it used to be. And it’s interesting because everyone at you know, since the pandemic has been on this steady rate of recovery, but markets like Miami, Nashville, maybe they didn’t dip as low as some of these other populous cities, New York City, San Francisco, dc they are seeing large gains. So it’s interesting to see that kind of normalization come out between markets. It’ll be interesting to see where the investments go. We got to hear from the new AHLA and interim president/CEO, Kevin Carey, who gave us a great update on wins and the advocacy that AHLA continues to do. All the great work that the AHLA foundation is doing to try to get to combat the staffing shortages. Right now, we’re gonna talk about, that was certainly a topic that was talked about at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference and just felt and resonated. And there’s a couple, we’ve been going through this staffing shortage for so long. There’s, there’s actually some things in our designs with new prototypes and announcements at Hunter that correlate with the staffing shortages and trying to find key efficiencies. A lot of talk about conversions and renovations versus new builds. Panelists from Blackstone was up on stage talking about really how they haven’t invested in any new builds, but rather focused on their assets because it’s just cheaper to renovate a current asset than go out and buy a new one. So really interesting there. One of the panelists had a great line, I’m not sure if I’m gonna get it correct, but saying that we essentially have too much supply and it’ll be interesting to see what happens with these old assets if there’s conversions or if it’s better to just knock them down and start a new, especially with all these new brands that are being announced, which we had the opportunity and privilege to speak to one of those at the Hunter Hotel Conference. But the state of the industry, again, a lot of optimism Right now we’re running really, really hot. And I think that kind of in the back of everyone’s mind with these looming factors, people are weary, but there’s still positive overall consumer sentiment is positive out there. There’s still room for growth in things like groups and meeting business, which a lot of experts are bullish on and think that that’s gonna really, we’re gonna start to see that catch up to the leisure traveler, which has really been carrying the weight of occupancy and demand right now. So, cautious optimism, love the energy though out there. Transactions deals are trying to be had, even with all these kind of storm clouds maybe up ahead, just because there’s those storm clouds doesn’t mean it’s necessarily gonna rain. Key takeaway number two goes to efficiency, the high cost of FF&E staffing shortages. Wages rising in our industry, the focus is now on efficiency for hotels. Owners are looking, brands are designing for owners more efficient designs and prototypes. There were a couple announcements. We had the privilege of being able to head over in Atlanta to the IHG Design Center where they showed us some of their newer brands, Atwell, Garner. And it was interesting to see how efficiencies were built into their concepts. One of the ones that I found absolutely fascinating, such a smart move is connecting their front desk to their F&B outlet. So they would have a single employee or two employees be able to man both the front desk as well as the bar with some F&B, some small F&B options as an added additional revenue source for the hotel. But it really cut down on the number of staff that might be able to, that you would have to essentially hire or put full-time at a position, you know, smaller designs in the room, less square footage to make it more efficient for housekeeping to be able to fit more rooms into a specific property if you have obviously a smaller room there, figuring out ways to become more efficient. We’ve talked about that a lot on this podcast of are your employees, are your associates spending the time that is most useful to them to help improve the guest experience? So brands have have to balance that, right? They have to balance the guest experience. I don’t wanna make the room too small where it, where it’s actually gonna impact the guest experience, but I don’t wanna make it so large that the owners aren’t going to be happy or franchise ultimately that brand. So it was a, it was an interesting balance to hear, but I think that’s really in response to how long this staffing shortage has been going on. This is not something that was a six months, this is a trend now that’s happened two years, and it’s impacting the way that brands are designing new prototypes for their lobbies, for their rooms. IHG also has a really cool engineering lab where they look at FF&E they break down furniture to see how they can get the most out of their furniture to standardize across their brand. Which is really interesting concept because again, you know, with the high cost of FF&E right now, if you can tell an owner that we’ve done our research and data and actually have a lab in order to create this, the most efficiency you can sleep well at night, knowing that investment is taken care of. So I thought that was absolutely brilliant by IHG hats off to them. We actually have a interview at the IHG Design center that we’ll be releasing, so keep an eye out for that was such a pleasure to be able to meet their team and all the new and exciting things happening over there. Key takeaway number three, I feel like I’ve, I’ve talked about this at almost every conference. It’s a hot topic technology Hunter hosted a fantastic session called Beyond the Hype, demystifying AI and its impact on our future. This was presented by a former Google employee, their first Chief Decision Scientist who was brilliantly kind of broken down into AI and, and where we are in that spectrum of helping our organizations. We hear a lot of these panelists talk about, you know, we need to implement technology, but it’s really just broad views and there’s some things right off the bat where AI and technology are gonna be able to help us. And we’ve seen efficiencies like we talked about in that already. We had, we also were able to visit the Reverb by Hard Rock downtown Atlanta and actually did a spotlight series on the property and they shared some ways that they implemented technology into the guest experience, right? But some of these panelists talked about how this is gonna help on the staffing side, but I really think this session brought to light how far away we still are from completely replacing our associates because of how subjective our industry and the situations that we come across with guests are from day to day, somebody comes in to our front lobby checks in and we see that they’ve had a bad day, their flight was delayed, they came in light, it’s raining outside, and that associate behind the front desk says, you know what? I’m just gonna make their day a little bit better. I’m gonna go ahead and give them an upgrade. We can feel that that’s genuine empathy that a human being has a machine or AI learning might not be able to see that, might not realize that would make a stay, right? And, and it’s those experiences that we see and hear about online in our guest reviews on social media, all of those places online. So with someone, when you replace that, that human touch behind the front desk in those subjective situations, you might not always come out with the right outcome. And you know, the next person in line that comes in, there might not be an upgrade available for them. So at the end of the day, the really key takeaway from that session was talking about is your outcome is only gonna be as good as the data that you put in. I thought it was a great lesson learned, but it also shed a light, I think, on how far we are from completely turning over the keys and service to AI right now. And it’s gonna continue to be the hotels that focus on service that are going to see real dividends online because being able to provide exceptional service will raise your hotel above the competition. You know, there are many aspects of service right now in other industries, restaurant FMB, right now that are falling. So it’s going to be the businesses that focus on service and provide excellent customer service that are going to beat out competitors, you know, as simple as it is. Key takeaway number four, extended stay. So we’ve heard in the news a lot of new brands and extended stay, this has been the darling, they had a whole panel on it about extended stay. We had the opportunity to talk to Isaac Lake from Hilton, the brand leader at LivSmart Studios. Isaac had talked about all of the data and research that Hilton had done before releasing this new extended stay product out there and believed that demand is out there and even though it is a crowded space, we had a panel full of extended stay brands across the industry, but yet every single one of those panelists agreed there’s still tons of demand and the demand is gonna come from non extended stay hotels. First it was traveling nurses. Now that we see the infrastructure bill, you know, start to come to fruition, we’re gonna see more construction crews. So the opportunity is there. Hilton is obviously taking a huge jump among other brands that are now releasing some new brands. It’ll be interesting to see if this segment, this extended stay segment continues to be kind of like I said, the darling of the ball here. It certainly was a big conversation. We’ll see how many deals get done out of Hunter that are extended stay versus non extended stay. But you think about the extended stay guest experience, and I think it’s really important. You know, you think about having kitchenettes or, or full kitchens inside of your hotel if you’re an extended stay hotel. It’s a really unique experience than it is to non extended stay. And that extended stay traveler might be looking for something different in that experience. So when they go online, they visit your social media, they see your online review sites, make sure you’re painting a really good picture of what an extended stay looks like at that property. Maybe pictures of guest cooking directions and locations to nearest grocery stores. Right? One of the things we love to do as hoteliers is put of all the great restaurants around our location, you know, it’s one of the most frequently asked questions from our guests extended stay. They’re gonna be there for a while. They might want to know that restaurant information, but they also know that they’re gonna have to be cooking a couple times, if not, you know, multiple times during their stay. So providing them with that information, giving an idea of the type of common space, that was a big point in the design conversation that we had. Having a area where you don’t feel like you’re just kind of sitting in your room all day is a common area that you can work, you can connect, you can relax with other guests that are also in that situation. Another a great post that to put, looking for opportunities to network with the guest next to you that’s also there for an extended period of time. So very interesting Paint that extended stay picture if you are an extended stay hotel, because it, it certainly has some different aspects to it and like I said, really interested to see if it continues to be just red hot as we move into Q2 in the second half of 2024. Fifth and final key takeaway from the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference is this just the place to be? I don’t know if it was just celebrating the 35th Annual Hunter Hotel conference. We had Sarah Moss on the podcast that talked about that. This was a conference that started with just a couple hundred people. Now it’s grown to literally thousands. The energy was unmatched. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen at an event. The sessions that they had from experts, the entertainment that they had Oz Pearlman, the renowned mentalist was so much fun to watch. They had puppies and brews, the receptions done by Wyndham and Hilton. The Marriot Marquiswas a fantastic venue to host the event. I know that, that they’ve done that for years. But honestly, if you are a hotelier operator, this isnt a great event and I would encourage you to certainly research it, can find information on their website. Hope we have the pleasure of attending again in 2025, but want to thank the Hunter team and their entire staff for welcoming the Suite Spot. Like I said, we are gonna have exclusive interviews for you from brand leaders, industry experts, and all types of insights from the Suite Spot. So hope you’ll join us, follow us subscribe. As always, my name is Ryan Embree. Thank you for listening and we will talk to you next time on The Suite Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Social Media Strategy – Creating the Right Plan for Your Hotel

