What Does the PRSA Say?

After reading about the hospitality and tourism industry all semester for this assignment, I was curious if there is any specific training in this area.  What do the professionals have to say? 

The page designated to tourism PR on the PRSA website promoted their annual conference.  They state:

"We provide the tips and tactics needed to take you to the next destination in your career through our annual conference, teleseminars, social media tools, Web resources and travel industry calendar. Join us today and connect with like professionals from state and national tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus, hotels, resorts, airlines, cruise lines, rental car companies, attractions, restaurants, concessions, museums, historic sites, theme parks, tour operators and public relations agencies."

I was actually looking for more information listed on their site about this area and not as much emphasis on trying to get people to attend an expensive conference.  This is an area of public relations that is not given as much attention as others, but it absolutely needs it.  Huge hotel and restaurant chains have PR departments that need to be just as responsive and prepared as any other.  They also spend a lot of time traveling to service their clients, which in turn, created the need to their PR professionals to be in tune with different cultures and cultural differences in the business perspective.

Investor Relations PR

P.R. Hospitality Corporation is a full service international public relations agency, headquartered in Canada.  They partner themselves with operators, owners and investors through a variety of engagements such as consultancy work, management contracts, leases, and joint ventures.


Their focus is to maximize the asset value of its hotel/resort property portfolio by operating each as Hotels/Resorts and Fractional Ownership (Vacation) Properties.  I am not one for investor relations, but when taking the concept and relating it to the field of PR I am best in, it's not so bad!


For a hospitality public relations company, an investor relations goal is to maximize annual operating income while the vacation ownership component maximizes capital creation and reduces the vacancy factor.


P.R. Hospitality Corporation's unique investment strategy is the acquisition, rehabilitation, and repositioning of distressed or under-managed assets.  It is these value add on transitions that add to the success of the hotel, location of the hotel, and P.R. Hospitality Corporation!

I think I should research their best case study and check it out!  Who's coming?

Research Pays OFF $

Quinn and Co, a reputable hospitality PR firm in NYC has proved to us research is the most important ingredient in yet another successful campaign.

CASE

Chef Tony Mantuano, a James Beard Award-winning culinary force and acclaimed cookbook author, has helmed Chicago’s only four-star Italian restaurant Spiaggia for 25 years. 

He came to Quinn & Co. to take his Chicago celebrity status nationwide.

Quinn's Creative Tactic

"To accomplish his goal, we catered to the food media’s need for individually crafted pitches exclusive to them. We strategically pitched Chef Mantuano’s noteworthy happenings, including a new book, “Wine Bar Food” and a wine bar concept at the 2008 U.S. Open Tennis Tournament as well as recipes featuring seasonal and trend items. We also highlighted Spiaggia’s a-list celebrity clientele."

Results

As a result of Quinn & Co.’s in-the-know pitching style and cultivated media relationships, Chef Tony Mantuano continues to rise to nationally renowned chef status. Chef, Spiaggia, Cafe Spiaggia, and “Wine Bar Food” have been featured extensively in national and international print and broadcast media!

In addition, these numerous media placements have helped drive business to Chef Mantuano’s Chicago restaurants as well as assist with sales of “Wine Bar Food,” which is now in its second printing.

He has been featured in magazines including:

Where are the PR professionals for Brazilian Blowout??

After my interview I visited my sister's salon in New York City, Marie Robinson.  


As I was getting my hair cut I was chatting with my stylist Abbey about a treatment/product I use on my hair called Brazilian Blowout.  What this treatment does is take the frizz and curl out of your hair.  When you are younger, your hair is silky and less frizzy because of the amount of keratin it produces.  As you grow up, your hair looses keratin and gets courser and frizzier.  This treatment puts the keratin back in your hair.


Abbey told me that the Brazilian Blowout brand of this product is being BANNED! 


 "On Oct 7th/2010 Health Canada released a warning regarding the Brazilian Blowout process or more specifically the professional solution used in the treatment. It turns out that despite the manufacturers claims that the product was formaldehyde free, Health Canada’s has tested the product and found it to contain formaldehyde."


