HOTEL 718 – Urban Boutique Brooklyn, NY Hotel 

Background: In the heart of historic Brooklyn, NY a new gem is being developed – Hotel 718. With a free-spirit and sense of its community, this urban boutique hotel will embrace upscale style, comfort and the edgy and eclectic artsy-ness of its surroundings. Before launching into boutique hotel super stardom at its grand opening early in 2012, Hotel 718 needed a fresh, modern interim website.  With little more than a logo and color scheme, Screen Pilot was given the challenge to create Hotel718.com

The Challenge: Hotel 718 needed a progressive interim website with the ability to leverage Brooklyn’s community, its spirit and attract visitors who seek an alternative NYC experience while remaining close to Manhattan.

Result: Beautiful on the Inside & Outside – Stunning Design meets Innovative, Intuitive User Interface
Screen Pilot’s collective intellect developed a visually stunning website designed to accommodate just the right amount of information presented in an understated and clearly defined layout. The Hotel 718 project required a careful choreographed balance of well-planned branding, social networking integration and an elegant user interface using the latest CSS and HTML5 technologies.

The Good Looks – Design
To establish the mood of the site, images were painstakingly selected. Color choices balance the upscale, comfort and welcoming nature of the community-based boutique hotel whilst remaining on-brand. For this reason, the eclectic traveler searching for the “real” New York stay and the famous celebrity looking for a luxurious new boutique hotel in the heart of Brooklyn will equally indulge in the Hotel 718 experience.

Navigating through this modern, clean site is straightforward and effortless. Engaging pages capture the nuances of the Hotel 718 brand. The “count down” timer was designed as an invitation to join Hotel 718 once the long awaited boutique hotel opens its doors.

The Brains – Technical Innovations
‘Non-Geeky Speaky’ – Hotel718.com offers a web browsing experience that is intuitive and radically simple. Whether you are viewing it on a Mac, PC, smart phone or tablet, it loads quickly and has the same feel across fixed and mobile devices. Hotel718.com gets a gold star for its “intuitive user interface” which allows you to scroll through the interior by swiping your finger on the mobile screen. In techie-talk, the site was built using HTML 5 and CSS 3, along with progressive enhancement using jQuery and a hand-full of jQuery plugins. It has an intuitive user interface that doesn’t compromise the user experience. Everything on the site is pure HTML and it renders consistently across multiple environments without the need of third-party plugins.

Final Words on Hotel718.com
After carefully analyzing the Hotel 718 brand, location and background, Screen Pilot developed a fully customized, visually stunning and technically progressive website to communicate with the virtual and physical Brooklyn community and prospective guests. It provides an intuitive user interface, attractive design and an engaging social media strategy ensuring people can engage and interact with the brand before its real-world grand opening in early 2012. If an artist and a techie had a baby it would be Hotel718.com

Marriott iPhone App

In the spirit of making these reviews more interesting, I have developed a scale of greatness for the hospitality apps. Each app will be rated on three basic categories:  appearance, functionality and amount of information for guest. By creating a simple platform to evaluate the different apps, we will start to develop an understanding of makes a truly great app. Our scale of greatness will range from somewhat mediocre to awesome. The levels from worst to best are somewhat mediocre, a bit better, pretty good and awesome.

Now let’s move on to my thoughts on the Marriott app.

I will begin by introducing you to the opening page of the app.

I am not moved by the graphics but the color theme fits the brand. It offers you an easy to navigate menu at the bottom of the app where you can find a hotel, look up reservations, sign in to your Rewards account or more options.

Once you select your dates and location, you are presented with this menu. It is easy to navigate and I like that they can share new information such as “New Lobby”.

You can then select a hotel. I really like that each hotel has a photo gallery. This is a great selling feature as visuals are so important. Also, the hotel highlights provide pertinent information for the traveler.

Finally, we are to my favorite part of the app – the “More” menu.  I think this is a great idea as it sells the whole experience rather than just being a booking app. The guest can find important phone numbers and city guides. You can also provide feedback on the mobile app, helping Marriott to improve its service and making the guest feel important. Well done!

I would like to conclude with my ratings of this app on my newly developed scale of greatness.

Appearance – Pretty Good

Functionality – Pretty Good

Amount of information for guest – Awesome! – due to the City Guides!

Hopefully, you have found this review helpful. Stay tuned for more reviews. Please let us know if you have an app you would like us to review.

Screen Pilot looked into its very own crystal ball and returned with a few interesting predictions for 2012. It will be a year where mobile will go beyond anything we have experienced previously. As time progresses, we forget what the world was like when we didn’t multi-task all the time, simply interacting face-to-face. Although this may be creating challenges for our human interactions, it is providing new opportunities in marketing. Here are a few trends we expect to see in the marketing world of 2012:

Mobile

Mobile marketing is growing at an alarming rate. As more mobile devices flood the market, people are using them to shop, buy, and search the web. Forty percent of Google mobile search queries are local, according to Screenwerk. You simply must incorporate mobile into your marketing strategy, no excuses.

Also, the time has come to create a mobile website for these devices. Your big flashy site may look great on a PC but when viewed on a mobile device it probably doesn’t render correctly or it may involve lots of scrolling putting off your potential customer. Again, we aren’t joking, this isn’t going away and you must stay relevant.

Let’s use Hotel 718 as an example of a standard site and a mobile site:

Main site:

Mobile Site:

Social Media

As more smart phones flood the market, more people are going to find it easier to participate in social media. Facebook is everywhere with advancements in the Facebook Open Graph. In case you haven’t noticed when you are signed into Facebook and traveling around the web, sites cater information to you and address you personally.

