Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

In this episode of Suite Spot, we discuss reports that Google Reviews surpassed Booking.com as the number one review distribution site. Host Ryan Embree is joined by Jason Lee to explore how Google is positioning itself in the hotel industry and what it means for individual properties moving forward. Ryan and Jason also give insight about a recent review response study conducted by Revinate. Jason gives his thoughts on why more budget and midscale properties are responding to reviews than luxury properties, and why year over year 5-star response rates are trending down. We also discuss the impact that responding to Google reviews has on SEO. In the Q&A segment, we put Jason back in the chair of a hotel general manager and ask his thoughts on how he would approach Google reviews for his individual property. To submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. 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. Ryan Embree: Hey, hello and, welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. As always, I am your host, Ryan Embree. Today we've got a great episode, and I am joined by one of our more frequented guests on the show, Mr. Jason Lee, who is the vice president of product development and technology at Travel Media Group, so I'll go ahead and welcome you in. Once again, Jason, thanks for being on the show today. Jason Lee: Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: We're going to get into a lot of topics today and the episode itself is called Google reviews and we're going to talk about the big news coming out about Google reviews, but I wanted to first kind of start talking just about review generation as a whole because Revinate came out with a report here on some really cool analytics when it comes to online reviews, review response, review generation and wanting to get kind of your opinion and your thoughts on some of the information that was found. Jason Lee: Yeah. Ryan Embree: Before we get into Google reviews, let's talk about online review generation as a whole and when we still see year over year growth, but we saw the rate of review growth has slowed. Uh, any idea you think, why this is happening? Jason Lee: Well, I think it's interesting because I think the percentage of year over year has slowed it just because we're maybe starting to see critical mass in response. So you see new travelers coming up that might be more apt to leave reviews or you see a generation of more tech savvy travelers that rely on reviews and are also leaving reviews and getting reviews. You're kind of reaching for a technology crowd that is going to eventually reach critical mass in terms of like, you're not going to see those big giant numbers, um, that you use to see where, you know, I, I remember like in the early days of reputation, it was like every year TripAdvisor was doubling the number from the previous years. Right? Ryan Embree: Right. Jason Lee: So it was like this crazy jump and now there's more places to leave reviews. But you've also reached this place where there's, there are more reviews coming in now than ever before. I can tell you that right now, but I can, but also at the same time you're not, you may not see those giant gains like we had before. Ryan Embree: Right, and that sort of growth is, it's just not sustainable as far as, I mean it gets to a point, like you said, the critical mass. So do you kind of predict the trend of review growth is going to continue year over year? Jason Lee: I think so. Um, you take a site like Google where Google was really inconsequential in hospitality, uh, in inside of especially hotel reviews.

In this episode of Suite Spot, we tackle the trending topic of vanity websites in the hotel industry. TMG Website Analyst Stephanie Courtois joins Host Ryan Embree to share best practices on how to create and optimize the perfect hotel vanity website for your property. Stephanie and Ryan cover important steps for building a hotel vanity website, from picking a URL to ensuring the site is responsive and ADA compliant. Stephanie also discusses why it is critical for hoteliers to have vanity websites for their properties. Stephanie concludes the interview by offering tips to hoteliers on how to leverage website analytics and how she shows ROI to her customers. To learn more information about creating a hotel vanity website for your property or to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455.   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. Ryan Embree: Okay. Hello, and welcome everyone to another exciting episode of the Suite Spot. I am your host, Ryan Embree and today we have a very special edition of the Suite Spot and personally very excited to welcome in our guest today. Now if you're a current website customer of Travel Media Group and are partnering with us, then her voice will sound very familiar to you and that is Ms. Stephanie Courtois and she is our Webmaster. Is that correct? Stephanie C.: Yeah, I'd say so. I've heard that term used. I don't mind it. Ryan Embree: So Stephanie, you pretty much handle everything that has to do with our hotel partners' websites, and we've been wanting to get you on the Suite Spot to really kind of talk through your process with hoteliers when they start creating a website, you know, maybe some dos and don'ts, best practices and kind of your process when it comes to just vanity websites overall and what you do to optimize