Marketing Review - Spring 2008 - (Page 12)

ONLINE MARKETER Recommended Surfing ALOFT HOTELS alofthotels.com A recent addition to the Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ portfolio, Aloft Hotels is a more value-oriented offshoot of Starwood’s highstyle and upscale W Hotels brand. According to Starwood, the Aloft brand is characterized by “urbaninfluenced design, accessible technology, style, and a social atmosphere that’s always abuzz.” The first Aloft Hotels are scheduled to open later this year. During the pre-opening stage, the company’s Web site serves primarily to enhance awareness of the new brand and to provide information relating to future hotel locations. The Web site features a colorful and contemporary design theme, rendered largely in brilliant shades of purple and pink, that strongly expresses the essence of this new hotel brand. Flash features animate and enliven the site which immediately engages visitors with photographic images and marketing messages that cycle across the eye-catching home page. The overall effect is decidedly cool and hip. Future hotel locations are displayed via a combination of listings and interactive map features. Online reservations will become available once the first hotels are opened. To better communicate with international travelers, site content is available in over a half-dozen languages, while social media marketing is addressed via a link to the company’s entertaining “a-go-go” blog. interactive satellite map of Australia that displays state and territorial boundaries, major cities, and select attractions. By mousing over key elements, visitors can view geographically oriented information and links, or zoom in to view additional information. Videos and trip planning features are displayed prominently on the home page, while Google mapping and search features make it easy for viewers to locate the information they require. The site has a sleek and contemporary look. Its numerous pages are enlivened by rich media features including useful interactive maps. Sections of the site contain traveler-created blogs and video segments, while most pages contain comprehensive social bookmarking features. Site content is available in eight languages representing some of Australia’s most significant international tourism marketplaces. 24NOLA.com A unique and appealing combination of architecture, cuisine, music, and an annual Mardi Gras celebration contribute to make New Orleans one of the USA’s best-known tourism destinations. Not surprisingly, tourism is the city’s most important industry and it is the job of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB) to promote tourism to “The Big Easy.” The NOMCVB first deployed the 24NOLA Web site last year as part of an overall marketing strategy intended to increase tourism in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The 24NOLA Web site is a practical, traveler-friendly, 24hour guide to the city of New Orleans. Attractive and easy-tonavigate, the site functions both as an information-gathering and itinerary-planning tool. The site is constructed around a 24-hour theme. By selecting an hour of the day or night from the home page, visitors can view a selection of venues, attractions, restaurants, and events that are appropriate to the selected time. The site projects an informal tone, and selections on the site are amusingly rated from “mild” to “spicy.” In addition to using the site’s search features, viewers can view entries in categories such as Top Rated and Editor’s Picks. One of the site’s most valuable features enables visitors to create and share personalized travel itineraries. These itineraries can be printed out in a convenient day-planner style format for additional convenience. External links help drive additional traffic to the NOMCVB’s primary Web site (foreverneworleans.com), which contains more comprehensive and in-depth tourism-related resources. AUSTRALIA.COM Australia.com is an ambitious joint effort of the country’s national tourism authority—Tourism Australia—and the country’s eight State and Territory tourism organizations. The site combines over 60 national and international Web sites into a more powerful, comprehensive, and easy-to-use integrated digital tourism platform. The result is an online tourism resource that offers one stop shopping for travelers heading “down under.” The site’s home page displays an 12 HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW • SPRING 2008 http://alofthotels.com http://24NOLA.com http://Australia.com http://Australia.com http://foreverneworleans.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marketing Review - Spring 2008

HSMAI Marketing Review - Spring 2008 Contents COLUMN: The Online Marketer COLUMN: Success Stories COLUMN: Guest Column Ten Trends Now Shaping the Future of Hospitality Turning the 2008 Consumer Tax Rebates into Hospitality and Travel Sales 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality and Travel Sales and Marketing The Lure of Lore: Connecting with Customers Through a Unique Brand Story A Careful Balancing Act A Meaningful Relationship: How Technology Affects the Connection Between Hospitality Marketers and Meeting Planners SPECIAL SECTION: The 2007 HSMAI Adrian Awards Building Five Star Imagery

Marketing Review - Spring 2008

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