meng-mei maggie chen
Shifting the Hospitality Service Paradigm in Difficult Times
Meng-Mei Maggie Chen | May 11, 2020
By Meng-Mei Maggie Chen A few years ago, Marriott had a commercial link with a storyline about an elderly lady who stayed in a Marriott hotel because she just lost her house during a mountain fire and needed time to reflect and think about her future. In the video, this lady described the friendship and support she received from the hotel employees. I used this video several times in my marketing courses because of how it appeals to a higher level of human needs (Maslow). How does it work? Instead of emphasizing product features or benefits, this video attempts to show an example that Marriott contributes to their host communities by...
Airbnb, Expedia, Google: 4 Lessons the Hotel Industry Can Learn From The Digital Giants
Meng-Mei Maggie Chen | June 24, 2019
By Meng-Mei Maggie Chen 2017 marked the 10th anniversary of Airbnb's creation and the digital giant celebrated its rapid expansion by releasing its strategy roadmap aptly dubbed "Airbnb For Everyone" with a slew of new types of accommodation topping their original offer. Among the new products unveiled were: New property types – Vacation Home, Unique, B&B, and Boutiques: these come in addition to the existing Entire Home, Private Room, and Shared Space filter options. New property tiers – Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb: the Airbnb Plus badge showcasing houses with more than 100 reviews and at least a 4.8 points r...
Luxury Hotels: What’s Their Digital IQ?
Meng-Mei Maggie Chen | March 21, 2019
By Meng-Mei Maggie Chen In response to existential threats posed by disruptors like Airbnb and Google, luxury hotels continue to grow digitally through reinforced loyalty programs, digital visibility and content production efforts and differentiating technologies on their online or on-property experiences. According to New York-based consulting firm Gartner L2, Four Seasons, Hilton, The Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont account for some of the smartest hospitality groups online. The firm released its annual report - The Hospitality Digital IQ Index - ranking the digital competency of 75 of the biggest hospitality players. We rounded-up three ke...
Marketing Trends in Hospitality: From Technology to Niches
Dr. Meng-Mei Maggie Chen | February 13, 2018
By Dr. Meng-Mei Maggie Chen Over the past year, Google made major inroads into the travel and tourism sector, changing the layouts of Google Flights and Hotels and, as a result, it's hard to differentiate these from online travel agencies and metasearch sites. Further, Google Trips now offers discounts for tours and activities, and allows users to create folders for future travel plans. This option could help Google identify the travel intentions of consumers early in the planning process and make relevant suggestions based on the travel history. Certainly, Google's footprint in the travel ecosystem is expanding. Depending on hoteliers'...
Winning Strategies to Bring in New Customers
July 31, 2017
by Elisa Chan and Meng-Mei (Maggie) Chen How should hotels be reaching out to potential customers? When it comes to distribution channels, the discussion should never just be limited to the hotel's relationship with online travel agencies or OTAs. In our view, hotels should deploy strategies with the right mix of information to allow potential customers to make informed choices. In addition, hoteliers should leverage services offered by indirect channels to win over business from their competitors. For many hotels, managing distribution channels is currently more of an administrative task than a strategic necessity. Most hotels add dist...
Four Actionable Steps to Stay Relevant Through Customization and Personalized Services
Dr. Meng-Mei (Maggie) Chen | March 28, 2017
by Meng-Mei (Maggie) Chen Hoteliers are seeing their relevance diminishing almost by the day as customers increasingly turn to alternative (non-hotel) types of accommodation and make reservations through online travel agencies (OTAs) rather than book directly with the hotels themselves. Hoteliers cannot afford to give up though and must stay relevant. Leveraging customer data and technology to initiate customized offerings and personalization could help to make them more relevant. However, when some industry experts advocate personalization, somehow the suggested solutions tend to be more related to selling upgrades or improving their e...
Chinese Hotel Brands Expand Overseas but Face Challenges on the Way
Dr. Yong Chen | March 3, 2017
by Stuart Pallister As more and more Chinese tourists go abroad on holiday, China's budget hotel chains are expanding overseas to serve the country's growing numbers of international travelers. According to a recent article in the Financial Times, low-cost hotels such as 7Days Inn and GreenTree Inn have already opened hotels in Austria, the U.S., Thailand and Vietnam, and are looking to expand further in Germany and Italy, following Anbang's purchase of the high-end Waldorf Astoria in New York for nearly $2 billion in 2014. The Huazhu Group has formed an alliance with French hotel chain Accor aimed at international expansion and the Sha...
