The Blogger and Hotel Promotion

The posts I’ve been writing since 2005 (in my personal blog) are enough to fill a very extensive notebook of blogs, where I could share many things, including the fact that I suddenly can’t find a clear topic to talk about!

When that happens sometimes I step back and reread many of the fantastic posts by my colleague Bernat Comas. At times I just let myself go and share small notes about things I’ve seen here and there, which may lend themselves to comment, whether they concern news, curiosities or a link to an idea for something you might want to develop in your hotel.

When I worked at Spanair (its sad end penalty still pains me), one of the things that we had to strictly follow was that when a new route opened, we had to set up a Famtrip with travel agents from certain agencies (sales, all in the name of sales!) and I was in charge of finding a hotel to accommodate them.

Wandering around the Net I came upon this title, “My Asia Gardens Experience,” and straightaway the familiarization trips sprung to mind.

The issue is clear. Newly opened hotel contacts (maybe the hotel press office is an intermediary) certain bloggers; in my case because Spanair was chosen for BSP (Billing and Settlement Plan) sales. In the case of the blogger, it would depend on selection criteria – visits, design, content, and those invited spend a royal weekend. I extract a taste from Macarena, one of the participating bloggers in this story:

“The two days spent in Asia Gardens were a real treat from the first moment to the last. My room was such that if you could you would live there forever; a tub for 10, a beautiful terrace with garden, the Benidorm skyline and the sea at my feet… I am still licking my lips recalling the delicacies we dined on at the restaurants Kohsamui, Palapa and In Black and I still levitate at the memory of the relaxing Nuad Thai massage with its subsequent jasmine tea next to the swimming pool, or a meditation session with which we concluded a visit that recharged my batteries with a positive energy that still lasts… But if there is one thing that really sent me for a loop about this hotel it was the incredible tropical garden with more than 300 species (many of them of Asian origin) and their endless swimming pools overlooking the bay… There are even some heated to maintain their temperature between 28 and 30 degrees so that guests can enjoy a nice bath with views whatever the time of the year. What bliss!”

In this case we changed travel agents for bloggers but the intention is clear: to spread the word about the hotel!  The blogger phenomenon, the good and evil use of which could account for a thousand details, but this is not the moment. In the case of fashion bloggers, it is also if I might say “supercool,” because it seems that they are protagonists in the brand boom, and each will reflect their experiences in their own blogs.

In this case “word of mouth” is written “forever yours.”

What I bring today is as an example how the old patterns of rewarding buyers for their purchases is adapted to the era of the “social network” boom, where you trade sales for online visibility and word of mouth works with a little know-how. I leave you the hotel website, which in the end, more importantly, involves Barceló.

Although everything has been invented, it adapts to changes as is the case with the steady growth of social networks.

Be ready for the new trend: BLOGGER + HOTEL, and while concluding this post I find on Twitter the hashtag #gcwellnesstrip, a group of bloggers that came to Gran Canaria to relax at the Gloria Palace Amadores and from the little I’ve looked into more are sure to come.

Images: The images are not ours. They belong to the Web sites mentioned and are subject to their own licensing rules