What is a Strategy?

A social media strategy is a meticulously crafted plan that outlines how a company will leverage various social media platforms for its specific goals. This strategy involves setting clear objectives, choosing appropriate platforms, creating content, engaging with the community, scheduling posts, and analyzing performance metrics. Social media strategies can change over time as platforms and trends continue to evolve.

Target the Right Audience

Before thinking about anything else, hoteliers must establish who their audience is. Looking at prior guest details, analyze their genders, ages, nationalities, income levels, and travel purposes. A hotel in New York City will likely have a different customer database than one in rural Kansas, therefore requiring a different social media strategy. Similarly, a hotel near the beach will require a different approach than a hotel near a ski resort.

Once you establish your majority audience (and a few minor ones), you can proceed into the platform selection process. Your leading demographics may be more active on specific platforms. Meeting your audience where they are can allow for a smoother and more efficient social launch.

What Platforms Are For You?

Each social platform not only has various audiences, but each comes with unique features. Knowing these can help determine which one is best for your hotel. 

Facebook 
  • Largest age group: 25-34 
  • Ability to create a “Facebook Event” for things happening at the hotel
  • Live stream capability
  • Post text, photos, and videos
  • Facebook ads
Instagram
  • Largest age group: 18-24 
  • 81% of Instagram users research new solutions or services using this platform.
  • Photo and video-heavy
  • Post reels, stories, boomerangs, and live videos
  • Instagram ads
  • Influencer opportunities
TikTok
  • Largest age group: 18-24 
  • Video prominent – posting clips of your property, hotel features, location, etc.
  • TikTok ads
  • Live stream capability
  • Influencer opportunities
X/Twitter
  • Largest age group: 25-34 
  • 71% of users receive news and updates from X
  • Short-form text prominent
  • Photos and videos
  • Use X as a customer service and guest experience platform rather than for engagement.
  • Live stream capability
  • X ads
LinkedIn
  • Largest age group: 25-34 
  • Caters to about 80% of B2B social media leads.
  • Good for business travel
  • Short or long-form text
  • Photos and videos
  • Live stream capability
  • LinkedIn ads

Pinpoint Your Goals

Every hotel will have different goals for their social media campaigns. Whether the goal is to promote events in and around the hotel, showcase new hotel features, send announcements, or simply increase brand awareness, it is essential to establish attainable and measurable goals. Below are some examples of specific goals and ways to measure success.

Engagement: Interact with current and prospective clients.

  • Track likes, comments, reposts, etc.

Brand Awareness: Create an online presence that fits your hotel’s demographics.

  • Track follower count and posting cadence

Acquisition: use ads to promote your services, special offers, etc.

  • Track ad performance and click-through rates

Content Marketing: Use social media to push people to your site.

  • Track click-through rates and time spent on the site

Customer Service: answer questions through comments and direct messages.

  • Track responses to guests

Refine Your Brand and Tone

As crucial as your hotel’s brand and tone are in person, your online brand and tone should evenly stack up. You want your online and offline presence to align so that there is no letdown when guests book based on what they see online. It is important to set a clear brand image but also give your social media a human touch. Social media users often forget that there are people behind a business page. Having a human element can provide a hotel credibility. 

Because they have different audiences, adjust your voice and tone to fit each platform you utilize. While playful and witty may work on Instagram and TikTok, it may not work on Facebook or LinkedIn. The most important thing to remember is to be personable with your audience and let your brand’s personality shine.

Set Budget

Once your goals and brand voice are established, it is time to determine how much money you plan to spend on your socials, if any. While being on social media is free, putting money behind your initiatives can grow your audience and engagement beyond organic reach (only people who follow you). Putting money aside each month for ad spend will push your content to new eyes and propel your chance of them remembering your name when booking. 

A lot of hoteliers have allocated money for their influencer campaigns. Millennials and Generation Zers use Instagram and TikTok to influence their booking decisions. Having popular social media influencers push your brand name will drive brand awareness and bookings from their followers. These micro and macro influencers also provide content you may not have the bandwidth to do independently. Ensure any chosen influencer relates to your typical demographic and speaks with your brand’s voice and tone in mind.

Identify Unique Selling Points for Content

Content is usually the #1 reason hoteliers stay away from social media. What can they post about? While you can periodically hire a photographer or videographer to capture quality content for your property, creating and posting content does not always have to be a production. Use what you already have access to!

Content Calendar and Posting During Optimal Times

Your profiles are active, your content is created, and it’s time to start posting! Creating a content calendar may seem daunting, but it keeps you on track, and consistency is vital. Digitally or physically, lay out a calendar and start filling it out in these steps: 

  1. Holidays and National Days (Christmas or National Employee Day)
  2. Events (Concerts, Conferences, Sporting Events)
  3. Content Series (Employee Spotlights, Guest Reviews, Hotel/City Trivia)
  4. Evergreen Content (Hotel Property and Features, Travel Tips, Seasonal Content)

Building the content calendar is step one. Step 2 is to decide the optimal time to post. According to SproutSocial, users are most active during specific points of the day. While your audience may differ, this is an excellent place to start until you can evaluate your prime posting hours. The research suggests that the best times to post on social media overall are as follows:

Measure Success AND Failure

Arguably, the most essential part of being active on social media is going back and analyzing your page’s metrics. Content performance can change based on the type of post, the message, or even when it was posted. When just getting started, check out your metrics every couple of weeks and see how things are growing. 

After a few months of posting, you may need to adjust the strategy based on what works well and what doesn’t. Engage in social listening with your audience and follow competitors to ensure your brand stays relevant in the ever-changing digital landscape.

TMG Social Media for Hotels

Most hoteliers understand that a social media presence is essential to travelers when booking a stay. For some, creating and executing a social media strategy requires time they don’t have. Leave the start-up to Travel Media Group and the Social Media for Hotels digital solution! 

Our team of professionals will optimize your social media profiles which will improve SEO, plan and execute compelling content to fill your social calendar, and attract and capture even more travelers with targeted social media ads. With the TMG OneView® platform, you can view your social media accounts anytime and anywhere so you don’t miss a beat.

Download the checklist PDF to make sure you don’t miss a step!

Build a Social Media Strategy

Golden Opportunities: Using Social Media to Market Your Hotel

In an age where social media has evolved from solely being experience-sharing platforms to being the source of all information, companies can no longer deny the importance of having an online presence. Consumers tend to trust the legitimacy and relevance of a brand if they are active on various social media sites. 

Social media offers golden opportunities that don’t require luck, just a little time and effort. For several reasons, making time for your company’s online presence could propel your business ahead. Let’s dive into what these are and how to take advantage of them!

