Hotels Awarded for Innovation in Digital, Social and Mobile Marketing to Drive Bookings and Brand Engagement

NEW YORK – February 24, 2015 – The eMarketer of the Year Award, presented by TravelClick, a global provider of innovative cloud-based revenue-generating solutions for the hospitality industry, together with Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) have announced Qbic Hotel London City and Best Western International as recipients of the 2014 eMarketer of the Year Award. The Award was announced at the Adrian Awards gala in New York City on February 23.

The eMarketer of the Year Award, now in its 14th year, honors excellence in hospitality digital marketing. In order to compete for the prestigious award, applicants provide detailed data on their emarketing strategies and campaigns and are judged by an independent panel of digital marketing and ecommerce experts. This is the third year in a row Best Western has won the award and a first time honor for Qbic Hotel London City.

“The popularity of online bookings, social media and the growing power of mobile to engage consumers is causing hotels to transform their marketing strategies in order to drive bookings and create deeper guest connections. Best Western and Qbic Hotel London City understand exactly what their guests want and consistently delivered innovative digital campaigns that stay true to their brand and their traveler. Both brands’ appetites for taking risks, creativity and a true understanding of its customer set the standard for other hotels to follow in developing impactful digital marketing campaigns,” said John Hach, Senior Vice President, Global Product Management at TravelClick.

Best Western International

Best Western has solidified itself as a leading digital marketer. The brand’s ability to stay on top of current digital trends to engage travelers has been a major part of their success. In 2014, Best Western’s digital marketing focus shifted to social media and mobile marketing. Best Western effectively met consumers in these mediums with content and travel inspiration to drive booking decisions, with more than 50 percent of revenue generated from web reservations.

Social channels served as a key part of Best Western’s strategy, enabling them to garner more than 2.9 million unique guest visits and travelers each week through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and their You Must Be Trippin’ travel blog. In 2014, the brand’s Facebook page reached 1 million followers-a major milestone-and continues to attract active travelers. To capitalize on the growing use of mobile in researching and booking hotel rooms, Best Western’s Travel Hacks video series generated 2.5 million views and drove significant traffic to the brand’s booking engine.

Qbic Hotel London City

Qbic Hotel London City is a new hotel concept and brand in the competitive London market. The property has truly excelled at generating bookings through its own website. In 2014 the property generated 29 percent of revenue from the web, and boosted website revenue by 87 percent. Qbic Hotel London City was able to achieve this through a truly unique search engine optimization (SEO) strategy by ranking high on converting terms further down the long tail and landmarks, with a brand heavy focus. The strategy has paid off, delivering 43 percent of website revenue in direct bookings through organic search.

Qbic Hotel London City launched special campaigns over the past year such as “Stay Tonight” designed to move inventory on the same day and generated an impressive ROI of 2,400 percent. Also, their popular £1 room competition which gives away 100 rooms for £1 each every month was a major success. It used a range of promotion strategies from YouTube videos, direct email, and social media campaigns to pay-per-click. The giveaway generates more than 10,000 entrants monthly.

The 2014 eMarketer of the Year panel of judges were made up of the following esteemed digital marketing and e-commerce experts:

  • Dr. Daniel J. Connolly, Senior Associate Dean, Academic Programs, Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver and former Senior Hotel & Lodging Analyst with PhoCusWright
  • Glenn Haussman, Editor-in-Chief at Hotel Interactive Network and hospitality trend tracker
  • Dr. Brumby McLeod, Assistant Professor, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, The College of Charleston School of Business
  • Tim Peter, Founder of Tim Peter & Associates, online marketing and e-commerce guru, and former brand hotelier
  • Dr. Edwin N. Torres, Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida, Rosen College of Hospitality Management

To learn more about the Adrian Awards and award winners please visit http://www.adrianawards.com/