Miami’s Beacon Hotel is using Facebook to encourage fans and previous guests to sign-up for its email list and take advantage of promotions for future visits.
The Art Deco style hotel opened in Miami’s South Beach area in 1937. The hotel primarily caters to couples and singles, age 25-55, with the core clientele being affluent travelers, says Chris Regaldo, revenue manager.
The Beacon has been compiling email names from previous guests for about eight years, and has a file of about 20,000 consumers, along with approximately 40,000 travel agents and affiliates.
Separate email blasts, using iContact’s platform, are done regularly for the B-to-C and B-to-C audiences, with the majority being promotional in nature. Currently, summer packages—such as a stay 4 nights, get the 5th free promotion—are being featured.
Email sign-ups are being encouraged on the hotel’s Facebook page, which currently has over 5,000 likes. The Beacon has an employee dedicated to maintaining the page, to communicate with fans and post pictures from events. Discounts are regularly featured there, such as a recent “Like us on Facebook to get 15 off and 2 Ocean Drive Mojitos” promotion.
Regaldo admits that it is often difficult to track how email clickthroughs correlate to room booking. “We know that every time we do a campaign there’s a spike in traffic and booking, but there’s not an ‘official’ way we see the results.”
The subject line is the most important part of the Beacon’s email creative, feels Regaldo. The type of offer promoted there depends on the segment. For travel agents, subject lines highlighting the commission they’d receive for booking at the hotel work well.
Since consumers getting email from the hotel already know the property, likely from a previous (and hopefully) favorable stay, the clickthroughs on the B-to-C side are typically good. Here, promotional teasers about discounts for future visits get good results.
The Beacon also sponsors the Friends of South Beach page on Facebook, dedicated to a nonprofit organization supporting community programs. There, another 15,000 Facebook members see the hotel’s branding efforts.
Offline, the hotel does a lot of promotion via print advertising and press releases, as well as cross promotions with Miami’s visitors’ bureau and chamber of commerce.
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