Social Media in

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT SAAS INFRASTRUCTURE

Overview: Hospitality Industry in India

India has always remained one of the favorite tourist destinations because of its cultural heritage, natural beauty, diversified flora and fauna apart of numerous other advantages it offers to tourists and customers. With a booming economic growth and exploding number of high income working class as well as a surge in the number of foreign tourists visiting India to spend their holidays has opened Pandoras Box for Indian tourism and hospitality Industry. The world trade and tourism council (WTTC) has predicted that the Indian tourism and hospitality industry will grow at a rate of over 10% in coming years and India is poised to receive 25 million tourists by the year 2015. For long term survival, innovative concepts of diversification and catering to the needs and desires of the customers are a very crucial factor. The fierce rivalry among players has led to development of impressive hospitality services and products ranging from golf courses to exotic personal spas and many more. As most of the customers belong to high end strata of the society, internet marketing has become the key marketing mantra for this industry to lure the customers into the spell bound beauty and comfort of the services provided by them. Social media has played a big role in publicity of the products, services and facilities provided by them and thus help the customers have a feel of what they are offering in the most apt way. All the major players in the hospitality industry are active on various social networking sites display their USPs as well as to understand the sentiments and requirements of the customers. The word of mouth publicity on these sites has a viral effect and is considered to be the most reliable and authentic source of information for new and prospective customers looking for excellent facilities for their vacation or outings. The revenue of the Indian hotels and hospitality industries in the financial year 2009-10 was INR 47890 crore despite a sluggish economic condition world over. The average operating expense in the industry is 30% of the revenue making the industry very attractive

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT SAAS INFRASTRUCTURE

Profile of some Major players in Hospitality industry in India

Indian Hotels Company/ TAJ HOTELS, RESORTS and PALACES Founder: TATA GROUP Network: 59 hotels in 40 locations in India, 17 hotels in international locations. Has been at the helm for over 100 years and has a long standing commitment towards providing world class facilities which has earned it name for itself in hospitality industry world over. ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA The group has prominent presence on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. which has enabled it to Facebook: Present since January 2009 Number of likes: 37,449 Twitter: Followers-992 Taj hotels, resorts and palaces use Facebook extensively to highlight the specialty services and facilities targeting at the young customers who use Internet for any kind of information. It posts a large number of pictures displaying the high quality of services provided by them. The pictures display a variety of facilities and services at different location being offered and serve as a great guide for the people who are planning to visit a Taj hotel for the first time. A large number of fans like the posts and also keep commenting on them and this has helped the hospitality major harness the latent market without spending much on marketing related issues. The effect has been reflected in the balance sheet of the company with figures higher than the year before they were active on Facebook.

Comparison of financial condition

350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Gross Rev PBT PAT DIV

2009-10 2010-11

3 Net

Worth

Book Value per share

Source: Annual report 2011 EPS

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT SAAS INFRASTRUCTURE

ITC HOTELS/ SHERATON CORPORATION Founder Group: ITC Network: there are over 10 ITC Sheraton world-class hotels with many more expected to come out soon. Regarded as one of the finest hotels in India and is as known for its hospitality. The logo comprising of folded hands signifies traditional Indian welcome as guests are considered as Gods Athithi devo bhavo. Role of Social media marketing Facebook: on Facebook Twitter: Followers 2,081 Number of likes 23,380 Tweets 5,939

ITC hotels manages its facebook and LinkedIn pages in a very appealing manner with over a thousand photographs and also information about various packages for its customers in order to lure customers into the wonderful world of luxury and comforts. A large number of fans following both on Facebook and LinkedIn with comments and tweets serve as a catalyst to their marketing strategies without much expenditure and helps in broadening the customer base.

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT SAAS INFRASTRUCTURE

EIH LTD. Founder Group: THE OBEROI GROUP Network: The group owns more than 20 luxury hotels in India with operations in other countries too. The group is acclaimed for its excellent service and efficiency not only in India but also the world over with its state of the art facilities. Role of Social media marketing Facebook: On Facebook since Nov 2009 Twitter: Followers 3684 Number of likes - 12652 Tweets - 4520

The Oberoi Hotels and resorts also use facebook and Twitter extensively to promote the high value services and facilities to give the customers a feel of what luxurious time they can have with the efficient service at the EIH hotels.

Comparison of balance sheet

1000 500 0 Operating income PAT PBT
Source: Annual report 2011

2011 2010

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT SAAS INFRASTRUCTURE

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS BROUGHT ABOUT A REVOLUTION

Social media has brought about a profound effect on the marketing strategies of all the players in the hospitality industry in India. A positive change in terms of PAT, net worth and earnings per share has been observed after the two major players in the industry, Taj Group and Oberoi Group, after they became active on social media and the role of social media cannot be ruled out in bringing about the change.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

ONLINE RELATION MANAGEMENT

SOCIAL MEDIA

INNOVATION IN SERVICES

ENHANCED MARKETING OF SERVICES

Almost all first time customers use internet as the most reliable and authentic source of information. The information available on the official sites is compared to the experiences of the customers and their feedback posted on the social networking sites. Most of the customers are more influenced by the information on these sites than those available in the form of advertisements and promotions. Thus online relation management becomes very important aspect of marketing for this industry. The feedback and suggestions made to the hospitality service providers helps them understand their customer in a better way and bring about changes and innovations in their service more effectively and easily. Handling of negative feedbacks and controlling them also becomes easy for them by the use of online relation management through social media. This saves huge amount of money spent on advertising and marketing and thus helps in reducing the operating expenses. Practically all the issues related to marketing and customer relationship management can be handled in much more cost effective and efficient by use of social media. Not only this, the social media can also help in understanding the strategies of the competitors so as to adapt and change accordingly. Thus social media can become a major tool for playing the hardball game

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT SAAS INFRASTRUCTURE

Contact us: Email: support@simplify360.com Phone (US): 512-539-0360 Phone (India) : +91 80 40971130 Follow us on Twitter @simplify360 Like us on Facebook fb/simplify360