them. Now for those listeners that don't know, Stephanie, I thought what we could do off the beginning, uh, to welcome you to the show is kind of get a better sense of your background at Travel Media Group and really just the history of your professional experience. Stephanie C.:Yeah, absolutely. So I actually started on the advertising side in content creation and branding. So that's really kind of where I got an interest in just communications and just digital marketing in general. So with my bachelor's I got in advertising. I kind of use that mindset to go start at Travel Media Group on our product team, and I was a product administrator. So essentially I had hands on with all of our digital products, social media, respond and resolve, all of that wonderful stuff, and I was able to be hands on. So I managed account creation and just making sure that everything was done to deadline and helping out where any departments were kind of struggling a little bit. So with that said, I also included websites and I felt a very natural gravitation toward websites. It really spoke to me because I was able to do content, and editing, and design, and just really know good photography and really, um, marinating all of the elements into a position. And I eventually moved into that role. So now I am a Webmaster, as Ryan likes to say. And I manage all of our Travel Media Group websites and really get to dive into each property and I get to learn more about each hotel. Ryan Embree: Awesome. So I thought again, what would be valuable for our listeners to hear is maybe kind of the process, uh, the first maybe couple things that happen when it comes to creating websites. So let's say I'm a hotelier, I've signed up with Travel Media Group to build my perfect vanity website, and I give you and your team a call.

In this episode of Suite Spot, we discuss the growing trend of going green in the hotel industry. Priscilla Osorio, Marketing Content Manager at Travel Media Group, joins host Ryan Embree to give advice to hoteliers on how to implement sustainable initiatives at your property without breaking the bank.   A recent Lodging Survey conducted by the AHLA, American Hotel and Lodging Association, in partnership with STR reports indicated that one of the most popular trends among travelers were green initiatives at hotels. In this Suite Spot episode, Ryan and Priscilla brainstorm several ideas for hoteliers looking to get started with green initiatives at their hotels, but might not have the budget to invest in major renovations. From starting a recycling program to selling reusable water bottles and straws to guests, this episode serves as a great beginner’s guide to going green. If you have some innovative ways that your hotel is going green we would love to hear from you. You can also submit a question by calling or texting 407-984-7455.   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. Ryan Embree: All right. Hello and welcome everyone to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embry. We've got a great episode for you today and in today we're going to start with the, What's News. Before I kind of introduced the topic, we're going to talk about a AHLA survey that was recently conducted partnering with STR, which the, the content and data and analytics was just released in March of 2019. And in the survey, just really gathered some analytics and data in the hospitality sector and was talking about how hotels are advancing guest experiences and some of the top hotel industry trends. And as you can imagine, one of the hot topics was trying to focus efforts on getting millennials. Oh, I'm sure we've all heard that from time to time how important that segment is and trying to convert them. Ryan Embree: But today we're actually going to talk about another topic that was brought up and that is going green. And it's an incredibly popular trend. In fact, it was pretty astonishing stat here as of 2018 25% of all U.S. Properties, so a quarter of all U.S. properties had received green certification, which is the gold standard of hotel sustainability. Now to put that in perspective, in 2016 this percentage was only at 16% almost 10% higher and just a span of two years. So hoteliers are starting to understand the importance, brands are starting to understand the importance of this going-green trend and customers are starting to appreciate that. And from this data we're going to look at some more statistics within the Suite Spot here, but we're really going to focus on maybe not so much for the hotelier that has enough capital to go ahead and redo their entire hotel and is sustainable or greenway or if you're familiar with lead certification, this is maybe for the hotelier that's just looking to put some new initiatives, almost like a beginner's guide to going green tips and best practices for hoteliers. Ryan Embree: With me today, I thought we would bring in Priscilla Osorio who recently wrote a blog article in the Travel Media Group blog, which is titled Promoting Healthy Lifestyles at Your Hotel. And I thought this would be a perfect transition into this kind of going green, a topic that we have for today. So first and foremost, I want to welcome Priscilla to the podcast once again. Priscilla Osorio: Thanks, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Tell me a little bit about this blog article, some of the ideas, and maybe we can go back and forth on some best practices for this kind of ...

