Insights Type: Best Practices

Data & Analytics for Sales Leaders: Tips for Success

At HSMAI’s Sales Leader Forum on Nov. 5–6, Dr. Kelly McGuire, principal with McRevenue LLC, presented a breakout session on “Data and Analytics for Sales Leaders.” Here is the third of four key takeaways:

In order to get into the groove of data-driven, fact-based decisions, McGuire recommends asking for proof in order to have stronger, more accurate data. “Get it built into your culture,” she said.

Second, all data is filthy. Data cleanliness initiatives take a long time, McGuire said, but you can’t wait until the data is perfect or you’ll be waiting forever. Third, get used to using visualizations beyond spreadsheets to more clearly illustrate data, especially when sharing with others.

Best of Show: Stellar Dining Series by The Ritz-Carlton

By Kaitlin Dunn, Writer, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)

Entries for HSMAI’s 2020 Adrian Awards are now being accepted — with a special focus on best practices, innovation, and community related to hospitality advertising, marketing, and public relations work created in response to the coronavirus crisis. Take inspiration from one of 2019’s best: Marriott’s “Stellar Dining Series by The Ritz-Carlton,” which was honored in the Advertising/Advertising Campaign/Experimental Category. (View all of last year’s the Adrian-winning submissions here.)

BACKGROUND: Upon realizing that Ritz-Carlton is one of the luxury hotel chains with the most homegrown Michelin-starred chefs, The Ritz-Carlton embraced the opportunity to leverage this asset in a new way by creating an innovative concept that offered unique experiences to drive brand awareness and differentiation: Stellar Dining Series.

In top Asian capitals, fine dining with friends and family has become increasingly possible due to an increase in disposable income and a cultural shift favoring more social gatherings. According to a MasterCard survey, one in three millennials eats at a fine-dining restaurant at least once a month. The Ritz-Carlton also studied reports on the evolution of how consumers define luxury and travel to better understand the trends and mindset of the audience.

In 2018, The Ritz-Carlton invited guests on rare culinary journeys in food-centric cities including Singapore, Osaka, Hong Kong, and Beijing, and in 2019, the company presented events in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Guangzhou. The series will continue this year, with the ultimate goal of building Ritz-Carlton into a sought-after culinary destination.

CAMPAIGN: A series of phenomenal culinary encounters specially curated by Michelin-starred chefs and culinary talents, the Stellar Dining Series targeted potential guests in key source markets in order to broaden the awareness of the brand. Two targeted groups were “The Global Affluent Tribe,” who reside or travel in the cities involved in the campaign, and “The Editors/Influencers,” who shine a spotlight on the lifestyle and entertainment scenes in those cities. Both groups are always searching for the newest, finest, and most exclusive experiences as they collect meaningful stories and are inspired by travel.

The Ritz-Carlton developed an integrated marketing strategy across consumer funnels and leveraged OTVs, digital banners, and the WeChat mini app to drive traffic to a mini-site with inspirational content. To amplify the campaign, Marriott used social media in several phases of storytelling creative, and invited pan-regional and local media to the events to drive PR and online buzz. For the broader public, strategically produced sleek content conveyed the uniqueness of each experience, in partnership with respected publications and influencers. The Ritz-Carlton also used its loyalty program, Marriott Bonvoy, to amplify the campaign.

RESULTS: Over the course of 14 days in 2018, the Stellar Dining Series hosted more than 50 luxury dining sessions and generated total revenue of $503,000, with a 57-percent YOY increase. The campaign was also a huge success, with 112 premium media attending the premiere events in 2018, generating more than 170 clippings that drove nearly 750 million PR impressions. Publications such as the Michelin Guide, Condé Nast Traveler, and GQ ran positive reviews of the experiences, which along with the social and digital campaigns delivered above the expected KPI a total of 78 million impressions, 0.45% average CTR, and more than 3 million social media engagements, and contributed to all of the Stellar Dining experiences becoming fully booked.

