Priced at just $499 per month, the Marriott services include fully managed weekly postings on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter along with responding to all TripAdvisor guest reviews 7 days a week.

“As we continue to partner with full-service Marriott properties, it became evident to us that we needed to also have solutions for Marriott’s smaller select-service properties,” said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive’s Founder, President, and CEO. “Our fully managed social media marketing program ensures that even the smallest of properties has a social media presence and consistently responds to TripAdvisor guest reviews to ensure they meet Marriott’s brand-compliance policies.”

The commingle:engage Marriott Hotels package starts at just $499 per month and includes:

• Facebook weekly posting
• Instagram weekly posting
• Twitter weekly posting
• Responding to all TripAdvisor guest reviews 7 days a week
• Property management approvals for social media posts and guest review responses
• Comprehensive monthly reporting

In addition, commingle:engage ensures each property meets the Marriott Hotels published guidelines for responding to guest reviews posted on TripAdvisor, 7 days a week.

Since 2001 Lodging Interactive has been a leading provider of digital marketing services to the hospitality industry. Lodging Interactive is the parent company of commingle:engage, the Company’s social media marketing and reputation management division which serves hundreds of hotels, restaurants, spas and management companies worldwide. The Company recently launched the world’s first Facebook Messenger based RFPAssist Group Lead Sales System designed to drive hotel group and event business.

“While our price point has been dramatically reduced for Marriott properties, the value we offer and the level of service, experience, and know-how remains very high,” said Vallauri. “commingle:engage has always been the leader in hospitality social media marketing and guest reputation and this holds true with our new Marriott Hotels services.”

About Lodging Interactive & commingle:engage
Since 2001 Lodging Interactive has been a leading provider of digital marketing services to the hospitality industry. Lodging Interactive is the parent company of commingle:engage , the Company’s social media marketing and reputation management division which serves hundreds of
hotels, restaurants, spas and management companies worldwide.

The Company recently launched the world’s first Facebook Messenger based RFPAssist Group Lead Sales System designed to drive hotel group and event business.

Lodging Interactive is an HSMAI Adrian Award winner and has won awards from the International Academy of Visual Arts, Interactive Media Awards, Horizon Interactive Awards, Web Marketing Association, Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, and Travel Weekly’s Magellan Awards have recognized Lodging Interactive as an industry leader.

The Company’s Founder, President & CEO, DJ Vallauri, formerly served on the Board of Directors of HSMAI’s New York Chapter and is a Forbes.com

For more information, please contact sales@lodginginteractive.com, 877-291-4411 or visit the company’s website.

Does your company have news it would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your press release for publishing consideration.

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Priced at just $499 per month, the Hilton Hotels brand-compliant services include fully managed weekly postings on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter along with responding to all TripAdvisor guest reviews 7 days a week.

“We challenged ourselves to create a new commingle:engage social media and reputation management service that would check all the boxes when it came to Hilton Hotels’ own property recommendations,” said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive’s Founder, President, and CEO. “And while coming up with the Hilton Hotels’ compliant services was the easy part, we needed to make it cost-effective for the properties and profitable for us. I’m happy to say we have achieved the vision in making commingle:engage a true win-win for all Hilton Hotels, regardless of their size.”

The commingle:engage Hilton Hotels package starts at just $499 per month and includes:

• Facebook weekly posting
• Instagram weekly posting
• Twitter weekly posting
• Responding to all TripAdvisor guest reviews 7 days a week
• Property management approvals for social media posts and guest review responses
• Comprehensive monthly reporting, and
• 100% brand-compliance.

In addition, commingle:engage ensures each property exceeds the Hilton Hotels published guidelines for property social media marketing and guest reputation management.

Since 2001 Lodging Interactive has been a leading provider of digital marketing services to the hospitality industry. Lodging Interactive is the parent company of commingle:engage, the Company’s social media marketing and reputation management division which serves hundreds of hotels, restaurants, spas and management companies worldwide. The Company recently launched the world’s first Facebook Messenger based RFPAssist Group Lead Sales System designed to drive hotel group and event business.

“While our price point has been dramatically reduced for Hilton properties, the value we offer and the level of service, experience, and know-how remains very high,” said Vallauri. “commingle:engage has always been the leader in hospitality social media marketing and guest reputation and this holds true with our new Hilton Hotels services.”

Does your company have news it would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your press release for publishing consideration.