In this episode of Suite Spot, we speak to the unbelievable prosperity that the hotel industry is currently experiencing while preparing hoteliers for a time where revenue growth might slow. Host Ryan Embree teams up with Director of Marketing Anne Sandoval to brainstorm ideas and ways to reach new guest segments to insulate your revenue from an economic slowdown. Ryan and Anne share advice on how to identify the best opportunities within your guest/audience portfolio and how you can capitalize on those opportunities by leveraging your property’s amenities, features, and location. They also look at cost-effective ways to use digital platforms like social media and review sites to target the ideal market segment for your hotel. If you are interested in receiving a digital consultation for your hotel or to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. 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. Ryan Embree: Thank you for listening to another episode of the Suite Spot. I'm very excited about this episode today. I think it comes at just the right time when we're talking about diversifying the type of guests that your hotel is attracting. And we're going to start in the, What's News from a recently released CBRE report talking about the industry and how it's going to be performing within the next couple of years. Now of course this is just a forecast, but like we've been hearing over the past couple of years, life is good right now in the hotel industry. rev par is up, you know, we had that uh, amazing streak of rev par growth and CBRE is kind of echoing that in this report stating that they found in 2019 they're predicting a 2.5% increase in rev par with an additional 2% increase in 2020. Now, however, in 2021 they're actually projecting a slight decline to rev par of 0.6%. So you know what I wanted to really get through and, and this is kind of what we've been hearing, we've been kind of hearing this trend of cautious optimism for hoteliers. Ryan Embree: We're in a, we're in a time period right now of extreme growth of rev par growth, you know, revenues and all time high for most hoteliers, but they keep having that cautious optimism idea in our head of, you know, "this is great, but there's going to be a point where this, this train kind of stops" and what we're going to discuss today is really setting you up for that, right? We're in this time period right now of a lot of revenue growth. But what happens if all of a sudden we do hit that blip, you know, whether it be in 2021 whether it be next year, this year, are you prepared for it? So we felt that it was necessary to do a episode like this. You know, right in the heart of this rev-par growth to really prepare yourself for when that, that rev par decrease might happen. Ryan Embree: So in saying that with me, who better to talk about how to market to new guests than our own, uh, Director of Marketing at Travel Media Group Anne Sandoval. So welcome in Anne. Anne Sandoval: Thanks for having me Ryan. Ryan Embree: Like I said at the very beginning of this episode, very excited to kind of talk about this topic because you know, when, when I was in my past role as a digital specialist, you know, I would talk to a lot of hoteliers, you know, they would have a really great sense of where their occupancy was coming from. A majority of their occupancy. You know, I'd talked to a hotelier and they say, "listen, I've got about 80 to 90% of my occupancy coming from oil and gas workers" and I would always present to them that idea of, "okay, well what happens if that occupancy all of a sudden diminished or di...

