The Brief

Art Series Hotels are a boutique luxury hotel chain. Each summer they experience a downturn in sales due to their normal clientele, business travellers, not travelling. They needed a way to increase bookings during this month and similar periods of low occupancy by attracting more leisure travellers. They needed an idea that: 1.Sold an additional 1000 beds above expected occupancy between Dec 16th and Jan13th 2. Could be turned on and off to stimulate demand for the hotel as required 3. Would generate PR and reinforce Art Series Hotels positioning as an innovator.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

The solution was the Overstay Checkout. An idea that did away with the 11:00am checkout rule and allowed guests to stay on free until their room was needed for the next guest. Crucially, this meant that if no one was booked in for the next night, guests could stay another night free. And if no one was booked in for the night after that, they could stay again and again and theoretically never leave. The campaign was expected to exceed room night targets and create mass PR due to it’s innovative nature and stories of guests staying endlessly for free.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The promotion was a tremendous success beating sales targets by 55%, generating $1.5million in PR and being heralded by PSFK, Fast Company and other influential titles as a genuine innovation in the hotel industry for solving the age-old issue of how to deal with unsold rooms. In particular, the response from guests ecstatic from staying two, three, or more extra free nights was the best the hotel had ever experienced recording an increase in positive online reviews on Facebook and travel sites of 400%. Above all, our small $80K marketing budget created the impressive ROI of 359%.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Research with leisure travellers revealed they were more flexible with travel plans than business travellers and that amongst their top pain points was the 11:00 checkout. Research with the hotel uncovered that during low occupancy there were no major financial/logistical reasons why they needed to enforce the 11:00 checkout rule. In fact, having guests stay longer meant they’d spend more on room service and other hotel facilities. The Overstay Checkout delivered immense value to the guest (free hours/nights) and immense value to the hotel as it monetized unsold inventory.