Choice Hotels, Yelp Book Marketing Campaign

Choice-HotelsLocal business directory and review site Yelp and Choice Hotels have kicked off a new marketing campaign designed to position the lodging chain as the “Official Hotel of Summer.”

The centerpiece of the campaign is a custom-branded “Official Hotel of Summer Road Trip Guide,” that resides on the Yelp Web site. It allows vacationers traveling by car to plan road trips in various locations around the country.

The program is designed to boost consumer awareness of both companies by exposing Yelp’s consumer base of 100 million unique monthly users to Choice’s domestic portfolio of 5,000 hotels.

Users can plot a destination and the Road Trip Guide platform displays the Choice Hotels available along the route (with the option to book rooms). The platform also highlights an array of Yelp curated and reviewed sights, places to shop and eat and various activities. The campaign also features a sweepstakes with road trip-related prizes.

The idea was developed by Choice Hotels’ media agency Havas Media, which has been working on plans for the campaign since last fall.

"When we came up with the idea of a road trip tool, Yelp was a natural partner to approach,” said Melissa Romig, vice president, group account director, Havas Media. “They have reviews for every type of summer fun place we'd want to highlight and with thousands of hotel locations across the country, we needed someone that could provide content in just as many locations."

“The Summer Road Trip guide is an easy way for our customers to customize their ideal itinerary, while highlighting the fact that there is a Choice Hotel property along almost every route," said Christine Lynn, vice president, advertising & marketing communication, Choice Hotels.

Choice Hotels has more than 5,000 hotels throughout the U.S., including the Comfort Inn, EconoLodge and Rodeway Inn brands. The company reported nearly $700 million in revenue for 2012.

The campaign will run through the end of the summer.  

1 comment about "Choice Hotels, Yelp Book Marketing Campaign".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Mark Clifford from Center for Restorative Process, May 10, 2013 at 5:46 p.m.

    There are so many complaints about Yelp's shady and extortion-like practices. This seems like the real story about Yelp. Anyone can follow this by Googling Yelp Complaints. Lots of heartache stories of small businesses being treated very unfairly. See for example http://saveusfromyelp.com

Next story loading loading..