Hospitality marketing agency umi Digital has forged a business partnership with social media agency Digital Visitor.
Digital Visitor and umi Digital announce tie-up
Hospitality marketing agency umi Digital has forged a business partnership with social media agency Digital Visitor.
With Digital Visitor specialising in the social commerce space, the tie-up is seen to be of particular relevance now that Facebook has announced its social graph search.
Umi Hotels, a brand under the umi Digital umbrella, began working with Digital Visitor since 2012.
A reviews and ratings application placed across the hotel groups’ websites has helped generate more than 100 reviews and maximised investment in social media marketing.
Digital Visitor will refer clients with web design and accommodation booking software needs to umi Digital. Umi will integrate the Digital Visitor technology into its online booking engine Book It With as an additional module.
This enables guests to review their stay and upload photos and videos of their experiences. They can also share this information via their social media accounts, driving their friends and family to the hotel’s website.
Facebook’s graph search enables users to search for shops, services, places to eat and places to stay based on shared social connections.
It means that the results are all recommendations from a user’s friends, so a brand with good reviews along with a strong fan base, will be in the best position to win the business.
Integrating the Digital Visitor technology into a hotel’s website via the booking engine will increase the number of reviews from guests and increase where these reviews are later seen.
Umi Digital chief technology officer Marc Crouch said: “Any hotel that has used an online travel agency will understand the impact of guest reviews to their bottom line.
“They are a valued and crucial decision-making aspect for prospective guests and the more you have, the more bookings you are likely to convert.”
He added: “What’s great about Digital Visitor’s product is that it empowers hotel owners to capture more of those valuable reviews, which in turn helps drive visitors direct to their own website.
“That’s where our booking engine comes in – once the visitor is on the website, our system enables them to make a direct booking after being. hopefully, encouraged by the positive reviews they have read.”
Digital Visitor chief executive Anthony Rawlins said: “Customer content and social media are two of the most powerful ways to drive sales and traffic and it’s great to be working with a company that understands this.”
