The Columbia River Gorge is one of the most beautiful places in America. The Dalles is located on the Oregon side of the Columbia River in the Gorge. When visiting The Dalles, one never has to wonder what they can do with activities ranging from hiking, visiting wineries and vineyards, windsurfing and kite boarding, to visiting museums and other historical spots.
Lucky for the Celilo Inn, they are located in The Dalles. Furthermore, they are located on top of a hill, allowing for the rooms to have a beautiful scenic view of The Dalles Dam. Originally an old run down motel, now under new ownership, the motel got a makeover, transforming itself into the sleek Celilo Inn. Only around since 2009, the hotel is fairly new. Since it is so new, getting the Celilo name out there is crucial. In today's world, the best way to do this is through the Internet, specifically social media.Celilo Inn seems to realize this, as they have everything set up to have a successful social media presence. With a website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and TripAdvisor page, Celilo has what they need to succeed. However, the real question is whether or not they are utilizing these platforms to the best of their ability and the answer is no.Online OverviewBefore analyzing the specific social media platforms that Celilo Inn utilizes, I thought it would be important to see what their online presence looks like so far. Using Social Mention and Google Insights I quickly realized that although Celilo has everything in place, they definitely are barely making a dent in the online world. With Social Mention I took two snapshots prior to my research. The snapshot on the left was taken on April 4th, 2011 and the snapshot on the right was taken April 9th, 2011.
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| Snapshots taken from socialmention.com on April 4th and 9th |
From these two snapshots it is painfully obvious that Celilo Inn is not doing nearly enough to create an online presence. However, the one very positive attribute to be taken from these snapshots is that when people actually do talk about Celilo Inn, they are incredibly passionate about it.
Since the hotel is relatively new, I decided to take a look at Google Insights to see how their online presence has been since the hotel opened.
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| Snapshot from Google Insights |
What really struck me was how minimal the online presence is. However, I suspect that the huge spike that occurred in 2010 can be attributed to the Ferrari Club of America. In mid July, 2010 the Washington Chapter of the Ferrari Club drove down to The Dalles and stated at the Celilo Inn. In the months leading up to this event Celilo Inn received press from news reporters, journalists, newspapers, and bloggers. I suspect that this is why there is such a large spike in online presence. However, rather than riding that buzz, Celilo let it die out!Celilo Inn's WebsiteAlthough not directly associated with social media, a companies website is crucial. Typically the official website is the first stop for a person searching a company. And from personal experience, if the official website does not look sleek and is difficult to navigate I automatically wonder about the validity of the company. Initially, at first the Celilo Inn website seems to be put together well. It looks sleek and professional. However, upon a closer look, it can be immensely improved.
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| Snapshot of Celiloinn.com |
The first thing that must be improved is their links. Some of their links do not stand out, thus going unnoticed. It is important that links, especially links for hotel reservations stand out. If people don't notice them they won't click on them!
Furthermore, once you look down past the masthead, the website becomes incredibly cluttered and wordy. "When designing [it is important to] consider such things as scrolling distance, and scrolling frequency" (Wodtke, 9). Chances are, people aren't scrolling to the bottom of the page. Additionally, just like the links, the events and special deals that are listed on their website all look the same so it is difficult to decipher what is important and what isn't.
Regarding social media, what is glaringly absent from the website is the lack of central links to their social media pages. At the top of the website there should be a central location for links to the Celilo blog, Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor page. However, these links are spread out throughout the page.
Celilo Inn's Blog
According to Blogging For Guests--a blog dedicated to blogging tips for hotels--it is important for hoteliers to remember that "[n]o blog is an island. [Hotel blogs must] leave their little world, and participate in online discussions if [they] want to increase interest in what [they] write." This is something that the Celilo Inn Blog does not do.
The most glaring mistake that the Celilo Inn blog makes is that the appearance is inconsistent with the website. The blogs appearance is incredibly amateurish. In no way does the blog look like a blog that belongs to a professional, official hotel.
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| Snapshot from Celiloinn.wordpress.com |
In the blog post "14 Lessons About Blogging I've Learned in the Past Year" the number four tip states that blog design is important. If a blog's appearance is bland and unprofessional looking, people won't read it.
Furthermore, similar to the website, nowhere on the blog is there a central location with links to the rest of Celilo Inn's social media. Providing links to their website, Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor page is incredibly important.
In addition, the blog posts themselves are relatively uninteresting. They tend to be very short blurbs about events the hotel has hosted or special deals. While having these posts is fine, including longer posts with pictures, videos and links would make the blog more interesting. Furthermore, having posts that are not always 100% about the hotel would not be a bad idea either. Some examples would be:
- A detailed post about how Celilo got its name and the history of the Celilo Indian tribe that the hotel is named after.
