To recognize both brands and individual properties for their leadership and innovation in connecting with consumers online via social media, HOTELS Magazine announced its second annual Social Hotel Awards. The hospitality magazine just launched the 2013 program during a webinar entitled, “The ROI of Social Media.”
The HOTELS webinar focused on case studies presented by three winners from the 2012 Social Hotel Awards program, including DoubleTree by Hilton’s Integrated Digital Campaign for its “Cookie CAREavan Tour;” Best Western International for its “Be A Travel Hero” Facebook promotion; and the Four Seasons Hotel Austin, Texas, for its use of Pinterest to win the Best Use of Emerging Platforms award.
All three presenters were able to quantify or qualify the success of their campaigns. For example, DoubleTree’s campaign generated 767 new HHonors enrollments and Best Western’s Facebook promotion resulted in a 20% year-over-year revenue increase.
For this year’s competition, winners will be named for both brands and individual hotels in each of the seven categories, and will receive a custom medallion as well as a digital badge for online display. HOTELS will publish features about the winners – both in an exclusive online series and in a major print story, as well as list the finalists in each category.
Multiple entries are encouraged for work created between January 1, 2012 and April 1, 2013. All entries must include samples of content and brief descriptions of the goals and situation analysis for a particular campaign or category, the strategy and tactics the hotel or brand used, and a description of the results. Entries can include photos as well as links to pages, hosted video, or monitoring reports that demonstrate why the campaign succeeded.
Entries are due by 11:59 PM CDT on May 3.
An esteemed panel of judges, including representatives from Facebook and Digital Royalty, will evaluate entries based on the extent to which it met results or exceeded goals; creativity of execution; quality of work on the social media platform; clarity of the submitted entry in summarizing the program; and how well the online voice and presence of the campaign matches that of the brand or property.