Sleeping with strangers for a hotel discount?

Sleeping with strangers could easily be a title for a thriller. But in that case, instead of fear, this might bring a little happiness, especially for those who love a good bargain. 

In the latest sharing economy trend, this website has been created for travelers who don’t mind sleeping with strangers to save a few dollars. 

One room, two beds

The premise: given that hotels and resorts charge guests per room and night, Easynest allows solo travelers to shack up with fellow lodgers so that everyone can slash their hotel bill in half “…and make new friends.”

After signing up with Easynest, users link their profile with social networking accounts such as Facebook and Twitter for virtual introductions. The more complete and fleshed-out the profile, the more likely guests will send requests.

After listing the hotel with dates and location, fellow users with similar travel itineraries can peruse the site and contact hosts.

The concept behind Easynest isn’t far behind that of Couchsurfing, where homeowners open up their living rooms, guest rooms and couches to strangers. But for some (or many) going to a strangers house might be too much. For those, Easynest is a good compromise. 

Looking for a companion to keep you company for part or all of your trip? TravBuddy is another site that pairs up open-minded, adventurous solo travelers with likeminded holidaymakers.

So, do you think hotels will like that? On one hand, they could be selling "half" the rooms, but on the other hand, they might have guests that weren't going to the hotel in the first place... 

Too old for a hostel, too cheap for a hotel? This could be the solution...

Let us know what you think!

@TaciOneGlobe

Hospitality Now - Ministry of Ideas at Le Miami = visionary + courageous

Collectives of diverse hospitality innovators may replace traditional industry organizations...at least it feels that way at Le Miami. 

The founders' vision  =

The contemporary definition of luxury isn’t about money. It’s about creating an inimitable experience based on style, space, wellbeing, content, design, authenticity, storytelling, urbanity and innovation. The future belongs to the pioneers with the capacity and bravery to act on this cultural shift first. Our purpose is to identify and unite them.

An excellent conversation starter presented by Seth Godin - key take away - average is a race to the bottom.

Absolutely worth the viewing time.

Seth Godin at LE Miami's Ministry of Ideas from LE Miami on Vimeo.

LinkedIn University Pages helps you choose a school

Going through thousands of brochures to choose a school is not easy. They all show the same thing: everybody happy, with their books under a beautiful tree... C'mon, we all know what really matter when choosing a college: PARTIES! Ok, just kidding. Although parties are important, what really matters in a school is what you are going to do after it. Where are you going to work, what are your chances to succeed and which fields of study each school has as a strong point.

Thinking about that, LinkedIn announced last Monday, August 19,  the global launch of the University Pages, a service with pages of universities around the world that aims to help users decide which college to attend. The profile of universities will be more than just a page with institutional information and news. Universities will be able to ask questions and get to know the future students (and vice versa).

The tool also will provide easy info through various filters and statistics collected from the data of former students of these institutions that have a LinkedIn profile.

The blue bars indicate in which field or in which company the
former students are working in.

Within the pages of each university it will be possible to see what kind of leaders the school "creates", see which institutions are more focused on which goal (for example: universities with economics courses more focused on the financial market), contact with students and alumni for more information and filter results by location, company, industry and lknow which skills the former students have acquired throughout their professional careers.

The page also displays the profile of successful alumni in the institution (did you know that Eric Shuster, founder of Intel went to the University of Phoenix?), the user's friends who graduated at the site and a list of schools with similar profiles worldwide. The search also helps find people who studied in the same university in the same period from the user and shows indicators on where the majority lives and works today. Almost creepy right?

Because of this, LinkedIn is preparing a change in its terms of use. From September 12, the social network will allow people from 13 years to build their profile on the site - until then the use was restricted to people over 18 years - so they can use the service on the years before actually going to the University.

See the video published by LinkedIn with some tips.

By @TaciOneGlobe - follow me!

Great Use of #Pinterest for #Hospitality

If you are a hotelier and wondering how to use Pinterest to enhance your digital marketing strategy and create a real community here is a great campaign for inspiration. 

Entitled pin.pack.go by Four Seasons this great use of Pinterest allows visitors to:

1. Post images related to their interests during their travels

2. Tell Four Seasons which hotel the visitor will stay in 

3. Follow and Be Followed by Four Seasons 

4. Collaborate with the Brand and receive "not-in-the-guide-books" tips

The benefits are double. The hotel chain is actively gaining followers on social platforms, building a large community, but also creating a real, non-virtual relationship which, of course, builds customer loyalty. 

For the visitor, the traveller will benefit from a customized visit and local tips and guidance (which are priceless) before, during and after the stay...

For more information visit the Four Seasons Magazine!

Optimizing Your #App Recommendations

On vacation in #London?#ChevalResidences recommends this #app if you like secret places! http://t.co/Uhmrz5QFia pic.twitter.com/7dsBFGMIKz
— Cheval Residences (@Cheval_London) August 8, 2013

The world's first Twitter themed hotel is in Spain! ¡Vámonos!

