Posts Tagged ‘social media in hotels’

Bruges’ Four Star Relais & Chateaux Hotel Heritage Becomes Continent’s First Hotel to Offer iPads in Guestrooms

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Super exciting news for the guests at the Relais & Chateaux Hotel Heritage in the magical city of Bruges!

The four star luxury Relais & Chateaux Hotel Heritage, located in the heart of the historic city of Bruges, has brought the guest experience to a whole new level: it is Europe’s first hotel on the continent to provide the iPad2 in each of its 24 luxuriously appointed guestrooms.

By offering the iPad2 as a complimentary amenity, the hotel is aiming to pair a traditional guest experience with the ultra-modern conveniences of the digital age. The iPads include selection of music, movies, apps and other content available to guests, such as a welcome video from the award winning hotel, a broad selection of international newspapers, travel apps, information about the hotel’s bar and restaurant, tourist maps and information about Bruges, and popular games.

“We have been closely monitoring what our guests from every generation are looking for, and our goal is to go above and beyond in exceeding their expectations,” said the owners of the Relais & Chateaux Hotel Heritage, Johan and Isabelle Creytens. “Our hotel is about constantly reinventing the guest experience, and we are finding that interactive technology plays a major role in providing innovative amenities for our guests. We are delighted that we acted quickly in purchasing enough iPads for our rooms.”

The hotel also offers unlimited complimentary Wi-Fi access to all guests, along with a flat screen TV in each guestroom allowing guests to feed the content from the iPad2 directly to the TV. To ensure proper speed and bandwidth of the network after the installation of the new iPads, the hotel recently successfully upgraded its Wi-Fi network.

The iPad2 is a first of a series of innovations the luxury hotel is making to enrich the guest experience. “We are only limited by our own imagination,” said Mr. Creytens. “We will be looking ahead for more ways to integrate this level of technology further into the full Relais & Chateaux Hotel Heritage experience.”
http://www.hotel-heritage.com

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Posted in PR | 1 Comment »

Hotels: adjust and stay alive

Monday, June 29th, 2009

What a follow-up article about the Four Seasons yesterday in the New York Times!  A luxury hotel brand with international prestige and instant recognition is going through probably its toughest crisis ever: they can’t adjust themselves to the downturn.  They aren’t the only ones, either.

The economic crisis is far from over, and even when it bounces back hotels will have to evaluate the new guest pattern:  the time for greed is up.  Most guests will no longer pay $500 for a room for one night, regardless of Frette linens, pillow menus, and marble bathrooms.  I believe the majority of travelers won’t spend that kind of money any time soon, even when they are able to afford it.  A reactive hotel approach so far has been:  What can we do to get heads in beds and not lower our rack rate?  So, we all saw the posts calling for free breakfast, wi-fi, free movie tickets, use of the sauna, and so on. 

Travelers have learned their lesson, and I don’t think they will go back to their old greedy ways after the economy picks up.  In turn, hotels need to learn their lesson, too.

In fact, the question hotels should be answering now is:  who is traveling and what are they willing to spend to stay at my hotel?  Analyze why.  Use market research, study the trends.  Learn from the past and move forward without getting stuck in the old way of thinking, because it won’t work.  Make changes as needed to adjust in the new travel market.  Invest in PR to boost your brand messaging.  Use social media to collect feedback. 

Communicate with your potential audience, and you’ll find it again.

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Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | 1 Comment »