Search

×

2016 Social Hotel Awards: Best Facebook promotion

Social media has become more than a nice accessory for hotel brands and individual properties looking to engage guests and drive business. More than just producing a “like” or follower, such programs are increasingly becoming revenue generators, or will need to do so in the near term.

With a similar focus on ROI, HOTELS revised its 5th annual Social Hotel Awards judging criteria based on evolving trends in social media and the importance of better proving ROI beyond “likes.” Today we continue presenting the awards with the winners of Best Facebook Promotion.

By brand: Rotana promotes Escapes packages

To increase awareness and direct sales of its Rotana Escapes hotel packages during August, a slower travel season in the United Arab Emirates, Rotana launched a Facebook sweepstakes for a free trip to a participating hotel. The one-week competition asked participants to create their ideal getaway package from among 48 possible options. The campaign targeted people in the UAE and Oman markets who had not taken a summer vacation.

“The campaign was extremely engaging and combined perfectly the desire for customers to picture themselves at one of Rotana’s great resort destinations, the fun and empowerment in selecting the ideal package for themselves and actually having the chance to win,” explains Thomas Spinner, corporate director of e-commerce at Rotana Hotels. “It’s not necessarily about spending high budgets but about the creativity, which leads to engagement.”

With only two Facebook posts, the campaign went viral, reaching an audience of 38,805 on Facebook and received a total of 656 unique participants.

Runner Up: SpringHill Suites

By property: ITC Maurya celebrates restaurant milestone

Description: To celebrate the 25-year milestone of its restaurant DumPukht, ITC Maurya in New Delhi created a Facebook campaign to post visually appealing content such as a video with the restaurant’s chef, as well as content to drive conversation and social sharing using the hashtag #25YearsofDumPukht. To incentivize participation, the hotel launched an array of contests that were supported by highly targeted advertisements. The ITC Hotels Facebook brand page also promoted the anniversary hashtag for 10 days to increase awareness. “An important step while creating a promotion or campaign is to understand the right target audience and then identify the focused social network to reach out to them with distinct, measurable outcomes,” says Baldev Dhir, head of digital marketing, distribution and brand operations at ITC Hotels.

The 10-day campaign resulted in 10,000 new Facebook followers; increased Facebook interactions with more than 5,000 likes, comments and shares; increased media coverage; and led to an increased brand Klout score from 68 to 72.

Runner Up: Sofitel Bali

Comment