Say Cheese! How To Make Your Hotel Stand Out With Photography

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You’ve probably been there before. Confidently taking photo after photo thinking you’re a pretty good photographer only to have the final image look like your phone’s camera lens had been coated in Vaseline.

Unfortunately for hotel professionals, bad smartphone photography can not only lead to social media embarrassment, but it can hurt business. An unprofessional photo can influence what potential guests think about your hotel. No, one bad Instagram post won’t tank your occupancy rate, but knowing how to take a professional quality picture with your phone is a must-have skill for the modern hotelier.

So follow these 4 tips to make your smartphone photography a bit more professional.

1. Lighting

Nothing beats natural lighting, period. Obviously lighting conditions won’t always be perfect, but take advantage when they are. Try to use natural daylight whenever  you can, and be sure to take advantage of the golden hour, a time of the day when pretty much whatever photos you take outside will look great!

Indoor photography gets trickier because of the lack of natural lighting. When shooting indoors be aware of lighting and try to only photograph well-lit areas of your hotel. There’s no real short cut to dealing with low-light situations outside of buying professional lighting equipment, so your best bet is to try and avoid it all together.

2. Composition is Key

Composition can make a pen look artsy (especially an awesome Renaissance Hotel pen). The top image is taken at eye-level from a desk. The image on the bottom was taken standing above the subject. Though the image on top isn’t bad, the bottom one simply looks better. Getting images from different vantage points can make your photos stand out from the pack.

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The “Rule of Thirds” is another useful composition trick. Those gridlines on your photo screen are there to help. Try lining up the horizon with one of the horizontal lines. As for the vertical lines, match one of them up with the focal point of your photo. In the images below taken at The Georgian Terrace Hotel in Atlanta the chandelier is the focal point. On the top image it is centered, and on the bottom  it is matched to the right vertical gridline. It’s not a dramatic change but it does encourage the viewer to spend more time exploring the photo, rather than scanning the center and moving on.

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3. Using Instagram Filters

Instagram now offers over 40 different filter options. It can be overwhelming choosing when to use one and which to use.  To make things easier, you can select the order in which the filters appear in your app and how many are displayed in your editing screen. This can be changed by scrolling to the far right of your filters and clicking “Manage.” Put your favorites at the beginning so they’re easily accessible.

Another useful Instagram trick is adjusting intensity. You can adjust the intensity of a filter on Instagram. After selecting your desired filter, tap it again to change the intensity. Dialing down the filter can do wonders, making them less dramatic and more aesthetically pleasing.

Here’s another look at the pumpkin and pen again. The top image is #NoFilter while the bottom has a dialed back Mayfair filter and the difference is clear.

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Want to learn a little more about filters? Here’s a fun piece from Huffington Post on the topic.

4. Showcase Your Different and Better 

This might seem obvious, but if you’ve got it… flaunt it! It’s easy to overlook a jaw-dropping chandelier, sleek architecture or newly renovated front desk when you see it every day. Don’t forget to appreciate and show off these visually appealing details of your hotel.

Be sure to post the things that make your location unique, hip or eye-catching. If you show potential guests something that catches their attention they just might have to check it out by checking-in in person.

The image below, taken at Residence Inn Boston Harbor shows off their one-of-a-kind event space; a pier on Tudor Wharf.

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So there you have it! Here’s hoping these tips help. Thanks for reading, and be sure to stop back every week for a new blog!

Today’s article was brought to you with energy inspired by Starbucks. Grande Americano, two sugars, and a splash of cream. The Holiday cups are out, and marketers love great marketing.

Until next week, stay well.

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HOW TO DELIGHT GUESTS DURING THE HOLIDAYS

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Even though it’s already December, there are still a few things you can do to ensure that guests have a memorable holiday experience at your hotel. Here are some easy-to-implement projects that will make your property holiday ready.

Holiday Cards

Holiday cards are something everyone can relate with. Emailing guests a well made e-card is a great way to spread holiday cheer and add a human touch to your brand identity.

While e-cards are the best way to reach past and potential guests, printed cards are a better way to reach current ones. Though it’s a little more work, having a hand written card waiting for guests in their room upon check-in will go a long way in how they remember their stay.

Here’s an example of a holiday e-card from St. Giles Hotel.

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Seasonal Sips

Providing seasonal beverages like hot-cocoa and egg-nog in the lobby is a great way to add a festive touch to your hotel. You can also add hot cocoa to in-room drink options along with the complementary coffee that’s usually available.

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Festive Social Media

Add some holiday cheer to your social media presence. Make your Facebook and Twitter pages a little more festive by creating a custom header image or profile picture.

This header image for the Hyatt Regency Chicago promotes their New Year’s Eve event while giving the whole page a seasonal feel.

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Gifts That Keep On Giving

There’s something magical about unwrapping a gift. It doesn’t matter what the gift is, the mystery and process of tearing through wrapping paper creates a special moment. Create a little magic for guests by giving them a small wrapped gift! Chocolates work great for this idea.