The reason I am linking this crazy scary news with PR is because in the midst of this happening in Canada, people in the U.S. are still getting this treatment done. . . .as we speak and as you are reading this!  Eew.


If that statement was released on October 7th, I got my last treatment on October 9th!  Maybe their PR professionals should do a better job about informing their publics.  The one thing my stylist mentioned related my PR career was, of course, a negative idea of a PR team. 


 Come on professionals- lets do our research and our jobs!

Do Your HOMEWORK!

In reading Chapter 12 in my textbook titled Evaluation Research I thought to myself: "Here we go"!  In PR all I have been discovering is the impact of evaluating clients and the specific situation at hand.  Why we as PR professionals were hired to do, whatever it is that the company (or our own organization), is trying to accomplish.  The correct message to get across. 

I came across a company called Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations and they specialize in the hospitality PR field.  Their mission and company promise is below and as for evaluation research, they get the job done.

"NJFPR specializes in impactful, comprehensive media results, including placements in valuable blogs and social-media outlets. We create a tailored plan for each client, taking into account desired goals, news and audiences. Using industry expertise, strong media relationships and a knack for storytelling, we help clients stay ahead of trends and in the news. These case studies represent a variety of tactics and sectors, and give a peek into our “no stone unturned” approach."

In reviewing their mission and looking through their case studies I really think that they do a great job and approach PR in an extremely well researched way. In navigating my way through their website I was intrigued by their extensive fields of PR in which they operate so effectively- Real Estate, Hospitality, Travel, Food, and Spa.  Since these are the areas I personally have the most experience- Real Estate. Travel and Hospitality, I want to apply my past knowledge to a company exactly like NJFPR. 

Check out their website and see for yourself!!

When Research Counts More than You Think!

This chapter of the book intruduces us to content analysis and the importance of unobtrusive research.  After reading I couldn't help but imagine the amount of data that has to be collected to successfully promote a country or destination.  The hospitality PR industry must explore every area to effectively target its audience and essentially- Make people want to go check it out!

Ferri & Partners is a full service PR firm with six locations throughout the U.S.  They have a section on their website focused on Cultural Tourism.

Cultural tourism is the reason people choose to go where they go on a vacation.  For a PR firm, it is a rewarding opportunity to "mold the image of a country and its people, as well as drive the growth of its tourism industry."  It is a learning curve for everyone involved in this process.


Ferri & Partners emphasizes the importance stating: "Our experience promoting cultural tourism is truly impressive, ranging from internationally prominent PBS Television Specials from America's National Park for the Performing Arts — including the heralding of the return of the Kirov Ballet to the US, and the spectacular French Bicentennial Salute — to a variety of multimedia and multicultural tours d'artes today."


They have written, presented and produced documentary television, museum exchanges, and performances featuring the music, the artworks and artists, the cuisines, natural features, religions, lifestyles, and people of India, Turkey, Italy, the former Soviet Union, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, England, France, Egypt, Israel, Venezuela, Brazil, and many other countries and regions.

The research had to have been lengthly and intensive.  The whole time they are committed to the understanding among peoples, person by person, through cultural exchange and the tourism it fosters.

Where would we be without Qualitative Field Research ?

Qualitative field research enables the PR professional to observe social life and what can -and will- happen in future instances. Our job as PR pros is to know what the next big thing will be.  We spend our days trying to find out exactly that for all of our clients.  


Campaigns need to be well thought out and well planned.  
A client, or a magazine article we are writing perhaps, doesn't want to know what happened three months ago- they want to know what is 'IN' right now and what will be.


I frequently read the J Public Relations blog because they are the exact company I would like to work for.  Their team and its goal directly correlates to what I want to do and where I believe my personality and experience would be the best match.  


A recent post dated October 4th titled JPR Fortune Tellers- Working with the Future tells us that they are working on their ideas for Valentines Day. 


