The military coup d’etat in Thailand is the country’s 12th coup since 1932. But it is the first to happen in the digital era.
Hotels and travel agents have been learning on the fly how to leverage their social customer relationship management (CRM) tools to keep customers informed — and to reassure anticipated guests that they shouldn’t cancel upcoming trips.
Not every effort has been as clever as it could have been. For instance, HotelQuickly, a last-minute mobile booking app, posted this marketing message on social network Twitter:
#Coup in #Thailand: Stuck in the city because of the #curfew? Get a discounted hotel now! #ThaiCoup #Bangkok #Hotel
— HotelQuickly (@HotelQuickly) May 22, 2014
William Bakker, chief strategist at travel consultancy Think! Social Media in Vancouver, says he finds that example “very inappropriate but typical.” He adds:
“There always seems to be at least one bonehead organization in a situation like this.”
Perhaps surprisingly, hotels and resorts haven’t been jumping on social media as much as expected. Brandwatch, a social media analytics company, says:
Hotels aren’t posting directly on social media about the political situation. We’re instead seeing guests posting signs on Instagram/Twitter of how hotels are alerting guests to the curfews and trying to provide their guests with the best of a bad situation (extended happy hour, anyone?).
Interestingly enough, it’s the traditional news sources that are providing links to helpful information for those traveling right now in the area.
We are seeing airlines, including @ThaiAirways, @NokAirlines_ENG, and @bangkok_airways, keeping their social media followers to keep informed on news and updates through Twitter and Instagram.
Getting the basics right
People hear the word “coup” on the TV news and they may inadvertently imagine a picture that’s much different or worse than the actual situation on the ground.
On Friday, there were no reports of unrest on the streets of Bangkok. Since November, political fighting has seen 28 people killed and more than 700 injured — but no foreign visitors harmed.
Travel companies are trying to get the word out that tourists are experiencing minimal disruption to their routines in Thailand, though they must obey curfews (last night, it was between 10 p.m.-5 a.m.) and should avoid certain districts of the capital.
In representative standard practice, Kuoni UK, a major British tour operator, says it is contacting all of its customers who are currently in the country to update them with the UK Foreign Office advice to visitors to Thailand and to advise them about the curfew that has been put in place.
To reach travelers already there, Kuoni’s ground agents in Thailand have been contacting customers in resort via telephone and speaking to them directly. If they are unable to get hold of them via telephone they have left a message for them in their hotel.
Making travel apps ready for crisis communications
Travel companies can use the Thai coup as an example of issues to consider for crisis management worldwide, says Tine Thygesen, CEO of travel mobile app Everplaces, based in Copenhagen.
Make sure you have either an app which has a content management system that lets you alter content it in fast and easily. Or alternatively a mobile web CMS where you can fast make specific landing pages.
Either case means you can direct people to the exact page they need in case of an emergency. This is important because the phone network is likely to be overburdened, so you need a page which loads as easily as technically possible.
The best alternative is to use direct notifications directly to each traveler (preferable delivered via SMS, so you’re not reliant on wifi).
Here you can give a quick message to let them know that they are not alone, you’re there to help, and link them directly to a page where they can find detailed information about how to get out of the place, the policies and all important phone numbers and addresses.
This information should ideally be put into your dedicated app, as it can then work offline once they’ve opened it the first time. If the situation develops into a real emergency it’s important that they always have the information at hand.
Even Uber, mobile car ordering service, had to obey share a curfew message with its users.
Think in visuals
Karen Weiner Escalera, who owns US public relations firm KWE Partners, says
I came back from Bangkok a few weeks ago and was nicely surprised to see the city peaceful and with an absence of demonstrations, contrary to my image before arriving.
The best tool is to use images and video. To quote an old adage, seeing is believing.
Encourage and make it easy for guests to send digital postcards, videos and images in general back home to friends and family, with emails, and through their social media channels, showing “business as usual” and them having fun despite the coup.
Then, offer guests something special as a thank you for their help (a free cocktail, a VIP amenity at turndown, etc) and to show them you value their business and support.
Bakker agrees, adding:
If I were the destination marketing organization, I would make a ton of videos that explain what areas of town/country to avoid and what’s perfectly save.
Showing is better than telling. Take and use lots of photos and videos. Show interviews with guests who’ve been out. Show videos of daily life on the street.
Send people out to the tourism hubs, make a video and publish it the same day. Show that transportation works, shops are open, banks work, etc.
Jesse Desjardins, social media and advocacy manager at Tourism Australia — which has won industry plaudits for its digital marketing, says:
I would imagine most national tourism organizations would have crisis communication plans in place, just as Tourism Australia does.
For example in the recent bushfires we had here the corporate comms team worked quite closely with the social team to post up-to-the-minute updates. We’ve built the capabilities here that enable us to act very quickly on these types of events.
The official tourism account on Twitter for Thailand, @ThailandFanClub, has been retweeting updates from many sources, which is a smart move. Richard Barrow, who is a travel writer on the ground, seems to be leading the updates they’re retweeting.
Monitoring digital conversations
The dictatorship has disrupted TV and radio broadcasts (such as by banning CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera). So many hotels and travelers have been turning to social media to communicate.
Using social CRM tools, hotel managers can create social media searches, using keywords, to unearth conversations happening across millions of sources, including Twitter, Facebook, blogs, news articles, and photo and video sites.
Michelle Wohl, vice president of marketing at Revinate, a social CRM provider for hotels, said in an interview:
“Hoteliers have the opportunity to become trusted sources of information for prospective travelers as well as family/friends of tourists, who are wondering whether their friends/family are safe.”
Wol suggests travel companies might want to use these keywords to stay on top of prospective tourist chatter: Safe + Travel + Thailand or recommendations + travel + thailand + coup.
Or they might want to use these keywords to stay abreast of conversations of people wondering if their friends and family are safe in Thailand: safe + traveling + family + bangkok + coup.”
Wohl adds that “hotels can be providing information to the TripAdvisor Forum and their own blogs, to help tourists stay informed and answer any questions.”
Land of smiles
While political turmoil happens in many places, Thailand is one of Asia’s most popular tourist destinations, with between 20 and 26 million foreign visitors a year. Tourism accounts for 9% of the nation’s economy.
Prior to the coup, Thai officials expected a 12% drop in tourists in May due to political instability.
That drop may be worse than expected, given the recent turn of events — unless travel companies make good use of their social CRM and other digital marketing tools.