Your Guests Are On There

According to platform reports in 2023, 4.95 billion people, or 61.4% of the world’s population, are active on social media. According to the Global Web Index, users aged 16 to 64 access 6.7 social media platforms monthly. The evidence is there, your guests are active online.

Beyond the statistics, these users are not only on social media to mindlessly scroll or post about their lives; they are there to influence their decisions on where to stay and spend their money. Customers want to see what the property looks like, its location, and what comes with their stay. Without a built online brand, customers can’t find you and will most likely book with a competitor with an active presence. 

Your Competitors Are On There (or not)

Being active on social media can yield an extreme disadvantage or an extreme advantage, depending on where your brand stands. If you are inactive but the hotel down the street is active, you have already lowered your chances of garnering their business. Consumers would rather spend their money at a hotel that has actively shown what they offer at their property and where there is less room for let-down expectations. 

On the contrary, if your local competitors are not active, it is a chance to level up. You have a golden opportunity to take market share in the hotel industry within your area online. Taking advantage of this boosts you ahead while simultaneously leaving the competition behind. But, there is more to the strategy than just increasing bookings; it sets your property up for long-term success.

Build a Community + Brand Reputation 

We can’t forget what social media was initially invented to do—to be social! It allows your brand to create an interactive community while building its reputation. By reposting guest photos that stayed at your property and responding to direct messages and comments, you create a genuine relationship with past and current guests and show future guests that you care.

Staying consistent with posting is the secret to success. Simply having a profile does not offer guests the comfort of booking with you. Remind users of your brand and what you offer frequently to keep your content fresh in searches. You can share your brand values, hotel features, and local events to increase your online community involvement and enhance your offline presence!  

It Reinforces Your Offline Presence

Every business and company has an online and offline presence. Realistically, the offline presence takes priority in ensuring your hotel functions correctly and to the best of its ability. A great social media strategy does not trump issues within the physical property. But, if your hotel’s physical reputation is solid, social media can reinforce your offline presence to past, current, and future guests. 

Both online and offline presences are essential, each carrying its own weight. But when executed strategically and successfully, they help each other grow over time, leading to more bookings and a loyal guest base. 

Work With the Experts

For those with little experience, social media can seem like an overwhelming task to take on. Luckily for busy hoteliers, there are solutions to assist with strategy and content creation. The Social Media for Hotels digital solution is a one-stop shop for kick-starting your hotel’s social media strategy. Reap the benefits of your strategy while our team optimizes your profiles, consistently posts content, engages with your community and promotes your brand through ads to encourage more bookings.

With TMG OneView®, you can view your social media accounts anytime, anywhere, and from any device. You can create and schedule posts, respond to Facebook reviews, and engage with guests in one place. Leave the responsibility of elevating your online presence to the experts while you manage your offline presence. 

Winter Guest Sentiment Report: 3rd Edition

The winter season is a busy time for hoteliers, and this year’s winter guest sentiment report reflects just that. Even though the temperature outside was dropping, guest sentiment on online review sites steadily rose. 

Guest sentiment data provides a clear insight into what travelers feel and say about their hotel experiences as well as when and where they are taking them. By analyzing over 7 million guest reviews, 1.7 million guest sentiment tags across 24 of the most prominent review sites, hoteliers can utilize this data to make informed decisions to adapt and improve their operational and marketing strategies for their hotel properties. 

View Report: 

 

129 – State of the Industry with William “Chip” Rogers

Former CEO and President of the AHLA, Chip Rogers, joins the Suite Spot to discuss the state of the industry and how hoteliers can make 2024 a successful year. This episode is filled with expert advice, industry insights, and trending topics so tune in to get the 411 on what developments are going to impact your hotel business!

Episode Transcript

Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.

Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check-in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree, welcome and we’ve got a great guest, a guest that needs little to no introduction. He’s checked in with us several times on the Suite Spot. Chip Rogers, President & CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Chip, thank you so much for being on Suite Spot.

Chip Rogers:
Yeah, always glad to be with you, Ryan. Thanks for having me.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, and last time we were together Chip, was before the new year, so Happy New Year by the way. Very, very busy time for hoteliers. They’re getting their budgets together, they’re looking at data projections, all that good stuff. I wanna give a little bit of insight to our audience on maybe the planning process from the AHLA team. You guys have, have started off just really, really quickly. Lots of events. Obviously, every issue is important, but how do you kind of prioritize that, put your calendar in place, you know, around this time of year?

Chip Rogers:
Yeah, the biggest priority for us is always advocacy. I mean that’s the core of what we do at AHLA is we’re the voice of the hotel industry to make sure that policymakers are doing things that help the hotel industry not hurt the industry. And so this is a critical time of year for us because while we do a lot in Washington D.C., that just kind of keeps churning at a, at a steady pace again and again and again. It’s the state and local level that is hyperactive at this very moment because most state legislatures go into session at the beginning of the year, and then most of them are done with session by early spring. And so this is really prime time for us when working on state and local legislation. And again, this year we’ve got a whole host of issues that we’re dealing with at the state level. I’m in Atlanta, Georgia right now, probably two blocks from the capitol. We had a really big event here yesterday, about 300 hotels for our Georgia Hotel conference that we share with the Georgia Hotel Lodging Association. We had the Attorney General, we had one of the key members of the Georgia Senate join us. And we talked a lot about the policies that are impacting people. And we do these type of events really all around the country. We have 20 of these on the road events this year. And so yesterday was the second one we had. The first one was in Honolulu last week, which was wonderful, but we’ve got 18 more to go. And then of course we have our really big show, the Hospitality Show, which will be happening October 28th through the 30th in San Antonio, Texas.

Ryan Embree:
I’m sure it’s so important, Chip to kind of hear, you know, get feet on the ground and talk to hoteliers face-to-face about some of these pressing issues in our industry. You get a unique perspective there. One of the things that AHLA just released recently, which should be good and and exciting news for everyone, is 72% of American travelers are likely to increase or at least maintain their level of hotel stays in 2024. So excellent news there, right? But there’s always those looming, some inflation, economic uncertainty, obviously we got an election year. What can hoteliers do to make sure when they look back at the end of this year that it’s a successful and profitable one, especially with these factors looming?

Chip Rogers:
You know, Ryan, you really hit it on the good news, which is that people are back out traveling again. Business travel will be back close to where it was in 2019, and we’re able to maintain a lot of this leisure travel. And of course now you have bleisure travel where you mix the two. I’ll be doing that later today as we head into a holiday weekend. But the big part is, is that people are spending money on hotels. And so this year, hotel revenue will be at an all time high. Now, the other side of the ledger shows that inflation is clearly having an impact. You have major labor inflation. The hotel wages have gone up faster than wages for the rest of the US economy. And so you’ve got problems with getting goods and services. There’s, there’s a lot of challenges that hotels are facing. Insurance costs are through the roof. But I think the biggest one right now, if you’re facing any type of refinancing of your property, are interest rates. Interest rates are really keeping transactions near an all time low. But if you’re having to refinance that property, you’re gonna face a much, much higher payment, most likely than what you were paying. And that takes a big chunk outta your profitability. And so high interest rates are not good for the hotel industry.

Ryan Embree:
No, not at all. And we’d love to see a healthy kind of hotel ecosystem, transaction ecosystem there. That means business owners are definitely feeling good. But you know, again, I know over the last couple years we’ve been really searching for some good news. So it’s great to hear that Americans are still out there traveling, trying to spend their hard earned dollar on experiences, hopefully at our hotels. So I wanna touch on staffing though, which seems to again be a big, big headwind. We touched on it last time. Listen, the hotel industry is doing some incredible things. I think the statistic that AHLA put out is something like 80% of hoteliers are having increased wages, which is fantastic. They’re offering more flexible hours. Some of the tips and tricks that, that we actually were talking about last episode here. What are you hearing? I know you’ve been on the event circuit on the ground level from some of these hoteliers and the staffing situation right now.

