64th Annual HSMAI Adrian Awards Announced

In a year of masks, swabs, and wipes for travelers, there were also tremendous challenges for marketers in the hospitality category. This year, the HSMAI Adrian Awards focused on Recovery Campaigns that succeeded in spite of the pandemic. BCV is proud to have two Social Media Campaigns recognized among the best work from top hospitality brands and agencies recognized for creativity and innovation in advertising, digital marketing, and public relations. This is like the Golden Globes of digital marketing in hospitality, and BCV aren’t exactly strangers to collecting trophies–with 37 previous wins, this brings the total to 39.

The Ritz-Carlton, Bacara, won the Silver in Social Media Campaigns. With the Bacara-By-Day campaign, we ran an A/B Test Website Click advertisement involving a video creative and an Instant Experience Ad. The Instant Experience Ad enticed users to select activities based on their interests including wine tasting, water activities, resort relaxation, and more. After making their selections, the advertisement recommends an itinerary that best aligns with the type of traveler the user is. Both the video and Instant Experience advertisements included a call-to-action for users to book their stay at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara.

Through the A/B Test, we found our video advertisement resonated best with The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara audience, garnering over 2x more clicks and 5x more impressions than the Instant Experience Ad. The Cost per Click was also $0.30, outperforming the industry benchmark. Having gained this insight from the A/B Test, we were able to allocate more budget to the video advertisement, increasing reach and overall results nearly 2x more than our previous 2020 Collections Advertisement. These results show the effectiveness of the creative Video Advertisement and interactive Instant Experience Advertisement.

The Ritz-Carlton, Denver, battled for the Bronze in Social Media Campaigns. As spacious, outdoor destinations had the advantage of greater appeal to travelers during the pandemic, a perfect collaboration was formed between The Ritz-Carlton, Denver & The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch. The campaign told the story of a pre-ski urban stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Denver, and then took travelers up the mountain to The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch, where the perfect luxury ski vacation was highlighted. To achieve the hotel’s goals around awareness & consideration, 24 Hours on Mountain Time leveraged in-feed content & Instagram Stories. Instagram carousel posts were designed to highlight custom itineraries that would appeal to a variety of traveler types. 24 Hours on Mountain Time also partnered with influencers for an authentic, first-person’s perspective of a Denver vacation.

In total, 24 Hours on Mountain Time generated over 4,600 clicks to the hotel website with an average cost per click of $0.66, exceeding our original click goal by double. The campaign reached over 326K unique users, garnered 647K impressions, and contributed to a 57% surge in the brand’s Instagram followers.

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About The HSMAI Adrian Awards 

The HSMAI Adrian Awards embraces every segment of the industry, including hotels, airlines, cruise lines, car rental companies, destinations, and more. Winners are selected from a field of nearly 1,200 entries by senior industry and media experts and honored at the Adrian Awards Celebration. The 2021 Competition Adrian Awards Celebration will be held March 30 at The Boca Raton.