1. Trends Report #2
Sam Herrmann
Danielle Goodfellow
Brenna Herzog
HT-344
Hospitalit and Tourism Marketing and Sales

2. Section 1
Customer feedback is one way business can be informed on how well their business is
progressing. Feedback can be about a product, the cleanliness of the store, customer service, or any
other characteristics of the company. Reactions from customers can help management resolve
problems they may have not realized were there. There are many types of feedback strategies that
companies may use. In the past, comment cards were often left in the stores to allow the customer
to write about their experience. Some comment cards are blank, and others ask questions on how
their service was. Phone calls are another type of feedback that was used in many businesses. It
takes time and effort for a customer to call companies and speak to a representative. When that
does happen, usually the comment is very good or very bad. Spoken work is a common feedback for
business in everyday purchases. When a customer is checking out, an employee might ask if they
found everything today or how was their experience in the store. After making purchases online,
companies will often times put a survey at the end for the customer to fill out. Each of these
feedback styles are still used today, but companies have now found new and trending ways to get
feedback that is more reliable and easier for the customer. Social Media is the latest and most
efficient way to get feedback from customers. Being able to track this sort of feedback is much
easier. Customers can shared these comments with friends. Customers that use social media, have a
better chance of getting customers “true feeling”, meaning that they won’t be afraid to say what
they really feel.
The power of perceptions in shaping customer satisfaction rules our beliefs and actions.
Value in perception relates to things like distinctivedeliberations, considerations, a thoughtful and
modifiedapproach, and many other refinements that can lead the company to believe they’re
getting more than what they are disbursing. Active quality in perception can help reimburse for any
openings in value in detail that could then bother or embarrass customers.
You don’t exactly want angry customers, but you will never have 100 percent customer
satisfaction if you don’t get the truth. Customers that are mad tend to help businesses improve
because they will know what they are doing wrong. Companies can learn from the experience only
to make them better. There are numerous methods to join with unhappy customers in a significant
way. First, hold a meeting in person and show them around the facility and have a venting period.
Also, work fundamentally; host an online section to get feedback from them. Finally, work one-on-
one to comprehend their worries and talkto them independently.
The reputation of a business relies on customer power. Customer power typicallydiscusses
the developingcapability of customers to post material online about their experiences with your
merchandise or service. While consumers have continuously had a restrictedquantity of control
over the success or failure of any industry, internet feedback websites now rapidlyassemble
customers’ thoughts together. These shared opinions can openlychange the probability of new
customers to attempt trying that company. Networking with customers is asignificantcomponent of
organizing a business. Without clients, there is no business. One of the greatesttechniques to uphold
your merchandise or service and grow your consumer base is through promotion. Every business
advertises themself to the community in some sort of way, some companies taking
additionalnoticeablestyles than others. And, a hugesegment of effective advertising starts from
accuratelyreplying to customer feedback and emerging advertising plans that are
impendinghoweversafe.
While social media continues to progress and the utensils used to examine an involved
online public may transform, the standardmodification in customer behaviors is here to stay.
Businessescannot point to a straight financial advantage from its social media, but
businessadministrators see a settlement in two parts that eventuallyinfluenceincomes, customer
satisfaction and brand loyalty. "The utility is not what it does to the bottom line but how it works as
a marketing tool," says Marty St. George, senior vice president of marketing and commercial