In this episode of Suite Spot, we discuss one of the fastest growing and most popular social media platforms in 2019, Instagram. On the heels of another exciting innovation from Travel Media Group’s product development team, we introduce the addition of Instagram for hoteliers as a part of our social media solution. Host, Ryan Embree, is joined by Jason Lee to talk about how hoteliers can leverage and implement Instagram into their digital marketing strategy. Jason shares what type of content should be shared by hoteliers on their business accounts and how to use the Instagram analytics to sharpen their efforts. Ryan and Jason also share their thoughts on influencer marketing and whether it is a good fit for hotels. If you are looking to learn more information about creating an Instagram for your hotel or want to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. 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. Ryan Embree: Okay, hello and welcome to another addition and episode of the Suite Spot. And today we are going to be diving into Instagram. You've heard us talk on this podcast a lot about tons of social media solutions for hoteliers, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, but we really haven't explored in that much depth about Instagram. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to really talk about this because it's one of the fastest growing social media platforms out there and businesses are starting to leverage that they're, they're figuring out how to leverage that. And today I am joined by Jason Lee who is a huge proponent of Instagram for hoteliers. And uh, most recently we have actually launched, Instagram for hoteliers as a part of our social media solutions. Is that correct? Jason Lee: That is correct. Yeah. We, um, now have the ability to post directly to Instagram through our console as well as pickup all of the properties, Instagram posts that they're posting on their own that other people are posting on their page or, or mentioning them. And then also all of the analytics that go along with that, putting comments that come in from that. And actually recently as today, we were actually pulling video, so video actually into the console as well. So really exciting. Ryan Embree: That's awesome. Congratulations to you and your team. You guys have really been busy with, you know, the new launch of custom social and then adding this to kind of that social media arsenal for hoteliers is really going to take it to the next level. So that kind of transitions me into my first question. Why Instagram? Why did you feel like Instagram was necessary? Jason Lee: I mean it's really an obvious next step in the evolution of our platform because it is influencing travelers. And so that's really what we look at. What's influencing travelers? What's influencing people to, to take trips? What's influencing people while they're on a trip? And when you look at Instagram and it hits all of those things straight on, including, um, a little bit of a younger set as well. I think the social media platforms are constantly evolving. And you look at Facebook now, and I think I've said this before, maybe even on this show, but I feel like Facebook has almost a utility, you know, it's like a place where there's news and there's a place where their people are posting. There's still a massive amount of people on it. But in terms of personal engagement or entertainment inspiration, I think Instagram is coming out up front. What's interesting too also I think is that Facebook maybe has a little bit of a black eye because of some of the things that have happened from priva...

On this special edition of Suite Spot, we host our first remote guest Pat Kobela, Regional Director of Sales at Chartwell Hotels. Ryan Embree interviews Pat as she shares some insights and best practices from her years of experience in the hotel industry. Ryan and Pat trade thoughts on what makes a successful sales and marketing strategy in 2019 and Pat gives advice on what has made her so successful in her role at Chartwell Hotels. This episode covers everything from renovations to social media and serves as a great marketing guide for hoteliers. To get more information about becoming a special guest on the Suite Spot or to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. 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. Thank you everyone for listening to the Suite Spot. Today we have a very special episode on the Suite Spot. We're actually going to be joined by a special guest Pat Kobela who is the regional director of sales at Chartwell Hotels and she is one of our very first guests that's not with us in studio. So we're super excited to be doing this with her and want to thank you, Pat for joining us today. Pat Kobela: Thank you Ryan. I'm excited about this also. Ryan Embree: Great. So, um, just for a little bit of background. Let's start by letting our listeners to know kind of what your experiences in the hotel industry. Pat Kobela: Okay, sure. So, um, I have been in various facets of the overall tourism industry for the past probably 30 years. Even during college I was a flight attendant for a private company, then went on to travel agency work and went into hotels. Both, some back of the house operations, front line sales, front office management, that kind of stuff. And (I) really expanded there with my connections and ended up doing some tourism