WHY IT WON: Adrians judges were very impressed with the Stellar Dining Series by The Ritz-Carlton. Here is what several of them had to say about it why they thought it was the best of the best:

  • “I liked the fact that it was very true to the Ritz-Carlton brand, but it represented the brand in a contemporary, fresh context. I thought the whole alignment, bringing together chefs from around the Asia-Pacific capitals and the reference point done digitally in an elegant, sophisticaed fashion, worked digitally and through videography. It created a cool experience for those who had the opportunity to consume the experience, but for those who didn’t, it created some fascination with respect to what a Ritz-Carlton experience from a dining perspective is all about. It created an immersive experience as well as an aspirational one that made me want to stay at a Ritz-Carlton and have that experience.”
  • “It was super seamlessly integrated, so you could easily consume the content from your smartphone.”
  • “I think they did a great job of creating an emotional connection with the target audience from within three seconds of the video starting. The narrative felt very compelling throughout. They were about to thread many of the aspects of the campaign in a very interconnected and consistent way. It felt very aspirational and highlighted one of the key differentials of the Ritz-Carlton — the F&B component.”
  • “People who stay in hotels know you don’t eat in hotel restaurants, and this is taking that convention and turning it upside down.”

8 Strategies to Prep Team Members for Different Economic Conditions

By Juli Jones, CAE, Vice President, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)

How are you, as a revenue leader, coaching team members on how to deal with a potential downturn in the market, which many of them have not faced? HSMAI’s Revenue Optimization Advisory Board (ROAB) tackled that question at its annual retreat and identified 8 strategies that they are employing in their own businesses:

  1. Define and differentiate between an economic downturn versus a decline in demand.
  2. Increase communication both internally and externally by defining KPIs and knowing the source of your information in order to know how much to trust it.
  3. Provide a guide for best practice levers you can pull once you’re sure it is a downturn.
  4. Look beyond pricing to manage through a downturn (i.e., find new business).
  5. Read case studies and white papers based on the past.
  6. Train employees — focus on influencing, storytelling, instilling confidence, and making strategic decisions going forward.
  7. Use new metrics — don’t chase an index that might not be truly valuable.
  8. Plan for different scenarios.

The advisory board also discussed emerging trends. These issues and more will be addressed at HSMAI’S ROC on June 16-17, 2020 in San Antonio, Texas.

Innovation Case Study: YouTube Director Mix

Innovation in Hospitality Advertising, Digital Marketing, and Public Relations is a new HSMAI Special Report that profiles Gold winners for Innovation in the 2019 Adrian Awards competition. Their work will be honored at the Adrian Awards Dinner Reception and Gala at the New York Marriott Marquis on Jan. 21, 2020. Excerpted below is one of the Innovation profiles from the Special Report:

ADVERTISING | BEST WESTERN HOTELS & RESORTS

GOAL
In 2018, Best Western partnered with Google to leverage an innovative, personalized video program, YouTube Director Mix, and sought to build off the success of its first year in 2019. YouTube Director Mix allows advertisers to easily create a high volume of customized videos at scale, reaching prospective customers in a meaningful way. Best Western sought to deepen customer engagement and increase awareness, as well as position the company as an industry leader.

INNOVATION
The campaign promoted Best Western’s summer offer with each video ad to “Get a $20 Best Western gift card after their first stay” by personalizing the ads based on users’ specific interests. Best Western’s 2019 YouTube Director Mix campaign used contextually relevant messaging and video variation to bring awareness to Best Western and the summer promotion.

RESULTS
Using a mix of targeting and retargeting tactics, the campaign delivered 40 video variations to users based on real-time data and contextual relevance to their online habits. Video completion rate was at the high end of the travel benchmark.

HSMAI SPECIAL REPORT: Innovation in Hospitality Advertising, Digital Marketing, and Public Relations

Every year, HSMAI’s Adrian Awards competition honors hospitality brands and agencies for creative excellence in advertising, digital marketing, and public relations. A relatively new addition to our program is the Innovation category, which spotlights work in all three areas that is doing something new, different, or both.

In this HSMAI Special Report — made possible with the support of HSMAI’s Organizational Member companies — you’ll find short profiles of Gold winners for Innovation from the 2019 Adrian Awards. Our hope is that they’ll inspire you not just with their imaginativeness and originality but with their frequently modest size and scope. You’ll see that innovation can happen at any level and any price, and often blurs the lines between traditional advertising, marketing, and PR.

