Seamless Xtra’s Carolina Lubinus speaks to Safa Rahal, Cluster Director of Marketing & Communications for Movenpick Hotels & Resorts – Jordan.
Safa oversees everything to do with marketing and communications, both online and offline. She covers five properties at amazing, iconic destinations across Jordan, including Dead Sea, Petra, Aqaba, and Tala Bay.
Safa, could you talk to me a bit about some of the digital marketing campaigns that Movenpick has implemented in the past and the results that they’ve yielded?
Basically, we have a couple of campaigns that we usually run. Most of them are rolled out as part of the regional aspect from Accor, which includes the Accor Live Limitless loyalty programme, which is a seasonal campaign that encourages our loyal members to book and convert with various benefits that they can benefit from. Other campaigns also include locally formalised campaigns that are more focus on domestic travelers and key target markets that we focus on. To sum up a couple of collaborations or campaigns that we have done, these would include, for example, influencer partnerships where we collaborate with local influencers with a very relative cultural background in terms of followers and interests.
They don’t have to specifically be mega influencers because we focus on both micro and macro to reach the right target audience that we’re looking for. And basically this is usually done because we have seen throughout the years, whenever there is a specific promotion or an offering that is happening at the property we always see ten times the impact in terms of the reach of the brand awareness or the campaign itself compared to going through an ad. It has to do more or less with the social proof where people can relate. It resonates more with the audience when they see it through influencers and people that they enjoy following and trust their opinion on decisions and bookings.
Another campaign was the golden ticket campaign two years ago during the festive season where we recreated the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket in collaboration with Royal Jordanian airlines and our sister hotel, Movenpick in JBR in Dubai. We created an Instagram and Facebook filter and asked all the guests or all the potential customers to take a video using that filter at our property to enter the competition of winning an airline ticket and a stay at Movenpick JBR Dubai.
Moving on a bit to the role of social media marketing in the region, which I know is commonly used in hotel marketing strategies. How do you see the reach of social media marketing evolving in the future?
Basically, we all know that social media is a key strategy for different businesses and not specifically the hospitality industry. It is a key role in identifying the overall strategy and formulating that sort of brand messaging and communication that you want to deliver. Over the past couple of months, if I would be more specific, we have seen a massive change in terms of visual storytelling, and one aspect of that is CGI videos, these computer generated images and how it transfers you to a different location. So it shows you something that is not really there, gives you the impression of how it really feels and builds that experience through social media.
How do you ensure that your digital marketing efforts resonate with these different audiences across the MENA region and beyond?
Well, basically, it goes around different pillars. First of all, we really focus on localisation and to have the right language and right translation in place in our ads on our website. Another aspect is we always try to showcase the local and authentic cornerstones of the country to the international audience.
They want to sense and live the feeling of what that country has to deliver. And because we are available at these iconic destinations in Dead Sea, Petra and Aqaba we always try to deliver the authentic experience of the local destination that every property has to offer in terms of cuisine, the whole overall experience, and the architecture as well. So we focus on different aspects. And like I said, there are different pillars that we follow in that process.
What are some of the emerging digital marketing trends that you foresee shaping the hospitality industry and the MENA region in the coming years?
I always focus on visual storytelling and the CGI trend that is emerging. Given the fact that the audience has a very short span on noticing content that makes them really stop on, grabbing that attention is something that really important. Another aspect, I would say is personalised experience. There are a lot of properties, a lot of destinations that you can visit, but it all comes down to the matter of the experience itself and how you can really personalise it for people to be attracted and to make that decision of booking. Virtual reality videos also play a major factor in converting that guest into an actual customer at your property.