The purpose of this blog post is to inform the reader about how it works in the PR world- "One Step and always One Season Ahead."  It emphasized “Lead time” and how it is one of the most often-used buzzwords in the PR industry.  Working with each media outlet’s lead time is crucial to a successful PR program. If you tell the news too late, you’ll miss the opportunity to be included.  This where the importance of the qualitative field research comes in- - we have to know what to deliver and exactly when.


-Andrea

Where to Stay in this Economy. . .

I read an interesting article by PRNewswire called Consumer Reports Hotel Survey: More Than 27,000 Travelers Rate 48 Popular Chains, which directly correlates to this week's chapter on survey research.  "The Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed 27,506 subscribers who spent a collective 124,000 nights at 48 chains across all five categories from January 2008 to April 2009." 

Here's what Consumer Reports found:

It pays to haggle- 35 percent of respondents tried to negotiate for a better deal, but those who did were rewarded with a lower rate or room upgrade 80 percent of the time.

Booking Method doesn't attract satisfaction- No correlation between booking via phone, website, travel site or other means.

Suites have advantages- For approximately the same price as a regular room, the lodgings in an all-suite hotel give a more spacious, homey feeling.

Some beds are better than others- When they say plush, high end mattress this study proved worth it.

Most "bargain" hotels aren't- You get what you pay for.  Except for Microtel, budget hotels continue to earn the lowest scores for value, upkeep, and  ease of checking in and out. They also generate a disproportionate percentage of complaints about bedding, lighting, decor, and heating and air conditioning.

Readers found The Ritz-Carlton, Homewood Suites, Renaissance, Drury Inn & Suites, and Microtel Inn & Suites were among the most satisfying of 48 chains in their respective categories.

Consumer Reports hotel ratings are broken into five categories: Fanciest, Luxury, Upscale, Moderate and Budget. Travelers' expectations differ by category, but some moderate hotels pleased readers almost as much as the epitome of ritz, the Ritz-Carlton.

Choose wisely and read reviews!

DISTRACTION EXPERIMENT

Interuptions are EVIL was the name of this interesting article I came across.  My last blog post was about how social media- blogs, tweets, facebooking- is so important in a PR professional's job today. 

This article is a perfect follow up post because it talks about the negitive effects those exact things can have on a career.  They can be total distractions and we all know this is true, as much as we are SO happy we get to tweet and facebook in our perfect PR corner office with the waterview (oh wait, nevermind, cubicle)without hiding the webpages from our bosses- Lets face it- it does take up way more time than it should.

You’re not multitasking when you open yourself up to constant distractions.  You are merely working inefficiently.


"Multitasking suggests doing several things simultaneously — but when the Tweet Alert or Email Alert or IM window pops up, that’s not multitasking: you’re either going to check/respond or you’re going to continue on-task… if you are going to check/respond, you’re temporarily halting your current work; if you’re going to continue on-task, which you probably should, why would you allow yourself to be so easily distracted in the first place?"


This article inculded an experiment that was done to staff members:

• Turn off ALL alerts for IM, Twitter, email, Skype, etc.
• Set aside 3 blocks of time to check/respond to email; say, 9 – 9:30am, 12:15 – 1pm, and 4 – 5pm.
• Use Twitter, IM, Facebook, etc. in single-purpose mode, i.e., use the tools uninterrupted, and when you’re done, be done.  Let’s be generous and say that “engagement block” takes up 2 hours of your day — you social butterfly, you.

Assuming an 8–hour day-  that’s 2 hours, 15 minutes for email; 2 hours for Social Media engagement, leaving 3 hours & 45 minutes for assignments including writing, research, meetings, etc.

The author states: If this post resonates with you at all, try the experiment for 1 week.  See if it makes a difference in your focus, results, energy, and job satisfaction.

Have Real Life Informants been swapped for Virtual Information?

In reading this chapter I came across the section about informants.  An informant, as described by Babbie, is someone who knows about the social group you are trying to study and can tell you about it.  The key ingredient here is that an informant is an actual person.