Congratulations to all of our 2019 Adrian Award winners! It’s thanks to you that we keep finding new ways to tell the story of hospitality.

HSMAI Special Report_2019 Adrian Awards Innovation

Custom GIFs and Other Secrets of Hospitality Marketing Innovation

Custom GIFs and Other Secrets of Hospitality Marketing Innovation

Hospitality marketing has always been a fast-moving game. To help the industry stay ahead of the curve, HSMAI created an Innovation category in its Adrian Awards program, which honors creativity in hotel advertising, digital marketing, and public relations. A new HSMAI Special Report profiles this year’s Gold winners in this category, offering insights and best practices for hospitality marketing professionals at every level. Here are three — one each for advertising, digital marketing, and PR:

ADVERTISING: Pushing out a survey.

Partnering with AFAR travel media platform, the Aruba Tourism Authority surveyed visitors on what makes them happy — so it could make them happier and increase visitation, particularly among an affluent base in key U.S. markets. The Travel Happiness Survey launched with newsletters, emails, social media, and website takeovers. More than 15,000 people took the survey, the results of which were revealed on Afar.com and in AFAR magazine’s 10th-anniversary “Happiness Issue,” with an Aruba sponsorship print ad introducing the results spread.

The project exceeded benchmarks in many categories, including 30,000 page views, 15,000 entries, and five minutes or more spent on the survey page. Email blasts were 69 percent higher than the AFAR benchmark, while newsletters were 99 percent higher. A total of 12,000 emails were added to the Aruba database, and Aruba has used the survey results to better target visitors — and as a result, U.S. visitation is up by 9 to 10 percent in 2019, RevPAR is up 7.8 percent, and on-island spend is up 5 to 6 percent.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Having fun with social media.

In 2018, W Hotels partnered with GIPHY to create W-themed GIFs, reaction GIFs, and GIF stickers. Building off that work, in 2019, W and GIPHY created GIFs to drive awareness for Wake Up Call (WUC), a W Hotels music festival, and distributed them via GIPHY Search Keywords, Search Categories, and Trending Rotational placement — capitalizing on search terms related to “wakeup calls,” music, and key emotions related to WUC, namely excitement. W and GIPHY also engaged VIP festivalgoers by allowing them to produce their own personalized GIFs and GIF stickers at WUC.

W’s 133 GIFs have amassed 1.5 billion organic views across GIPHY and its API partners, including Instagram, Snapchat, FB Messenger, and iMessage. The campaign’s paid media component generated 27.3 million views of WUC-related GIFs and drove a 3.5-percent engagement rate on GIPHY Search (compared to W’s 1.89-percent benchmark), and a Nielsen Brand Lift Study showed lifts across all attributes.

PUBLIC RELATIONS: Making beautiful music.

Travel Michigan created Pure Sounds of Michigan, an ambient album, to showcase the sounds of Michigan through its state parks and inspire travel to these locations by highlighting diverse elements of the Wolverine State, including local artists. Produced with Assemble Sound, a Detroit-based media company, Pure Sounds of Michigan spawned three singles that were promoted via outlets including Billboard magazine and the website Stereogum, with paid audio ads on streaming platforms used to drive traffic to michigan.org.

After debuting at number nine on Billboard’s New Age chart, Pure Sounds of Michigan has been streamed/downloaded more than 88,000 times on Spotify and Soundcloud, while paid campaigns on Soundcloud, Pandora, and Spotify delivered more than 3 million impressions. More than 190 media placements led to an additional 10 million impressions, with social media posts producing another 4 million.

Download Innovation in Hospitality Advertising, Digital Marketing, and Public Relations, an HSMAI Special Report, here.

What’s Different About Revenue Management in Franchised Hotels?

The Lightning Round is a signature program at HSMAI’s ROC event — giving six revenue optimization leaders just six minutes and 40 seconds each to share a best practice, strategic insight, or big idea. At ROC 2019, Sharon Paine, vice president of revenue management for IHG, used her Lightning Round to ask and answer the question “What’s Different About Revenue Management in Franchised Hotels?”