publishing, advertising, again also in the tourism end of the industry, and then ultimately owning my own business for advertising, AD agency type of work and, ultimately becoming a consultant in, um, for hotels and the tourism industry. So, and now I'm currently with Chartwell Hotels and the regional director is a fairly new position, um, for the nine hotels. So that's growing and we're expanding from there. Ryan Embree: That's awesome Pat. And I'm sure a lot of that experience has served you well in the position, you know at every facet and kind of a corner of the travel industry, you know, from your early stages of starting as a travel agent to, you know, the advertising and marketing side. And with that, you've brought a lot of fresh perspective and ideas that you've shared actually with myself and our director of marketing without kind of giving away, uh, you know, all your secrets. You know, I would know we've talked about some unique and creative ideas you've worked with even with the CVBs (Convention and Visitors Bureau). Um, could you share some of those ideas? Pat Kobela: Sure. So, um, I have always been a really big proponent of CVBs, or DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations), TPAs (Tourism Promotion Agencies) sometimes they're called just different variations of CVB in different areas because they really are the force behind bringing awareness to a local region. And what's all in that region, and how they want to bring that to the general public, and maybe even some specific market segments. And they're very key. And that, and, and unfortunately, there are many communities that don't even understand what a CVB does unless maybe you're in a metropolitan area where they're constantly bringing in, you know, huge conferences, and big events, and tournaments and such. But, you know,

In this episode of Suite Spot, we explore the exciting, recent announcement of Travel Media Group’s newest solution: Custom Social. Joey Schuster, Product Development Manager, joins host Ryan Embree to share all the exciting features and benefits of this new solution. Ryan and Joey discuss the benefits of having a social media strategy in 2019 and how publishing unique, creative posts specific to your hotel helps drive community growth and traveler engagement. Joey shares the recent successes of Custom Social and what separates Travel Media Group’s custom social solution from others. Travel Media Group is the best fit for hoteliers looking to run successful, revenue generating social media campaigns. If you are looking to learn more information about our new custom social solution or want to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. 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, Ryan Embree: If you can believe it, we are already at episode number 20 of the Suite Spot, and I want to first thank everyone for taking the time to listen. We've got a great episode for you today. Um, it's been a while since we've talked about social media, but it's one of the things here at Travel Media Group that we are digital experts in and we love to talk about with our hoteliers because we know the importance of it. With that being said, we've got a really special guest with us. He is our product development manager at Travel Media Group for both social media and websites solutions for our hotel partners. And that is Mr. Joey Schuster. Joey Schuster: Thanks for having me. Ryan Embree: Well I wanted to first get started Joey, uh, by asking, you know, from a product development manager having something like social media for hotels. I'm sure you get asked all the time cause I know I do one more out and about at conferences and tech shows. Social media has been constantly changing with new apps coming on Facebook, new analytics, Um, and then we're even talking about, things in the news with privacy. So why is it important for hoteliers in 2019 to keep providing unique and creative posts and utilizing social media? Joey Schuster: Um, I mean I think it's really because, you know, you have to be, you have to be unique because of the unique audience of people that are visiting your site. So, um, you know, you just have so many, so many different people from different walks of life that have different sense of humors or different backgrounds. And being able to kind of, you know, hopefully tap into all of those different groups, that's, that's what makes, um, social media I think so powerful is just that it is, it's such a massive amount of people that are using it. It's such a diverse group of people using it. Um, and then the creative side, you know, to be unique and creative. The creative side is, is just because is probably the other side of it is because so many people are using it. I mean, people are so desensitized to something that's creative and unique at this point. Joey Schuster: I mean, you think about the people that are coming up with, with, um, with unique ideas, it becomes more and more difficult because of so many people doing such a great job. You look at somebody like Wendy's and Wendy's does a phenomenal job with their social media, um, because they really did come up with a unique kind of creative way of engaging with their customers. Um, and then you can, you can see the impact that that has on their business. It's, it's phenomenal. You know, the upside to the creative side, I think of it is that, um, you know, you get a lot of chances.

