New Partner for Business: MyRentals

We are delighted to announce that MyRentals have become our fourth Partner for Business.

MyRentals is a social booking website specialising in providing enhanced experiences to visitors, property owners, and businesses. Their localised Global websites inform travellers by providing exclusive content about the people, places, and businesses that perfectly define locations.

MyRentals “Full Calendar Bonuses” provide property owners with an additional income stream, and their groundbreaking “Social Connector” makes it easy for property owners and local businesses to connect with new customers by staying relevant on social media.

MyRentals believes that planning a holiday isn’t just about booking a place to stay, it’s about visitors finding a place to have great experiences!

myrentals.com

Spirit of Scotland: VisitScotland’s New Marketing Strategy

VisitScotland representatives have been letting industry know about the new the marketing approach for 2016. In brief:

• Their new theme – The Spirit of Scotland – represents a change in in approach for their marketing campaign. It also represents the new spirit of ‘working together’.
• VisitScotland see themselves as guardians of the Scottish brand, rather than the owners of it.
• Customer behaviour has changed and VisitScotland are changing accordingly.
• VisitScotland are adopting a mixture of traditional marketing methods and working with partners, associations and businesses to generate content, recognising that user generated content is huge. It is a great opportunity to harness all the fantastic content being generated by individual businesses.
• VisitScotland is asking for content from partners and businesses, recognising that user generated content is huge. It is a great opportunity to harness all the great content being generated by individual businesses.
• VisitScotland is asking for content from partners and businesses, recognising that user generated content is huge. It is a great opportunity to harness all the great content being generated by individual businesses.
• VisitScotland is looking at markets where the best conversion rates can be predicted in order to maximise budget: Scotland, England, some areas of North America, France and Germany.
• VisitScotland will have a date driven approach to Google searches to ensure Google ‘loves them’.
• Extensive consumer surveys into how to engage with customers has been carried out.
• Changes to the VisitScotland website to be launched in January 2016 include:
  • It will be fully mobile optimised
  • There will be better navigation
  • There will be new mapping
  • Enhanced listings
  • Itineraries  – suggestions of what to do
  • Trip planning and scrapbook elements
  • Greater prominence of events
  • A community platform – a forum including local ambassadors who can help the visitor experience
• VisitScotland has partnered with Trust You, which aggregates all review sites drawn from User Generated Content, offering a live score based on verified reviews. The score will be shown alongside TripAdvisor reviews. Allows benchmarking, monitors social media, offers weekly analytics, offers the ability to gather reviews without being a part of other review sites, scores change in real time. Open to QA’d and non QA’d businesses.
• VisitScotland will be mobilising Visitor Information Centres, in order to increase reach to the places where visitors are.
• The new strategy launches in the UK in March, aligning with STA Tourism Week.

VisitScotland will be issuing a toolkit to help self-caterers enhance their listings in due course, and we will get this out to Members as soon as we have it.