Guests' Videos Star in Hotels' Online Ads

June 9, 2008— -- Aaron Schwartz, an executive recruiter in Fairfax, Va., wanted a nice memento of his vacation in Aruba.

Using his video camera, he filmed his stay at the Marriott Renaissance Ocean Suites last June — shots of the beautiful beach, flamingos along the water. He uploaded the video to his MySpace page and YouTube.

He then received a call from the resort's general manager, who liked the video so much that he offered Schwartz a free seven-day stay. He returned two months later and composed another video, even though the resort didn't ask him to.

Eager to capture the attention of Internet-savvy guests, hotels are becoming more serious about using online videos as a marketing tool. They're encouraging and monitoring guests' videos of their stays. They're creating their own YouTube channels and other video content to showcase their properties and to launch new brands.

It's a dramatic shift from traditional marketing, where communication flowed from hotels to customers. The new strategy aims to get customers to talk among themselves on sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, promoting word-of-mouth advertising.

"The center of gravity has shifted. We can't be seen as controlling the content. Now we have to participate in the conversation," says Kathleen Matthews, Marriott's communications chief.

Hotel videos fall broadly into two categories:

•Customers' input. Vacationers' videos posted online have been around for years. But hotel companies are more proactive in seeking more than room footage. Last year, Best Western asked customers to submit a 30-second video on why they're in "desperate need of a vacation." Holiday Inn Express invited popular YouTube comedian Kevin Nalty to help produce an online show about the chain. Sheraton also is urging guests to upload videos about their experiences to its website.

•Traveler information. Hotels also are producing their own content and inviting bloggers to link them on their sites. Starwood Hotels launched Spg.tv, a site with 50 hours of videos featuring the destinations where they have properties.

InterContinentalVideo.com is similar, with episodes of InterContinental concierges worldwide highlighting their hotels and points of interests in each city. This summer, Best Western will launch its YouTube channel, which will contain virtual tours, guest travelogues and classic company commercials.

To be sure, much of hotel-produced content involves commercials that are tailored for an online audience. Marriott hired David Elsewhere, an online personality known for his pop dancing, to film a YouTube commercial about TownePlace Suites.

"He has a following," Matthews says. "We can bring his following to our brand."