Chip Rogers:
It’s getting much better now. It’s not back to where it needs to be. And you know, we’ve always, even before the pandemic kind of had this big challenge of getting all the jobs filled in the hotel industry. And so this is a long-term challenge. It’s only really gonna be solved by having more people willing to work, more Americans working. The workforce participation rate is at an all time low right now. Also being able to bring people legally into the country to fill some of these jobs. I mean, you look at the jobs report that comes out, there’s about little over 6 million people that are listed as unemployed, but there’s over 9 million open jobs. So if every single unemployed person went to work tomorrow, which we know is not going to happen, but if that miraculously happened, you still have almost 3 million jobs that are left unfilled. And many of those affect our industry or industries that are connected to the hotel industry. And so that is a long-term systemic problem. And, and at some point, policy makers really need to address it. We work with them on a regular basis. One of the programs that really works well is the guest worker program. And we try to convince politicians all the time, this is not immigration. These are people that are coming here as our guests. They work for a limited period of time, then they go back home and then they may want to come back again. It’s been a very successful program for decades. Problem is, is the cap on that hasn’t been raised since 1990. I mean, think about what the economy looked like in 1990 and recognize that our H-2B visa cap hasn’t been raised since that time. We have been urging policymakers to raise that we should reward the people who do it the right way. Come here legally, work in our hotels at our resorts, and then turn around and go back home. We want more of that to help solve some of these challenges.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, really great initiative there. And, you know, trying to look, trying to find these solutions. But, you know, certainly proud of our industry again, for adapting to this challenge right now. And doing some of the things like flexible hours, benefits, increasing wages to really help. And then obviously we talked about, we’re gonna talk about a little bit later is, you know, sharing some of the stories. Because this is such an incredible industry. I’m sure everybody, our audience, they don’t have to be sold on how amazing our industry is. Speaking of the industry, AHLA put out its annual state of the industry report. Fascinating. If you haven’t had the chance to check it out, go to AHLA.com, you can get that information. One of the most fascinating pieces for me being a digital marketing podcast is, you had in there a survey from EchoLab, which looked at guest sentiment trends, specifically around cleanliness and service. And the way that those patterns were showing up in guest sentiment data. We preach all the time, Chip, about how guest sentiment data really is a blueprint to improve guest experience. And that feedback really should be welcomed by our hoteliers so that we can prove that stay for the next traveler. Right? Can you talk about the importance of guest feedback and utilizing that data for everyday decision making for hoteliers?

Chip Rogers:
It should be driving what you’re doing. If your guests are telling you they like A or don’t like B, then you need to fix B and keep doing A even better. And so what we’re seeing is in a couple of areas, you mentioned technology a few times there, Ryan. The basic thing that guests have now beyond a bed, like the one that I have right over here, or a desk that is right here, or a television. In fact, I only know that they need television that much anymore. But they want consistent strong wifi. That is the thing that we saw happen during the pandemic that no longer is it acceptable to have spots in your hotel where you just don’t get good coverage. I mean, you have to have solid wifi coverage. The second thing is they want to clean room. I mean, that’s what happened during Covid is people said, look, cleanliness is king. We wanna make sure that my room is clean. And so if you have strong wifi and a clean room, everything else is kind of secondary after that. But you gotta check those two boxes. And if you don’t check those two boxes, expect that your reviews expect that, that when consumers go online and talk about your hotel, they’re not gonna do it in a very positive way. So check those two boxes and then take everything else from there and you’ll, you’ll be in a good position.

Ryan Embree:
Certainly important to that leisure traveler that you were talking about earlier, as well as as yourself there.

Chip Rogers:
I couldn’t be doing this interview right now if I didn’t have strong wifi. And so it’s important to me personally, but more important than that, it’s the number one thing that hotel guests are identifying as their need for their hotel room.

Ryan Embree:
Absolutely. Travel Media Group, we put out our guest sentiment report and wifi consistently receives low scores. If travelers are feeling that wifi is not strong enough. They’re certainly gonna let you hear about it like you mentioned before. Let’s switch the topic to advocacy. You said it’s the most important mission for AHLA if not one of the most important, every issue, obviously small and big is important, Chip. But what are some of the most pressing issues right now that your team’s focused on?

Chip Rogers:
Well, from an advocacy standpoint, this time of year we’re always dealing with the short-term rental issue. And so we know that there are obviously millions and millions and millions of short-term rentals. In fact, there’s been 2 million residential properties turned into short-term rentals across the U.S. Those are active right now today. What does that create at the local level? I mean, you go anywhere and they’re talking about housing challenges. I was in Hawaii last week, the single biggest issue that they’re facing there, because it’s very difficult to develop in Hawaii. And they already had housing challenges to begin with. And you begin taking these residential properties out of commission and turning them into commercial lodging units and the housing problems become even bigger. And so right now, legislatively we’re working in a number of states to make sure that short-term rentals are regulated in the same way that hotels are. So that local communities can determine where short-term rentals should be. How many short-term rentals there should be, what should that stock be so you’re not taking it out of the residential housing stock. And so that’s a huge issue that we’re facing right now. Immigration challenges, guest worker challenges at the federal level remain at the top of the list. I mean, we have this huge imbalance of having millions of jobs available across the U.S. economy and no one to fill them. And that’s not like, that’s not just a sudden spike. It’s been that way now for years. And so when we look at things like this, I mean these are what keeps hoteliers up at night. Organized labor challenges are really big. And then there’s one that, I don’t know if a lot of people understand it, but it is, it’s really scary. But a proposal put out by the National Labor Relations Board, a new rule, it’s called Joint Employer. And without getting too technical, basically what it means is that the franchisees employees would be jointly employed by the franchisor. So each hotel employee would essentially have two bosses. They’d be employed by the franchisor and the franchisee. Well, that’s an absolute nightmare for the franchise industry, not just hotels, all franchisees. And it is on the wishlist for organized labor because no longer would they have to organize hotel by hotel, they could organize an entire brand at once, which is their goal. And so if you’re operating a hotel somewhere where there’s not a lot of organized labor, you could get swept up in this if your brand gets organized all at once. And so joint employer is probably the biggest legislative slash legal challenge that we’re facing at the federal level. But there’s no shortage of issues impacting our industry. And that’s why we urge people to please get involved. The simplest way they can do that is go to AHLA and sign up for our hotels act. You can also just go to HotelsAct.org. It’s free, it’s simple. It makes you kind of part of the hotel industry team. And we’re able to send messages to you that we create that you just by clicking one button could send to your lawmakers. And so whether if it’s your state lawmaker, your federal lawmaker, we do all the work, all you have to do is click a button. But that type of messaging makes an enormous difference in pushing lawmakers towards the things we want them to do and away from the things we don’t want them to do.

Ryan Embree:
So critical in the work that you’re doing over there and really having an impact on almost every facet of hotels and hospitality and what they’re doing on their everyday lives. So important, thank you for what your team is doing over there at AHLA. We’ll wrap up the episode. We spoke last time about the power of storytelling and you gave some great quotes about some stories and how impactful telling stories can be versus just spitting out facts. You know, I’m curious, we’re still early in the year, but any impactful stories that you’ve run into just talking to hoteliers that you could share to maybe even again, just to share how special our industry truly is because there’s so many that happen every single day.

Chip Rogers:
Yeah, it is amazing. As I mentioned a moment ago, I had a chance to spend some time in Hawaii last week and, and got to see the devastation in Maui from the recent fires, like it was six months ago now, but they’re still struggling. I mean, these are people so many who just, they don’t have anywhere to live, unfortunately. Some of them are having to leave Hawaii and go to the mainland because there’s just no housing whatsoever. And then some of them have to live so far away. I heard a story of a man who had worked at a hotel there in Maui, had been there 26 years and lost his home. He was now taking a bus two hours each way to work at the hotel five days a week. That’s the type of commitment to our guests that our hotel workers have. They are literally the light, and the backbone of this industry. They make all the difference in the world. And just seeing it firsthand in Hawaii, all the efforts that local hotels did to help house the homeless people that had lost their homes because of the fire. And then to really stand up for their own employees and just try to find anything so that they can have housing. It’s, it’s really inspiring. But it also reminds us that, you know, this world we live in can be fragile at times and, and tragedy can occur. How are we gonna step up and respond to it? And I’m proud to say that the industry, particularly in Hawaii, stepped up in a big way.

