Renaissance Blackstone Chicago Hotel won the 2013 Social Hotel Award for best use of Twitter, property.
To see all the Social Hotel Award winners, click here to go to the winners index or click here to read about them in the October digital edition of HOTELS Magazine.
The hotel’s lead navigator began using the hotel’s Twitter account during downtime at her desk for interaction and soon was adding 20 followers a week using #ChiChat, #travel and other hashtag opportunities. Local vendors, restaurants and fellow concierges were targeted, and there have been a number of Twitter interactions that have resulted in bookings at the Blackstone. The Twitter account is also used for real-time customer service for guests staying at the hotel.
In 2012, the Blackstone was one of Sage Hospitality’s best properties reporting revenue from social media channels with close to US$5,000 from 33 room nights booked with a direct referral from social media and 548 visits linking back to the hotel’s social media channels.