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Seasonal Attractions Web Page

We recently came across a cool idea from MilesStone Internet’s blog. They advocated creating a seasonal web page that directs guests to the best holiday attractions and events nearby. This sounds especially useful considering the fact that holiday shopping is such a stressful thing for some people. Having an idea of the best shopping destinations is a tip plenty of holiday travelers will appreciate.

Give Back

Everyone’s a bit more generous during the holidays. Helping to facilitate charity is a great way to bring the holiday spirit to your property and get guests excited about the season.

A great example of this idea is the 12 Days of Comfort, Joy and Cheer Promotion that the Hotel 1000 in Washington did a few years ago. There are a number of boutique shopping areas near the hotel that donate a portion of their proceeds to charity during the holidays. Hotel 1000 encouraged guests to shop at these locations by entering them in a prize drawing if they did.

If you need help with any of these holiday projects, especially e-cards or social media, be sure to contact us! 

HOSPITALITY ON DISPLAY IN THE BIG APPLE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM HX AND BOUTIQUE DESIGN NEW YORK

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Earlier this week we got to check out the cutting edge of the hospitality world when we visited HX: The Hotel Experience (formerly known as IHMRS) as well as Boutique Design New York. These co-located trade shows were a great source of industry trends, up and coming ideas and fascinating conversations about what hospitality can be.

So if you weren’t able to go this year, or are just curious about the shows, here are some highlights from our experience:

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We were definitely impressed with the overall creativity on display this year. As marketers we don’t deal with room set up, but seeing what design elements are popular for rooms right now was inspiring and gave us some ideas to use in our creative process.

 

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Okay, it’s a little nerdy but speaking of creativity, we appreciated the Star Wars homage represented at the Innovative Carpets booth!

Lights! Lights! Lights!

A hotel room’s look consists of hundreds of different pieces including wall color, flooring, furniture and even linens. Every part of a room influences the feeling you get when you step into it. One piece of room aesthetics that was prominently featured this year was lighting.

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Lighting and color play a huge role in the design of indoor space.

 

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This booth specialized in chandeliers and offered a number of creative designs for all ranges of hotel styles and audiences.

 

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This chandelier in particular stood out. It’s easy to miss at first but if you look closely you’ll see that it actually uses musical instruments as housing for the light bulbs. We can easily see this type of design incorporated into a musically themed boutique hotel or hotspot in a musical city like Nashville.

Design Goes Green

There was a noticeable trend of green design at BDNY and HX. Not only green in the sense of incorporating energy savings and eco-friendly elements but also green meaning that it of took inspiration from the appearance of nature.

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This display was an example of a floral and nature inspired design combined with modern sensibilities.

 

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“Garden on the Wall” took the idea of green design a step further by offering a product that used real plants to serve as wall covering. It’s easy to imagine this being used in a hotel lobby, smoothie bar or fitness center. The nice part about it was that due to the design and types of plants used “Garden on the Wall” doesn’t require any maintenance.  Though the plants are real they are not living but actually preserved through a special process.

 

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Beyond Booths

Besides the trade show floors, educational and speaker sessions were a valuable part of BDNY and HX as well.

HXtechThe session pictured above was a speech about hotel branding by Erich Joachimsthaler, founder of Vivaldi Partners. His main point was that hotel brands fall somewhere within three characteristics; self expression, self reward and authenticity, and that hoteliers must only focus on two of them to be effective.

 

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From a visual and creative perspective we can’t ignore the building that the shows were hosted in. The Javits Convention Center itself was a beautiful example of modern design and just being in the place seemed to help put us in a mood for innovative thinking.

The hospitality world is headed in a great direction! The combination of culture, technology and innovation present at BDNY and HX this year proves that the industry is moving in an interesting direction. We can’t wait to see what the exciting trends will be next year.

What are your thoughts on HX and Boutique Design New York? Leave us a comment in our comments section below!

 

BACK TO SCHOOL: A MARKETING 101 REFRESHER FOR HOSPITALITY PROS (PART 4/4)

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With September over, it’s time to wrap up our Back-to-School blog series. Over the last month, we’ve been posting about concepts commonly taught in marketing classes that have real-world marketing applications.

Our final post in the series is about IMC or Integrated Marketing Communications, something that’s used in just about every modern marketing strategy.

IMC Defined

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The American Marketing Association defines IMC as the following:

A planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.

The key takeaway from this definition are the words “relevant and consistent.” The reason that phrase is so important is because it lays the groundwork for reinforcement. IMC is useful because it creates a marketing situation where brand messages reinforce each other.

Hotel Example

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Let’s say you’re an independent luxury hotel with limited marketing materials, but you’re looking to expand your marketing efforts. Here’s how you would apply IMC to make sure your marketing efforts were as effective as possible.

What’s your brand message? 
You’d start by identifying your brand messaging. Do you have a logo, word mark, or other branding tools? Are you using a specific color scheme? What about messaging; what tagline, phrase or attitude are you trying to convey? The most important part of this stage of the process is to make clear decisions about your brand message. You can’t be conflicted or unsure about a logo or color scheme.

