Web 2.0 was born out of the Web 2.0 Conference and is now in its fourth year. So what is it and why the ‘hype’? In 2001 we saw the famous ‘dot-com bubble burst’ in the USA and with it the cynics concluded that the web was over hyped. Certainly many got burned at that time and lots of people and businesses lost money. But it was pioneers like Tim O’Reilly and Dale Dougherty that observed that what survived the collapse was more important than ever and out of this turning point emerged a call to action and concept called Web 2.0 and with it the first Web 2.0 Conference in 2004.
There is still a lot of debate about what Web 2.0 is. Some people call it a meaningless marketing buzzword and others accept it as the new conventional wisdom. I will give a short definition of Web 2.0 but the intention of this article is to put Web 2.0 (and Travel 2.0) in context, and then to examine one aspect that is of huge importance and relevance to the hotel industry and which we should ignore at our peril, and that is consumer generated content.
So let’s start by taking a look at some definitions. Some people acclaim Web 2.0 as the next revolution on the Web! The common notion is that it’s all about social networking, user-generated content, glowing drop-shadowed logos, blogs, AJAX, mashups, and tagging.
Tim O’Reilly provides a compact definition as follows - Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an "architecture of participation," and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.
In the Britefire Glossary we define Web 2.0 as follows - The term used to describe the evolution of the web from a series of more or less centralised silos of information to the web as a high-speed platform for distributed services, especially social networking and collaboration. User generated content is a key characteristic of web 2.0, which is also known as the read-write web.
While the definitions are important, the appreciation of what these definitions means comes from an understanding of the context of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is the result of some fundamental changes and a mind shift with regard to how we use the web. If one does not understand this, then the whole value of web 2.0 is lost and it is relegated by those that don’t appreciate this change to a buzzword or hype. Yes, Web 2.0 is real but let’s not get caught in the euphoria of the buzz but rather understand this evolution and the change that has brought it about.
Timing is everything and the constellation of events and thinking in 2004 was what gelled Web 2.0 into what it is today. I don’t believe that Web 2.0 would have been a reality were it not for the specific point in time when it was born. The other emerging trend that importantly collided with Web 2.0 was the whole thinking about the new consumer and the way the web has democratised the new consumer. At last – after years of saying the ‘Consumer is King’, and the ‘customer is always right’ – we have arrived at a point where one can actually begin to see this becoming a reality with the emergence of the truly democratised consumer. The Cluetrain Manifesto – written by Levine, Locke, Searls, Weinberger in April 1999 (essential reading - read the book for free online) was also revolutionary, un-corporate and confronted the establishment. It’s a great read and contains 95 theses and some of my favourites are
- “We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings – and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it.”
- “Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships”
- “Markets are conversations. “
- “Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors. “
- “Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.”
So, the stars aligned, the constellation of timing, events, people and thinking take the evolution of the web (whether you call it Web 2.0 or not – and I personally like the definition, and even more the concept as it has been developed) and put it together with the rise of the new consumer and you have a powerhouse deluxe!
How does this apply to the travel and hospitality industry? I just want to look at one aspect of this, and that is consumer-generated content in the form of hotel reviews.
There is quite a lot of buzz about hotel reviews too. The point is that consumers research their travel. In the ‘old’ days we bought travel guidebooks, read articles and magazines, spoke to friends, friends of friends, and asked travel agents. Today the medium has just become much more powerful. Travellers now research their holidays online (a study in the US by Burst shows that 79% of people will research their personal travel on the internet) and seek advice, opinions and reviews by connecting with people all over the world. Consumers can now relate their stories - both good and bad. Cynics will find multiple ways to discredit this and indeed there are potential issues that we need to deal with. And we can deal with the inherent problems.
Amazon.com has featured reviews on its site since 1995. People have been able to write reviews and consumer guides in a form of self-publishing actually long before Web 2.0 was even defined. Five years ago, you might read the comments at TripAdvisor.com or IGoUGo.com or ask a question at BootsnAll.com or Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree forum. Just last week, Priceline.com added reader-generated Zagat reviews — and, for better or worse, it shows no sign of dying down any time soon.
“Surveys show people are more influenced by Web sites than traditional media,” says Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst with eMarketer.com. “They’re making [travel] decisions based on peer reviews more than magazines and TV shows.”
