2nd part of the final exam

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

Social sharing site is a website where users can share information: photos, videos, blogs, anything that is related to the social life.

For example: videos at http://www.ulinkx.com/ news at http://news.myspace.com/

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

~http://www.atelier.fr/medias-loisirs/internet,fait,pas,disparaitre,lien,social,donne,individus,possibilite,maitriser,davantage-34238-30.html:

It is said that consumers act whenever they want, they have the power to decide what and when to watch something, what to share with others...The videos/comments provide a more dynamic image for a brand or a product. It offers the control to consumers and also the freedom of the social sharing. Consumers that can interact with others on a product will believe what they say instead of believing what the advert said.

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

A hotel works differently than other companies.

It already utilises the social sharing trends to communicate with customers: the guests when going to holidays, post pictures and videos on their blogs to share their trips. But to improve that, they should post their guests comments online: http://www.smalleleganthotels.com/guestfeedback.html http://www.ramadachicagohotel.com/guestfeedback.html

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

I think it is effective and but there are still some improvements to do

Reseller Site to present our hotel online

Team working with Aminata Yameogo : http://amina-cmh4.blogspot.com/ Please check on amina's blog

Criteria to choose a 3rd party site

Group work: Navine Chhuon and Olga Smuniova http://smuniova.blogspot.com/

For a luxurious hotel we would choose (for example Le Murano) http://www.travel-selection.fr/ Because:

• There are 6 languages available
• Micro site of the Splendia site http://www.splendia.com/pagefiltre.php?searchlist_id=253&critereSearch=Country&arrivee=&depart=
• They propose luxurious service
• Good image for our hotel
• Prices are updated daily by the hotels we work with. We benefit from rates aligned with those of their competitors
• Easy to reach because they appear on the first page of "hotels Paris" on Google
• Good presentation of the website
• Many hotels of our range

Comment on article

Hospitality Design Group Expands Magazine to Asia Pacific & Middle East

http://smuniova.blogspot.com/

Olga describes perfectly the needs from the market of the launching a new magazine 'Hospitality Design – Asia Pacific & Middle East'. It can also be a good source of information for all the people working in the hospitality industry. They can be aware of new trends and events.

Weekly posting March 30th

Kempinski to manage luxury trains

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4030774.html

This article deals with the cooperation with the Kempinski group and the Tangula luxury train company. It reveals that this train company will totally be under the management of the Kempinski group which is a luxurious German hotel chain.

It is a very good strategy for this train company to be managed by a luxurious hotel group to gain notoriety and give good quality of services. It can be a good asset to this train company to compete with the famous Orient Express train which does not offer these journeys.

Buzz+viral+mobile

Buzz and viral marketing can be used on hotels: 1) on youtube by creating a video to describe the hotel 2) screen savers and font screens on computers and on mobile phones 3) send MMS with the city's most important events, restaurants, 4) service by SMS and MMS from the hotel: the guest sends messages to an appropriate service to know an itinary or a restaurant or other information and gets a precise answer from the hotel.

3rd Party Sites

Group work: Navine Chhuon and Olga Smuniova

http://smuniova.blogspot.com/

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