Is your brand message being applied properly?
Once you’ve decided on a clear brand message and know how to communicate it, make sure that it’s being applied across all of your marketing materials. Review not only your current marketing materials but anywhere where customers have an opportunity to interact with your brand.

Think about all the times a guest can interact with your brand during their stay.

There are plenty of opportunities to reinforce your brand over the course of a guest’s stay.

Some lesser used areas where an  IMC approach can be applied: 
Presentation Slides – Consistent template for power points that reflect color scheme logo branding.

Social Media Photographs –  Original images can include a subtle logo in the corner, often images get shared so much on social media that the original source is forgotten. Adding a logo can solve this problem, the same goes for infographics.

Hashtags – Make a hashtag that works with your branding. For example, W hotels uses the catchphrase “whatever-whenever” which they recently incorporated into a photo contest on their twitter account by prompting guests to take pictures and tag them with #posewhenever

Answering the Phone- Another favorite of W-Hotels is to use their catchphrase when answering the phone, “This the W-Hotel New York, where it’s whatever whenever.” While this tactic can be easily overused, W-Hotels pulls it off well.

That’s it. Implementing IMC is really just about those two stages – First, identifying or creating your brand message, and second applying that message. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Just remember that the more consistent and clear your messaging the easier it will be to apply.

Hope you learned something! Be sure to check out our entire “Back to School” Blog Series

Part 1: Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning

Part 2: Unique Selling Proposition

Part 3: The 4 PS 

 

BACK TO SCHOOL: A MARKETING 101 REFRESHER FOR HOSPITALITY PROS (PART 3/4)

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As part of our back-to-school September blogging series, here’s another lesson that’s worth taking from the classroom to the workplace.

Today’s lesson is about the infamous 4 P’s of marketing, also known as the marketing mix. It’s a useful way to think of your marketing campaign in a more comprehensive way.

The 4 Ps a.k.a. “the Marketing Mix”

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The 4 Ps of marketing are something every marketing student has had to memorize at one point in their academic career. In no particular order the 4 Ps are as follows: Product, Price Place and Promotion.

While it’s easy to get caught up in the “promotion” side of marketing, the 4Ps help you keep everything else in view. Product, price and place are all-important aspects of a marketing strategy as well and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Hospitality Example

For a hotel, walking through the 4Ps is a great way to make sure all your bases are covered in terms of marketing strategy. Here’s an example to help you get a feel for how this framework could be applied to a real world hotel marketing scenario.

You’re the general manager of an independent, boutique hotel in Chicago. When thinking about your marketing strategy you might jump to questions like “Do we have rack cards? Are our brochures up to date, what does our website look like?” But that line of thinking only deals with the “promotion” part of marketing. Marketing is about everything that influences how a guest feels about your hotel. The 4Ps help you get back on track and understand the bigger picture.

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The 4 Ps Applied

Alright, let’s go step-by-step and apply the 4Ps to our example hotel.

Product – What are you selling? Can it be better? What type of consumer does it appeal to?

Our product is a boutique hotel in Chicago. To think about this as a marketer, you’d ask questions like: Can anything about our product be changed to appeal more effectively to our audience? Are our rooms and guest experience consistent with what we’re portraying in promotional material? Does our brand and positioning make sense for our target market?

Place – Actually refers to “distribution” but “3 Ps and a D” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “the 4 Ps”. Place is about how the consumer actually gets your product. What channels are involved, is there a middleman or distributor etc. ?

Though we can’t change our “place”, it’s important to think about the role that location plays in our marketing strategy. What attractions are nearby? Is our property easy to access? Involving location in the marketing process can help us develop a more effective marketing plan that uses location to our advantage.

Price – What’s the price range? does it make sense for the target market we are trying to attract?

As revenue managers and GMs know, pricing strategy is critical to a hotel’s profitability. There are a lot of complexities to pricing, but as it relates to marketing, the biggest concern is its relationship to positioning.

As a boutique property, are we positioning ourselves as a more interesting alternative to a standard franchise hotel, or are we sending a message of bespoke luxury? Pricing should be consistent with whatever position we’re trying to get across. Too high and we’ll alienate a lot of potential customers but too cheap and we could damage our perceived value. Again, this is a simplified pricing model for a hotel, but the overall message is this: price and marketing are linked.

Promotion – This one is pretty self-explanatory and is what most people think of when they hear the term“marketing.”

How do our guests find out about the hotel? Are we advertising, using direct marketing, social media or some other promotional tool? Are our promotional tools effective or should we adopt a different tactic?

The big takeaway with the 4ps is awareness, it’s having an understanding of all of the parts of your product that could potentially create value for a customer. Understanding how all of the pieces fit together will help you make more intelligent decisions when it comes to overall marketing strategy.

 

Hope you learned something! Be sure to check out parts 1 and 2 if you haven’t already! And stay tuned for part 4.