"Oh, when I go on vacation I like to turn off my phone and forget about the rest of the world"...... YEAH RIGHT! Who are we kidding? When on vacation, we are more connected then ever, after all, we have to make our friends who are working jealous, with endless pictures of our huge drinks, pool parties and awesome beaches. All with hashtags obviously: #bestsummerever #iknowyouhateme #imsexyandiknowit

Thinking about this new trend, the Meliá Hotels International, Spain's leading hotel chain, has launched a new program that transformed their innovative hotel Sol Wave House (@SolWaveHouse) in the first "Twitter Experience Hotel" in the world.

What will customers find with this Twitter Experience Hotel? The hotel offers an exclusive app, through which one can see who is online, exchange private messages, see where are other people and send 'virtual kisses'. This virtual community, available only through the hotel's wi-fi, is called #SocialWave, which each guest can access from their mobile phone or other electronic devices, checking in with your Twitter account.

The hotel has two Twitter Concierges, dedicated exclusively to meet guest requests and generate conversation via Twitter with this virtual community, acting as a link between all clients. This way guests can chat, get to know each other, and stay on top of all the events, participate, share photos, etc. Every part of the hotel is designed for guests to get engaged in a new conversation.

You can also invite other to the pool parties with the hashtag #TwitterPoolParty, where you can drink cocktails inspired by Twitter (they are mainly blue) and, for example, ask to refill the minibar writing #FillMyFridge.

In addition, the hotel has created the new #TwitterPartySuites, spacious apartments for up to 4 people. Customers of these suites can enjoy a bottle of sparkling wine, sports drinks, special service on their arrival, 20% discount on all bars and restaurants in the leisure area of ​​the Wave House, VIP network, personalized minibar, and free drinks at the #TwitterParties, which are held every Friday at the hotel.

The hotel made a video that explain in a few seconds the experience. Warning: you'll probably want to quit your job and go. #dontquityourjob

Any other ideas on how to use twitter to make guests experience unforgettable?

@TaciOneGlobe

Why a mobile site is essential for a hotel?

Latest news! Internet sites that are not mobile-friendly will get a lower ranking in Google search. With mobile exploding, you have to pay attention to mobile traffic and your site performance on mobile phones. Mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common web access device worldwide by the end of 2014. About 40% of the people who have a mobile phone use it for going online, and half of them will go online at least once every day. This presents a huge opportunity for a hotel.

According to Oneglobe Network research, around 30 % of visitors access the site from a mobile (iPhone) or a Tablet (iPad). The research was based on data from Google Analytics for main clients' accounts, mostly 4* and 5* independents hotels. 

For example in case of Le General hotel in Paris, out of around 3500 visits a month, 730 visits come from mobile devices. If a hotel's site is not mobilized and / or online booking engine is not mobile-friendly, a hotel is losing potential online reservations.

It was recently estimated that mobile traffic will be as high as 36% of all Internet global traffic by 2016. And compared to this time last year, mobile traffic is up 131% in a single year. So how can we make the most out of mobile site? Here area the basic guidelines for mobile-optimized websites.  Based on usability testing of hundreds of sites, the main guidelines for mobile-optimized websites are clear. The basic ideas for mobile site are:

Cut features to eliminate things that are not core, Minimize text entry; Defer secondary information to secondary pages;

Design for touchscreen users: enlarge interface elements to accommodate the "fat finger" problem.

Single column layouts work best

Take advantage of inbuilt functionality and call to action, calls directly, maps, QR codes.





 According to MillWardBrown survey results, speed and display constitute the top criteria for what makes a good mobile website. The results are based on responses from more than 6,000 interviews across 18 different countries.

Nearly two-thirds (64 %) of survey respondents indicated site load time was the most important aspect of a mobile site. Clear display on the mobile device (53 %) and the site’s accessibility via mobile search (47%) were also cited as important factors.

Results show mobile’s advantages over regular desktop sites. In fact, 32 % of respondents desire mobile sites that are easier to use than desktop sites. Other factors that make a mobile site superior to desktop include offering different features (25%), visual appeal (24%), and location-based features (23%).

Just as mobile web users are different, most mobile-specific search engines (such as Google Mobile) are also built in different ways. Mobile SEO exists on a different plain to desktop SEO. Sure, keywords are critical - search engines will always operate on the stuff that's fed into them - but other, newer dimensions such as location, device types and content formats are more critical to and indicative of the mobile web experience, and search engines are beginning to figuring out how best to harness them. The table on the next slide illustrates some of these differences most mobile searches are GEO focused, that is why it is crucial to orient the SEO strategy around Location keywords.

Sources:
goo.gl/7G2oB
http://goo.gl/CA8wS

http://goo.gl/N51Uh
http://goo.gl/O5uhh