Holiday discounts offered to travellers with a large number of social media followers

Hotelied offers travellers personalized luxury hotel deals based on their social media clout.

Offering deals to social network users with a large number of followers is based on the logic that the cost of the discount will hopefully be outweighed by the subsequent exposure and publicity. We’ve already seen the model employed by fashion brand Volga Verdi, and now Hotelied is looking to apply the same thought process to the travel industry.

Hotelied is focused on serving “lifestyle” properties and luxury four-star and above hotels. It offers these organizations the opportunity to target heavy discounts towards influential travellers with a large amount of social media clout, but deals can also be targeted towards travellers from certain industries — for example, users who work in fashion or entertainment — or to frequent travellers.

Meanwhile, travellers looking to use the service must first create a profile on the Hotelied website and link it to their social networks — Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all currently supported, with plans to add Instagram to that list. They may also add details of any travel rewards programs they are members of. Hotelied will subsequently present these users with a range of hotel deals based on their profile. Importantly, all of the travellers’ information is stored by Hotelied and not shared with the hotels. Rather, the company receives the discount packages offered by the hotels, along with the details of who they are looking to target, and matches the deals to their members’ profiles.

When the model works, it offers a win-win for both the organizations offering the discount, and the consumer. How else, and in what other industries, could businesses capitalize on their customers’ social media clout?