I recently wrote about an experience I had in Europe staying at Ibis hotels. I was impressed with their marketing of their services and the backing of that brand marketing by hotel staff. The post was fun for me to write and discuss with readers as I end up staying in quite a few hotels throughout the year – some good and some…not so good. Traveling in the US is a bit easier on the hotel selection as the locations to which I travel are dominated by trusted (most of the time) chain hotels like Marriott or Hilton. But, internationally is a different story. The chains are there but often at a price that the corporate budget can’t handle or a location that doesn’t work for me.

Often, I’m faced with a decision process based on price, location, and a few pictures and amenities posted on the random hotel website. Not exactly reassuring when your worst nightmare is a dingy, dirty hotel room. Sites like TripAdvisor help in the decision process with customer reviews but what happens when there are only a few reviews and they could easily be from friends of the hotel owners.

So, I’m in the process of finding a room in Paris for a week this Fall and I came across this website with an interesting video feature. Before I dig in, check it out:

The hotel is the Hotel Gramont Opera and to see how the video looks when launched from their site, click here.

The video depicts a businesswoman utilizing the hotel amenities such as free wifi, breakfast area and conference rooms on site. It gives you an idea of what rooms will look like as well as other locations such as the hotel salon and bar. Obviously, this is professionally done and shows the hotel in the best light possible.

I realized after I watched this that video depiction of a hotel experience is a rare marketing tool. Admittedly, I found myself more inclined to consider this property after watching someone else go through their stay.  So, it begs the question – Is showing an individual or group of people enjoying the hotel a good thing? Here are a couple of thoughts:

• You can tell this is professionally done, but likely on a tight budget. It’s quality enough that it portrays the hotel in a good light. I do think, however, that some boutique hotels could go low budget and perhaps harm the opinion of their property if the video is poor quality.
• This video portrays a businesswoman, but what if I’m a family considering that hotel in Paris for a vacation. Would the focus on a business person lead me to believe that children probably wouldn’t fit in? Of course, there is a chance that this hotel’s goal is to try and attract the business person.
• I think this is a strong tool for boutique hotels that might not get the large exposure of a bigger property or chain. I’m often most leery of these types of hotels because there aren’t many reviews and the websites are often lower budget. It doesn’t cost a fortune to produce this and it gives the website visitor more confidence in the hotel.
• This hotel “gets” marketing more than others I’ve seen. They’re prominently showing the video on their home page and advertising the fact they’re reviewed on Trip Advisor.

Overall, I’m a fan of this type of marketing and see little downside. Did I book at this hotel? Unfortunately, no. I went with something a bit closer to where I’d be spending a majority of my time.

What are your thoughts? Does video give you a unique perspective of hotel properties or would you pay little attention if one was offered?

Most of my viewing activities this weekend revolved around March Madness (best sporting event of the year), but I did manage to catch a YouTube video or two that caught my attention. Namely, a video created by Corning that has caught fire and defines the meaning of viral – without really being viral. Confused by that? Let me explain.

First, I’m a techie geek and admittedly, I’ve watched this one a few times. If you’re curious what our world in technology could look like one day, check this out:

Unbelievable, right? As a consumer I’m in awe, but I was also intrigued from a marketing perspective. Many of us dream about creating that piece of video content for our small business that goes global and is shared by millions of people and creates a swarm of interest around our products or services.

Well, that wasn’t Corning’s intent. The video was created to inspire and educate investors at a corporate investor’s day event. This wasn’t intended to be emailed, Liked, Tweeted, posted about, and spread globally – it was to show investors how glass will continue to increasingly impact our daily lives.

One of two things happened next: either someone at Corning decided on a whim to post it to YouTube for the heck of it, or maybe, as Rebecca Lieb points out in her iMedia Connection article, this was a strategic move to reuse a brilliant piece of content creation. Whatever it was, it worked – over 9 million people have viewed the 6 minute video (I’m three of those).

There are some good strategies around marketing viral videos with stealth, but I don’t think that was the case here. I think this was a well-produced piece of content that Corning will continue to get some mileage out of in other mediums. It isn’t exactly a small business budget that created it (I’d love to know how much), but it was well done and does show how important it is to proliferate content through various mediums and at different audiences.