Learn From The Best In Hospitality Marketing: Four Seasons’ “Pin. Pack. Go.” Makes Trip Planning A Social Affair
WANT TO GIVE CUSTOMERS A TASTE OF GOOD THINGS TO COME? TAKE A PEEK AT “PIN. PACK. GO.”
Who in the hospitality industry wouldn’t welcome a new way to increase your guest’s anticipation for an upcoming visit?
“Pin. Pack. Go” service from Four Season Hotels is an example of a new method of marketing that we feel is a development worth watching. This concept uses the power of Pinterest to help achieve new levels in customer engagement. It’s personalized, sharable and makes a trip more fun.
Related: 5 Books That Transformed Our Marketing Strategies, And Why.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Like all great forms of digital marketing, Pin.Pack. Go is social, interactive and happens only after your customer has invited you to be an essential collaborator in the planning:
- Your guest creates a PIn.Pack.Go. board of their own on Pinterest
- They leave a comment on the Pinterest board at the Four Seasons’ site, saying where they might be interested in visiting
- The Four Seasons hotel(s) that are relevant to that trip will now “follow” the guest–at the guest’s invitation–pinning photos, itineraries and items of interest on the guest’s personal board
GREAT MARKETING HAPPENS BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE TRIP
Personalized dialog achieves what everybody in the hospitality industry wants: an engaged customer with spending power, and one that wants an ongoing relationship. Repeat customers will re-pin, share and communicate something far better than any amount of paid advertising: Call it visual word-of-mouth. More than that, the Pinterest crowd is a marketer’s dream:
- Primarily women from 19-39 (a growth sector)
- Proven spenders on food, drink and travel
- Aspirational, enjoy sharing photos of amazing hotels, exotic locations
- Pinterest has been estimated to have 40 million monthly active users around the globe
WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE GUEST?
Easy. A customized and collaborative experience that they have requested. While planning their trip, they can see photos of your hotel features, find out about all of the incredible things to do in your locale, get the feel of various restaurants and environment and learn about practical aspects of their special trip like what to wear. Book that surfing lesson, decide what barbecue they’re going to sample, find out what the spa has to offer.
The planned trip is literally brought to life visually through shared photos and links.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE HOTEL?
It’s a perfect opportunity for the hotel to enhance the guest’s trip (AKA, upsell them). You also get data the guest has provided you, which means you can anticipate their needs better and drive a higher Trip Advisor rating. Here’s a sample page.
Read More: Take Your Customers, And Your Profits, Back From The OTA’s. Find Them On Social Media.
A SOCIALIKE BELIEF: WHEN THEY ASK FOR A RELATIONSHIP, THAT’S AN ENGAGED CUSTOMER
Stay tuned for more of our blogs.
Isaac Brody (aka“Ike”) is the owner and CEO of Socialike, a Manhattan-based creative agency that specializes in social and digital marketing. Isaac comments on trends in marketing. Socialike’s clients, whether they’re in natural products, hospitality or any other industry, get concepts that differentiate them–along with trackable results.
