Situational Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the initiative and the nature of the issue you were trying to impact.
OHLA’s crisis communications were the cornerstone of our efforts to support hotel & lodging businesses and the state’s entire travel economy with the most up-to-date, accurate, useful and understandable information regarding pandemic response and business impacts. Our communication started early, on March 3. We communicated with hotels before there was a single confirmed case of COVID-19 in the state. By doing so, we established OHLA as a credible source of important information, and helped form the understanding of the emergency among our industry.
Our COVID-19 communications were sent to hotel & lodging properties throughout the state of Ohio, including non-member hotels because we decided early on that it was critical for them to have the necessary information. Our audience also included Allied member companies who do business with the hotel industry. Many of them shared they did not receive similar information from other sources. We also included CVBs throughout the state, and meeting venues such as convention centers. Public officials were included for select appropriate communications to demonstrate our support to the COVID-19 response effort.
We developed an all-new template and brand for these communications so they would be instantly recognizable and memorable for what they were. Members were quickly conditioned to watch for daily updates during the height of the pandemic closures. Later, we throttled back to avoid over-fatigue on messaging, but still produced at least 2-3 alerts per week. In addition to using email marketing platforms for general alerts, we practiced segmentation and delivered personalized messages with specific content to certain audiences. For example, we started a regular owner/management company/investor group communication, with news that was especially relevant for those contacts. This included resources we added to assist with CMBS lending, property tax valuations and appeals, and businesses interruption insurance.
Goals: Clearly state your goals. What did you strive to achieve with this initiative?
Our communications were designed to help keep hotel businesses in compliance, and therefore open; to avoid sanctions and penalties to those businesses; to support our government affairs efforts to ensure hotels were classified as essential businesses; to enable feedback from hoteliers about how developments impacted their businesses; to provide operational resources, assistance and best practices to members; to connect businesses with federal assistance; to provide education and financial assistance to employees; to keep members apprised of advocacy activities on their behalf with direct impact on operations and to allow them to engage in those efforts directly; to counter incorrect media reports regarding public health orders and other developments; and most importantly, to support the state’s efforts to respond to COVID-19 and thereby protect the lives and health of hotel & lodging guests and employees.
We also used these communications to recruit hotels to participate in elements of pandemic response such as temporary use as health care related facilities; full property leases with local homeless agencies; provision of lodging for medical professionals and first responders, and more. Unlike many sources of information about Ohio’s rules and orders, OHLA was careful to make certain to validate and back up every assertion, explaining and interpretation with clear and correct citations of the actual rules, orders, directives, laws or guidance documents in question. ''
Since March, we received 100s of unsolicited messages and comments thanking us for the quality of our communications. Feedback validated our decision to not fill communication with fodder such as news available from mainstream media, as our audience appreciated being able to key in on “what they needed to know that day.” Another goal was to ensure content of the alerts resonated. When an issue was addressed in our communications, we received far fewer inquiries on that subject.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the initiative?
Ohio’s hotel & lodging businesses were among the best-informed entities in the state regarding the daily changes that occurred early in the pandemic, and the continuing changes that are happening now. Hotels were able to implement the necessary health safety protocols. No hotel was sanctioned for noncompliance. Recipients of OHLA communications were able to avoid pitfalls from following incorrect information provided by the media, unverified sources, or even in some instances from local and state government agencies. In some cases, our information allowed businesses to correct mistakes after getting incorrect guidance from these sources. It also allowed them to push back on overzealous application of rules as the pandemic continued. Travel economy contacts were better prepared to address media & client inquiries. Numerous hotels were able to accept business they believed they could not accept after reviewing our communications and resources.
Approximately 700 hotels in Ohio signed on to be available for temporary use as health care related facilities, to work with local homeless agencies, and/or to provide lodging for medical professionals and first responders. Our communications were regularly passed on to additional recipients and audiences. More than 300 communications have taken place since March 3. Our open rates and click-through rates for email platform-delivered communications reached record levels. Open rates higher than 50-60 percent were common, which is remarkable considering we were sending to thousands of individual recipients, all contacts regardless of position, non-members, and many individuals who were laid off or furloughed within the first three weeks. Website traffic for related resources and linked content increased commensurately. Sample comment: “Thank you for including me on your email list. The information I am getting from you is more helpful than any we are getting.” Ownership CEO located in another state!
Entry Title
Ohio COVID-19 Crisis Communications
Division
Crisis Communications/Management - Crisis Communications/Management
Category
Crisis Communications/Management