Most of the international chain of hotels serving facilities in hospitality and lodging, try to engage with the customers in a better way through the social media platforms. Marriott too uses social media to upscale its brand to another level and create a relationship with the customer on a personal basis. Here’s how they do it!

2. Everything you do online
is leaving a data footprint.

3. This footprint moves across the web as
a data trail and reaches your friends,
family and even companies that might
be interested in it across the globe.

4. Most of the international chain of
hotels serving facilities in hospitality
and lodging, try to engage with the
customers in a better way through the
social media platforms.

5. Marriott too uses social media to
upscale its brand to another level and
create a relationship with the customer
on a personal basis.
Here’s how they do it!

6. Social media
data analysis

7. The Marriott has a dedicated team at
their headquarters in Maryland, a
center they prefer to call as M Live.

8. The team goes through each and every
Facebook post, Twitter tweets and
Instagram photos, to stay in the midst
of things and follow the latest buzz.

9. With the help of a technology known as
geo-fencing, any social post that is sent
on a social platform, from the properties
premises, can be tracked.

10. It varies from post to post, whether Marriott
wants to use it as a suggestion to improve
their service or as a means of increasing
customer loyalty and satisfaction.

11. Enhance the
guest experience

12. The Chief Global Marketing officer of
Marriott, states that if a guest posts a photo
of celebrating his or her birthday in one of
the Marriott hotels, the company can see the
post immediately.

13. In such cases, usually the M Live team
reaches out to the reception and informs
them of the particular occasion.

14. The hotel might send birthday wishes
along with a gift to the particular room.

15. There have been some instances
where Marriott hotel gifts a bottle
of champagne, a room upgrade or
something special, a simple
gesture to show how the guests
are valued and respected.

16. The front desk as well as the concierge
services team do a great job when it
comes to showing hospitality.

17. When a guest is unhappy with the
service or about something and
he/she decides to let the world know,
the M Live team will personally have a
discussion with the guest.

18. Get a grip on
latest trends

19. The international brand watches out for
latest trends and reacts at a very quick pace.

20. A few days earlier, a user declared on
Twitter that he was the first to catch
all the Pokemons.
The hotel immediately contacted him
and he is now being sponsored by
Marriott wherein he gets a free stay
anywhere in the world.

21. The chief admits that although the
other means of advertising do work,
this type of ‘caring for the customer’ is
very personal and intimate, which can
be had on a one-on-one basis.

22. The M Live team currently operates in three
locations, 2 in US and one in Hong Kong.

23. They keep a track of relevant social
posts and trends across all their
4300 properties in the world.
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24. The collection and filtering of
appropriate posts is achieved via a
platform called HYP3R.

25. The team works day in and day out
on around 3 lakh posts.

26. If you are an avid traveler and like to
talk about it, the M Live team
reaches out to you.

27. The company says that these
seemingly simple engagements get
converted into hotel bookings.

28. This tracking of messages and truly
responding to customers, who have
a direct relationship with the brand,
has lead to a strong bonding with
their customers.

29. Social data
security

30. Although all this seems impressive and
people are fascinated by the attempts
shown as a token of appreciation, there
exists a big question mark on the
security front.

31. In essence, Marriott is making use of
geo-fencing which is nothing but
keeping an eye on the social media
exchanges and discussions.

32. The company maintains that this is
done only to improve their existing
services and give the guests a better
stay in their hotels.
In fact, some guests do actually like
it when they are engaged in social
media by the company.

33. To counter that, Marriott says that they
are only reacting to people who said
something publicly.

34. An ideal solution to this is if you
do not want anybody to monitor
you via your posts or photos, do
not share anything publicly.

35. You always have the option of changing
your privacy settings to private.

36. Marriott is not the only company that
tracks social media posts geo-fencing.

37. Other popular brands like Disney, Pepsi,
the Cedars-Sinai hospital, famous sports
teams like NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA are
using this technology for interactions
with their audiences.

38. Marriott claims that customers
prefer to be individually recognized
by the brand or when their thoughts
are shared or re-posted.

39. Customers who are social media
savvy are on cloud nine when the
company hears them out and shares
their views with a larger audience.

40. What’s your take on Marriot’s way
of connecting with their customers?
Let us know in the comments below.