Instead of using the same old methods of selling hotel rooms, AccorHotels is getting innovative. During the WiT Singapore 2018 Main Stage, Emilie Couton (Vice President, Digital Marketing Asia Pacific, AccorHotels) took the stage to present how the hospitality-tech company was actively pursuing marketing destinations, as well as its hotel products.
Couton introduced AccorHotel’s Singapore headquarters as one of their centres of innovation. Having set up its office here 10 years ago with a strong intent to penetrate the market, it then began to set its sights on how they could push the edge in innovation and expand their presence not just geographically but socially as well.
One way that it did this, Couton explained, was by partnering with Singapore Tourism Board and dentsuX media agency, to draw focus on the human element of travel, and “tell the human story”. To do this, AccorHotels turned to the data. It found that 80% of travelers coming to Singapore were typically travelling from within Asia already. A quick look at spending revealed that 78% of the typical traveller’s budget was spent on food, cultural experience and shopping.
Then it simply became an exercise of how AccorHotels could leverage this information to tap into the mindset of travellers and put Singapore at the top of their destination list. Hence they created a series of video clips titled “Singapore Start Over” in collaboration with a content creator named Tristan Voros, who was selected because he had publicly stated in a past video that he wasn’t a fan of the city-state and didn’t understand the hype.
Voros was invited to stay at one of AccorHotels’ properties on the island and be taken on a grand tour of Singapore and its landmarks, as an ‘attempt’ to change his perspective and opinion. The mini-series is essentially a documentary of his adventure, where viewers can follow his journey and witness his feelings change through exploration.
Through this example, it is clear that AccorHotels took the step beyond its role as an accommodation provider, creating experiences beyond the hotel room and lobby. The project showed that that a hospitality brand can accompany a traveler beyond the borders of their own property and become an embedded part of their journey.
More episodes of the video series will be released on Monday. To watch episode one, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH9nkFi3FaE
