Hyatt, Marriott Turn Guests Into Stars
-- Hotels, 6/1/2007
WORLDWIDE For as long as there has been video technology, hoteliers have used it to market their properties. Now, a couple hotel companies are turning that idea on its head-Global Hyatt and Marriott International are promoting their brands by asking the guests to fi lm their own videos.
Hyatt is soliciting video entries for its Ultimate Adventure Challenge, for which parents are asked to fi lm 90-second videos illustrating their children's passion for adventure. Twenty families will be fl own to Chicago and Hyatt executives will select fi ve of the families to participate in fi lming a mini "reality show" at Hyatt resorts in New Mexico, Nevada and Hawaii. Six episodes of seven minutes each will be posted on the dedicated contest Web site, where viewers will vote for the family they find most interesting. The winning family will receive 50 free nights at any Hyatt resort worldwide, as will the family of one randomly selected voter.
Hyatt, which markets its resorts as being family-friendly, hopes the contest raises its profi le among vacationplanning mothers. In making the contest interactive and emphasizing the multimedia aspect, the other goal is to direct those parents to the Hyatt Web site. "We ultimately want to engage families-moms in particular-with the brand, and drive bookings from the site," says Scott Seed, director of resort marketing. "Families are our main target audience, so we wanted to provide more content to drive them to the site."
Marriott is going the eco-friendly route with its video contest. Using the wildly popular video-sharing Web site YouTube.com to promote the contest and host entries, Marriott solicited homemade videos illustrating the entrants' commitment to improving the environment, be it by organizing a community litter cleanup or something as simple as planting a tree. The winner, to be selected by Marriott's internal Green Council, will receive a voucher for a fi ve-night stay at the Los Suenos Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort in Costa Rica.
The Eco-Cation Online Video Contest was promoted primarily through Marriott's loyalty newsletter, through word-of-mouth and with a link on YouTube. The contest was originally supposed to run for three weeks in April, but there was such a dearth of entries that Marriott extended the submission deadline into June. "This is something we have never done before, so we are still learning from it," says Marriott Spokeswoman Dasha Ross. "We are learning that this contest is something that people have become familiar with, and then they have to fi lm it and upload it."
Nevertheless, company offi cials are optimistic the contest will succeed at positioning Marriott as both environmentally conscientious and technologically hip. "YouTube is hot right now-it is something fun, different and new," Ross says. "We thought it would be a great opportunity to engage people in a different way." As for selecting Los Suenos as its grand prize destination, Ross says, "Costa Rica is an environmentally friendly place, with the rainforest and with wildlife preservation. And really, who wouldn't want to go to Costa Rica?"
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