In this episode of Suite Spot, we go behind the scenes with the client support department at Travel Media Group. Host Ryan Embree visits with Aislynn Roberts, Client Support Team Lead, to discuss all the vital work that she and the client support team do to help enhance the digital programs of our hotel partners. Ryan interviews Aislynn about the team’s role in onboarding, engagement, and facilitating Travel Media Group partners to ensure optimization of their solutions. Aislynn also offers several best practices and tips on how to get the most out of your digital marketing solutions and even shares some of her favorite success stories throughout the years. To get in touch with your hotel’s client support specialist or to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. 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. Ryan Embree: All right. Hello, and welcome everyone. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is Episode 19, and we have a very unique special edition episode of Suite Spot today. As you know, at Travel Media Group, we are at the forefront of all things digital marketing for hotels. We attend the leading hotel industry conferences across the nation and we also provide Digital Marketing Solutions. And one of the unique aspects of the solutions that we provide is actually our Client Support Team, and today we're going to get a behind the scenes look at that Client Support service and team, and with that being said, I will welcome in the Client Support Team Lead Ms. Aislynn Roberts. Good morning, Aislynn. How are you? Aislynn Roberts: Good Morning Ryan. I'm good. I'm glad to be here. Ryan Embree: Oh, happy to have you. Like I said, it's a super exciting episode to kind of see the back end of what we do for our hotel partners out there and we have a lot of listeners that are currently partnering with us with our hotel marketing solutions. Uh, let's just start kind of by talking about your professional experience and journey within Travel Media Group. Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, absolutely. So I've been with Travel Media Group for over five years now, and I actually was one of the first specialists, um, to start the Client Support Team. I've had the pleasure of being part of the company and this incredible team as we continue to lead the industry in marketing solutions for hotels. Through this time I've had the honor of working with over 400 hotels utilizing our services and been a part of over five launches as we expand our digital solutions. Because of my hand on experience with many hotels, I moved into a lead role where I continue to work closely with hoteliers and their services and programs with us. But I also work very closely with a team of specialists as we continue to support hoteliers. Ryan Embree: That's amazing. So you've really been here through a lot of evolutions of our solutions as well as kind of the way that we interact with our hoteliers, the way that we interact with our partners. Just so our listeners can kind of get to know you a little bit better. What, what would you say the favorite part of your current position is? Aislynn Roberts: Honestly, my favorite thing about being part of the Client Support Team are the daily conversations with hotels and hoteliers in the management team. Um, there's really nothing better about a conversation with a hotelier than when they actually reach out to you, whether it's via call or email and they're just thanking you for assisting them and really helping them to understand this digital world. It's still very unknown to a lot of consumers and business own...

In this episode of Suite Spot, we combat one of the biggest problems facing hoteliers in 2019: recruiting and hiring quality hotel employees. In the What’s News segment, host Ryan Embree, shares some recent unemployment statistics as well as a survey of what experts in the hospitality industry feel the hotel industry needs to do to attract future employees. With historically low unemployment and an industry known for high turnover, hoteliers need to be more innovative than ever in their recruiting and hiring efforts. In the Suite Spot, Ryan shares some creative, cost-effective solutions to finding and retaining top hotel talent. If you have any feedback or tips on successful hiring practices at your hotel we would love to hear from you. You can reach us by either calling or texting us at 407-984-7455 or email us at [email protected]. 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. Ryan Embree: Hello, and welcome to all of our listeners out there. This is Ryan Embree the host of Suite Spot. Got another great and exciting episode of Suite Spot coming to you live from our Travel Media Group headquarters in Maitland, Florida. And, I am especially excited to be talking about this topic today because as hospitality experts, we travel nationwide to all of the top conferences to really dissect and examine, you know, "what are the hot topics going on in the hotel industry right now?" What's, what are going to be those trends that are going to be at the top of mind of hoteliers, so that we can do our best to facilitate you and helping you out with some of these topics. So the one topic that kept coming up, every single conference that we would attend is that of employment. So this episode today is going to be focused all around employment. Ryan Embree: How do we attract hospitality and hotel