Metz, The Social Concept

We're Writing for eHotelier

Posted at 02:16PM in crm, hotel, travel • Permalink • No Comments

September 17, 2009

We’re pleased to announce that I will begin writing a column on social customer relationship management for the popular hospitality sales and marketing website eHotelier . The first column, a quiz on social customer readiness, will be published on October 5th, and articles and columns will appear about once monthly… More»

METZ Client San Francisco CVB Becomes First Destination Travel Brand To Integrate A Social Network Service

Posted at 04:02PM in social graph, social media, travel • Permalink • No Comments

July 17, 2009

I know, I know. It seems like our clients blow my mind every day. But it really happens when we work together to break new ground and drive engagement on the social web. Chris Clark , the Director of Marketing at the San Francisco Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, made… More»

Travel/Hospitality Social Web Strategy (The First 90 Days) - July 23

Posted at 04:57PM in business social, lifestyle, travel • Permalink • No Comments

July 13, 2009

Every few weeks, we put on an amazing webinar. Frequently we even ask METZ Clients to join in, because our clients are amazingly smart (and truly awesome) people. Most of the travel and hospitality industry is reading the writing on the wall that your travel or hospitality brand needs to correctly… More»

What is it worth to get 69,458 Friends?

Posted at 01:34PM in business social, facebook, social media, travel • Permalink • No Comments

June 24, 2009

C-level stakeholders clients (CMOs, EVPs, etc.) frequently ask our team to help them quantify the value of marketing “touches” on the social web. Let’s say that 2500 people read your branded blog, weekly – what’s that worth? Well, let’s step back 9 years and cost things out using an older… More»

How Southwest Can (Maybe) Catch Up With Virgin America

Posted at 03:04AM in airlines, lifestyle, travel • Permalink • No Comments

June 9, 2009

Maybe it’s not a goal that they’re pursuing, but I’m noticing that Southwest needs to do a few things to earn my NY-SF business. 1. Wi-fi, all the way If you can’t be working working all the way to your destination, then you might as well have been flying US Airways. 2.… More»

Pay To Play? HotelsCombined Attempts to Raise Buzz With Donations-For-Word-of-Mouth

Posted at 11:25AM in social media, travel • Permalink • No Comments

December 23, 2008

HotelsCombined, a hotel price comparison engine, has taken a radically different tack to generate buzz on the social web. They’re making charitable donations in users names in exchange for a mention of the brand on the blog. Alternately, if a user becomes a Facebook fan, the brand is willing… More»

Destination Marketing Organizations Emerge Onto The Social Web

Posted at 06:12AM in business social, travel • Permalink • No Comments

December 4, 2008

Even a lot of marketers outside of the travel industry think of drug companies or health insurance when they hear the phrase DMO. Don’t be confused: DMO is just an acronym for destination marketing organization, and in the last few months, they’ve been steadily emerging onto the social web, en… More»

MeetingsFocus Interview

Posted at 11:57AM in travel • Permalink • No Comments

December 3, 2008

As I’ve been doing a lot more work in the travel space lately, I’ve been doing more interviews with cool travel publications like Meetings Focus , one of the bigger publications in the meetings and event-planning industry. In this piece, Savvy Intelligence Gathering , I discuss how meeting planners can… More»

Southwest Has Earned My Business Back

Posted at 07:18AM in travel • Permalink • 1 Comment

November 27, 2008

For years, I flew Southwest Airlines from Chicago to San Francisco. It was the cheapest way to get from the Midwest to the West Coast, and if the airline was ever delayed, the delays were minor. The thing that really bugged me about the airline was the noise. I figured,… More»

Travel Social Media Roundup: November 2008

Posted at 01:00PM in social media, travel • Permalink • No Comments

November 22, 2008

This is the first in a monthly series that has been requested by my hotel and destination-marketing clients. In this series, I’m going to sketch out what I see as key developments on the social web in vertical markets like travel and green (sustainable brands and initiatives). Here’s what I’ve… More»