This stunned me because although this is true, PR professionals and almost anyone 'who wants to know anything about anybody' has taken the personal attribute out of the meaning of informant. 

Everything is done virtually through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,YouTube, or any other social media outlet.  If we want to know something, we will get it- sometimes without the informant even knowing we are paying attention!

J Public Relations is a company I would LOVE to work for so I have been following their Blog when I can.  One entry written by Sarah Evans, dated March 18, 2010, "Twitter and PR- It's Complicated" directly displays this exact social media phenomenon.

Sarah states, "I recall not even a year and a half ago boldly (and proudly) proclaiming, "I’m not joining Twitter.”.....A year-and-a-half later, Twitter has become part of my everyday life. Through Twitter, I access breaking news, I connect with like-minded industry folks, I follow my favorite brands, I book travel, etc..... I love Twitter. There, I said it." 

This is true of most people I know, including myself!  Sometimes I secretly think about deleting my facebook page, but then laugh at the thought.

If our PR clients don't start using these social media sites to run with society, they're not going to fit in- or make money.  But what happens to the personal connection?  "Twitter is so incredibly valuable because it offers the opportunity for authentic, raw communication and conversation. Followers want to connect directly with the source, and feel duped if they’re communicating with anyone who’s not on the “inside,” so to speak."  This is true, however as a PR agency, we must inform our clients about all the social media outlets and also create a Twitter page that is user friendly with personal information on what is going on with our client rather than a general page.  Interaction and an engagement level with the social network user is what keeps them interested."

. Tweet . Tweet .

Satisfaction Measure

The article I found that relates to the book for this week's reading was a measurement of satisfaction in Malaysian hotels.  The hotel guests' perceptions of service quality provided by the hotel industry were lower than their expectations. The lowest expectations and perceptions were given by Malaysian hotel guests towards the hotels in Malaysia. Between Malaysian hotel guests and hotel guests from other Asian countries, there was no significant difference in the overall satisfaction levels for the sample as a whole.  The concept of service quality has been the subject of many research studies in variety of service industries; even the research attention towards hospitality industry has been growing.  As mentioned by Camison (1996), poorness or non-existence of customer satisfaction measuring systems could cause the hotel companies to be lacking in market orientation. Attributes of the service and product that add value for the customer and increase his or her satisfaction might be unknown and that gives no guide to the hotel operators for improvement projects.











Measuring service quality and customer satisfaction of the hotels in Malaysia: Malaysian, Asian and non-Asian hotel guests.

5 Musts For Effective Hospitality PR

This article is written by Charlotte Novom, President of Hollywood, CA based PR firm, Novom Marketing, who touches upon the fact that PR is changing and has a new face.

She stated that, "Public relations has a dramatic new face and the potential for driving even more dramatic revenue-producing results".  The dramatic results she is speaking of, however, are being achieved through extremely different, complex and changing ways. The veterens in this industry have to learn a whole new way of interacting with their audience and keep up media outlets, new social media sites, and interesting events that take place.

Chapter 4 in the book told us about units of analysis, which primarily are individuals, groups, an organization or social interactions.  I believe in this field of PR you have so many units of analysis because you are accomodating all types of people.  Each interactions and individual has a different experience.  In this article she wrote about what she thinks are the Five 'Musts' Public Relations Specialists must consider when engaging and creating an awesome PR campaign for a client.

5 Musts of Effective Hospitality PR

Restaurant PR at a Glance

What a restaurant PR plan should include. . . . .

The article I found talks about bringing new people in to dine at your restaurant. In my opinion it goes above and beyond.  It also includes different ways to get the same people to come back to your establishment.  

Once a restaurant opens for business, it's time to talk about ongoing PR for the restaurant. The ongoing public relations plan is one way to increase a restaurant's business and sales.  It includes a calander of events to get the word out and create a b u z z as well as press releases in different publications about events that have taken place and their outcomes.

Advertising you pay for and PR you pray for.  

You want to create news not ads that draw people in.  It goes above and beyond.

Keep Reading- Andrea