talent and not only attract them to our hotel, but how do we keep them. As we know the hotel industry is notorious for very low retention, lot of fast changing movements within, within our employees, jumping from hotel to hotel. So how do we right now in a time where unemployment is, is at a historical low, how can we keep that talent and how can we keep attracting to our talent pool to help better our business? So speaking of the employment rate, as of December 2018, the unemployment rate is down to 3.9 percent, so under 4 percent. So what is that telling employees of your hotel? Well, it's saying that there are probably a lot of employers out there that are looking for hospitality talent. So if they're not happy in their current position, they can easily switch to the next. Ryan Embree: So in our What's News today we're going to look at a survey that was done by the International Society of Hospitality Consultants and they asked more than 200 experienced hospitality professional worldwide asking what businesses in the industry need to do to attract future employees. Ryan Embree: Now, the first as you would have expected is compensation, and that was that was the top answer from those surveyed. Just under 45 percent compensation came in as the number one thing that businesses have to do in the industry to attract future employees, but they also had some other answers here within that survey that were a little surprising. Ryan Embree: Number two, not too far down at 30 percent was career advancement, benefits, flexibility, training, recruitment. These were the other answers that those that being surveyed were saying that attracts future employees. So what we're going to focus on today is for those hoteliers who might not have the wiggle room to give more compensation and they h...

In this episode of Suite Spot, we welcome in 2019 with several new year reputation resolutions for hoteliers. Ryan counts down the top 5 ways to make sure that your reputation strategy is off to a fast start and sets you up for success throughout the rest of the year. From top to bottom, these resolutions cover all things reputation, from recognizing which online reviews sites are at risk, to responding to every review. This list is a great way to kick off the new year for your hotel. We would love to hear your feedback on our list and what your 2019 reputation resolutions are. You can reach us by either calling or texting us at 407-984-7455 or email us at [email protected]. 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. Ryan Embree: Okay. Hello and welcome everyone. Thank you for listening, wherever you are out there. My name is Ryan Embree, and I am the host of Suite Spot. We kicked off 2019 with our last episode, but we are still here at the beginning of the year, and today we are going to be talking about new year reputation resolutions, so we recognize right now this is the time of the year where hoteliers are gearing up for a full fiscal year. They're setting some goals in place. They've got some ADR goals that they're looking to hit for maybe this year. They're trying to set themselves up for success around the spring and summer times when they get a little bit busier. So we want to make sure you're getting off on the right foot out there by given a list of the top five new year reputation resolutions, and we start our list at number one. Ryan Embree: We would challenge you to really find and recognize your high-risk areas online that have lower review scores than you're wanting. And, the first way that you can really go about doing this is googling your property in several different ways. Using your city name, using your state, leaving your state out, those are all going to procure very different, uh, Google searches and results. This is what your travelers are doing on an everyday basis when they're trying to find out more information about your property. Once you do that, you can create a list of review sites that you're seeing right there on the first page or even the second page that might be high-risk areas. These are sites that might have a little bit lower review scores, than you necessarily want and could be impacting traveler conversion rate. Ryan Embree: From there, we're going to move on to number two in our lists, which is set smart goals when it comes to those high-risk online reputation sites and attribute them with ratings and numbers of reviews. So when we talk about smart goals, we talk about, again, specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic timely goals for individual review sites. So as you start googling your property, you see where travelers might be being drawn or attracted to a competitor. Start to come up with some realistic goals for where you want to end 2019. I would encourage you go even back as far as all of 2018 and start counting the amount of reviews that you get. Quantity as we know we talked about is one of the things that TripAdvisor uses an algorithm for ranking. We also want to set expectations as far as the scores that you want to be receiving. Ryan Embree: I would also encourage you as a best practice is share those with guests. When you're talking to your guests that check out, instead of just hearing someone say, "you know, I had a really great time at your property" and your staff just kind of responding in that, "Oh, if you did, please leave us a review." How about targeting and directing those reviews to a ...