2nd half of Final Exam

Final Exam Article-Conversations with Customers

1. What is meant by social sharing sites, link to 2 examples

Social Sharing site is an interactive site where users: individuals, organisations can share with their experience, ideas, news, photos.

For example

http://www.myspace.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

http://youtube.com/

2. How does social sharing influence consumers' choices, link to 1 article to suuport your assessment

It goes without saying that today consumers search not only for the interesting price but also for the best experince. And social sharing site is the best means to respond to their needs. But according to the following article http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/travel/08prac.html there are two sides of social sharing

• either it brings new clients
• or a headache

Before complaints about dirty showers or threadbare sheets typically went to hotels directly and discreetly in the form of comment cards, phone calls or e-mail messages. But as review sites have become more popular, customer feedback that was once viewed only by a hotel’s staff is increasingly being posted online for all to see, enabling guests to share their praise or air their gripes publicly. Because of the importance consumers attach to guest reviews, some hotels have gone to great lengths to boost their ratings. Some encourage guests to write flattering reviews; some even submit phony write-ups or hire outside companies that specialize in online reputation management to monitor and respond to comments. So, in any way it is up to the hotel to react in this or that way to guests' comments

3. How hoteliers can best utilize social sharing trends to communicate with customers. Link to 2 examples

I think that creation of a blog will be an interesting idea. The purpose of this blog will be to give a forum to interact with other clients of the same hotel and with the general manager. http://www.blogs.marriott.com/

or

having guests' comments online is another way for social communication with the hotel http://www.eldoradoreno.com/hotel/guest-reviews.aspx

4. What is your opinion ... can hotels effectively establish an online conversation with customers? Yes, why ... no, why not?

To my point of thinking the hotels do have establish an online conversation with customers because as more travelers post detailed comments on everything from room service to décor, hotels will have the chance to look at their postings as market-research tools — sources of new ideas, feedback on new concepts and even promotional material.