3. strategy. "Real-time customerfeedback is a gift."Doing well in social media
entailspermittingcustomerregulator of the note, to a certain extent. Though that is problematic for
manybusinesses, that shouldn’t be a reason to overlook social media says Harteveldt. "Guess what--
your brand is being discussed online anyway," he argues. “Bad messages now have the ability to go
viral to thousands, even millions, of people in cyberspace”.
Section 2
Customer feedback can be very important when it comes to social media. I have found on
securitysales.com that customer feedback can have a very negative effect on businesses. One
woman stated that “Personally, if I have a good or bad experience with a business, I oftentimes will
tweet it or I’ll post it on Facebook. I’ll leave those comments up there for my friends and family to
read,” says Kelly Ahern account executive for Caster Communications. If an individual has negative
feedback on a certain place that negative feedback will spread like wildfire.
LinkedIn is a great way for people to get feedback on job availability. Many people can view and
network with a variety of different companies for future employment. Along with that, LinkedIn can
improve your resume in many different ways. You are able to see who views your LinkedIn account.
Feedback on LinkedIn is mainly for jobs. If a company sees something that they do not approve of
or has negative feedback from viewing your page, you could be in trouble for other jobs to come in
the future.
Millions of people are on Facebook and twitter. With that being said anything you say or put
up on these networks stay forever. If you post an inappropriate picture, it stays on there forever. If
someone else posts a picture of you that gives you a negative image it is in the internet forever.
Many jobs today look on the internet at your Facebook and Twitter before they will hire you. Many
people can lose their job due to negative feedback on their back.
There are some positive sides to feedback on social media. Hotels and Restaurants are able
to market their businesses via Twitter and Facebook. You are able to like a Facebook page. On these
pages they are able to write specials that they are having and market their company so millions of
people can view them. I think this is a great idea. I myself, look at Facebook pages to determine
what place I would like to visit and to get more information on their place. If they don’t have
information I go to one that does have information. I know that I am not alone with that. Many
younger generation people are on Facebook at least 3 times a day, that is enough for many tourism
places to market their businesses.
You are able to market your hospitality business on LinkedIn as well. People are on social
media every single day sometimes multiple times a day. I believe that there is no better way to
market your business over social media. There are many different things you are able to do on
social media with promoting your business. Whether it is showing what kind of specials and deals
are going on, showing pictures of your business, or just posting information of what your business
has to offer. It can all appeal to different people and that is what you have to figure out. LinkedIn is
more of a business hospitality place to have a target market for.
Section 3
1) Potential Effects on the Business Landscape
Customer feedback via social media is a growing trend in hospitality that could have some
very positive effects on the H&T business landscape. The most important impact we see is instant
feedback. No more looking at paper surveys or mail in questionnaires to get a customer’s opinion

4. on their experience. By utilizing social media, an operation can get instant feedback about how a
customer enjoyed their stay, meal, trip, or whatever it is they bought. If a restaurant posts the
evenings specials on their Facebook page, customers will see that and can respond with their
opinions of the dishes, they can say whether or not they would eat them, and could even make a
reservation. A hotel could use twitter to have tech savvy guests tweet their satisfaction level
directly to the hotel instead of posting to a third party review site. Even small things like offering
coupons or a percentage off by checking in on Foursquare or tagging the business in a post or tweet
could be used to promote customer feedback. If customers start using the social media four small
functions like tagging or checking in, they will be more inclined to start heavier use and eventually
become comfortable enough with it to start posting reviews, opinions, and even suggestions.
Another potential effect on the business landscape could be one like Kimpton Hotels and
Restaurants has made. They use social media to take suggestions from customers as to how to
improve their properties. Stacey Ellis, the Senior Director of Public Relations for Kimpton describes
it as a conversational approach in the article, ”Use Twitter, Facebook to Connect With Guests” from
hotelnewsnow.com. Ellis mentioned that they issue fun surveys, such as, “If you could ask for any
amenity in our hotels, what would it be?” or “What new print should we put on our robes?” Doing
surveys like this to promote feedback are a great way to ensure that your guests will be more
satisfied. This is because they feel like they have a say in the stay. When customers get to make
decisions about a property they are staying at, or a restaurant they are eating at, they feel a sense of
ownership and will be happier with the overall experience.
Ellis also describes in the same article how Kimpton takes customer feedback one step
further. They not only post news and ask for suggestions; they ask guests and customers about all
of their travel plans. Restaurants they’ve eaten at, sights they saw, airlines they flew on, etc. They
also post interesting tid-bits about things to do, interesting locales, and current happenings. Ellis
mentions, “Last year, there was an incident at JFK Airport in which airplanes had to wait to take off
because a heard of wild turtles was on the runway.” These kinds of posts and surveys are what
have commanded the attention of Facebookers for Tablet Hotels in New York, a distribution
network for global luxury and boutique hotels. Mark Fedeli in an interview for the same article
described a contest Tablet held in which customers posted unique hotel news and stories for which
fans of the Tablet Facebook page could vote for the winner by ‘liking’ a post. This is just another of
promoting customer feedback. By seeing what customers ‘like’ on a page, you can spot trends in
their wants and needs and create a product or service to fill the void.
2) How will the trend change moving forward?
Only those who refuse to see it won’t, but social media is the future. It is becoming the
primary use of communication for most young people, ourselves not so far in age from those young
people we are referring to. Social media is no longer a trend; it is a way of life. People are addicted
to their technology, they live and die by their email, their phones, tablets, and laptops are their life.
What does this have to do with customer feedback? Hospitality and hospitality related operations
need to realize this to capitalize on it because it is here to stay. The sooner they realize it, the more
efficient they can run. By using even just the two most popular social media mediums right now,
Facebook and Twitter, operations can keep up with exactly what their customers want. Our basic
point is that this trend will change by operations learning to use their social media properly. It is
great for advertisement, yes, but using them to get a sense of their customer base is a fantastic use.
More ways we see this trend growing would be creating social media stations and even small
reminder cards.
We believe social media stations, so to speak, would be a great way to promote customer
feedback. Most lodging properties already have computers that can be used by guests to check
email, print off documents, etc. Having these computers be set up to direct a user to Facebook or