KEY TAKEAWAY: One of the biggest challenges in working with franchises, according to Paine, is the many differences between individual hotels, from upscale to midsize, cities to small towns and suburbs. Because some properties rely on transient guests and last-minute bookings more than others, it can be difficult to forecast, which makes it even more important to get pricing right every single day. That means that revenue optimization professionals have to be resourceful, resilient and flexible. They also need great communication skills, and must be able to build good relationships with their different hotels. And finally, Paine said, they must deliver measurable and sustainable results that the owner can see in order to justify the cost of their job.

The Next Big Things in Hospitality Advertising, Digital Marketing, and Public Relations

The great thing about HSMAI’s Adrian Awards competition is that it operates on two different levels — both equally valuable. On one level, it honors individual hospitality companies, brands, creative agencies, and marketing and communications professionals for their work in designing and implementing innovative advertising, digital marketing, and public relations campaigns.

But on another level, the Adrian Awards offer something for the entire industry: inspiration. Every year, the program spotlights new trends in advertising, digital marketing, and PR that should be on the radar of every hospitality professional — along with best practices for leveraging those trends.

What are some of the trends illuminated by this year’s Adrians program? We asked the group of industry thought leaders who gathered at the New York Marriott Marquis earlier this month for Platinum Judging to share some of the big ideas and bold innovations that jumped out at them. Here’s what they had to say:

ADVERTISING

  1. Emotionally resonant imagery: “One of the common themes in many of the entries that were most striking for us was the emotional connection with the imagery itself — compelling pictures that brought the viewer to that destination in a meaningful and emotional way. In a category where we saw a whole host of entries, from paper brochures to 90-second TV spots, those that rose to the top were those that had the most compelling imagery that really created that connection.”
  2. Active engagement: “Another common thread that bound a lot of these campaigns together is the engagement aspect of them. They invited you to do something, to somehow interact with them, whereas for decades advertising was passively consumed. It was information bombardment. But today, all of these campaigns are stitched together through this common understanding that we want you to smile, we want you to raise your hand, we want you to write a story, we want you to bid some of your loyalty points. We want you to be involved and interacting and engaging with us.”
  3. Niche exclusivity: “The idea of, we’re not for everyone. I think that is also probably tied to the overtourism stuff that’s happening around the world. We see a lot of filters being put on work — like, ‘Sign this pledge if you want to come to our destination that says you will not do anything that will harm the environment.’ These types of things where the destinations and some of the properties are saying, ‘Here’s how we see the world. If you’re good with that, come. If not, I’m sure there’s something else for you.’”

DIGITAL MARKETING

  1. Social purpose: “We saw a number of instances of sustainability, diversity and inclusion, references to overcrowding, and a willingness to address issues head-on rather than sweep them under the rug. There are a number of things that are impacting travel today — whether it’s sustainability, political issues, environmental issues — and the ones that really stood out were the ones that actually addressed those, that actually spoke to the fact that, ‘Yes, we recognize that this is a reality and we’re prepared to talk about it, we’re prepared to have a point of view on it, we’re prepared to comment on it. We’re not running away from it. We are acknowledging that these things exist, and also, how do we make sure you have a great experience when you’re traveling given those realities?’”
  2. Expansive storytelling: “Placing travel within the context of the wider world. You can do that long-form or short-form. High-quality communications, high-quality storytelling, was really a theme here.”
  3. Greater expectations: “I don’t think we’ve seen as much innovation in the last year or two as we had seen in the prior years. Digital is maturing. Four, five years ago you could stand out with a cool execution or a cool technique that people had not seen before, even if your story was kind of flat. Now, all of the channels are getting more mature, all of the tools are getting more mature, and it’s harder to stand out that way, so you better have a good story to tell or else you’re going to get lost in the shuffle.”