Ryan Embree:
Thank you for sharing that story and shedding a light on that. Like I said, those types of stories are happening all over our industry and it’s a reason why people get into hospitality. And you know, I would encourage you, talk to your GM, talk to your regional, talk to even to front desk managers, people that have been in the industry long, they’re gonna have some sort of story of hospitality of why they got into it, whether they just fell into it or had a career path for it. But it’s always something that you can come back to and have that, that sense of togetherness with this industry. So Chip, thank you for sharing that. Thank you for being with me. Any final thoughts? We covered a lot of ground on today’s check-in with you.

Chip Rogers:
No final thoughts other than it’s always an honor to represent what I believe is the best industry in the world, and that is the hospitality industry, made up with the best people in the world. That’s what drives you each and every day. So thanks for having me. I’m honored to serve at AHLA and represent our industry, but really appreciate the time I get to spend with you.

Ryan Embree:
Perfect. Well thank you so much. Well said Chip. And thank you all for listening to the Suite Spot, we will talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Putting the Guest First: Crafting Exceptional Responses to Your Hotel’s Online Reviews [Webinar]

 

A meaningful strategy for responding to reviews is critical for hoteliers and their properties. Over time, this strategy has evolved from being a nice-to-have to a must-have. But how exactly do you make sure you are responding appropriately and correctly? This webinar will cover the following topics, including: 

  • How online review response has evolved
  • How to resolve issues related to negative guest experiences
  • How to appropriately respond to positive guest feedback 
  • How to celebrate all feedback left by the guest

Within the last couple of years, even months, the world has seen a rise in bot and AI responses via phone calls and online. While this reduces stress and time consumption for the business, it leaves guests and clients further disappointed or angered. Robots and automation tools cannot feel human emotion and therefore inefficiently respond to the problem at hand. As these tools continue to flood the hospitality industry, hoteliers must find ways to put the guest first rather than just checking off a box to complete the task.

Imagine the reviews are not placed online but at your front desk. The guest is providing feedback about their experience at your property face-to-face. How would you expect your front desk team to respond? In the same way you hope they respond appropriately, kindly, and with the guest in mind, the same approach should be applied to online reviews.

Let’s take it a step further. Recently, we have seen hoteliers using reviews to appeal to or respond to the next traveler who may be reading their reviews online. This method puts the original guest to the side, causing them to phase out.

Through this exercise, we will examine a review left by a guest and a response that puts each of these titles at the #1 position: the guest, the next traveler, and checking a box.

Here, the guest left a review highlighting the price and service. With current inflation and staffing shortages, these reviews are more common. Within the property’s response, there is a complete disregard for the guest’s concerns, but rather a sales pitch trying to convince the next traveler to book with them. This way of responding will make the original guest feel dismissed and their experience unimportant.

Checking a box off first and putting the guest last comes across as an AI or bot response. It is effortless to respond to reviews if you use the same cookie-cutter approach or have a robot answer them. But, it shows the guest you don’t care about their issue, how you will solve it, or show future guests you care.

Let’s examine how our professional response writers responded to the review by putting the guest first. No matter what the review says, always thank them for taking the time to leave a review. Acknowledging every aspect of a review lets the guest know you have fully read their concerns and want to make an effort to improve for the future. Although the hotel is apologizing for their high prices, they also justify why that is. Future guests will most likely respect their upfront honesty and trust them more. Remind them that their experience was not the norm and invite them to give you another chance.

Positive Online Review Keys

  • Let the guest know you are happy they stayed with your hotel.
  • Acknowledge each thing the guest mentioned.
  • Thank them for the review and show excitement for them to revisit you.

Average Online Review Keys

  • Avoid scripted or “AI” responses.
  • Thank the guest for leaving a review.
  • Prioritize what the guest has mentioned in their review.
  • Give solutions to the problem at hand – offer genuine sincerity and emotion.
  • Ask them to give you another chance. 

Reviews from your guests may only sometimes be posted on public forums. Post-stay surveys are just as important, if not more, to respond to. Because the public cannot see the reviews or responses, you can directly interact with the guest by name and take further action, if needed, in handling their situation. Guests take time out of their day to complete surveys, and the last thing they want is to receive an automated-sounding response such as the one above.

Genuine sincerity, feeling, and emotion are the keys to a successful review response. Reassure the guest that this was a one-time incident and will be handled internally with specific action items. Request that the guest give you another chance next time they are in the area. Although you cannot respond to these for the next traveler, you can complete the action items so that a future guest does not experience the same thing and leave a public-facing review.

Who would you trust to handle the situation if these reviews were verbally communicated at your front desk? Are you willing to use automated tools to communicate with the guest or outsource to third-party vendors?

Travel Media Group wants to be a collaborative and trustworthy partner to help you do what you do best: interact with guests offline while our professional response team interacts with guests online. TMG conducted a survey that asked our hotel partners how helpful our Respond & Resolve digital solution has been for them. That data explains how the solution allows them more time to handle in-person tasks and reduces stress.

Learn more about the Respond & Resolve™ solution.

 

Digital Spring Cleaning Checklist

Each year, it is a good idea to take a moment to review your hotel portfolio’s online presence by doing a little bit of “digital spring cleaning.” This is an annual audit of a hotel’s digital channels including social media, online reputation, review responses, and website. 

Optimizing each of these outlets is a great way to ensure they align with the hotel’s digital marketing strategy to grow occupancy and drive revenue growth. Evaluating your hotel portfolio digital presence early in the year allows for timely adjustments that lead to a comprehensive and effective hotel digital marketing strategy. 

Travel Media Group has curated a checklist exclusively for hoteliers that provides essential details to remember this season as you prepare for some digital spring cleaning.

Digital Spring Cleaning Checklist 

128 – TMG Hospitality Trailblazers: Sarah Moss

The 35th Hunter Hotel Investment Conference is only weeks away, taking place on March 19-21 in Atlanta, Georgia!  

Join Suite Spot host and TMG Director of Marketing Ryan Embree as he sits down with the Chief of Staff at Hunter Hotel Advisors, Sarah Moss, to discuss the upcoming event and what attendees can look forward to from one of the biggest conferences in the hotel industry. This episode has something for every hotelier, from best digital marketing practices to everything related to the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference.

Episode Transcript

Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.

Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check-in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree. Thank you for joining us, wherever you are listening or watching us on our YouTube channel from. I’ve got a great guest with me today that I’m gonna introduce in just a second, but this is a part of our Hospitality Trailblazers series. If this is your first one, or your fifth one or your 12th one. This series is all about highlighting and showcasing some of the individuals or companies that are pushing our industry forward into the future. So without further ado, it’s my pleasure to bring in Sarah Moss, Chief of Staff at the Hunter Hotel Advisors. Sarah, thank you so much for being with me today.

Sarah Moss:
Thank you so much, Ryan, for having us. We’re so excited to chat about the conference today.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes being a Hospitality Trailblazer means that you’re actually putting a lot of the people in the same room together to help move our industry forward and Hunter Hotel Conference does such a fabulous job of doing that. But before we jump into all the exciting things about the conference, since this is your first time on the Suite Spot, it is always a little ritual to ask, you know, kind of about your background in the hospitality journey that led you to Hunter Hotel Advisors.

Sarah Moss:
Sure. So my journey in hospitality started when I was really young. My first job was in a restaurant in my hometown. Then going into college, I worked at a hotel property, really fell in love with hotels and the operations of them and was so fortunate that Georgia State is a partner of Hunter Hotel Advisors in the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference or our co-founder of the conference. And we place an intern every year with the company to give the students a really immersive experience to teach them what goes on through a conference and here at the advisory firm as well. And I was lucky enough to be one of the students that they placed here at Hunter. And so that’s really how I got my journey here to Hunter today. But it’s really unique and I love it. But I’ve been here for almost five years now and did my internship for two years before that, so seven total.

