The HSMAI South Florida chapter's April meeting was held at the Mai Kai Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. A special thank you to Pia and her staff, especially Angel, at the Mai Kai for all their assistance in making the event a success. And who didn't love those 2-for-1 cocktail hour specials? We had a nice crowd -- about 65 people -- who turned out for the educational presentation, dinner and Polynesian revue show. As you probably know, the Mai Kai's been a landmark tourist attraction in Fort Lauderdale since 1956. It was so nice for us long-timers to see it again and for our "newbies" to visit it for the first time -- part of our continuing "fam" to educate our members on our local venues and hot spots. After opening remarks from our prez, Fernando Harb, in which he outlined national's programs, SIGs, upcoming events, and our chapter's events, he also welcomed our new Managing Director (yours truly) and our special guests.
Great to have Jennifer Stewart with Women In Distress joining us. Then we were treated to a great program by Dan Alpert, President of SFIMA, on the upcoming trends in interactive marketing and emerging technology. Our meeting was a little different than usual -- we normally have more networking time during registration -- and we usually do a web cast of our event; However, due to time constraints for the show time and the venue setup, we went almost immediately into our program and we did not web cast our event -- instead we videotaped it. Thanks, as always, to Dan Cohen, Media 17. Some of our previous programs which were web cast are available by visiting: http://www.media17.com/hsmai It’s especially nice, since we now cover a very wide geographic area, that our members can still enjoy our educational programs even if they can't be at our meetings in person. In addition, Jay Guttveg, Creative Focus, Inc., our chapter's official photographer, was busy taking pictures of our attendees. Some of those pictures are now posted on our website, so check them out, too.
We want to give special recognition to both Dan and Jay for something in addition to their regular filming and picture-taking tasks. They were both so very wonderful to donate their meetings fees -- this enabled us to "treat" two of our student chapter members. Thank you Dan and Jay!The food at the Mai Kai was outstanding, as well. Heard a few people say they wished they could have asked for a doggie bag to take home some of that delicious steak! As always, great to see some old friends and make new ones. Our May meeting is a lunch at the Tower Club (downtown Fort Lauderdale) and with a Port Everglades update. So mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 21st. Reservations can be made online at www.hsmaisouthflorida.org.
AND of course, you've already saved the date for our 25th Annual Auction and Charity event at Tatiana's in Hallandale on Thursday evening, June 12th, right? We're still collecting auction prizes so please donate whatever you can.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Apr 23: Horrendous Hotels
I received an email not that long ago with the headline, “Ready to be Grossed Out?” It seems that Trip Advisor’s travel website was releasing their 2008 list of the dirtiest dumps (their words). This list first appeared in 2005. They put together a list of the 10 dirtiest hotels in the United States and the 10 dirtiest hotels in the United Kingdom. The top ten were chosen by Trip Advisor members based on their ratings of hotels for cleanliness.
Of the 10 hotels on the 2008 list, 3 were in New York and 3 were in Florida. The other remaining 4 (one hotel per state) were in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, California, and New Jersey.
I was sorry to see that two of the hotels were located in South Florida – the Red Carpet Inn in Fort Lauderdale and the Travel Inn Civic/Medical Center in Miami. The third Florida hotel on the list was the St. Augustine Beachfront Resort.
Our hotels should never appear on the dirty list. It’s hard enough for us to be doing our jobs just getting people to stay at our hotels in the first place. We also want to make sure that they are happy once they are here, come back again, and recommend the resort to their friends and relatives. Cleanliness shouldn’t be something we have to worry about. And we know it’s harder to fill dirty rooms than clean ones.
Of the 10 hotels on the 2008 list, 3 were in New York and 3 were in Florida. The other remaining 4 (one hotel per state) were in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, California, and New Jersey.
I was sorry to see that two of the hotels were located in South Florida – the Red Carpet Inn in Fort Lauderdale and the Travel Inn Civic/Medical Center in Miami. The third Florida hotel on the list was the St. Augustine Beachfront Resort.
Our hotels should never appear on the dirty list. It’s hard enough for us to be doing our jobs just getting people to stay at our hotels in the first place. We also want to make sure that they are happy once they are here, come back again, and recommend the resort to their friends and relatives. Cleanliness shouldn’t be something we have to worry about. And we know it’s harder to fill dirty rooms than clean ones.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Apr 14: Understanding Electronic Marketing
As mentioned in the previous blog article, I wanted to share with you some of the key points and highlights of the presentation at our March HSMAI meeting. Here’s the second part of the talk by Armando Lopez with Navigant Marketing.
Electronic marketing tools are mainly used for three reasons: to generate brand awareness (e.g. banner ads); to stay in touch; and for direct response (to buy your products). For brand awareness – make sure you have clear, large, simple, big headlines. Also make sure you have a call to action; say, “click here”.
