After enquiring about a staff Christmas party at the ‘The Grand Hotel Eastbourne’ we were invited to their inaugural ‘showcase weekend’. The invitation promised a weekend at the beach with meals, a sea view room, spa treatments and team building events all for free. Hotels often put on hospitality events as an incentive to book but we hadn’t heard of the ‘showcase weekend’ tactic before. It sounded too good to be true… On the contrary the showcase was indeed just that, a wonderful display of a unique hotel with decades of character and Victorian charm. It was a confident form of marketing and we would like to look at how they used it and just how well it applies to the industry.
The Grand is the only 5 star hotel on the coast in the UK run by Elite hotels who have a string of unique high end establishments across the country. Externally, it lives up to its name with an amazing Victorian facade looking out over the English Channel situated a few miles down the coast from Beachy Head. On our arrival we were greeted by the concierges at the door with regal charm and then received similar treatment at the front desk were we were checked in with no fuss and quickly escorted to our rooms. The lobby and ground floor dining area are all grand in every sense of the word with minute detail in the decor. You get the feeling you are walking into an Agatha Christie novel walking past high tea being served, you can picture Poirot pontificating over a Crème de Menthe on the murder that occurred in the Debussy suit the evening before.
Our room was equally luxurious with sea views, classic styling and a gift basket of fruit and goodies plus information about the hotel. Seeing as the weekend was completely free you would expect more intervention from the organisers. I had anticipated name tags on arrival and formal tours of the facilities. With no name tags in sight we relaxed in our room, where complimentary champagne was served and the invitation to attend afternoon tea plus activities was delivered. The aim of the weekend was after all to sell the hotel and specifically its event/convention facilities.
At afternoon tea once again there was no pressure. Over sandwiches we could sign up for several activities and the staff casually meandered around introducing themselves and making sure we were having a good time. We didn’t join in on the planned activities (power boat rides, treasure hunts, bush skills) instead we took a walking tour of Eastbourne. Dinner was started with cocktails and continued into the wonderful Compton room, a large, majestic room with chandeliers and ornate wall carvings. Every table was marked with the name of a famous band or musician who has either stayed at the hotel or performed there (the Grand has an impressive music history; we sat at The Who table). Dinner continued in 5 star style with a brief talk from the manager welcoming us all and a wonderful meal.
Up until this point (and for the rest of the weekend) there was no hard sell, not even a mention of selling. In essence what the hotel had done was give away over 100 executive spa treatment weekend packages (valued at well over £400 each) and asked nothing more than that the guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Is this a cost effective marketing ploy? I spoke to Jackie head of PR at the hotel about the weekend and their marketing aims.
Jackie was unaware (as are we) of a similar format being used by other hotels (please speak up if you different). They had previously run shorter less dramatic itineraries but decided to try this larger (grander) format and assess the outcome. I asked how they would measure the ROI of the weekend and also if online marketing was integrated. To an extent it is, with all invitees emails on the database and an extensive online follow up campaign to all attendees afterwards. From our point of view, having enjoyed ourselves thoroughly we thought that word of mouth promotions would be one of the best selling tools from such a weekend. Tracking bookings back to the customers involved in the marketing event itself is difficult though. Jackie said that the hotel has allocated 12 months to assess the outcome of the weekend.
Obviously this is not a marketing model that every hotel could use. But for boutique/unique hotels with a lot to offer, spoiling a few potential clients with what you have to offer is a clever tactic to get them (and their businesses) booking functions and rooms. The Grand showed that by doing what they do best and not pushing a hard sell we left the weekend with great things to say. Hopefully for them this results in increased business, we will have to check back in six months see.
Article posted by Mise En Place Hospitality Recruitment
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