Mr. Patterson

Social Media & PR

Best Social Media Campaigns and Practices of 2011

By Burns Patterson, Executive Vice President, Middleton & Gendron

In 2011, hotel brands and individual hotel properties embraced social media platforms as never before. In the process, they learned lessons that will pay dividends in 2012, as the hospitality industry continues to reach out to past and potential guests in innovative ways. This article takes a look back at some inspiring campaigns – large and small – from 2011, and offers hints at new directions for the New Year.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts was among the most ambitious and creative hospitality companies utilizing social media during 2011. The company unveiled campaigns for a variety of brands and for the corporate loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest®, across platforms from Facebook to Twitter, from YouTube to Foursquare, and through blogger engagement.

Hospitality companies have had mixed results working with location-based services, such as Foursquare, but Starwood embraced the platform wholeheartedly in 2011, with several campaigns designed to extend awareness and reach for the Starwood Preferred Guest program. In May, the company announced a partnership with Foursquare in which guests could earn Starpoints® and Free Resort Night Awards by checking in via Foursquare with a confirmed reservation at any of more than 1,000 participating Starwood hotels and resorts in nearly 100 countries. Free stay awards were also “hidden” across the hotel collection, to be unlocked daily by one lucky check-in. While neither Starwood nor Foursquare has released final check-in numbers for the program, the hotel company has been pleased enough with the partnership to launch new promotions with Foursquare at the start of 2012. The SPG Facebook page, which also helped to promote the initiative, has grown to more than 70,000 fans. At the close of 2011, Starwood also announced a partnership program with the China-based geo-location service, Jiepang.

Starwood’s trendsetting W Hotels brand has been a digital flagship for the company, and did not disappoint in 2011, expanding the social media footprint for its “Fashion Next” program. Fashion Next, curated by W Hotels Worldwide’s Fashion Director, Jenne Lombardo, supports and highlights emerging designers during the spring and fall editions of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York. Fashion Next designers also receive support in the months that follow, as they travel to W Hotels around the world for trunk shows. In addition, they design limited-edition clothes and accessories for the W collection.

W Hotels “Fashion Next” initiative
(courtesy W Hotels Worldwide) W brought the Fashion Next program to life online with a blogger ambassador program, in which four leading fashion bloggers received exclusive “all-access” to capture content and behind the scenes information that was shared via blogs, Tweets, YouTube video and Facebook posts. Participating bloggers included Michael Angel, “The Glamourai”; Bibhu Mohaptra, “Couture Snob”; Juan Carlos Obando, “The Clothes Whisperer’; and Nomia, “Aureta’s Blog.” The results included 3,151, 520 blogger impressions.

Starwood’s Aloft Hotels brought its “Live at Aloft, 50 Days of Music” program, which featured 50 bands at 50 Aloft Hotels around the world, to life on Facebook in 2011 with a dedicated tab providing links to download a free song from each band. The initiative garnered more than 3,000 new “likes” for the Aloft Facebook page in the first 10 days of the program alone. Aloft will keep the music pumping in 2012 with its “Turning up The Spotlight” program. Starwood’s Element Hotels brand, which has just launched its tenth U.S. hotel, stayed true to its “green” roots with a series of “eco-glossary” posts on Facebook, designed to educate and inspire fans with sustainable practices.

During 2011, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, added substantial numbers of new fans to both its corporate Facebook page, which has climbed towards 150,000 “likes,” and its Hilton HHonors page, which has garnered more than 110,000.

Hilton’s loyalty program deserves top “hhonors” for a bold and creative promotion which the company billed as “the world’s largest social media treasure hunt,” in the fall of 2011. The initiative involved a treasure hunt in five cities, offering to give away a total of 500 free room nights in prizes (100 per city) to winners. Clues were provided solely via the Hilton HHonors Facebook page and Twitter account.

In the meantime, Hilton’s corporate Facebook page leveraged brand partnerships in creative ways. Hilton is the official hotel partner of CBS TV’s Hawaii Five-O, which films at Hilton properties in Hawaii. At the beginning of the show’s second season this past fall, Hilton engaged its fans with a series of videos on YouTube and Facebook that illustrated how to make signature Hawaiian cocktails created by Hilton bartenders, offered surf instruction from team members at Hilton Hawaiian village, and even offered a virtual hula lesson.

Early in 2012, Hilton plans to spotlight another partnership, as Hilton Hotels & Resorts celebrates 24 years as the Official Hotel Partner of the GRAMMY® Awards. During this year’s Grammy Awards, Hilton will offer opportunities for fans to win a trip to the 2013 edition, by sharing the story of their own “musical journey” as part of a Facebook contest.

Hilton will unveil its “Go to the Grammy’s” Promotion on Facebook early in 2012
(courtesy Hilton Hotels & Resorts)

Hilton’s Embassy Suites Hotels brand brought its own Facebook page to a remarkable 130,000 fans in 2011 through creative promotions and engaging on-going content. A unique tab on the page, called “The Atrium,” (highlighting a key Embassy Suites design feature) offered fans an intriguing way to connect with each other and a mix of options to learn more about everything from work/life balance to omelets (another brand specialty!).

Marriott International deserves special mention for the company’s commitment to blogging. “Bill Marriott’s Blog” is promoted on the welcome screen for the company’s Facebook page (more than 90,000 fans) and on the company website’s homepage. It would be great to see more hotel brand CEO’s following Marriott’s lead!

Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton brand embraced social media earlier and more creatively than might have been expected for this “traditional” luxury brand. Well known for being active on Twitter, the brand enhanced its Facebook presence in 2011 with engaging tabs with titles including “Memories” and “Share Your Story.” Both tabs offer a simple and on-going location for fans and past guests to share memories and special stories. The page has grown to a robust 78,000 fans at the start of 2012.

Speaking of luxury brands, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts extended its reach across social media in 2011 with effective updates to its Facebook page and increased frequency on Twitter. On Facebook, Four Seasons has grown to more than 84,000 fans, and features new content including a “Family Travel” tab highlighting topics of interest to families and linking to the brand’s “Have Family Will Travel” blog, billed as “the modern blog for the modern family.” Four Seasons’ ability to provide bespoke experiences is reinforced via an “Experience Four Seasons’ tab.

Hyatt has been effective in the past with its popular @hyattconcierge Twitter account (more than 19,000 followers) but grew its corporate Facebook page substantially in 2011 to more than 160,000 fans. Hyatt effectively mixes frequent video posts with old school use of the “notes” tab for longer posts. Its Andaz brand includes an “Andaz Salon” tab on its Facebook page, highlighting special cultural events at various Andaz locations.

Disney’s Walt Disney World Resort retained its Facebook heavyweight title for an individual resort, with an astonishing 7.6 million fans (the resort’s Twitter account has a “respectable” 250,000 followers). While few other hospitality companies will have access to the kind of referral traffic that Disney’s overall media empire provides, nor will they match Disney’s resources, the resort’s approach on Facebook is worth scrutinizing for lessons applicable elsewhere.

Perhaps most interesting is Disney’s commitment to provide a forum for its own guests and visitors to act as brand ambassadors, and even to answer questions on behalf of the resort. Walt Disney World Resort launched its Disney Mom’s Panel back in 2009, with 12 Mom’s answering questions on Facebook. The panel is still going strong (and has expanded to include Dad’s, I note). But, Disney now offers many other areas for fans to interact. A “Share Memories” tab on the page offers a series of options for fans to post their own memories of a trip, or interact with other fans. The tab even features links to customized Disney Facebook apps, such as “Disney PhotoBook,” allowing fans to create a personalized photo book. The page incorporates robust search capabilities without requiring fans to leave the Facebook environment in tabs such as “I’m going to Walt Disney World,” though certain sections link to related websites, including the booking engine.

It’s not only the world’s largest hotel brands and resorts that offer inspiration for social media success, of course. In fact, some of the most creative engagement is taking place among boutique brands, hotel “collections,” and independently owned hotels. Kimpton Hotels stayed true to its brand’s stylish DNA on Facebook and Twitter in 2011, with promotions such as “Rock the Robe” (giving away Kimpton’s famous animal print robes) and with Twitter chats hosted by in-house food, wine and design experts on weekly basis. Partnerships were key for others: Trump International Hotel & Tower New York launched a Facebook promotion (with a video from Ivanka Trump) offering a trip to the NY premiere of Tower Heist, which had been filmed at the hotel. Rosewood Tucker’s Point in Bermuda created separate promotions linked to Lily Pulitzer and Gosling’s Rum. The Setai Fifth Avenue, a Capella Managed Hotel in New York, teamed with Chopin Vodka for a joint promotion titled, “Show Your Bartender Some Love.”

Even “historic” hotels sought to innovate, as Harbor View Hotel & Resort on Martha’s Vineyard (built in 1891) embarked on plans to bring its sailing school to life through video tutorials on Facebook. Independent hotels such as Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa made room reservations available directly on Facebook and added a “Deals” tab consistently offering a range of special packages. The Roger Smith Hotel in New York, a poster child for early adoption of social media among independent hotels, also moved to direct room reservations through a dedicated app on Facebook during 2011 (including a 15% discount to those booking via Facebook); added special offers for guests checking-in at the hotel or hotel restaurant via Foursquare; enhanced the hotel’s “rogersmithlife” blog; and continued an engaging Twitter strategy via multiple accounts. The independently-owned Colonnade Hotel, in Boston, was among the first such hotel to launch a Google + brand page, and expanded its Twitter account beyond 2,000 followers despite displaying misguided faith in the Boston Red Sox during 2011 with frequent Tweets focused on the team and nearby Fenway Park.

And the ROI for the hospitality industry? A recent article from Bloomberg BusinessWeek provided compelling statistics, citing a PhoCusWright study on social media’s role in travel, indicating that 15.2 million visitors were referred from Facebook directly to hotel websites in 2010, a 35 percent jump from the prior year (full 2011 referring statistics were not yet available). Of that number, close to 600,000 of the referrals resulted in a booking, a conversion rate of 4 percent that, the report noted, is higher than the conversion rate from travel review sites.

In 2012, we can expect to see more hotels permit booking or retail purchases directly from Facebook, rather than linking fans out to external websites. The most important benefit for hotels and hospitality companies which engage with guests in social media, however, remains increased brand loyalty and engagement. In this regard, the progress made during 2011 promises even greater momentum for 2012.

Burns Patterson is Executive Vice President at Middleton & Gendron (www.mg-pr.com) a New York-based PR and brand communications agency that is one of the country’s leading hospitality, travel and lifestyle agencies. Mr. Patterson also heads the agency’s digital practice. His 20+ years in public relations have included roles as director of public relations for Madison Square Garden Sports Properties, and director of PR and new media for Historic Hudson Valley. Mr. Patterson can be contacted at 212-980-9060 or bpatterson@mg-pr.com Extended Bio...

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