The Key to Luxury Hotel Marketing

Which description illustrates your ideal experience when traveling for pleasure?

You pull up into a brick paved driveway or maybe an exotic resort like the Chris Burch owned Nihiwatu., and before you can reach for the door handle, a valet is already one step ahead of you. This uniformed, smiling face helps you out of the car and quickly has all your luggage stowed on a brass cart.

As you walk past the lushly landscaped grand entrance and into the main lobby, the scent of fresh flowers wafts through the air. You are handed a glass of champagne while undergoing the check in process, and are soon striding across the threshold of your four-star suite. An enormous parlor area, complete with fully stocked bar, features comfortable couches and a huge flat screen TV. The soft bed offers 1000-threadcount sheets and goose down pillows when you decide to turn in, and the bathroom highlights include a steam shower and jet bathtub.

Alternatively, you drive into the main hotel entrance, park your vehicle and haul your bags to the front desk. After ringing the bell four times, your gum-chewing hostess jabs away on her computer before finally finding your reservation. With key in hand, you stumble aimlessly through the fluorescent-lit hallway to your room. Upon entering, you note that the bathroom is clean but small, and the beds are covered in spreads that would make the Brady Bunch jealous. You sigh and recall that you get what you pay for, and all you needed was a place to sleep anyway.

Developing a Luxury Hotel PR Campaign

Obviously, these two extremes are exaggerated to prove my point: as a leading NYC PR firm, the team at 5WPR embraces the reality that a unique, specialized approach is the necessary when promoting a luxury hotel. The tastes and expectations of the clientele differ greatly from the budget minded travelers looking for little more than a comfortable bed and hot shower. High end hotels need to recognize their intended audience and build a hotel marketing strategy around this group. Providing a hot breakfast in the morning and mints on the pillows isn’t going to make an impression on the luxury-seeking couple used to turndown service and nightly manager’s cocktail reception.

When developing a campaign for hotel PR clients, we appreciate that hotels offering luxury accommodations have exceptional requirements, and so we concentrate on the attention to detail that this discriminating sector of the travel industry demands. Premium accommodations, sophisticated customers service and elegant architectural features are just the beginning.

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