Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
In April 2024, The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, California unveiled its $25 million renovation. Primarily, the goals centered on re-establishing the property as a premier destination in Napa Valley, highlighting its new features to attract a modern traveler while honoring the resort's rich heritage. By focusing on the expansion, renovations, and new offerings, the public relations strategy aimed to solidify the resort as the gateway to California Wine Country, positioning it as the perfect blend of luxury, natural beauty, and world-class hospitality.
Goal: Increase awareness of the renovation and position the resort as a premier luxury destination to ensure that potential guests, media, and industry stakeholders are informed of the resort’s upgraded offerings.
Press Releases and Media Coverage: A series of carefully crafted press releases were distributed to luxury travel publications, hospitality industry media outlets, and regional news organizations. These press releases emphasized the scope of the renovation, including upgraded amenities, redesigned spaces, and enhanced guest experiences. By reaching out to media outlets with a vested interest in Napa Valley, luxury travel, and wellness tourism, the resort was able to generate widespread coverage. The goal was to present The Meritage Resort and Spa as a revitalized, must-visit destination for luxury travelers.
The Agency worked with the hotel’s team to curate a "first look" press trip including national media and a "New Look" event - one with media and one with local, Northern California lifestyle, food and travel media and influencers. Additionally, the Agency hosted several individual visits with national media. All events, trips and visits were timed to have an impact following the completion of the renovation.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)
After a successful initial renovation campaign and distribution of the resort's reimagination press release, the Agency is excited to report that we secured 59 social, regional and national media placements last month – resulting in a reach of over 24.7+ million views (and counting).
The Agency's biggest wins were the publication of the Travel + Leisure exclusive first-look digital feature of the resort, in addition to the successful distribution of the release over PR Newswire. The Agency were also thrilled with the coverage that we secured through our personalized pitching of the announcement, resulting in several hits for the renovation in key leading trade and MICE publications ranging from Luxury Travel Advisor and Hospitality Net to Hotel Business, California Meetings + Events, Meetings Net, Meetings TODAY, Travel Daily News, Hotel Management, and several more. The resort's $25 million new look was also featured in a gorgeous print article in Meetings Today's May issue in addition to inclusions of the Meritage in not one, but three stories in the latest May/June issue of Smart Meetings -- one of which recognized the resort as one of the magazine's 2024 Smart Stars! We also secured placements for the announcement in top regional publications, like the Press Democrat and North Bay Business Journal, which covered the announcement digitally and in print. Finally, we had a great initial social campaign, with the renovation widely covered on Instagram and other platforms, thanks to our very successful local/regional media and influencer event, which resulted in over 30+ social media grid posts, reels and story hits!
Return on Investment: How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
On a social media level, The Meritage Resort and Spa's Instagram account received new followers within 24 hours of the "new look" event, which accounted for a percentage of the total community growth for April. On average, traffic to the booking site saw an increase in page visits per day.
Entry Title
The Meritage Resort and Spa $25 Million Reimagination Launch
Division
Public Relations/Communications - Feature Placement Online or Print Consumer Media
Category
Public Relations/Communications