We live in a social world. Although this has always been the case, these days a tremendous amount of the social conversation occurs online. With the continuous adoption of smartphones, laptops and iPads, and the rising popularity of social networking channels, staying connected with friends online has become commonplace within today’s society. Similarly, this change is becoming increasingly evident to businesses within the travel industry, which is why hoteliers are now looking for ways to capture this extremely social audience by connecting with them in the places where they shop, socialize and research most often. Thus far, there haven’t been too many major breakthroughs for hoteliers on these social networks, but with the rise in competition, many businesses are beginning to think outside of the box. That being said, one move that may make a difference is the new UK Facebook application, ‘Hotels WithMe’, which is created by Hotels.com and Columbus Internet.
How ‘Hotels WithMe’ works
‘Hotels WithMe’ is adapted for the social media generation, and allows Facebook friends to easily, effectively and efficiently search for their favorite hotels together without being in the same room. To start a hotel search, a set of Facebook friends must first create a group called a “trip”, and from there, they can invite all their travelling buddies to join. After everyone is a member of the “trip”, the group can search for a hotel together as if they are all looking at the same computer screen. In other words, every member of the ‘trip’ can view the hotel searches in real time and if desired, each individual can vote for their favorite hotels or write notes about each property.
The properties that make the cut for any particular group are added to a shortlist of proposals, and each time a change is made to the list, it is updated in real time. For example, if the hotel runs out of rooms or the prices go up for any particular day of the trip, that update will automatically show up on each member’s screen. In addition, any changes made by a member of the ‘trip’ will also show up in real time. Other than the obvious social advantage, a major benefit of using this particular application is that it gives a large variety of over 120,000 hotels to choose from, ranging from 5 star hotels to local boutique properties, so the options are nearly limitless. This is obviously a well thought out application and since its capabilities make it convenient and beneficial to an assortment of travelers, it is a tool that can be utilized by almost anyone.
As seen through ‘Hotels WithMe’, modern technology has definitely taken the burden out of planning a trip, and as computers and cell phones become even more sophisticated one can only imagine what more will come.
Written by Jacquelynn M.