Ryan Embree:
That’s such a cool story to hear that background that you were just an intern starting at the Hunter Hotel Conference and now you’re already Chief of Staff here just several years later. It’s super exciting and you know, your start is very much like a lot of these Hospitality Trailblazers that I interview, you know, started somewhere line level with myself. I started as a bellman at a hotel. But I think that’s one of the unique things about our industry is that we just, we start in these places, all of us are travelers at heart, right? I haven’t run into one person in hospitality that doesn’t like to travel. So we’re travelers at heart. But when we start our journey in hospitality, typically it starts, you know, just serving people and you know, you get to see that evolution, which is so cool. So speaking of the evolution of things, this is the 35th anniversary of the Hunter Hotel Conference. It’s grown to be one of the biggest and most anticipated events of the year. I know you’ve said you’ve only been with this conference for about five years, but can you talk about kind of the evolution of, of this event and maybe where it started to where it is today?

Sarah Moss:
Absolutely. So like you mentioned, we’re celebrating our 35th year, which is super exciting for the conference and just for the company in general. Our first conference was in 1989 with 92 attendees. So we have grown quite, quite a few between now and then. But our, I think our, you know, biggest milestones for the conference was when we moved into the Marriott Marquee downtown, one of our amazing partners that we have to help us produce the event. It’s a lot of space, it’s a lot of exciting things that we get to activate and to, you know, provide to attendees. And it also, you know, has a connection to the downtown Hilton and the downtown Hyatt. And so it provides every brand and opportunity to be able to utilize this space in their own capacity and their own functionality as well. In 2015 we had a thousand attendees and then today we think we’re gonna be over 2000 again this year we’re shooting for 2300 coming up in March.

Ryan Embree:
What an incredible feat. And yeah, Atlanta, you know, certainly a hub for hospitality to be able to host at the venue like the Marriott Marquee. I’m sure certainly helps accommodate, you know, over 2000 now attendees, which is fantastic to hear. So let’s fast forward to March, 2024. Right. What are some of the things you’re most excited about this year’s event?

Sarah Moss:
We have a lot of really cool things planned this year. I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this upcoming year, our advisory board and the committee for our award winner chose Bob Hunter, our founder of the conference, to win the award this upcoming year, which is super exciting just to be able to see him honored on stage. He’s played such a pivotal role, a lot of people’s lives and their stories in the hospitality space. And so I’m personally just really excited to see him honored for that this upcoming year. Additional to that, we have a really cool keynote speaker for lunch on Wednesday this year. Os Perlman, he’s like a world renowned mentalist. So often when you’re at these conferences, you are in meetings or you’re, you know, constantly networking. So to be able to take what we’re calling a mental break for an hour or so to come watch him and see him perform, we’re really excited about this year.

Ryan Embree:
That’s great. And to speak to Bob Hunter, I mean, certainly fitting on the 35th anniversary to be recognizing him, and I am sure he’s seen it from that, you know, less than 100 attendee conference grow to what a milestone and feat that is, to be potentially over 2300 this year is fantastic. And yeah, that is exciting. It’s really unique to have a mentalist at a conference like that. Super, super fun. And I’m excited to see that as well. Now one of the topics that we’ve explored in this hospitality Trailblazer series, Sarah is talking about the impact that the last couple years that the pandemic has had on our industry and maybe some of the lessons learned. I think you bring a really unique perspective being that you are obviously in hospitality, but also in the event industry planning this annual event. Can you talk to us about maybe lessons learned during that difficult time and how you guys got back to almost potentially breaking records in attendance this year?

Sarah Moss:
Absolutely. Covid was a tough time for us here at Hunter. Our conference is annually in March every year. And so, as many of you may remember, March was really the time that the news broke here in the US and all of thd shutdowns happened and it happened to us the week before the conference was supposed to happen. So really tough timing for us, but I will have to give credit to our team here. They rallied and we, you know, came up with creative solutions to what we are gonna be offering. One of the things I think was the most unique that came out of COVID for us here at the conference in the brokerage firm was our TikTok series. We had this amazing conference planned and we had all these speakers lined up to speak and didn’t happen. And so we were like, Hey, all these people are ready to go, have their stories lined up, have, you know, whatever’s going on in their world, so we wanna hear about it, let’s go ahead and record some sessions with them. And so that ended up turning into this amazing series that we’re still producing today. I think it was just a interesting time during COVID people just wanted to know what was going on. You wanted the information at the moment, but also you wanted to know from a hotelier’s perspective, like you’re not alone and whatever you’re going through, the person on the other side or across the country is going through the same thing. And so for us, the TikTok series was pivotal for us to be able to stay in front of people and to, you know, be that thought leadership, but to also, you know, carry us through until the next conference. We were the first conference to come back in the hospitality space after Covid in May of 2021. And we were so proud of it. And here we are having another one here in 2023 and we also had one in 2022. So just continuing and just building resiliency off of what happens, making lemons outta lemonade or whatever the phrase is.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah. You know, I love those, those stories of kind of innovation and adaptation during that time. Because it’s, it’s something that, you know, I don’t think you fully appreciate in the moment, right? It was probably just what you would call is, you know, business survival instinct to say, how can we just bring value and, and make the best out of the, maybe this, this really bad situation right now, but now reflecting on it and retrospectively looking back, you know, you see these things and you’re like, man, that was really, really cool what we did there. And it is something that we’ve seen so many, whether it’s new initiatives, whether it’s new technological advances in our industry, how they’ve evolved into a time where it’s like, I don’t remember when we didn’t do this. And, but you know, on the other hand of that, Sarah, I will say, and I’ve been to, you know, several hospitality events since that time and for some reason, I don’t know if it’s like, we always talk about revenge travel on the guest side, but I don’t know if it’s that revenge travel feeling of coming to these conferences, especially with hospitality people. Because it was felt so hard in our industry because we are truly a people serving people industry. So taking that away from us, that’s a foundation of who we are as industry associates, right? And, and serving people. So I don’t know what it was, but coming back to these types of events, there’s just this energy and this vibe that people have at these events now. And I’m sure it has been felt since you returned back with Hunter Hotel Conference and sure it will be felt this year, but it’s one of those things that we heard during the pandemic of, you know, I don’t know if these conferences are gonna come back. Not only are they coming back, they’re coming back in full force and producing some of the best agendas and conference material that, that we’ve seen before. So super, super exciting now. But let’s talk a little bit more about your role, Sarah, because I don’t think for our audience we typically talk about the operation side, some social and media and reputation stuff. We’re gonna talk about that a little bit later. But I don’t think people fully understand and grasp the, the monumental effort that it is to put on an event for 2000, potentially 2300 attendees. Right? You know, you’ve gotta get speakers, you’ve gotta put an agenda together. You know, give us just a little bit of an insight and a look at what it takes to prepare that, the type of preparation that you need to do in order to make this the event that it is.

Sarah Moss:
Absolutely. Man, I don’t even know where to start because there’s a lot of details that go into these events, but I think from my point of view and in my role there are so many stakeholders for the event. There’s our personal team here. We have three dedicated staff for the conference year round that plan year round. And then we also have additional help here in the office that kind of sit between the brokerage firm and the conference. So there our internal team is a stakeholder. We have the hunter family who’s a stakeholder within the conference. We have our attendees, we have our sponsors, we have our speakers, like you mentioned, there are so many different groups of people and they all come to the conference for different reasons. And so being able to produce an event that caters to everyone and everything that they’re trying to accomplish and get outta the conference, it’s, it’s a challenge at the end of the day. And I think our team does a really great job at it. I’ll be honest, I’m a little, I’m a little biased obviously, but it takes a lot of intentionality and our team is so thoughtful about thinking through all the details ahead of time, making sure our sponsors getting the return on investment that they’re looking for, making sure they’re getting deals done. Because that’s really what they’re there to do. Making sure our speakers on stage that we’re prepping them appropriately ahead of schedule so the attendees get what they need out of it. But also from a speaker standpoint is being able to advocate for yourself on stage and being that presence and brand for yourself. There are just so many things that go into the conference. I could probably sit here and talk to you about it for another 30 minutes, but I just had to give kudos to our team because I think they do a really great job at it.

