HOTELS

Adam Kirby

Travelodge Sets The Bar For Self-Promotion
December 28, 2007

Somebody in the Travelodge marketing department deserves a huge raise.

Seemingly every few weeks, Travelodge’s UK division gets a mention in the mainstream press worldwide thanks to some quirky promotion or unusual news item. The vast majority of these are sheer publicity stunts, of course, but who cares? Give Travelodge credit for understanding how to cut through the clutter and make its name known.

Here is a quick sampling of some of the more amusing of the Travelodge promotions from the past few months.

• Travelodge To Hire Out-Of-Work Santas As Managers. The campaign, dubbed “Save a Santa,” would place 100 mall Santas into managerial vacancies by next year. Why? Because Santas inherently have good customer relations skills and a jolly demeanor, of course. Let’s just hope no Santas in the mold of Billy Bob Thornton apply …
• Travelodge Offers Free Rooms To Couples Named Mary And Joseph. The Bethlehem Travelodge was all booked up 2,007 years ago, so Jesus had to be born in a manger instead of a comfy hotel room. Travelodge didn’t want to risk that happening again this year. Imagine how different nativity scenes would look—gives a whole new meaning to Heavenly Beds, doesn’t it?
• Travelodge Reports More Than 400 Nude Sleepwalkers Last Year. This is a staggering number—more than one per night—but assuming it is correct, makes you wonder if nude sleepwalking is more common than you thought or if there’s something going on with the Travelodge water supply. Nevertheless, this nugget of info got a ton of people saying the name “Travelodge” around company water coolers and in office cafeterias.
• A Travelodge Study Concludes Hungover Brits Will Cost Businesses £790 Million. This statistic has virtually nothing to do with Travelodge, and yet, because the brand funded the research and slapped its name on the press release, it got plenty of free publicity out of it.
• Travelodge Offers ‘Bounty’ For Finding Hotel Sites. The brand is looking for 500 new sites throughout the UK, and if you suggest a site that gets selected, Travelodge will pay you £500 for each guestroom built. Talk about interactive marketing!
• Some Couple Lives 22 Years In A Travelodge. This story works on two levels—it is odd enough that it appeared in untold numbers of newspapers and television news programs, but more importantly, it is about the most impressive and sincere example of brand loyalty you will ever find.

Posted by Adam Kirby on December 28, 2007 | Comments (0)