Today, everybody and their dog is a guidebook writer. On sites like Gusto.com or Yahoo! Travel you can search for destinations and pick up ideas. Or there are sites where you can find something more personal - people with similar interests, a sense of community, or even someone with whom you can share an upcoming adventure. Sites like TripUp.com and Eons.com are essentially social networks with a travel twist. Defined by the ages and interests of their members, the vibe is either Match.com or Modern Maturity.
Gusto.com’s CEO Jeff Wasson says “We’re not necessarily competing with Frommer’s and Fodor’s. We’re providing another source of information.” And, yes, sometimes that information is invaluable. Even the best guidebook can’t cover time-sensitive issues such as menu changes and the latest renovations.
About two months ago I was helping some American friends plan a safari. It’s been a long time since I have been to the Kruger Park and Mpumalanga. So here’s what I did. I went to the bookshop to see what books I could buy on safaris. That wasn’t very successful – the choice of books is abysmal. I did buy a map… and that too was rather disappointing. I sent the book, Getaway magazine and the map via mail (at some extortionate price) to my friends – hoping that it would arrive safely and intact. In the meantime I turned to the web and spent quite some rewarding time searching and reading. The most valuable resource for this trip was SAN Parks forum.
It was there that I found the most amazing community of people talking about what to do, what they had seen and sharing information and experiences with generosity, passion and enthusiasm. I posted a simple question on the forum. Quite a boring question, I thought, and most certainly a very frequently asked one – what to do in 3 days with American visitors. The response was astounding! From this simple question I learned so much – I learned about the latest camps in the Kruger Park – which ones are best for certain experiences, all about the new concessions in the Park, and was recommended some incredible online resources that eventually led to my booking the most wonderful 4 days.
I could not have done this without the help of others – without the community on the SAN website. No book contains this information. The information I got was UNIQUE – there was no other way that I could have got this information and made the booking. And it didn’t take me that long either! And furthermore, I now have newly made friends in KZN and Mpumalanga that I know I can contact in the future. And I hope I can reciprocate the generosity some time in the future too.
Yes – there is also the downside of reviews – there are bogus reviews, there are people who write attacking and damaging reviews too – and there’s everything in between. But websites are getting much smarter about ensuring reviews are genuine. For example, on Priceline.com you can only enter a review if you can prove that you have stayed at a hotel.
Also, the consumer has some intelligence – people make judgments when they read reviews – they consider the message and also the messenger. I once observed some user testing where a traveller was looking through reviews on TripAdvisor. The traveller was going to a city he had never visited. Part (by no means not ‘ALL’) of his research was to check reviews on TripAdvisor. There were several good reviews and a few bad ones. He read them all, and it was interesting to see how he made judgments about the credibility of each of the reviewers as he went through them. I was even interested to see that he was sophisticated enough to look at even the nationality of each of the reviewers. Some nationalities are far more fussy than others – and he was taking that into consideration too!
For marketers social networking is important because by encouraging people to share information, the marketers can monitor and ‘listen’ in on these communities and learn more about consumers and their behaviour, and can determine their likes and dislikes. It helps marketers position advertising better. For example if you position advertising to reach brand advocates early in their research process, it is likely that the consumer will then help to spread awareness by telling twice as many people as you could reach. A ‘personal recommendation’ from an empowered consumer is much more powerful than you pushing adverts in the traditional way on traditional media.
Take a look at this interview with European MD of TripAdvisor where he is asked about fake reviews, and plans for the site.
While on the subject of TripAdvisor – in a move to embrace the openness of the web, hoteliers can now publish TripAdvisor reviews directly on their own hotel web sites. TripAdvisor provides a web page that automatically generates html code, allowing the property to instantly publish TripAdvisor reviews on their own sites. Find out more here.
Priceline.com has announced an agreement with Zagat Survey under which Zagat will create exclusive online hotel reviews for priceline.com customers to access for free. Brett Keller, priceline.com's Chief Marketing Officer said 'We believe that Zagat's survey-based hotel reviews, combined with priceline.com's proprietary hotel star rating system and our growing database of reviews written by priceline.com customers who also have stayed at these properties, make priceline.com a premier destination for shopping and comparing top-brand hotels and prices.'
Web 2.0 (or Travel 2.0 - the travel industry’s collective application of Web 2.0) holds great promise and potential for the tourist and hospitality industry. Travellers are keen to take control of creating the perfect trip, not just the cheapest trip. And companies need to embrace this trend and use it to differentiate themselves in this vast travel marketplace. A good starting place is ‘listening’ to and learning from the customer…
