Scandalous Hotel Promotion!

Marching to the beat of a different drum, Kimpton Hotels & Resorts bypasses boring hotel promotions to capture guests' attention. The largest boutique hotel company in the United States loves to get creative from their animal print bathrobes to live goldfish in sleeping rooms (by request). They are also serious about exercise and relaxation. Exercise equipment is not an exciting hotel marketing topic but they managed to make it sexy! In spring 2013, Kimpton introduced ‘Mat.’ This guy’s job is to hang out in the guest room armoire until a guest calls on him for a little yoga or stretching. Confused? California based creative agency PORTAL A worked with Kimpton to create a fantastic, albeit slightly risque video, to explain Mat’s purpose. Offering a yoga mat in every room throughout all 50+ hotels is yet another way Kimpton backs up their commitment to uncommon experiences.

In addition to the video, Kimpton knew they wanted to spread the word about Mat socially as well. True to form, Kimpton did not want a common sweepstakes. They wanted a different sort of hotel promotion. So they turned to Thin Pig Media to create 'Strike A Pose.' The concept was simple; participants would submit an image of themselves in a yoga pose on a custom developed Facebook app. But standard planks and child poses would not do. We were looking for fun and creative ideas. (By the way, we created an admin feature so any offensive images could be screened and easily removed from the application if necessary. Fortunately, we never had to pull any submissions.)

Once the image was uploaded, contestants and site visitors could vote on their favorites as well as share the pose via Facebook, Twitter or email. As many social marketers can attest, getting user-generated content can be very difficult. This promotion yielded 51 quality submissions, 4,600+ votes and 4,674 Facebook page Likes during the 30 day contest. (As a reference, Like growth was 247 & 348 respectively in the month prior and following the contest). Take inspiration for your next hotel promotion. An exciting idea will engage your guests!

Keep on rolling Kimpton friends! We can’t wait to see what you think up next!