Focus on Rough Luxury : The Radged Scool Hotel

Rough-Luxe is a new way of looking at luxury as a moment in time and not only part of an object of consumption. Luxury is an enriching personal experience and not only an ownership of an expensive object.

Therefore, the Rough-Luxe definition of Luxury is: time for reflexion, personal encounters with people, nature, architecture and environment as well as food and social and cultural experiences linked to geographic locations. It is also, the intellectual solicitation, listening to ones own feelings as well as comparing objects and time and thinking of their hierarchy.

Rough-Luxe is about the experience, the surrounding, the intrinsic value of objects, art, culture and the people surrounding us as well as the ‘‘consumable’’ items, that you come across in a Rough-Luxe hotel or affiliated business or event.

 

Our Found

Brief on Review Pro

This week's WOW : Uber, the on-demand private driver

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Uber is the fancy on-demand driver. You might have heard about it, it is a concept that got developed in California and that is now available for us Parisians! It is just about enjoying the private driver experience without the usual high expense!

Four easy steps to follow to get onboard:

1- Download the app on App Store (since your credit card information are recorded with your itunes account, you will be directly charged by card so no need to pay anything during the ride!)
2 - Set up your pickup location on the map
3 - Through the app, choose your vehicle type: Berline? Van? Moto?
4 - Your driver is on his way to you !! You can even track his position and know when he is getting close!

Then, it is all about enjoying. You will experience a fancy kind of experience with a well dressed classy driver (wearing leather gloves, suit and tie!). You will even get to choose your music preference by chosing your radio station and inside temperature! Water and magazines are also available in the car and courtesy is on rigour. Also note that the counter only starts once you are in the car and stops when you reach the destination. You then get an email with the recap and billing information. Uber is only 5euros more than a regular cab service...

So the concept is all about high end technology and precision! Definitly a WOW!!!

My WOW : The running App by Nike

I have recently discovered the running app by Nike that has definitly revolutionate my interest for running! There's a GPS tracking system, an audio feedback that is SO worth it, a calorie counter and so many other options to make your daily jog so much cooler.

• How does it work?

Map your runs, track your progress and get the motivation you need to keep going. The Nike+Running app tracks distance, pace, time and calories burned with GPS, giving you audio feedback as you run. Even the route, elevation and weather are taken into account!

• Get cheered on!

You can then share your run to Facebook and challenge your friends!

• Extra Motivation!

You can activate a powersong to help blast toward a new record.

• Challlenge yourself!

Push for the longest, farthest and fastest run yet. Take on yesterday, last Tuesday or a personal best.

Since I have discovered this app, I just can't go running without it. It is so usefull and so simple to use. I would not have tought that it will boost up my motivation so much, but it actually does! With the voice telling you that you are about to win your own record, you just keep on accelerating and it's so challenging! I really recommand this app to people that go run!

Taste by Four Seasons, the blog for food lover

Have you heard about Taste, the new blog launched by Four Season luxury group? If you are a food lover, you might enjoy this pinterest kind of platform for foodies.

Instead of promoting their 90 restaurants located all around the world, the blog showcases recipes from the brand's talented chefs, ingredients and inspirations through tremendous photographs, advices and epic moments.

The one-of-a-kind innovation is the "1 ingredient, 3 ways" section: Chefs create recipes centered around specific ingredients such as apple, coffee bean, porcini mushrooms (or whatever!) and visitors can vote on their favorite recipe.

Not only is the website a brand promoting tool but also a way to attract gourmets through basic google searches like "ideas of recipes with crab". The idea of community is interesting around this blog and it is a great way for the group to show its interest for culinary arts.

• I think this idea is extremely interesting and related to the digital IQ of company. It is a well done example of what hoteliers can do to connect, interact and create value with customers. 
• Plus, the blog is not only focused on the brand Four Season but more on the image of "food-oriented" hotel they want to spread which is great 
• A very subtile way to promote their restaurants and to highlight their talented chefs. 
• Also, the social network engagement is very much visible on the blog (vimeo, facebook, twitter, youtube) as well as the possibility to suscribe to their newsletter.

What else can we say than Bravo Four Season! Here is the link of the article published on December 7th of 2012.

Focus on Digital IQ

What does DIGITAL IQ refers to?

In this all digital era, corporations have to adapt to the rise of new technologies. Digital IQ could be defined as companies' ability to build a whole strategy by valuing technologies and embedding them in their core businesses. Digital IQ can deepen the level of engagement a company shares with a customer. It is about adapting the right digital technologies to help innovating, planning and most of all INTERACT with customers. 

To raise their digital IQ, they are four main elements companies should consider :

The website : "Effectiveness of brand site"

- It has to be interactive and easy to navigate on

- Customer should be able to find easily what he is looking for 

- The reservation system should be smooth

- Customer loyalty program and reward should appear 

- Engagement with social media should appear 

Digital Marketing : "Search, display, and email marketing efforts"

- Website should be well referenced (google adds)
- Customer should be able to access the website through commercial banners & adds positionned on appropriate websites
- The company should be present on emerging platforms such as Tumbler, Pinterest, Google +
- In addition to the website, companies should create a blog -will help with customer's interaction-
- Possibility for the customer to suscribe to the newsletter in order to be updated of special offers and so on

Social Media : "Brand presence, community size, content and engagement on major social media platforms on global and select property accounts" 

- Facebook: Not only to be present on Facebook: the page should be updated regularly with rich content and responsive (f-commerce). A facebook app to facilitate mobile users navigation
- Twitter: Tweet frequency, online voice
- Youtube: Customer tend to watch videos before planning a trip. It is crucial to have corporate videos describing the experience and giving an overview of what's awaiting the customer

Mobile : "Compatibility, optimization and marketing on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices"

- Mobile site: The navigation should be as easy on mobile than on computer device since today's customer mostly navigates on its mobile;
- IOS app: Should have added values such as possibility to book directly the room, why not customizing the stay?
- Mobile innovation: Geo localization (foursquare: guests that check in on foursquare have a free cup of champagne for example), Instagram, food reporter and so on...

*Source : Hotels Digital IQ 2012 review 

Sneak peek of the various Hotel Booking Opportunities

Hotelbookingopportunities from pbhatt854