Jordan joins the podcast to give hospitality businesses a few key tips for upping their Instagram game. Did you know you could have an Instagram strategy and never take a picture or video yourself? Jordan tells us how!

InnSpeak Podcast

Instagram Marketing Tips for Boutique Hotels & Resorts

Highlighting the most important post-pandemic summer travel trends for independent lodging professionals to know. Ben zeroes in on the top tips, takeaways and things that hotel marketers can do right now to rock this unprecedented post-pandemic summer travel season.

Summer 2021 Travel Trends & Stats to Know for Innkeepers & Hoteliers

The Odysys Customer Success team joins the podcast for this marketing roundup. The team sounds off on: Booking Trends SEO Scams & Spam Emails Spring cleaning for your website Attracting "Work From Here" guests to your property Enjoy! The InnSpeak Podcast is sponsored by www.odysys.com - the solution to more direct bookings for the hospitality industry.

Industry Booking Trends, SEO Scams, and Attracting Work from Here Guests

This week Odysys announced its new marketing campaign"Stay Local. Support Small. Book Direct." The campaign is available for any property or association to participate in. We cover How and why properties want to attract local travelers Our "Local Travel is Booming" article Creative examples of packages & promotions for attracting local travelers And what you can do to optimize your hotel or B&B's Google business listing right now. 

Marketing to Travelers Right Now: Stay Local. Support Small. Book Direct.

  The Odysys customer success team joins the podcast to go over a few questions and topics we hear from customers. In this podcast the team sounds off on: The Impact of Vaccination News on Travel Marketing Your Destination TripAdvisor Badges Enjoy!    

Innkeeper Q&A Roundup Dec 2020

Odysys designer Sarah Miller joins the podcast to talk about best practices for hotel website design. Website design for accommodations is about more than pretty pictures and colors, it also has to be functional and support your business goals. Sarah and I put together an infographic that highlights those tips and best practices and we discuss it on the podcast. Click here for the infographic and follow along!

Hotel Website Design Tips & Best Practices

The Odysys customer success team joins the podcast to go over a few questions and topics we hear from customers. In this podcast we go over Tips for Responding to Reviews Why there are no Keywords in Google Analytics Does changing your content ruin your rankings? These are just a few of the questions our team gets all the time. We thought we'd share our thoughts. Enjoy!

Innkeeper Q&A Roundup: Tips for Responding to Reviews, Keywords in Google Analytics, Does Changing My Content Ruin My Rankings?

Samantha Irwin of Kaizen.Zone joins the podcast to talk about the "Trifecta" for an amazing customer experience that she and her staff focused on to grow the Historic Balch Hotel. The Balch Hotel, in the middle of nowhere, is now a destination unto itself for weddings, group events and quiet getaways. Samantha Irwin, former owner of the Historic Balch Hotel, is now an independent small business coach and passionate supporter of small business. Check out Samantha's coaching practice at Kaizen.Zone. Reach out to her directly to get her "8 Ways to Increase Your Email Open Rates"

Growing Balch Hotel from Zero to Hero with Amazing Customer Experience

Full-time content creator Jennifer Hansen joins the podcast to walk through why last minute getaway deals are hot for independent lodging properties during the pandemic. We talk about some of the research behind it and things properties can be doing right now to take advantage of the trend. https://bit.ly/promote-last-minute-getaways

Why You Should Promote Last Minute Getaway Deals

Odysys CEO Kent Schnepp joins the podcast. We talk about the guide that Odysys put together "Covid Reality Check: 3 Challenges Your Hotel Website Must Overcome." We talk about the challenges that Odysys has faced since the onset of the Pandemic as well, which mirrors the experiences of many properties. And most importantly, the cautious optimism that is taking hold across the industry.

How Hotels Can Deal With 3 Covid Marketing Challenges

Steve Short, CEO & Founder of Frictionless Guest App (https://www.frictionlessguest.com/) joins the podcast to talk about the value of the guest experience and being connected with other businesses in your destination or community.

