It seems like everywhere you turn someone is talking about location-based social media. Maybe you’ve bumped into it by a different name, or maybe you haven’t really thought about what it means for your hotel or restaurant, but it could be a huge game-changer for the hospitality industry. Here are a few apps specifically dedicated to location services:
Foursquare.com – Foursquare kind of makes a game of using your mobile device to “check-in” to specific locations around the city.
Gowalla.com – Similarly, Gowalla users download an app on their mobile device and check-in to locations.
I’m really not sure which of these two extremely similar services came first, but both have the potential to chance the way that hotels and restaurants do business. Both of these services encourage users to get out, visit new places, then tell the world where they are. Further, both services allow frequent users to earn rewards.
Hotels and restaurants should watch both services closely to see if visitors from each are coming, and what they are saying. In my opinion, either of these services could become loyalty/rewards systems helping businesses connect with their frequent customers.
