(From left) Sheena Marie Pelaez, Michael Anthony Sagaran, Priscilla Mae Ambion. –MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
To create a successful campaign in today’s hotel sales and marketing industry, two things are essential: digital and data.
That’s according to this year’s winners of the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association’s (HSMA) Virtus Awards, who attest that data-driven market research, coupled with the use of social media platforms, helped boost their business’ bottom line.
“When I joined Taal Vista Hotel last year, our numbers for local tourists were diving,” says Taal Vista’s marketing communications manager Michael Anthony Sagaran. “We were losing the Gen Zs and millennials, so we made a campaign for our 80th anniversary this year that relied heavily on social media, and we came up with a hashtag for it: #HereForAlways.”
The campaign, which Sagaran created together with his teammates Sheena Marie Pelaez (marketing and communications coordinator) and Priscila Mae Ambion (graphic artist), won the HSMA Virtus for outstanding marketing campaign of the year, one of the four awards handed out annually by HSMA to recognize excellent industry professionals.
The other winners are: Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila, represented by marketing and communications director Ronie Marie Reyes and events director Sy Dulce Amor (also for outstanding marketing campaign of the year); The Bellevue Hotel and Resorts’ marketing and communications manager Marvia Jelizha Villarin (outstanding sales and marketing manager); Solaire Resort and Casino’s director of sales and marketing Evangeline Imperial (outstanding sales and marketing leader); and The Bellevue Manila’s event sales manager Rigil Kent Acapulco and Conrad Manila’s sales executive Ian Bencio David (outstanding sales and marketing associate).Sagaran says that along with their 80th anniversary campaign, Taal Vista worked on the rebranding of their property’s image to make it more relevant to their target market, especially since they face strong competition in Tagaytay. It entailed creating Instagrammable spots throughout the property, as well as improving engagement with their online community on social media platforms.
The results? Sagaran says Taal Vista is now No. 1 on social media in terms of engagement and number of followers; room sales have gone up eight percent in a year; and food and beverage sales have also gone up by 12 percent. He adds that traffic to their direct-booking website has increased by 180 percent.
“And with social media, our engagement with customers doesn’t have to end when they leave hotel premises.
Whenever they post and tag us, we get to show our appreciation by posting comments,” Sagaran says.
The use of social media platforms have also worked to The Bellevue Hotels and Resorts’ advantage, says Villarin, who, at only 31 years old, heads marketing of all four Bellevue properties. She has so far achieved the highest overall revenue for the company, which represents an 11 increase since 2017; as well as highest online revenue through direct online marketing efforts (26 percent increase since 2017).
Among her campaigns, Villarin is especially proud of the animated videos produced by Bellevue’s in-house team, which were used to promote Easter and Halloween events last year and this year (all sold out).“I think it not only enticed the kids, but also their parents,” she says.
The youngest marketing head in Bellevue’s history strongly believes that her data-driven approach to her work contributes strongly to the company’s success.
“I believe the barometer of our division’s success is the success of other departments. Revenue is always the bottom line,” Villarin says.