Big Chefs, Small Hotels.

Lots of famous chefs pair up with big hotels to open splashy restaurants: Alain Ducasse at the St. Regis in New York and D.C., Wolfgang Puck at the Four Seasons Maui, pretty much every chef at every hotel in Las Vegas. But for travelers whose tastes run to more intimate hotels—say, a four-room inn, The North Fork table & Inn in New York or a six-room property in Chicago, Longman & Eagle—it’s still a special treat to eat at one of the best restaurants in the country without leaving the building. The chefs at these six U.S. boutique hotels aren’t all household names (yet), but they’ve earned Michelin stars, James Beard awards, and rave reviews from hungry travelers. Sometimes great big flavors do come in small packages.

Four Paris restaurants worth a metro ride, by the new york times travel.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/travel/03Choice.html?ref=travel

Why you should visit Formentera according to the Irish Times!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2011/0312/1224291925056.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d9312aec03f0584%2C0

Go Spain: Located just 30 minutes by ferry from Ibiza town, arriving on Formentera is akin to discovering another planet compared to what you have left behind, writes JIM CARROLL from the Irish Times.

Do you want to get married on Bonaire or spend your honeymoon at one of the most relaxing places in the world?

See what hotel La Pura Vista has to offer you. They have a very nice video of a Dutch couple who got married on this great island.

http://www.lapuravista.com/p/17/137/-/7/honeymoon

Astarte Suites on Santorini, feautured in the Financial Times.

A great article about this magnificent hotel!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e7c96884-31a2-11dc-891f-0000779fd2ac.html#axzz1GDs9cwl3

How to track flight prices and check for airline refunds.

How? Go to Yapta and save money before and after you buy!

www.yapta.com

Casa Ceedina on you Tube!

Casa Ceedina, one of our Unique Small Hotels has published a tour on you tube. Take a look and see how unique it is!

Insider reports for the discerning traveller.

Check out the website Globalista, the ultimate companion for the sophisticated traveller.

Independent reports, written by passionate travellers, style gurus and insider residents, outline only the best of the best in each destination. Globalista reports help you cut through the clutter and find exactly what you need to make your trip an unforgettable experience.

http://globalist.co.uk

Did you allready change the design of your fanpage? unique Small Hotels did!

The Changes, as Presented by Facebook

* Photos at the top: The most recent photos that you post to the Wall of a Page you admin, or photos you tag your Page in, will appear here. This area will not include any photos posted by people who like your Page.
* Use Facebook as your Page: You will be able to receive notifications for your Page, view a News Feed for your Page, and like and post on other Pages as your Page.
* Wall filters: Pages now have two publicly visible Wall filters-”Posts by Page” and “Everyone.” Page admins will be able to view additional filters-”Most Recent” and “Hidden Posts.”
* Email notifications: You can opt to receive notifications when people post or comment on your Page.
* Featured Pages and admins: You can feature other Pages your Page likes, or admins of your Page, in the new “Likes” and “Page Owners” sections on the left side of your Page.
* Mutual connections: When people visit your Page, they will be able to view friends who also like your Page, as well as other Pages that both they and your Page like.
* Navigation: The content that you formerly accessed by clicking the tabs at the top of your Page can now be found in the column underneath your Page profile picture. The text in the box that used to appear in the box underneath your Page profile picture will now appear in the Info tab.
* Profile picture size: The profile picture size for Pages has been adjusted from 200×600 to 180×540.

How to make Twitter sell!

If you’re like most businesses, you’re trying to engage, and make Twitter sell. But it feels like grabbing at customers’ fleeting attention. Meanwhile, competitors are capturing market share. While you engage with customers they’re finding ways to generate leads and sales.

The key to selling with social media tools like Twitter is seeing the opportunity itself in a new way. Twitter isn’t an opportunity to grab at prospects’ attention.

It’s a new tool that helps businesses translate evolving customer needs, and capture demand. Let’s look at how this is true and how you can immediately apply the idea.

Twitter is being used by companies to translate evolving needs. It’s more than listening. And they’re not just using Twitter as another channel to hand out discount promo codes or grab at customers’ attention. And when doing so it is focused, again, on prompting behaviors that capture customer demand (leads).

Remarkably savvy social sellers like Avaya are converting individual tweets into $250,000 in sales. The company realises that the answer to selling with Twitter is rooted in discovering conversations that are worth having.

And conversing in ways that generate questions that Avaya’s products/services can answer. Here’s how you can too.

lead generation with twitterIf you’re like most businesses, you’re trying to engage, and make Twitter sell. But it feels like grabbing at customers’ fleeting attention. Meanwhile, competitors are capturing market share. While you engage with customers they’re finding ways to generate leads and sales.

Case in point: Avaya views Twitter as a better way to generate customer inquiries. Not a better way to advertise. Companies like Avaya are using Twitter to discover demand and “plug it into” existing lead nurturing processes. To sell.

Translate evolving need

The key to selling with social media tools like Twitter is seeing the opportunity itself in a new way. Twitter isn’t an opportunity to grab at prospects’ attention.

It’s a new tool that helps businesses translate evolving customer needs, and capture demand. Let’s look at how this is true and how you can immediately apply the idea.

Paul Dunay of enterprise communications company Avaya recently shared a remarkable Twitter experience with me.

I’m writing a book on making social media sell and always looking for good case studies and examples. In a nutshell, Dunay’s social media team uses advanced Twitter search functionality to monitor for explicit or latent demand across the vast, babbling Twittersphere.

In June 2009, Paul’s team discovered a 57-character tweet. This started the relationship with his potential customer:

“[...] or avaya? Time for a new phone system very soon,” the tweet read.

Moments after the tweet was posted, an Avaya team member spotted it and notified Dunay, who responded by tweet:

“@[customer] – let me know if we can help you – we have some Strategic Consultants that can help you assess your needs.”

The potential customer did, and 13 days later, Avaya closed a $250,000 sale.

For Avaya, Twitter is a tool to discover demand in various stages. In this case the customer’s need was immediate. In other cases it needs to be nurtured along.

Bottom line: Twitter is being used by Avaya to translate evolving need. It’s more than listening. And they’re not just using Twitter as another channel to hand out discount promo codes or grab at customers’ attention.

Sure, Avaya uses Twitter in an outbound manner, but when doing so it is focused, again, on prompting behaviors that capture customer demand (leads).

Put it to work: make Twitter sell

Here’s a practical success formula you can use, starting tomorrow.

Expect more

What makes you buy more? Personally. Awareness or qualitative experiences with service providers? Think about it in your own life. Eschew the notion that attention, buzz, conversation, listening, word-of-mouth are desirable outcomes. Update your expectation of social media. Expect more of it.

Discover and capture demand

Successful social marketers are translators businesses that find ways to discover customer need and create processes around it. They create ways to capture demand that involve creating behavior. They’re not broadcasters of messages; rather, process-driven customer shepherds that “plug into” the sales function.

For instance, “warm” leads can be placed into a lead nurturing process,like a content marketing program.

That is, an interactive system of prompts or “value exchanges” conducted with leads that helps push prospects down the sales funnel. Typically this involves publishing needs-focused (relevant) video tips, helpful blogs, podcasts, guide books, etc.

In the end making Twitter produce sales is more about prompting behavior, less about broadcasting discounts. Start selling using Twitter today. Discover need, capture it and prompt actions that gently but diligently move potential buyers toward the sale.

Or maybe you’re already ahead of the game? I hope others who are progressing similarly to Avaya may offer comments below.