Armando noted that today, people are too busy to read. If you are sending a newsletter or email, do it early in the day, especially if you send on a Friday. Keep the content short and interesting. There are deliverability guidelines to follow (i.e. some content should and shouldn’t be there).
Direct response can be in the form of e-blasts, e-newsletters, or the less-targeted banner ads. Make sure your offer is visible (again, big/bold); make it easy to share (include “send to friends” buttons); have a good design; send it to the right database; and make it easy to opt in/opt out (for legal reasons as well as to improve your reputation). These promotions can be planned in advance but also allow ad-hoc promotions when necessary to respond to market conditions.
Paid searches (like on Google and Yahoo) are another option. These are often the “pay per click” type where you only pay when a person visits your site.
Some rapidly developing electronic marketing areas include: Digital Marketing -- your cell phone and mobile internet access is about to become a lot more capable; SMS – simple text messages are another growing area; RSS Feeds – subscribers are asking to receive content; Social Networks – Facebook, and similar sites, are evolving and becoming more important; and Electronic billboards.
Looks like we have a lot to prepare for and understand in the future. Good to know that HSMAI will be here to help in our marketing education. Would you like to share your expertise on a relevant subject? Let us know.
Electronic marketing tools are mainly used for three reasons: to generate brand awareness (e.g. banner ads); to stay in touch; and for direct response (to buy your products). For brand awareness – make sure you have clear, large, simple, big headlines. Also make sure you have a call to action; say, “click here”.
Armando noted that today, people are too busy to read. If you are sending a newsletter or email, do it early in the day, especially if you send on a Friday. Keep the content short and interesting. There are deliverability guidelines to follow (i.e. some content should and shouldn’t be there).
Direct response can be in the form of e-blasts, e-newsletters, or the less-targeted banner ads. Make sure your offer is visible (again, big/bold); make it easy to share (include “send to friends” buttons); have a good design; send it to the right database; and make it easy to opt in/opt out (for legal reasons as well as to improve your reputation). These promotions can be planned in advance but also allow ad-hoc promotions when necessary to respond to market conditions.
Paid searches (like on Google and Yahoo) are another option. These are often the “pay per click” type where you only pay when a person visits your site.
Some rapidly developing electronic marketing areas include: Digital Marketing -- your cell phone and mobile internet access is about to become a lot more capable; SMS – simple text messages are another growing area; RSS Feeds – subscribers are asking to receive content; Social Networks – Facebook, and similar sites, are evolving and becoming more important; and Electronic billboards.
Looks like we have a lot to prepare for and understand in the future. Good to know that HSMAI will be here to help in our marketing education. Would you like to share your expertise on a relevant subject? Let us know.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Apr 7: The Rise of the Informed Consumer
As mentioned in the previous “Table of Eight” blog article, I wanted to share with you some of the key points and highlights of the presentation at our March HSMAI meeting. The talk by Armando Lopez with Navigant Marketing covered two basic areas: 1) The rise of the informed consumer and 2) Understanding electronic marketing tools. This article will cover the first of the two areas.
Armando pointed out that we are in the midst of an information overload – technology is confusing, complicated, and changes all the time. Amazingly, only 7 to 12 percent of one’s advertising budget is spent in online marketing; however it can offer the best value for your dollar.
The next generation of internet services and technologies (“Web 2.0”) is here now. In the travel industry, this refers mainly to user-generated content. Most people are familiar with Trip Advisor and IGoUgo, for example.
People post reviews on these sites to share their positive experiences, to “return the favor” (other reviews helped them), and to support good travel providers. People use these sites when taking a trip because it’s relevant, up to date and unbiased. In fact, 90% of people read reviews every time they take a trip (or very often).
Bottom line—use these travel site to learn about and improve your product as the next generation of internet users will be using these sites even more in the future.
If your hotel has good reviews, make it known to the world. You could put a link of your website’s homepage to these positive reviews. If you don’t have good reviews, work hard to boost up these ratings.
Armando pointed out that we are in the midst of an information overload – technology is confusing, complicated, and changes all the time. Amazingly, only 7 to 12 percent of one’s advertising budget is spent in online marketing; however it can offer the best value for your dollar.
The next generation of internet services and technologies (“Web 2.0”) is here now. In the travel industry, this refers mainly to user-generated content. Most people are familiar with Trip Advisor and IGoUgo, for example.
People post reviews on these sites to share their positive experiences, to “return the favor” (other reviews helped them), and to support good travel providers. People use these sites when taking a trip because it’s relevant, up to date and unbiased. In fact, 90% of people read reviews every time they take a trip (or very often).
