Parsippany, N.J. — June 5, 2012 — Hotels looking to showcase their property, events, specials, and local area attractions plus express their culture or personality via social media are finding great success with Pinterest. Now one of the hottest and most frequently visited social media marketing channels, Lodging Interactive and its subsidiary CoMMingle are offering a turnkey service for creating and professionally managing this online bulletin board on behalf of hotels.
 
Lodging Interactive is an award-winning, interactive and social media marketing agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. CoMMingle by Lodging Interactive is an outsourced social media marketing agency that develops customized solutions for hospitality entities. Together, the companies are providing powerful new ways for hoteliers to interact with their guests and prospects and better grow and manage their use of social media channels.  

Consider these statistics:

• Pinterest users spend an average of almost 16 minutes on the site per visit (compared to 12.1 for Facebook).
• As of January 2012, Pinterest had received just under 12 million unique visits.
• Pinterest receives almost 1.5 million visitors each day.
• Pinterest provides more referral traffic to other sites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

"Pinterest is giving hotels a place to organize images and information into boards for specific categories to make it easier for consumers to find what interests them most and then act upon it," said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive Founder and President. "The boards are designed to highlight all the various aspects of the hotel, from the guestrooms and food-and-beverage areas, to recreation, social offerings and even local area attractions.

"Understanding how difficult it is for hotels to keep up with the growing social media landscape,  Lodging Interactive and CoMMingle will take an active role in setting up each hotel's Pinterest account and managing it accordingly," he said. "We will develop boards on behalf of our customers, pin their photos and information, re-pin items as needed, engage with customers, identify relevant content and then sustain that content month to month, monitoring it and making sure that it stays fresh."

Rosella Virdo, Director of CoMMingle Social Media Marketing, explained that when information or photos are "pinned" on Pinterest, a hotel's followers will see it. Viewers can like, comment or re-pin it to their boards. Items of interest may contain links to the site where the image originated. Like Facebook content, Pinterest pins have the opportunity to go viral. Unlike Facebook, visitors don't need to be friends with someone to follow their board. The key is simply sharing a common interest.

"The social media phenomenon is exploding, and as such, hoteliers need to find new, and more powerful ways to interact with their guests and prospects," Virdo said. "Our team at CoMMingle becomes the eyes, ears and mouthpiece of the hotel, assisting them with planning their unique social media strategy based on their individual property goals. Then they will teach members how to socialize online, 'comingling' and managing their photos and message on the various channels, including Pinterest, blogs,  Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and more. We ensure that each hotel's message is communicated smartly, efficiently and effectively, constantly measuring each plans' critical success factors and fine-tuning each strategy for long term success."

By leveraging the support of Lodging Interactive and CoMMingle, hoteliers are finding they can quickly and affordably become more successful than ever before. To learn more about how Lodging Interactive and CoMMingle can assist in your social media marketing program, call 877-291-4411 ext. 701 or visit www.LodgingInteractive.com.

About Lodging Interactive
Lodging Interactive, headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, is an award winning leading provider of Internet Marketing Services to the hospitality, spa and restaurant industries. The company provides a portfolio of effective hotel Internet marketing services to hundreds of hotels, resorts, ownership properties, spas and restaurants. Clients include branded hotels from nearly every major brand as well as prestigious, landmark independent hotels.

Through its CoMMingle Social Media Marketing Agency operating division, the Company offers hospitality focused and fully managed outsourced hotel social media marketing customized solutions. Lodging Interactive is an award winning interactive marketing agency and has been recognized as a leader by the International Academy of Visual Arts, Interactive Media Awards, Web Marketing Association and Travel Weekly’s Magellan Awards.

Lodging Interactive is a proud supporter of the Hotel Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) and a proud member of the Asian American Hotel Owners Assn. (AAHOA). For more information contact Richard Walsh, Vice President of Business Development at [email protected] or at 877-291-4411. The company’s website is located at www.LodgingInteractive.com