Daydreaming with Leading Hotels of the World
Everyone dreams of posh accommodations in exotic locales. And since it doesn’t cost anything to dream, Leading Hotels of the World has found a growing audience for its e-mail newsletter. Representing over 430 five-star hotels worldwide, the company sends approximately 60,000 e-newsletters per week. The Leading Hotels of the World e-zine began over two years ago and is received by anyone who opts in on the company Web site. Events and call center phone-ins are secondary avenues for opt-ins, according to Jeff Mirman, director of e-marketing.
Building a qualified list from ground zero was a challenge, Mirman says. But the file has grown quickly—over 100% in the past year.
“People aspire to stay at our properties,” says Mirman. “We’re lucky in that sense because people don’t mind taking a minute of their day to say, ‘It would be great to be there.’ It’s the daydream mentality. I think that’s also why our open rates are so great—we provide a means for people to daydream. We can bring them to Rio, Paris, the Caribbean or Tokyo.”
That dreaming mentality has shot the newsletter’s open rates above 40% and its clickthrough rates are above 15%.
Measuring Success
One of Mirman’s goals was to create Web site traffic so he could measure success from site hits. Tracking reservations and asking partners to track reservations is also a route to establishing the success of the newsletter, but it’s not a clear indication of success. “From an unscientific view we have a huge spike in traffic when we send out the e-mails,” he says. “And there’s no doubt about it, they’re booking on those days also.”
Another indication of success is keeping the brand inside a subscriber’s mailbox, says Mirman. “I may have a reservation from an e-mail that I sent out in August of last year because people keep the e-mail. That’s beautiful for me, and exactly what I want.”
Advice: The Site Comes First
“Most people opt-in to the e-newsletter from the Web site so we had to make the site good enough for them to come back,” says Mirman. “Without a functional Web site you can’t have a good e-mail newsletter unless it’s a B to B information-type newsletter. For any consumer product the Web site must come first. The e-mail newsletter will feed to the site.”
Future Plans
When the e-newsletter began, branding was the number one objective. Mirman feels the firm has met that objective but adds: “We can always get better and we’re presently in the phase of redesigning.” His goal is to add value to the e-newsletter and make it easier for the consumer to make a reservation and conduct a search.
Presently, content is not tailored for different recipients, but that may happen the future. “Our clientele are from around the world, so it will be fun for us to tailor content,” Mirman says. “But it will be difficult.”
Mirman hopes to tailor the newsletters based on destinations since a traveler from Germany may not More interested in Southern Italy than in the Caribbean. And based on the success of the flagship newsletter, Mirman is looking to “venture out and do as many newsletters as possible” for specific interests such as golf or beach-type vacation ideas. “If people want to hear about it we should do it for them,” he says.
After all, Mirman sees no negatives from the e-newsletter. “It doesn’t cost me much to send it to people who are daydreaming since all editorial is created in-house, he says. E-Mail Labs in San Diego is the ASP for the Leading Hotels of the World e-Newsletter.
Leading Hotels also sends a monthly e-mail newsletter, Leading Lines, to several thousand travel agents. This opt-in e-zine highlights special and unique offers from the company’s member hotels.
Mirman acknowledges that growing the subscriber lists for the upcoming e-newsletters may prove to be a repeat challenge. “I won’t e-mail someone who doesn’t want to receive it and we’re not about to buy lists. That’s not the way we work,” he says.
But judging from the number of dreamers in the world, he won’t have a problem.
