EUROPEAN HOTELIERS FAIL TO STRIKE THE SOCIAL MEDIA IRON WHILE IT IS HOT

As social media take a position of greater importance in almost all aspects of our lives, European hotels still disregard them, unlike their US and Middle Eastern counterparts.

Over 20% of the time people all over the world are online is spent on social media sites. Their importance in today’s marketing cannot be underestimated.

However, not all hoteliers around the world have managed to understand the importance of them, perhaps believing there is no ROI or that advertising on Twitter, Facebook or Tripadvisor is a waste of time.

The success achieved by US and Middle Eastern hoteliers suggests that their European counterparts should follow suit. The company eHotelCheck.com has issued a report to state that European hotels neglect the use of social media.

Despite the fact that European hotels rely on traditional methods of advertising, their clientele still use the Internet a lot and figures suggest they tend to use the services of hotels they like, or their friends like, on Facebook.

Clearly a lack of belief or trust is responsible for European hotel managers failing to use social media more in their quest to put more guests in their beds.

Many are surprised that hoteliers in London, Paris and Rome still often do not use social media to boost business. San Francisco has topped ratings in this field for the second year running, whereas Dubai has been making rapid progress in representing the Middle East and is now up to 9^th place.

Many believe it is only a matter of time before European hotels start appearing on Facebook and Tripadvisor advertisements as hotel managers will realize there is a large potential ROI related to using social media.