Ryan Embree:
The logistics, again, I can’t even begin to imagine all of that, but it’s what you said. I mean, and sometimes with so many stakeholders and everyone moving, you know, that’s why it’s so key and critical and I think Hunter Hotel Conference does a great job of this, is having that goal in mind or that end in mind of what everyone wants to get out of this conference. And you know, so when you have a lot of moving parts, you know, the one thing is that North Star or that compass to say, at the end of the day, this is what we wanna accomplish and this is what we see as a successful conference for the year. So I teased it before, but you know, this is a digital marketing podcast. We talk about things like social media, reputation. Listen, it’s hard to, it’s hard to believe if you haven’t heard of Hunter Hotel Conference because it literally shuts down LinkedIn for an entire week. Like my entire feed is just people recording and pictures at everything from the conference. So can you talk about the importance of this from an event perspective or even if, you know, I think it’s good insight for hotels that are on this listening that have conferences at their own hotel and the type of social media campaigns or strategies that you can do to make the event as big as possible. And then also a reputation. You know, reputation doesn’t just mean TripAdvisor and Google, you know, you’ve got a reputation for what that conference logo means or what that slogan means, which we’re gonna talk about. So can you talk a little bit about utilizing social media and leveraging that as well as as reputation online to build the conference?

Sarah Moss:
Yeah, as I just mentioned in the previous answer, it was as stakeholders are so important to us and we, we lean into that and we utilize them to be our biggest advocates and influencers on social media. For example, our advisory board, an amazing group of 42 individuals that we have, we send them out a graphic and ask them, Hey, do you mind posting this on your social media saying, I’m attending Hunter. We wanna build anticipation for the event. You wanna make sure the right people are there. And so that’s really important to us. So we also do it with our speakers. So making sure that they all have a graphic saying I’m speaking or I’m a panelist there. We also do it for students, we do it for our sponsors. Just making sure that we’re building, like you mentioned, that cohesion before the event so people know and, you know, build a little fomo. They don’t wanna miss out on the event when they see all these people going. And so it helps our registration. You definitely see an uptick in our registration stats as we start posting more and more online every year, especially on our social media.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, I love that, the FOMO aspect of it. And that’s great. Again, it’s great advice for hotels that run conferences, how could you be supportive to make that conference, you know, bigger than it’s ever been? Because you know, I’m sure as Sarah will tell you, if you’re doing a great job running a conference and the conference continues to grow, that partnership and bond that you have between venue and event is gonna grow stronger and stronger. So think about creative ways that you can put that event out there. Even talk to some big advocates and influencers maybe with followings on places like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, wherever your target audience may be. Obviously for Hunter Hotel Conference, that’s gonna be LinkedIn. And I’m sure that’s a really, really important piece of your social media strategy over there.

Sarah Moss:
I think, like it’s also important to like review your analytics and I tell people I’m like, hey, or even internally I’m like, hey, this blast that we sent out or this push that we sent out, like it didn’t, it didn’t hit right. People aren’t clicking, people aren’t looking at stuff. I’m like, let’s pivot, let’s try something different. I think it’s so important to watch your analytics, whether they’re coming from social media or they’re coming from your media partners as well. It’s vitally important because you wanna make sure you’re spending your time wisely. There’s so many things that go into the event that if you’re not appropriately allocating time and the right resources to your marketing ahead of schedule and even post-conference as well, we haven’t touched that, it definitely plays an impact on how the event goes.

Ryan Embree:
Trial and error is a big part of it. But if you’re not kind of seeing the results from that, you don’t really know what’s working. And in my, you know, years of doing this podcast and being in the digital marketing realm, you’re gonna find a couple surprises here and there that you just think are really just maybe here’s a good graphic. I think this is gonna perform okay. And all of a sudden it just goes off and it really performs. And if you can’t sit back and say, why do I think that that performed? And this, this is for our listeners and audience, this is could be as granular as a social media post promotion that you put out there for a stay for a hotel. If you see how that forms and if even if it doesn’t perform, you know, what can you make little tweaks to make it perform even better? So always looking for those. I think that’s great advice Sarah, to try to say when all of this is done, when that project is complete, a big project like this, you know, what did we do right and how can we improve? And, and I’m sure there’s been some lessons learned over the years from where you’re at.

Sarah Moss:
Absolutely. And I think one, the one last thing I’ll say on this is we’re an annual conference. We happen once a year and so for like you said for that week or those three days, we shut down social media and it’s awesome and we have a lot of people pouring into our media channels as well. But what happens the other 51 weeks out of the year for us? And so we have to be really thoughtful with what we’re putting out in content that we’re pushing and to make sure we’re staying in front of people, not, you know, beating them over the head by any means. Because you don’t wanna be an annoyance, but you wanna make sure you’re staying relevant. And so like our TikTok series is one of that. We launched testimonials series this year just to be able to produce content before the conference and even post-conference that we can stay relevant and stay out there in front of people as well.

Ryan Embree:
Absolutely. That trial and error is so important aspect to it. But also, you know, what you just spoke to Sarah, we talk about that with slow season for hotels, right? Is they’ll say, well during the the busy season, I don’t need occupancy. I’m not gonna post on my social media channels or even during my slower season, I don’t see much so I’m not gonna post. No. The consistency and buildup always help keep growing that audience, keep growing that following. So great advice there. Let’s talk about it, because I think when we first chatted, you hadn’t announced the winner of the Hunter Conference Award for Excellence and Inspiration. Since then you’ve revealed that, which is super exciting. Tell us a little bit more about the background of this award and what it means to be a recipient.

Sarah Moss:
Yeah, so I think here at Hunter, we fall into the trap far too often if we don’t celebrate our successes and we don’t celebrate the people here in the industry enough. And I think that’s really what the award was founded off of. It was the Hunter Conference is known for their investors and hotel owners that are in the room every year. We have a very high population of those attendees. And so we wanted to celebrate those individuals, that really make an impact on the industry and on people’s lives because it’s so important. We’ve talked about it here, but it’s, it’s a people serving people industry. At the end of the day, it’s not about how many hotels you own or how many, you know, dollars you can spend in a renovation or whatever it may be. It’s really about the people. And so that was really the foundation for the award. And like you mentioned, we’re so excited and thrilled this year to be honoring Bob, our founder of the conference and founder of the Hunter Hotel Advisors firm. So we, we could not be more grateful for the award committee that they have stewarded over the past 10 years. Really more than that now. It’s the 13th year. So, we’re just, we’re very grateful.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, again, we’re, we’re fortunate to work in an industry where we have some really cool stories to share and it, it’s more than just four walls and a bed. It’s, you know, it’s providing service, do a lot of good in our communities or a lot of hotel management companies, owners, hoteliers all over the country, do some really, really cool things. And it’s really cool to have awards and recognition like this to recognize some of some of those feats. So congratulations Bob Hunter, and excited to celebrate with you at the, the conference this year. Let’s talk about, you said you got one week a year to do this conference, then I’m sure it is on to planning 2025 in the next year, right?

Sarah Moss:
The next one.

Ryan Embree:
No, not too much time to celebrate and rest there. But you know, one of the things I always find so fascinating because you, you really could sit down with your team, Sarah and decide on really anything for your mantra or slogan. This year was – Know No Limits -. Tell me how you guys decided on that and landed on this as your slogan and what that means.

