Hilton Anaheim, Orange County’s largest hotel, and MUZEO, Southern California’s newest museum, recently joined forces to find and commission three talented muralists for the unique opportunity to have their work seen. A panel of judges led by MUZEO and Hilton Anaheim’s executive committee made the final decisions.
The stylized vacationers represent the brushwork of Apple Valley, California-based artist Robin Knilans Morrow, who has been working as a professional artist for more than 20 years. Los Angeles, California-based artist Gus Harper, who has been working as a professional artist for more than 12 years, painted the surfers. The talented muralist behind the realistic images of birds, shells and other life by sea is Anaheim-based Piccolo Batlle. He has been working as a professional artist for more than 20 years.
Located at the hotel’s main pool entrance, on the patio, and at the towel shack, the murals illustrate the theme line, OC Forever Summer , in keeping with Southern California’s mild climate and forever summertime attitude. Commissioning the murals also conveys the community’s welcoming spirit and reflects the Hilton’s efforts to develop a progressive community within the local arts district.
Brilliantly rendered images of seaside life, colorful stylized human figures actively enjoying their vacations and surfers riding the big waves now decorate the newly renovated outdoor pool area at the main pool entrance, at the Pool Bar and Grill wall plus the towel shack. More than $1 million was spent in renovating the area, including adding a giant water bucket, a poolside lounge, grilling station and more.
The hotel utilized social media to help draw entries for the contest via a custom Facebook tab outlining the initiative and allowed artists to download relevant forms and specifications. This help make the submission process easier and allowed entrants of those who might know some the ability to conveniently access all information from a single place. More simply, it also allowed further publicity of the contest.
What other unique contests have you seen hotels run online?
Haven’t seen anything really unique other than this. I have seen different hotels offer free nights of stay for their Facebook fans. But now maybe I’ll pay more attention.
Yeah, it seems more and more hotels are beginning to take more creative approaches to promos since there’s so many unique portals (with social media) for execution now, thus creating a more competitive environment.