Bottom line—use these travel site to learn about and improve your product as the next generation of internet users will be using these sites even more in the future.
If your hotel has good reviews, make it known to the world. You could put a link of your website’s homepage to these positive reviews. If you don’t have good reviews, work hard to boost up these ratings.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Apr 2: Letter from the Hampton Inn Plantation
Hello everyone. We need help for a co-worker whose 18-month girl, Makayla, was diagnosed with full-blown leukemia last week. She was admitted to Joe DiMaggio Hospital here in Hollywood, Florida on Easter Sunday. Lilly Fermin is a single mother who is raising this baby by herself. Before all this, she was working two jobs, 60 hours a week. Lilly lives from paycheck to paycheck and is not working now due to Makayla's illness. In the last 9 days, Makayla has had 3 blood transfusions and 3 sessions of chemo. Can you imagine what this child is going through? And Lilly?
Makayla cannot walk because the cancer has spread so badly into her blood system. 100% of her blood is infected. And she cannot speak yet, so we do not know what she is thinking or feeling, yet you can see it in her eyes. That wide-eyed wonder and amazement you see in a child is gone, it is only blank. Lilly has to take Makayla to chemo two times a week for the next 4 years. That is how long it will take to cure this, G-d Willing. Yesterday was the baby's 3rd chemo, Lilly was to go to work last night. But Makalya's reaction was so bad, she had to stay with her. So the income from yesterday is gone. That is the biggest problem. Lilly needs money to pay her bills, to make her car payment so that the car is not repossessed and she can take the baby to the hospital.
We have called the local tv stations, we were on the local CBS affiliate last Friday and raised about $1,000. Next Monday, the local ABS Channel 10 is also airing a story. The Hampton Inn Plantation is trying to raise funds to help this family. We are reaching out to the hospitality community. Whatever you can send to me to give to her would be truly a blessing. We have established a fund at the Hampton Inn Plantation. It is called the "Makayla Miracle Fund."
Whatever donation you can find in your heart to send me would be truly a way to help this miracle happen. We want to see Makayla smile and laugh. You can send your donation to me at home or at the hotel to my attention. The check should be made to Lilly Fermin (please do not make the donation out to the Miracle Fund -- it is an unofficial name). We are also taking credit card donations, you can email me or call me with your number, expiration and amount. We created a special form so that you can get a receipt mailed to you. We are not an official charity doing fundraising, so we had to be creative to get the funds to her.
Here is my info:Susan Stern, Hampton Inn Plantation, 7801 SW 6th Street, Plantation, Florida 33324, sstern@princebush.com, 954-382-4500 ex 160, 954-382-4510 fax. We thank you all for your help. Hopefully, my next email about Makayla and Lilly will have good and happy news. Send your prayers. Love and bless you, Susan Stern, Hampton Inn Plantation
Makayla cannot walk because the cancer has spread so badly into her blood system. 100% of her blood is infected. And she cannot speak yet, so we do not know what she is thinking or feeling, yet you can see it in her eyes. That wide-eyed wonder and amazement you see in a child is gone, it is only blank. Lilly has to take Makayla to chemo two times a week for the next 4 years. That is how long it will take to cure this, G-d Willing. Yesterday was the baby's 3rd chemo, Lilly was to go to work last night. But Makalya's reaction was so bad, she had to stay with her. So the income from yesterday is gone. That is the biggest problem. Lilly needs money to pay her bills, to make her car payment so that the car is not repossessed and she can take the baby to the hospital.
We have called the local tv stations, we were on the local CBS affiliate last Friday and raised about $1,000. Next Monday, the local ABS Channel 10 is also airing a story. The Hampton Inn Plantation is trying to raise funds to help this family. We are reaching out to the hospitality community. Whatever you can send to me to give to her would be truly a blessing. We have established a fund at the Hampton Inn Plantation. It is called the "Makayla Miracle Fund."
Whatever donation you can find in your heart to send me would be truly a way to help this miracle happen. We want to see Makayla smile and laugh. You can send your donation to me at home or at the hotel to my attention. The check should be made to Lilly Fermin (please do not make the donation out to the Miracle Fund -- it is an unofficial name). We are also taking credit card donations, you can email me or call me with your number, expiration and amount. We created a special form so that you can get a receipt mailed to you. We are not an official charity doing fundraising, so we had to be creative to get the funds to her.
Here is my info:Susan Stern, Hampton Inn Plantation, 7801 SW 6th Street, Plantation, Florida 33324, sstern@princebush.com, 954-382-4500 ex 160, 954-382-4510 fax. We thank you all for your help. Hopefully, my next email about Makayla and Lilly will have good and happy news. Send your prayers. Love and bless you, Susan Stern, Hampton Inn Plantation
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