5. even to the hotel specific Facebook page so users can leave comments, tips, suggestions, or anything
else they can think of. This would also eliminate the possibility of the customer not doing it on their
own, forgetting about it after departure, or just choosing to not do it. Hotels could even make trips
to these stations mandatory for a proper checkout. As for restaurants, there could be even a
touchscreen kiosk or single computer at the bar or near the entry where customers could leave
suggestions, comments, complaints, etc.
Another way of doing this that would be less forceful would be reminder cards no bigger
than a business card with the links to the different social media sites. This would be a more
efficient method for restaurants with not a lot of extra space or the budget to have computer
stations.
Danielle Deremo, who was interviewed for our trends assignment on QR codes, not only set
up the QR code program at The Mirage, but she is also a Social Media Chair for the Las Vegas
Interactive Marketing Association. I asked her a few questions regarding customer feedback via
social media and she agrees that this is really no longer a trend, rather a necessity and that the sky
is the limit. This can be used to benefit operations in many different categories such as, “Was your
room ready when you arrived?” to, “Is there anything we can do to make your meal better next
time?”
3) What will be needed to stay ahead of competitors?
To keep the competitive edge will mostly be through promotion. The first step in the whole
process is promotion and that will be how a customer feedback through social media program lives
or dies. Customers can’t do it if they don’t know about it. Informing upon check-in and reminding
during check-out as well as reminders throughout the whole cycle of the customers visit, whether it
is a meal in a restaurant or a week-long stay in a hotel. Employees need to promote, but small
things like table tents, and little “f” and “t” icons around a property do the job just as well.
Another important way to keep the competitive edge is to make the customer want to do it.
Offer an incentive such as a coupon, discount, or some other reward at the time of their next visit. If
the customer can feel attached to the process, they are much more likely to use the process.
Customers want to feel ownership, and what better way to have customers feel ownership than to
have them think of ways an operation can be improved. Even if it’s as simple as them saying “We
had a great meal”, you know that what you did was right for at least that customer and potentially
for the target audience that customer identifies with.

6. Sources
Unnikrishnan, Madhu, and Robert Wall. "All That Twitters." Aviation Week & Space Technology
172.2 (2010): 42-44. Academic Search Complete.Web. 14 Nov. 2012
http://www.ehow.com/list_7253760_types-customer-feedback.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Power-of-Perceptions-in-Shaping-Customer-
Satisfaction&id=1248206
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/4920/Use-Twitter-Facebook-to-connect-with-
guests
Danielle Deremo, Social Media Chair for Las Vegas Interactive Marketing Association