Sarah Moss:
It’s a great question and I think it takes some explaining because people are like, why do you need a theme or why do you need a slogan every year for the conference? And if you’ve attended Hunter conferences in the past, in the early 90’s, maybe like in maybe early 2000’s, they actually had a theme every year of “Seize the Day” or “The Time is Now”. And after Covid, we took a really hard look at ourselves and were like, what are the things that worked really well for us and what are the things that we should continue to do here? And one of the things that we brought back was the slogans themselves. Our one coming out of Covid was come together. And I think from Hunter’s point of view, it creates a sense of comradery between our attendees of knowing what the goal is and knowing what the call to action is. And so we had “Come Together”, we’ve had “Let’s Go”, and now it’s “Know No Limits.” You know, we’ve gone through these crazy crazy covid timing. We’ve gone through an amazing, you know, 2022, 2023 for investments and the industry and now it’s what’s next. And so we just wanna charge people with Know No Limits. It’s the sky is the limit for us and we can really do whatever we want to, but we have to come together to do that. And so when you’re coming together at the Hunter Conference, we can, we can work through any problem, we can figure out whatever there may be, but we just, we find there’s a sense of togetherness, if you wanna call it that.

Ryan Embree:
I love it. it actually speaks to exactly what we were just talking about, taking what works and tweaking it or moving it forward and bringing back that was a conscious decision, bringing back those themes and slogans. And I think you’re spot on with this slogan. You know, everything that I’m hearing from industry leaders right now is they are fired up about 2024, right? We’ve just been kind of waiting for the shoe to drop. There’s just always been this looming kind of external fears and factors out there, but it at this point we’re full steam ahead. Know No Limits. I love it. I’m fired up for the conference and definitely wanted to get your perspective on what that meant and I think it’s a great initiative to theme it. So, alright, so I’m gonna get you to predict the future a little bit here on the podcast, Sarah. So 35 years this conference is celebrating this March. What’s your vision for the future of this conference as we move forward into, into the years to come?

Sarah Moss:
The crystal ball is a scary place to look into these days, but, I think for the Hunter Conference, the future’s really bright. We have just seen the impact that we’ve had on the industry and the reception that we’ve had from people. And you can just see it in our attendance numbers. This past year we hit 2000, we’re expecting 300 more this year. I mean, it’s over a 10% growth rate since I’ve been here at Hunter. And it’s even doubled in the past two years, which is amazing. And I just think it speaks to the hard work the team has done here. I think you can expect to see some interesting and off the wall things like the mentalist this upcoming year. We try to provide unique opportunities that they wouldn’t have somewhere else. I think it’s also, you know, fun for attendees. We wanna entertain them at the end of the day, they’re there to have a good time. My two phrases I always tell the team is the event is never over until people stop talking about it. Love that. And it doesn’t matter the amount of people that come, it doesn’t matter what the amount of business that they do, it matters how we made them feel. And so I think those are things that we really try to rangetrue here at Hunter is how can we enhance the attendee experience every year for them to keep wanting to come back. And so just providing those unique opportunities is one of those things that we, we look forward to doing.

Ryan Embree:
It’s so many parallels. I mean, as, as you explained that there’s so many parallels to hoteliers and, and how they treat guests. You know, we want to make them feel something when they come on property and when they leave property. So, and I think you’re right too, when it talks about, you know, that experience that guests have at a hotel that doesn’t stop until they stop talking about it. Whether that’s online, whether that’s to friends, you know, hopefully that’s a memory. If it’s a big vacation, hopefully that’s a memory that carries with you for years to come. And I’m sure that attendees are, are making those same memories at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. I am certainly happy to be attending this year. This is my first time, a really exciting announcement that the Suite Spot is gonna be headed to the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference for the first time ever. We could not be more thrilled. Sarah, I know we covered a lot of ground on the conference. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today?

Sarah Moss:
We are so excited to have Suite Spot with us, number one, this upcoming year. Our partners are so important to us. While you are a diamond, you’re a silver, you’re an association, you’re a media partner, we treat you all the same. And you’re part of the Hunter family at the end of the day and we’re just so grateful. To be honest with you, it’s 35 years and we’re looking forward to 35 more. It’s gonna be the best conference yet.

Ryan Embree:
Awesome. Well, we can’t wait. Hope to see a lot of our listeners and audience out there. Best place to find information, HunterConference.com. Correct?

Sarah Moss:
Yes, www.hunterconference.com.

Ryan Embree:
Follow Hunter Hotel Investment Conference as well on social media. I’m sure they’ll be posting all the exciting updates. You just had that big announcement about the mentalist speaker, guest speaker that’s gonna be there. We cannot wait. We’re counting down the days. Sarah, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot.

Sarah Moss:
Absolutely. Thank you Ryan.

Ryan Embree:
All right. Thank you everyone for listening and we’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Spreading The Love: Responding to Your Hotel’s Guest Feedback

In the hotel industry, responding to reviews can seem like an odd practice if you are unfamiliar with the effects that it can have on a hotel portfolio. Review response is the foundation for a solid online hotel reputation and a comprehensive digital presence. By actively managing this crucial digital channel, hoteliers can strategically foster relationships with their hotel guests and future travelers that ultimately drive revenue. Hotel bookings are heavily influenced by what individuals see about your hotel and what other guests have to share about their experiences. This blog will cover the following topics, including: 

  • Why Responding to Reviews is Important
  • How to Navigate Guest Reviews
  • The Challenges of Responding to Reviews
  • Available Resources that Can Help when Responding

Why Responding to Reviews is Important:

The first benefit of replying to online guest feedback begins with the guest. Online reviews allow hoteliers to achieve key objectives when interacting with their audience. These objectives can include but are not limited to educating travelers, conflict resolution, showcasing property features, or simply thanking guests for their feedback. Whatever the goal may be, keep in mind that each review bolsters a hotel’s online reputation and undeniably affects property bookings. Many hoteliers do not realize that a hotel’s online reputation dictates how it ranks compared to other hotels in their respective markets. By not responding to guest reviews, you put your hotel properties in jeopardy of being rated lower on public-facing review platforms such as Google Reviews or TripAdvisor. Last but not least, review response allows you to set guest expectations before guests arrive at the property. If expectations are not set accordingly from the start, there is an increased likelihood of guest dissatisfaction after their stay.

How To Navigate Guest Reviews:

Family At Hotel Reception. Check Into Hostel Tourists, Guests Wi

Knowing all the intricacies of review response takes time to learn and understand. Optimizing each response that coincides with a review must incorporate various components that make up a well-crafted response. The different aspects include: 

  • Personalized greeting
  • Brand signature
  • Delivers the hotel brand voice 
  • Mentions specific pieces of the review
  • Conflict Resolution (if applicable
  • Insight into the guest experience
  • Highlights property features/associates 

With that said, remember that responding to each review in 48 hours or less is of utmost importance. The reason is, the longer you wait to reply to a guest, the higher the possibility that the guest will not even see your response and in turn spread negative word of mouth if they have a bad experience. Timely responses lead to a better relationship with travelers and promote open communication that encourages guests to leave feedback. 

The Reality of Responding:

Although responding to online guest reviews yields a multitude of benefits, there can be a downside to it. A lesser-known effect of review response is extreme stress and afflicted mental health. It is very common to feel mentally exhausted after responding to negative reviews because they can be pretty harsh. As necessary as responding to guest reviews is to a hotel and its business, it does take a significant amount of dedicated time that may not be available at your property. If staffing issues affect your hotel properties, finding an associate to respond to reviews will be challenging and lead to incorrect responses. Overwhelmed hotel team members result in poor guest service, which turns into unhappy guests. Even if staffing is not an issue, resources are available that outline the ROI of responding to reviews, which gives a comprehensive understanding of the matter.

Take It From the Experts:

Businesswoman With Luggage Modern Reception Area African America

There is comfort in knowing that help is out there to assist hotels with their online guest reviews and optimize their digital footprint. The Respond & Resolve™ digital solution is the all-in-one answer regarding responding to guest reviews and crafting a tailored response to each individual traveler. A team of response experts learn your hotel voice and provide thorough responses to reviews across all major review platforms, ensuring your guest’s feedback is managed and documented in TMG OneView®. 

With over 40+ years of experience responding to reviews and improving hotel online reputation for the largest global hotel brands and their portfolios, Travel Media Group offers a suite of solutions that address the most prevalent headwinds impacting hoteliers. Take the first step in elevating your online presence with the experts who do it best so you always stay one step ahead of the competition.