Is social media addictive? It sure is. Even if we want to go through a social media detox and break away from it all during a trip, we find it really hard to do so.
Travel these days is more about sharing than stepping away from the crowd. Intrepid brands like Ibis Hotels have come up with the perfect solution for this dilemma. The Switzerland-based hotel chain is offering its guests an “Instagram sitter” while they travel and take a social media detox. The “sitter” will monitor, post and keep their social accounts up to date as a part of the hotel's rather quirky service called “Relax We Post.”
The hotel chain has teamed up with a few well-known social media/Instagram stars to act as these social media sitters and help them carry out this unique service. Guests who opt for this will share their Instagram log-in details with the sitter to keep their account updated during their stay.
According to an Ibis spokesperson, the company constantly innovating to stay ahead of trends, and this service is aimed to eliminate stress and while still connecting with the new age traveler at the same time.
Ibis is not the only brand to cash in on the social media fervor. Last year, the Conrad Hilton Resort in the Maldives introduced the concept of “Instagram butlers.” Guests would be guided around the island and taken through “Instagram trails” that offer the best Instagram photography opportunities.
The small alpine town of Wanaka, New Zealand, leveraged the impact of Instagram to grow its tourism industry. The campaign for the town invited and hosted social media “influencers” who have thousands of Instagram followers. The result was a 14 percent growth in tourism within a short period of time.
Social media is an intrinsic part of our lives now, and can be even more so when we travel. Travel and hospitality brands like Ibis and Hilton have rightly captured the essence of that to offer innovative experiences. In fact, “experiences” is the operative word.
Millennials are all about experiential travel and 75 percent post on social media every day. Research shows that 97 percent of millennials use social media while traveling and the millions of vacation pictures flooding the internet are living proof of this habit. This generation is leveraging the best and latest travel technologies to share their travel stories with the world.
Don’t be surprised when you hear travel experts point to Instagram as the leading name in the category. With over 1 billion active monthly users, the platform has more than 300,000,000 posts tagged with the word “travel” in them. These photos are not just for the user’s immediate network but the global audience at large.
The keywords are instantly accessible and savvy ways to communicate. Live feeds and real-time experiences shared over various social networks have opened up the opportunity for authentic stories that others can connect with.
Companies looking to sustain themselves amidst stiff global competition have to keep the millennial traveler demographic in mind. They need to rethink their practices to remain relevant to the young, more experiential and aspirational travelers who crave authenticity.
If one or more social posts appeal to them, they might be tempted to book right on the spot. Photos of dramatic landscapes could easily translate into travel plans for the immediate future. Hotels, airlines, cruise liners, tourist associations, chambers of commerce and all related industries should plan to leverage the power of social media to hook their future customers.
