Facebook Deals: Location based advertising knocks hotels' entrance! Sol Melia goes for it!!

On January 31st Facebook introduced, in the UK, its new location based advertising service called "Deals".  The Guardian offers a good analysis of the strategy behind Deals, in relation to competing services from Groupon, Google, Foursquare and SCVNGR .
As EyeForTravel announced today, Sol Melia already has chosen to participate in the platform that is already available in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

In their website EyeForTravel states: "Launched in the US last November, Facebook Deals lets users 'check in' to venues via the Places feature on its mobile app for iPhone, Android and through facebook.com on some smartphones.

For its part, Sol Meliá has shared that this new platform is one outcome of its 2011 strategy to increase its visibility and positioning in the 2.0 environment.

The showcased Deals from Sol Meliá include discounts of up to 50% in Spanish Meliá, Gran Meliá and ME by Meliá properties.

To access these offers, individuals must register their visit via “Facebook Places” and look for the yellow ticket, showing offers at local stores. Facebook Places and the associates Deals have been made available for iPhone, Android and via the touch.facebook.com site for other smartphones.

“The wisdom of friends has taken over from the wisdom of crowds, through a highly personal experience in the real world, and Facebook local enables users to take that Facebook identity out and about with them as they experience the real world – likewise using that to inform that Facebook identity,” said Emily White, Facebook’s director of local, according to a report filed byguardian.co.uk. “Places is the 'where' to 'what am I doing' and 'who am I with'. And it allows businesses to start joining the conversation.”

The publication also mentioned that Groupon, Google, Foursquare and SCVNGR all have something new to worry about with the advent of the giant social network’s latest move into local - and free – advertising.

“Facebook Places certainly challenges Foursquare, not least because Deals places it firmly along the commercial lines of rival SCVNGR, which claims to have had some success building a location-based game around business from the outset, rather than starting out with early adopter gamers. Again, it is scale that is Facebook's main advantage,” added the publication.

The Independent highlighted that the launch of Facebook Deals is likely to bring location-based services into the mainstream, according to experts who warned that companies, including Foursquare, will be looking over their shoulders."


Facebook welcome to the hospitality industry!!!