SOCIAL MEDIA ADS “A WASTE OF MONEY”

By Stephen Jones on  23 March 2011

Hotels are wasting their money by advertising on social media as it does nothing but annoy consumers, a senior Priceline.com executive has warned.

Speaking at the No Vacancy conference in Sydney this morning, Glenn Fogel, Priceline head of worldwide strategy and planning, said using sites like Facebook and Youtube to pedal products is useless.

He controversially added that hotels hire so-called experts on social media who are nothing more than “charlatans”.

“I think it’s (advertising on social media) a waste of money for most people right now. Nobody likes to be interrupted in the middle of a conversation whether it’s offline or online with social media,” Fogel said. “People recognise that you are trying to sell something and they don’t like it.”

Instead of pouring money into social media, companies should look to improve the hotel experience, Fogel told delegates.

Social media can then become an ambassador for their property. “Social media is a great way to get it past around that you have a great hotel. Trying to force it doesn’t work,” he said.

He claimed the jury is still out on the effectiveness of social media when it comes to hotels.

“I see a lot of people wasting money hiring consultants who claim to be experts, but they are charlatans and they are stealing your money,” he said.

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