“The event put Bristol Marriott Royal on the map again and generated leads following the launch. It was handled very professionally by Ambitious PR.”
Kritika Singh, Multi Property Sales Leader, Marriott Hotels
BRISTOL MARRIOTT ROYAL HOTEL
Events, Media & Blogger relations, Stakeholder engagement
Client background
About BRISTOL MARRIOTT ROYAL HOTEL
Global hospitality market leader, Marriott International appointed AMBITIOUS PR to raise awareness of the refurbishment of the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel.
The brief from Marriott International was to reaffirm the Royal’s reputation as a jewel in the crown for premium hotels in the city and as a market leader for hosting business meetings, incentives, conferences and events.
The 150-year-old hotel which has hosted guests such as Queen Victoria, Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill and Laurel and Hardy has the highest suite inventory, not only in Bristol, but in the Marriott Hotel’s UK portfolio.
The brief also included a specific focus on raising awareness of the hotel’s royal wing – a unique seven-bedroomed suite complete with its own private dining for intimate events.
The challenge
The Marriott hotel in Bristol had not undertaken any proactive communication for a number of years, numerous competitors had entered the market and the extended refurbishment period had compromised the hotel’s reputation as a premium place to stay and a desirable destination for hosting events and meetings:
Our brief was to:
- Drive awareness of the refurbishment in the hospitality, MICE, travel trade, national and local media
- Help define key influencers and introduce them to the hotel
- Rebuild relationships with local business decision makers, corporate hospitality bookers and event planners
The solution
Our activity took the shape of an integrated marketing campaign which included media and influencers relations, event activation and a plan to deliver user generated content to support the hotel’s social media channels with evergreen content.
We project managed the campaign but worked in collaboration with the hotel team at a corporate and local level on plans for the event, with AMBITIOUS providing local market direction, inputting to the event strategy, developing the guest list and the local team delivering event execution.
Throughout the campaign, we provided counsel and support to ensure campaign objectives were reached and that our guests’ expectations were met.
Media relations
We rebuilt the brand’s relationships with the agreed media targets and delivered feature contributions, interviews, news stories, society photo-led stories– exceeding our targets for securing editorial coverage.
Event activation
We curated the guest list and supported the client to organise an event of two parts to suit the different audiences we were seeking to reach:
- We identified decision makers and leaders who hold senior roles in influential local business groups and extended invitations to their memberships. We also leveraged our own extensive AMBITIOUS connections to ensure a well networked guest list. They were given a gastronomic tour of the hotel, trying out different event set ups and showcasing the hotel’s facilities and services
- Simultaneously, we held an event in the Royal Wing specifically aimed at 25 micro influencers, including the igers community, vloggers and bloggers. This was an intimate and exclusive setting and included a set up that met their needs e.g. cocktail demonstration, photo wall and food displays. We also invited seven key influencers to spend the night at the hotel to get the full experience. Through the event set up and activation we ensured the social influencers had everything they needed to create multiple formats of social media content including vlogs, blogs, Instagram stories and social media posts
The results
Repositioned the Marriott Royal Hotel in Bristol with key influencers and reaffirmed its position as the leading premium hotel in the city:
- Positive feedback from event guests in form of thank you emails and letters
- Secured user generated content from social influencers, blogs and vlogs that the hotel has been able to use as evergreen social content for a number of months
- Exceeded our press coverage target across media sectors