- Focusing on the environment and what the Celilo Inn is doing to be environmentally conscious
- A more detailed review of the events that they have hosted with pictures, links and videos if possible.
Celilo Inn's Facebook
Facebook is universally popular. It seems that everyone has a Facebook nowadays regardless of age. This being said, having a company Facebook is a great way to reach your target market and help spread the word about your organization! Aware of this, Celilo Inn created their own Facebook Fan Page. However, just merely having a Facebook page isn't good enough, especially with so many pages out there!
The first thing I noticed about the Fan Page is that, just like their website and blog, they are not consistent or obvious with their links. On the Info tab they only have a link to their website. It is important that they include links to their blog, Twitter and Trip Advisor page.
Additionally, the Celilo posts are almost identical to the blog posts and posts on their website. When it comes to consistency, they are almost too consistent to a fault. By not having any variation between their sites, it does not provide any incentive for people to hop from one Celilo Inn site to another. The other posts involve contests for one free night at Celilo Inn or a discount. However, while people seem to respond well to these contests, there are so many contests that people have lost interest in them.
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| Snapshot of Celilo Inn's Facebook page |
The independent hotel Humphrey's Half Moon Inn has a pretty decent Facebook Fan Page. While some of their posts are from their blog, many of their posts involve uploading photos that their guests have sent them from their stay, posting polls, or videos about events going on near or at the hotel. They also post often, thus giving visitors of the site something new to look at every time they visit the page!
Another thing that Celilo Inn should really improve upon is responding to fans comments. Already, commenting is minimal so it is important that when comments do occur that Celilo Inn responds to them. Furthermore, while most of the comments left on the page are positive, there are a few negative ones. These comments have never been addressed. Because of this, it appears that Celilo does not listen to their guests even if they do. Responding to comments will let their guests and fans know that they are listening and are interested in what they have to say.
Celilo Inn's Twitter
Although it hasn't taken off quite the same way, Twitter is still incredibly popular and influential. "Some hotels are using their Twitter feeds to create a persona, essentially giving life to their hotel," states a BNET article "Hotels Are Jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon."
Celilo Inn must have realized this when they created their Twitter page.
I found the Celilo Inn Twitter page by accident. I thought it surprising that they had not created a Twitter but there was no mention or link to a Twitter page anywhere on their website, blog or Facebook. Assuming that they didn't have a Twitter I decided to find out if anyone was tweeting about the hotel by doing an advanced search on Twitter. To my surprise what came up was the Celilo Twitter page. However, once I clicked on it, it made sense as to why there was no link to the page anywhere on their other sites. The last tweet had been on the 19th of August, 2009.  |
| Snapshot of Celilo Inn Twitter |
As I see it, Celilo Inn has two options:
- If they don't want to maintain their twitter, they should delete the account all together. While they don't have access to their Twitter readily available, people will still be able to find it. If potential guests see that the Celilo Twitter has been inactive for two years, they may judge the hotel based on this.
- Sense they have a Twitter set up, use it!
I think it makes most sense, and would be beneficial to the hotel to go with the second option--go live with their Twitter once again! Even though it will take hard work and time, in the end it will only help them, provided they do a good job and maintain the site.
Celilo Inn and TripAdvisor
In today's world, when it comes to booking hotels, reviews are everything. Most people read the reviews and the reviews that stick with them unfortunately are the negative ones. It doesn't matter how many positive reviews there are, people will find the one negative one and take this one into consideration when booking. This being said, review sites such as TripAdvisor are incredibly important. Even more important is addressing these comments. "Ignoring negative guest comments won't make them go away and your future guests are reading them," says Neil Salerno a blogger for EHotelier.com--a website dedicated to providing hoteliers with online marketing strategies.
If you go to Celilo Inn's TripAdvisor Page they already have 31 reviews. While most are favorable the bad reviews are BAD. Unfortunately for Celilo Inn the first review that comes up is this one:
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| Snapshot from Tripadvisor.com |
Since this the first review that people will see, it is important that Celilo respond to it to alleviate the customer as well as let people reading the review know that Celilo listens to their customers. Again, unfortunately for Celilo Inn, one must scroll back 3 average reviews before they get to this shining review:
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| Snapshot from Tripadvisor.com |
People are talking about Celilo and are rating and reviewing it. Celilo Inn must get in there and begin responding to these reviews, otherwise regardless of the sentiment of the review, people will begin to think that their voice doesn't matter regardless.
Summary
As stated, Celilo Inn has set up everything they need to succeed. I believe that a combination of these suggestions, time, energy and hard work that Celilo Inn will increase their online presence and consequently their sales.
For a short version of this blog, check out my PowerPoint.
Resources:
Li, Charlene and Josh Bernoff. Groundswell. Harvard Business Press. 2008.
Wodtke, Christina and Austin Govella. Information Architecture. New Riders Press. 2009.
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