Here is an example of the open graph in action:

You can see what are friends are doing from the TripAdvisor site when you are signed into Facebook. It has personalized the experience for you so that you can do more than just “Like” something or share it. With Facebook integration appearing on many sites, it is essential to integrate social media in your own website.

Hotel 718, a boutique hotel in Brooklyn NY is an excellent example of social media integration with their CONNECT page. The guest is able to connect with Hotel 718 on the various social networks and even sign up for email marketing, providing the hotel a simple way to develop relationships with their guests.

With wondrous new smart phones’ advanced video and photography capabilities, there will be growth in multi-media social networks like Instagram, Viddy, Pinterest and more are sure to come.

Also, keep your eyes out for more QR codes. I expect with more people owning mobile devices and smart phones, we will see those popping up in advertising and marketing materials everywhere. You will first want to have a dynamic mobile website and then you can venture into the world of the funky little QR codes. Use your QR codes to provide interesting content to your customers and be sure to include all pertinent information. There are sites to help you build a QR code or you can always contact an expert, like us at Screenpilot.

2012 is going to be an interesting year with an overall increased mobile emphasis across all marketing and advertising initiatives.

We hope that 2012 is a joyful and prosperous year for you, your family, and your business. Happy 2012 from all of us at Screen Pilot!

If you would like to read more about what to expect in 2012, check out the sources that helped us put together our predictions:

http://socialmediatoday.com/johnserpa/414660/social-media-and-2012

http://socialmediatoday.com/jasonbaer/410876/4-nearly-guaranteed-2012-social-media-predictions

http://mashable.com/2011/12/27/5-tech-trends-to-watch-in-2012/

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2133514/Search-Mobile-Marketing-Trends-SEO-Apocalypse-2012

Hilton iPhone App

My first impression of the Hilton app was simple, easy to use, and basic. Overall, I would say this app is designed for already loyal guests as I didn’t feel like its goal was to entice new customers. It is a straightforward booking app.

When you open the app you are presented the main menu to Find a Hotel, Lookup Reservations, Sign in to HHonors or Book a reward stay.

Since we are looking for a hotel we chose “Find a Hotel”. You have the option of finding a hotel by your phone’s GPS location, by City, by Airport Code, by Address.

 This menu is nothing spectacular, but functional nonetheless. After you have decided on how you want to search you can then move on to enter your dates, details, promo codes, corporate account info, etc.

When you finally arrive to the page with hotels, you find small thumbnail photos and brief descriptions. I noticed immediately that not all of the photos were formatted correctly so some displayed with white lines above and below the photos. I think this is a simple area where this could be approved visually with correct formatting.

I did like that each chain within Hilton has its own color theme on the app.

I consulted a Frequent Traveler Expert for his opinion on the app, and he said that for the most part he liked it. He did have two complaints. Once you log in to the HHonors, you have to return to the main menu in order to move forward with booking a reservation. It seems it would be more functional if it would progress into the booking screen after you logged in. His other complaint was that it didn’t remember you so each time you want to book or check a reservation you have to log in again. I’m sure this is considered a way to ensure your security, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying.

So in summary, the app is functional but isn’t over the top flashy and has a navigational challenge with its HHonors log in process.

We would love to know your opinion of the app too as this is just our humble opinion. Feel free to comment on this post.

The time has come when an irate guest can no longer be appeased by a sincere apology and a complimentary night’s stay. Now, rather than just spewing anger towards your establishment to their friends, they can share it with the world through sites like Tripadvisor, Yelp, Google Places, etc. Your guests have the opportunity write a thesis on the horrors of the resort fee or the insidious auto-grat. Luckily, you have an opportunity to show the online world your magnanimous side.

We don’t like to focus on the negative; however positive comments simply require less action. A simple thank you and invitation to return is sufficient.

The challenges you face with reading the angry words of your guests and wishing you would have known sooner can be addressed by an active CRM program. So wipe your tears and take action through reading and responding to reviews. Not all sites allow management responses but the big ones (Tripadvisor, Yelp, Expedia, Google places) certainly do.

As a diplomatic and compassionate hotelier, you always want to put your best voice forward, even when you really don’t want to. If you address the problem at its source, hopefully the issue will be resolved. Here are some common scenarios for hotel reviews and our ideas on the best ways to handle the negativity when it’s flung at you.

Scenario #1 -  A guest complains about a mandatory fee (i.e. a resort fee, auto-gratuity, parking, etc.). This fee is clearly stated on your website and any other OTA’s, even if placed in the fine print or “Terms & Conditions” sections.

We recommend:  Thank the guest for taking the time to share, acknowledge the issue, validate their emotions and provide an explanation for the fee and/or describe its value, and, of course, invite the guest to return.

Scenario #2 – A guest is unhappy with the service they experienced.

We recommend: Thank the guest for their business, acknowledge and address the issues they experienced while offering reassurance that their issue will be shared with staff to improve training and service. You can always say, “We’re sorry to hear that you felt disappointed with your stay.” Or something along those lines and it appears you are both sympathetic and apologetic; however you aren’t saying that your hotel didn’t perform. You are simply apologizing for their disappointment, as you don’t want any guest to be disappointed.

Scenario #3 – There was something out of your control that happened during the guest’s stay – other disturbing guests, A/C broke, spa flooded, bad weather, etc.

 We recommend: Demonstrate your understanding of the guest’s frustration and that sometimes these things happen which are out of the hotel’s control. Assure them that these aren’t common issues and invite them to experience the hotel another time.

These are just a few examples of different scenarios and good ways to handle them. Your organization will have to develop their own formula for responding to review sites. Stay sincere and don’t just repeat the same message over and over and over. Remember to always join the conversation. Most reviews are positive; unfortunately we tend to remember the negative over the positive. Show an interest in your guests and they will show an interest in you.