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This all comes down to the Facebook algorithm, which decides which content will gain the most visibility in users’ newsfeeds. And there is a silver lining here: Facebook marketing is still a good investment for businesses, and knowing how to work with the algorithm can help you gain more visibility and connect with potential, current, and past guests on the platform.

The algorithm is updated relatively frequently as Facebook continually strives to find new ways to show more relevant, engaging content to the users who want to see it. To help you increase your visibility and results, let’s take a look at the Facebook algorithm in 2020 and how hotels and resorts can get the most out of it. 

Facebook’s Algorithm: What it Is and What It Means for You 

Facebook’s algorithm is made up of a complex series of calculations, and it was developed to determine what content users want to see most so that they could see it at the top of their feeds.

We don’t know exactly what those calculations are, but we know that there are a few key factors that heavily influence what kind of priority you may get in the algorithm. 

What Factors Influence the Algorithm? 

The biggest factor is easily your engagement rate on the current and past posts. Think about how you’re practically guaranteed to see an engagement post or a new baby announcement in your personal feed; it’s because people keep commenting and liking, telling Facebook that more people will want to see this. 

The concept is the same for the videos you’re sharing of the new wing of your resort, or the post you created detailing summer activities at your hotel. When Facebook sees that a certain post is getting likes, comments, and shares, they’ll see that it’s relevant to your audience, and increase its visibility. 

As an added bonus, if your resort’s Page has a history of creating high-engaging content, more people will be likely to see your content moving forward, too. They use past engagement as a predictive measure to assess how people may receive your content in the future. 

In addition to engagement rate, there are a few other big factors that impact how you’ll do with the algorithm:

• Whatever else has recently been posted. Unfortunately, we can’t control anything else happening on the platform, but it can impact our ranking. You might have a killer post that still doesn’t gain the top newsfeed spot because a competitor just happened to drop a major announcement or go live at the same time. 
• Signals that indicate what each post is about. Facebook tries to show each user relevant content based on what they’ve interacted with in the past. 
• Specific engagement signals that indicate relevance. “Passive” signals include viewing a video, and are valued less than “active” signals, like commenting, sharing, or reacting. Active signals hold more weight in the algorithm. 
• How likely each individual user is to have a positive reaction to your post. Positive is the key phrase here, because while there’s a lot of hostility floating around on the platform, that’s not what they’re trying to promote. They’ve been clear about trying to promote “meaningful” conversation and connections. 
• Originality. Facebook wants to see original, interesting content. New posts will be prioritized more than outbound links or shares of someone else’s content.
• Indications of spam. Facebook is learning to recognize spam and clickbait, and is working to bury it in the feed. 

Facebook’s algorithm automatically looks at all of these factors at once every time you post, and figures out where to place it for each individual follower that you have. 

What About Video? 

In addition to standard posts, Facebook also has an algorithm for video ranking, which takes into account additional metrics that aren’t available with standard posts. 

In addition to the criteria we looked at above, videos are also ranked on the following:

• Repeat viewers. This is called “loyalty and intent” by Facebook, and the idea is that if you keep viewers coming back, you’re doing something right. You’ll be rewarded with higher video rankings in the algorithm accordingly.
• View durations. If you’re able to hold a viewer’s attention for a little while, Facebook takes that as a good sign. The longer people watch your video, the better. Videos need to be a minute long to be able to take advantage of this, and Facebook recommends using videos at least three minutes long, though it’s common to struggle to maintain viewer retention long enough with videos three minutes or more.

Just like with non-video posts, original content will gain the highest priority in the algorithm. 

Tips for Hotels & Resorts to Gain Priority in Facebook’s Algorithm in 2020 

All of this information is great to have on a theoretical level just so you can understand what’s happening, but it’s also essential to know exactly what you can do strategically to get the results you’re looking for.

Let’s look at a few ways that you can reliably increase your standing in Facebook’s algorithm in 2020. 

Focus On Engagement-Oriented Posts 

When you’re creating your content calendar for Facebook, think about what kinds of posts will be best at driving engagement. Focus on starting conversations, because this is what Facebook will reward the most.

In the example above, Hilton intentionally asks followers what beach destinations they’d be visiting this year. The post is one of the more high-engaging on their page, and received a ton of comments. People love to share, so asking a question is a great way to drive engagement. 

Go Live More Often  

Facebook Lives receive significantly more engagement than almost all other types of content, including other video. Because they’re broadcasting in real-time, there’s also an urgency that Facebook values. 

