But to be precise…

Can social media save the Mauritius hospitality industry’s shattered reputation and competitive advantage?

facts first

The tourism sector in Mauritius suffered some declines in 2009 and early 2010, with the strong international crises that shook the entire world economy. At first glance, the sequels weren’t as bad as you might think back then. We were still benefiting from positive growth rates, with an industry average of +7.3% for the period from January to March 2010 compared to the same time frame in 2009. And yet, something is still wrong with paradise, even if we received 249,971 visitors for the first three months of 2010. The luxury niche seems to have lost some of its shine. The main local hotel groups seem to be going through bad times. Naiade Resorts, for example, declared losses in the order of MUR 50 million at the end of 2009, with a return of MUR 11 million. Ditto for the Rogers Group, which encompasses high-end resorts like Heritage and Le Telfair Golf & Spa. His profits were reduced by 51%. Similar image for NMH (New Mauritius Hotels), with a 25.3% reduction in profits. These figures could well explain the gloomy mood at the top of the Mauritian hotel industry. This negative state of mind is understandable. While the stock of luxury rooms (4 stars and above) had grown by 115% in 2009, occupancy rates fell to 40%. That was enough to curb the investment drive in the sector and in 2011 the recovery continues to be very slow.

Was there a rescue plan on the line, or were we just waiting for the storm to die down and get back to normal?

According to Minister Nando Bodha, in an interview given to Jean Da Luz in May 2010, Mauricio must resist his position and not give in to the siren’s songs about reducing our rates and downgrading our current Diamond Destination status. This means 2011 too. His immediate action plan spoke of strengthening the brand’s position in the face of growing competition from countries like Sri Lanka or the Maldives. And the operators just had to go along that same line, towards the top. They have to try to find out about that little detail that would give them leadership, or at least stabilize it, without overly finance-intensive solutions. But the main question remains. What can Mauritius 4 star hotels offer to their target markets besides the same old promise of unrivaled hospitality and quality of service? What else, especially with the Harte tragedy at Legends, the Naiade Group’s 5-star flagship of luxury hotels?

What about the Harte tragedy?

The murder of the newlywed daughter of the prominent Irish football mogul, in her hotel room at the Legends, adds to the misery of the Mauritius hotel industry. The havoc in communication, the attacks on the media and all the chaos caused by thousands of comments online have surely hampered the efforts of the second economic pillar of Mauritius to speed up its recovery. In one week, Mauricio lost most of the brilliant goodwill he had built up over years of relentless market improvement. The anguish of losing even a microscopic market share is relevant and legitimate. At least now we know how fast and how deep it goes when the negative buzz starts its world tour.

Enter Social Media, Community Management and e-reputation. Are they genuine solutions?

Can the social bubble help the real world nurture real leads and generate new ones? Can the social media trend fix broken images? The answer is definitely yes. Not as THE absolute keys, but as the basis for the development of new solutions focused on the user towards the consolidation and updating of the acquired competitive advantage. The tourism industry itself generates behaviors that remind us of what is going on in cyberspace when it comes to social media and networking. At some point, when I vacationed at Club Med, it felt really good to be part of a community, even if it was just for a week or so. Once at Club Med, one was considered and felt like a life member (the GM, Nice Member), with the only desire to return year after year. To get an idea of ​​this environment, the French feature films “Les Bronzs” are the right example, but definitely not a reference for times and settings like ours today. Social networks and networks have become for millions of online users a lifestyle of their own. People without a Facebook account are increasingly seen as “homeless,” atypical, or asocial. With Social Network mode enabled, a person will take their time checking blogs, Facebook groups, or their LinkedIn connections. He’ll ask questions via tweets, compare everything online, and make his decision from messy input. That’s the same pattern when choosing a hotel destination today. The client goes by the trend of bloggers. This is where Social Networks fit in, basically by offering a consolidated and relevant alternative to a user’s search process. Integrating Social Media to the hospitality sector is almost a natural procedure. The prominent place that relationship management occupies in day-to-day business with tourists makes it easier for the tourism industry to analyze and understand the behaviors, needs and expectations of the target. Social media management will simply plug in to translate all this data into useful information for the development of relevant interactive platforms. The most complex part of setting up such a strategy lies in the pre-operational routine that involves extensive research on target segments. The investigation of social behaviors and expectations are the fundamentals that underlie the production of relevant toolkits. This part of the setup is time consuming and requires proactive human resources.

Deal with electronic reputation.

The Harte tragedy has brought to light, at least for the tourism sector in Mauritius, the extent of the damage that can be caused by uncontrolled and untapped global rumors. In less than a week, it seemed that this first isolated episode had destroyed the competitive advantage that our Diamond destiny had. It felt as if a foul-mouthed Tsunami had overwhelmed the country’s white shores and changed them forever. This is where and when electronic reputation is lost. Failing to deal with it is tantamount to letting the doors open to more havoc. When a hotel group with more than regional ambitions finds its name shrouded in negative confusion, it needs to react in real time, at least to defend its brands in the thick of the battle. Although the Naiade Group has managed to preserve the global image of the group, at the same time it has allowed the degradation of the image of its 5-star flagship, consequently, due to the total absence in the scene of Social Networks. They simply did not monitor what was being said on the network while exercising high-level damage control on the physical scene. Today both the physical scene and the cybernetic scene must be treated in the same way, because both feed off each other. Bad online advertising ruins the brand image and is immediately reflected in the day-to-day business in the real world. And this can be as silly as a benign accusation on a z-series blog, like:

I loved it, but there wasn’t enough shrimp in my seafood cocktail!

Prayed

I loved the mix of materials in their rooms, but why do they have to put those old copper faucets in the bathroom?

These may seem silly, but that’s enough to spark similar resentment, trigger an endless blog thread, and end up as a long-running negative buzz, if nothing is done to give minimal explanations or talk about taking relevant action across the board. social media. That’s obvious now! A successful brand, a group, a company and even an individual have an obligation to take care that their names are not mentioned loudly without any control or monitoring. The goodwill of a company is never as before at the mercy of its virtual reputation, its e-reputation. This e-reputation needs to be monitored 24/7, with quick response to comments and discreet responses.

Bottom line

When built properly, social media tools allow seamless and seamless integration with ongoing traditional communication and marketing philosophy. Clever management of social media and its satellite activities can effectively help hotel groups acquire, expand and nurture new target markets by developing community-based content and events, through effective interactive platforms. This set, when framed within an appropriate strategic framework, will aim to give a more social and sociable global image to the hotel group and its brands.