Marriott Promotes FUN and GAMES

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 2/1/2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. Dashing through

virtual lobbies, racing suitcases, dancing avatars-such are features

of new online promotions by Marriott International's Courtyard

By Marriott and SpringHill Suites brands. This winter both brands

launched gaming Web sites to offer travelers a bit of fun while

building awareness of both brand's unique attributes. For Courtyard,

the games highlight the brand's top-to-bottom redesign, including

all public spaces, and for SpringHill Suites, the games' theme

is "bigger is better," as the brand touts its larger-than-average

guestrooms.

This viral marketing initiative was developed by New

York-based T3 to engage Gen X business travelers where they play-online,

according to Deborah Fell, senior vice president, marketing and

strategy for Marriott. "By tapping into the road warriors' competitive

streak and making the games easy to e-mail to challenge friends,

we are generating as much buzz as possible about the brands and

what they offer," Fell says. "With more and more of our target

customers taking advantage of the Internet as a way to seek out

and receive information, these sites seemed like a smart and engaging

way to create awareness and interest in our brands."

At www.redesignedforyou.com,

which can be accessed via Courtyard's homepage, visitors can play

beat-theclock games that include a "suitcase slalom" through the

lobby, the "hallway sneakoff" dashing from guestroom to fi tness

center in disguise, and the "snack stack" gathering as many items

as possible from Courtyard's 24/7 grab-and-go marketplace before

the clock runs out. Top 10 scores are posted on the Web site.

Highlighting its comfortable guestrooms with more space to spread

out, SpringHill Suites' www.moreroomtomove.com site asks players

to pick a contestant to "perform" the dances Shower Shake, Watercooler,

Iron Man and CEO Shuffl e. The message is that all these steps

can be performed with room to spare-and in privacy-at SpringHill

Suites.

While Fell says the goal of the sites is brand building,

increased bookings are obviously a welcome bonus. "We have found

that when we drive customers to these sites, they perform very

well in terms of generating revenue," she says.

Marriott is promoting

the sites on all the two brands' marketing collateral and is happy

to report word-of-mouth buzz on travel blogs as well. "We have

received a number of blog mentions around the sites and are very

happy with them overall in terms of engagement and time spent,"

Fell adds.