How to Enhance the Guest Experience by Connecting Them to Other Businesses in Your Destination

Diane Rogers joins the podcast to talk about what she's been doing to stay busy and do some marketing while waiting out Covid. She talks about PR opportunities she's uncovered and taken advantage of along with some thoughts about how the pandemic will change guests. Diane also started her own hashtag #quarinntine (get it? with the INN in the middle). Use it for pictures you take while you're treating yourself like a guest.

#quarINNtine with Diane Rogers, Pinecrest Bed & Breakfast / Asheville Bed & Breakfast Association

Odysys CEO Kent Schnepp shares a solo podcast focused on 9 things properties can be working on during the pandemic to prepare for the return of guests. Check out the "Episodes" page on https://www.innspeakpodcast.com for the list of "9 things" along with links to resources to help you implement the 9 things. Understand your ideal guest - always true but because of the pandemic, your marketing can adapt by thinking about what those specific types of guests are going through during the pandemic and when they do decide to start traveling again, what are the things they’re going to be most concerned about? Cleanliness, social distance, etc Related resources: Identify Your Ideal Guests, Create Marketing Personas https://support.odysys.com/en/articles/3553645-identify-your-ideal-guests-create-marketing-personas Continue to invest in your organic search strategy - maintaining your google business listing, evaluating your strategy for getting and replying to reviews, developing a content and link strategy Related resources: How to rank better in google hotel search map results: https://support.odysys.com/en/articles/3780189-odysys-academy-march-2020-how-to-rank-better-in-google-s-hotel-search-map-results Ongoing SEO for traffic growth: https://support.odysys.com/en/articles/3547430-odysys-academy-ongoing-seo-for-traffic-growth Comarketing - work with your complimentary local businesses to identify comarketing opportunities for your destination and complimentary businesses Build an audience with content - you have time to work on your content calendar and create valuable content for your ideal guests Related resources: Blogging & Creating Content for Direct Bookings https://support.odysys.com/en/articles/3655153-odysys-academy-january-2020-blogging-content-for-direct-bookings Shift your mindset to providing value - what is going to set your property apart when your ideal guests are deciding which accommodations to choose. Related resources: Extras, Packages & Upsells https://support.odysys.com/en/articles/3528352-odysys-academy-extras-packages-upsells Tell your story - focus on your brand and value proposition for your 2-3 ideal guest types and make sure that’s clear on your website. Analytics - take the time to look at and understand your analytics and what it means to your property. Or if you aren’t getting transaction and booking information, work with your booking engine partner and your marketing partner to properly implement google analytics Related resources: https://support.odysys.com/en/articles/3300592-odysys-academy-september-2019-google-analytics-odysys-analytics https://www.odysys.com/learn/google-analytics-for-innkeepers/ Go on an information diet - there’s too much information and it keeps changing, so perhaps it’s better to limit your intake to authoritative resources and be prepared to take action when travel does start to pick up again. Learn a new skill - are there things you can implement to improve your business or your service or your value when guests do start coming back. Related resources: Setting your marketing goals and a realistic marketing budget  https://support.odysys.com/en/articles/3661392-odysys-academy-set-marketing-goals-and-a-realistic-marketing-budget  

9 Things for Hotel Marketers to Think About During the Pandemic

Coronavirus is hitting hotel marketers, innkeepers & hoteliers hard. How do you cope? What can you do? It's time to take your brand by the horns.

Coping With Coronavirus. A COVID-19 Pep Talk.

Janice Hurley and Tim Wilson of bnbfinder join the podcast to talk about the refreshed bnbfinder website, directory and marketing program for bed & breakfasts. We also talk about changes in the industry and the importance of options like bnbfinder for driving direct bookings and for championing B&B's.

Meet the NEW bnbfinder

InnSpeak is a podcast for innkeepers and independent hoteliers. We feature interviews & conversations with innkeepers, industry leaders, and marketers all devoted to the business of hospitality. You'll hear from guests that have the knowledge innkeepers need to improve their business.

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