Try to go live on Facebook every so often. You can host a Q&A session, or share breaking news about renovations, winter specials, and more. You can also give a live tour of the property or an event happening within the resort. 

Create Valuable Content that Benefits Your Audience 

Value will always get users’ attention, so creating content that’s valuable on Facebook is a great way to keep people engaged and interested in your content.

Quality over quantity is absolutely the case here. You can create roundups of things to do in cities near your hotel or resort (like the example below), share tips about how to find the best prices on rental cars or plane tickets, and make videos discussing packing lists and travel safety tips. All of these will be appreciated by most potential guests who may travel on their way to you. 

Look at Top Performing Content From Competitors 

If you need a little inspiration for top-performing content that your guests and followers will love, take a look at what your competition is doing. Seeing their strategies being played out can give you new ideas. 

You can do this manually, but it’s also useful to use a competitor research tool. In the example below, SEMrush’s Social Media Tracker shows the top performing posts and engagement rates for Hilton and some of their top competitors. Look for trends in what’s doing well and what isn’t, and emulate those top-performing posts and strategies for your own campaigns. 

DJ Vallauri is President and Founder of Lodging Interactive, a full-service digital marketing, social media engagement and reputation management agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. The Company provides cost-effective Internet marketing services to hundreds of branded and independent properties as well as management companies, restaurants, and spas. commingle:engage, the company’s social media and reputation management division, has established itself as the premier provider of reputation management services for the hospitality industry.  The Company recently launched the world’s first Facebook Messenger based RFPAssist Group Lead Sales System designed to drive hotel group and event business. Lodging Interactive is an HSMAI Adrian Award winner and has won awards from the International Academy of Visual Arts, Interactive Media Awards, Horizon Interactive Awards, Web Marketing Association, Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, and Travel Weekly’s Magellan Awards have recognized Lodging Interactive as an industry leader.

Are you an industry thought leader with a point of view on hotel technology that you would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your article for publishing consideration.

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Hospitality digital marketing and social media engagement agency Lodging Interactive has launched its RFPAssist Group Lead Sales System. An industry first, RFPAssist combines Facebook Messenger marketing automation with 24/7 customer service agents. This combination enables hotel sales managers to capture group and event leads 24/7 and to book more group business.

“RFPAssist is an evolutionary sales system for the hospitality industry that enables properties to ‘service’ inbound group leads 24/7 and 365,” said DJ Vallauri, Founder & CEO of Lodging Interactive and commingle:engage. “Let’s face it, we are all part of the ‘Want it Now Generation’ and no one wants to wait for anything, especially hotel wedding sales brochures or catering menus. Now with RFPAssist, group prospects can receive hotel sales kit documents immediately delivered to their mobile devices, on demand and on their time, not the hotel’s time. The results are more group leads and more closed business,” added Vallauri.

The RFPAssist Group Lead Sales System was developed on the Facebook Messenger platform, which currently has 1.3 Billion active monthly users and growing. Facebook’s intention of merging Instagram Direct Messaging and its WhatsApp messaging platforms into Messenger in the first quarter 2020, will increase the total Messenger user base to 4 Billion monthly active users.

“Statista recently reported there are 4.3 Billion people on the Internet and with Facebook Messenger soon able to reach 4 Billion people, it made sense for us to build RFPAssist on the Facebook Messenger platform,” stated Vallauri. “Nearly everyone on the planet will have access to the RFPAssist Group Lead Sales System and our hotel clients will gain a huge competitive edge and will close more group business.”

Integrated into RFPAssist is a customer support messaging center, staffed by live chat agents ready to assist group prospects 24/7. The RFPAssist customer support agents can share additional group and event planning documents as well as escalate special requirements to the property sales teams.

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“We continue to invest heavily in ‘best-in-class’ technology platforms and partners that enable our clients and team members to remain at the forefront of social media marketing and engagement,” said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive’s Founder & CEO. “After a lengthy evaluation and consideration process, our team decided Sprout Social offered an exceptional social media engagement, publishing, analytics, listening and reporting solution to provide our clients with the competitive edge they require.”

The Sprout Social platform enables the company to efficiently create content, schedule posts, size images, and engage with followers. The platform is equipped to accommodate every large social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. 

Headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, Lodging Interactive is a full-service digital marketing, social media engagement and reputation management agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. The company provides cost-effective Internet marketing services to hundreds of branded and independent properties as well as management companies, restaurants, and spas.  