PUBLIC RELATIONS

  1. Resilience and recovery: “We had quite a few entries that focused on recovery and rebuilding a destination, because there have been so many impactful natural disasters that have taken place over the past year or so. A lot of those stood out to us because of how the agency or the client handled it in a really smart way.”
  2. Variety of formats: “We’re seeing a lot of innovation in terms of how the message is being disseminated, whether it be through influencers, through digital, through audio — things that we hadn’t really looked at before. Not so many print features — it was much more dynamic.”
  3. Comprehensive ROI: “What we did not see as much are the estimated advertising values, which shows that public relations is looking at measurement in a much more comprehensive way and is understanding that ad values and PR are two different animals. There’s more and more education of the industry that that’s not really a valid analytic anymore.”

HSMAI’s 2019 Adrian Awards will be presented at the Adrian Awards Dinner Reception and Gala at the New York Marriott Marquis on Jan. 21. For additional information, visit here.

 

Sales Incentive Plan Metrics

Excerpted from HSMAI Special Report: Hotel Management Company Sales Incentive Plans, released by HSMAI and ZS to discover key findings in incentive compensation structure, metrics, revenue, goal attainment, and more. The report, which is made possible with the support of HSMAI Organizational Member companies, is designed to help hospitality leaders make informed decisions to maximize the design and success of incentive plans.

Access the Report

Advertising Best Practice — Following the ‘Golden Rule’

HSMAI’s 2019 Adrian Awards competition will honor creativity and innovation in hospitality advertising, digital marketing, and public relations at the Awards Gala January 21, 2020 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Until this year’s winners are unveiled, take some inspiration from one of last year’s Platinum winners: Marriott, whose “Golden Rule Campaign” was honored in the Advertising/Advertising Campaign/Complete Campaign-Consumer/Group Sales/Travel Trade category. (View all of last year’s Adrian-winning submissions here.)

BACKGROUND: Marriott recently doubled its portfolio size to include more than 30 brands. Throughout the expansion, Marriott has retained its core values — putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity, and serving the world. In 2017, Marriott tested a new marketing approach that grouped the Courtyard, Fairfield, Four Points, and SpringHill Suites brands together to create a category offering within the portfolios. The goal was to market a single message across each of the four brands in the category, but the challenge was finding commonalities across four distinct brands.

RESEARCH: Marriott found inspiration in real letters that guests sent to hotel managers over the years that supported the idea of treating others with kindness. Researchers focused on the idea that Marriott was built on the foundation of taking care of people. As they researched how consumers would respond to this philosophy, they noticed that social media, technology, and the political climate were driving incivility in the world. Marriott decided it was the perfect time to present a message of kindness to the world and developed the #goldenrule campaign based on the impact of hotels delivering kindness, producing content inspired by real stories of hotel associates helping guests in ordinary and extraordinary ways.

THE CAMPAIGN: At Courtyard, Fairfield, Four Points, and SpringHill Suites, employees live by the Golden Rule of treating others the way they want to be treated. The message celebrates moments of kindness in the hotels, recognizes good deeds in the world, and serves as a reminder of the commitment these brands have to guests, allowing them to stand apart from other brands. The message stands to inspire, uplift, and connect people together.

By combining the marketing funds for the four bands, Marriott was able to reach a larger target audience, exceed what the individual brands could achieve on their own, and reinforce their affiliation with the Marriott portfolio to guests who would be receptive to learning about the different brands. The target audience was frequent business travelers who travel a minimum of three times annually, are married Millennials or Gen Xers, are tech savvy, and enjoy reading news online, watching sports, and staying up to date on the business world. They are people who want to have a productive trip and see travel as an opportunity for “me time.” These travelers seek hotels in the select service category, likely do not require full-service amenities, but expect and appreciate a warm experience with friendly service.

RESULTS: Ads during the campaign scored between 70 percent and 82 percent recall, a growth of 29 points compared to campaign pre-read. The campaign launched nationally across mass media channels, exceeding 1.27 billion impressions within the first six months. Eighty-six percent of those surveyed said the campaign has a positive impact. The campaign also scored above average for appeal, uniqueness, and relevance, far exceeding the industry benchmarks in all categories — 91 percent for appeal (74 percent benchmark), 95 percent for uniqueness (75 percent benchmark), and 89 percent for relevance (69 percent benchmark). It also exceeded digital benchmarks, including 84 percent for video (74 percent benchmark) and .38 percent for display (.15 percent benchmark).