Lodging Interactive is an HSMAI Adrian Award winner and has won awards from the International Academy of Visual Arts, Interactive Media Awards, Horizon Interactive Awards, Web Marketing Association, Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, and Travel Weekly’s Magellan Awards have recognized Lodging Interactive as an industry leader.  

commingle:engage, the company’s social media and reputation management division, has established itself as the largest provider of reputation management services for the hospitality industry, handling over 200,000 guest review responses annually.  

Does your company have news it would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your press release for publishing consideration.

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Hotel digital marketing and social media engagement agency Lodging Interactive has announced the rollout of its commingle:engage bi-weekly podcast. The podcast episodes cover the latest changes and updates announced on social media and what they mean for hotels and resorts.

“The world of social media continues to evolve and as it does it presents many opportunities and implications for hotels and resorts,” stated DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive’s Founder & CEO. “We wanted to create a new way to keep hoteliers informed and educated on the latest social media marketing news, and do so in short 3-5 minute audio clips.”

The podcast is recorded via Anchor every two weeks and is published on all major Podcast networks including Spotify and Apple’s Podcast network. The podcast summarizes the major points from the Company’s bi-weekly social media newsletter What Just Happened in Social Media and What it Means for Your Hotel. Click here to listen and to subscribe to the commingle:engage bi-weekly podcast to ensure you receive notifications when new episodes are published.

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Business-2-Consumer (B2C) communications continue to evolve and spread globally. Today’s always-on generation expects near-instantaneous communications with businesses and long gone are the days where businesses require consumers to fill out an online email form only to receive a reply in 24-48 hours. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter continue to invest heavily in building out their consumer messaging platforms and capabilities.

Mark Zuckerberg announced at Facebook’s recent F8 developer’s conference that they intend to launch a re-imagined Facebook platform in Q1 of 2020. The new Facebook platform will become more of a “town hall” for open and public communications while it plans to further its development of a private and fully encrypted messaging platform for consumers. Facebook will let users chat across Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp in a completely interoperable manner. Dubbed a “SuperApp,” the Messenger platform will enable over 4 billion consumers to communicate freely and privately with each other as well as businesses, such as hotels.

Messenger and it’s privacy-focused vision for social media must be embraced by every hotelier and is where conversational marketing can provide the marketing edge to win.

Here’s the good news. As an industry-focused around being hospitable and being service-oriented, the hospitality industry already has the right mindset. The industry, after all, is built on creating memorable guest experiences and achieving service levels that encourage guests to write positive reviews regarding their stays. Hoteliers are wired to be of service to their guests.

Now for the bad news. Super Apps such as Messenger will force hoteliers to go beyond the status quo and to allocate internal resources to efficiently engage with a very demanding new generation of consumers, the “I want it now” generation. Direct messages sent to a hotel’s Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp account will need to be responded too in near real-time and at any time, 24/7/365. But it’s not just about responding to inquiring consumers who want your engagement on their time, this all presents a conversational marketing opportunity for hotels.

One-on-one Messenger conversations should not only be considered as a new way to deliver customer service and to differentiate properties from their competitive sets, but rather as a way to deploy conversational marketing. Building relationships, one-on-one with the ultimate goal of building customer loyalty and growing future business.

Through conversational marketing, specific customer engagement and messaging should be captured, in real-time, and databased into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system enabling future marketing opportunities. Future Messenger marketing programs, SMS/Text and, yes, email marketing all present the basis for conversational marketing and new revenue generation opportunities for hoteliers. Conversational marketing leverages the human engagement elements, through Messenger, new and traditional marketing automation platforms resulting in loyalty-building opportunities. And as all marketers know, loyalty equates to future business on the books.

Questions every hotelier should begin to ask:

• Is my hotel ready to handle the increasing amount of direct messaging?
• Will my hotel have a budget to hire staff we will need for after-hours and weekend coverage?
• Will we have in-house skills to deploy Messenger and SMS/Text marketing programs?
• How will we track the ROI of our conversational marketing efforts?
• Will my competitors have the resources to leverage conversational marketing and steal my market share?

DJ Vallauri is President and Founder of Lodging Interactive, a full-service digital marketing, social media engagement and reputation management agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. The Company provides cost-effective Internet marketing services to hundreds of branded and independent properties as well as management companies, restaurants, and spas. commingle:engage, the company’s social media and reputation management division, has established itself as the largest provider of reputation management services for the hospitality industry, handling over 200,000 guest review responses annually.

 

Are you an industry thought leader with a point of view on hotel technology that you would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your article for publishing consideration.

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