Marketing Objectives:
Clearly state your marketing goals.
What did your company strive to achieve using this piece or program?Primary marketing objectives and goals for BW Alerts were to: - Position Best Western Hotels & Resorts as a leader in the hospitality industry through its contemporary offerings and continuous innovation - Develop another avenue to communicate to BWR members - Retain BWR members through direct messaging and educate travelers about the benefits of BWR membership - Provide BWR members with unique engagements such as games/promotional offers - Support seasonal promotional messaging while driving BWR enrollments and activations - Drive brand awareness, consideration and bookings for each of Best Western’s 13 hotel brands - Encourage members to book directly with Best Western to take advantage of their membership perks

Target Audience:
Who was/is the target audience?
Characterize the composition, size, and location of your target audience.Best Western developed its SMS alerts program to be primarily geared to the more than 36 million travelers who are members of its award-winning loyalty program, a high percentage of whom are active users. The brand also sought to target customers looking for a loyalty program that directly communicates with its members, thus incentivizing them to become BWR members in order to access the SMS alerts and added perks of this modern form of communication within the hospitality industry. These individuals, both BWR members and non-members alike, fall within the “today’s travelers” - a broad term used to describe modern guests who demand more from hospitality brands than ever before, seeking authenticity, elevated amenities and superior service for a variety of budgets and travel occasions. Spanning every demographic, today’s travelers include road warriors, parents planning family vacations, road trippers, millennial adventurers, foodies, fashionistas, global jetsetters and more.

Research, Planning, and Implementation:
What market research was conducted prior to planning the piece/campaign?As part of Best Western’s overarching loyalty program marketing strategy, BW Alerts was developed to uniquely engage new audiences, particularly the brand’s most invested and engaged BWR members, while promoting BWR’s top-ranked rewards through unique engagements. In a saturated digital landscape, Best Western sought to rise above the marketing noise with a new method of communication that would resonate with users who already demonstrated interest in relevant travel loyalty content. By signing up for BW Alerts, BWR members are given access to the best hotel rooms, destinations and discounts - right at their fingertips! The program also allows users to stay on top of the latest news and information from the brand with messages delivered to their phone. Via the program, members are the first to know about exclusive discounts, early access to promotions, getaway ideas and member only games. To join, users simply text “JOIN” to 94484.

Message:
What is the key message intended for the piece/campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?In 2019, the “Today’s Best Western” campaign served as the principal messaging pillar across all content, including BW Alerts. The SMS alerts program communicated the message that today’s Best Western is designed to meet the needs of today’s modern travelers. By introducing this uniquely modern approach to communication with its BWR members, Best Western continues to exceed travelers’ expectations and reinforce the concept of Today’s Best Western. BW Alerts also showcased how, as an industry leader in the loyalty space, BWR is preferred above other loyalty programs for successfully reflecting the voice of Best Western’s valued customers. Rich benefits such as points that never expire, fastest way to elite status, fastest way to a free night and instant rewards have earned the brand the loyalty of more than 36 million members. BWR continues to reimagine the hotel loyalty landscape as guest loyalty remains a major focus in the travel sector and a top priority for Best Western.

Results:
How did you measure the effectiveness of your efforts and what direct and tangible results did you achieve? Please be as specific as possible and share the full impact of your efforts in CSR. Understandably, maintenance is another major part of CSR. If you have continued to actively and consistently work on your CSR process; please add those actions to your results description.

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.As part of the brand’s loyalty strategy, the channel supported Best Western Rewards 49% contribution of brand revenue fiscal year to date in 2019. These results demonstrate that the brand’s spring campaign helped to improve the brand’s overall bottom line while also attracting loyal customers. Additional results include: - More than 12,000 subscribers attained via email campaigns, banner ads and sign-up incentives. - $0.36 in revenue generated per SMS customer, as compared to $0.03 in revenue generated per email customer

Research, Planning and Implementation
What research was conducted prior to planning the initiative? Describe the step by step efforts to plan and implement the initiative in a way that would allow others to be able to duplicate your efforts. Were their individuals or teams that offered leadership to ensure effectiveness?

Message and Communication
What were your key messages? How did you differentiate your messages? What was the purpose of the communications? How did you communicate your actions to the target audience? What other stakeholders or media did you approach for assistance?

Results and Impact
What results had the greatest impact on your target audience? What results were directly tied to the HSMAI Foundation Mission? Which of your original goals was achieved? Please comment on the process and the outcomes. What measures were used to determine success? How was the data collected? What is the status of the initiative now – will it continue? Was it effective? Will it be used continuously? Will you help others use the initiative to help the industry meet its needs for exceptional talent? How?

Message:
What is the key messages intended for the piece/ campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?
What helped you breakthrough on mobile?

Results:
What original goals did you achieve and how?
How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign?
Entrants should provide quantifiable metrics tied to real business results (eg brand lift, leads, or bookings generated).

Project Analysis:
Please provide a brief background on the project and your efforts to preserve the destination’s natural, cultural and historic heritage.

Objectives and Goals:
What did organization set out to achieve in undertaking this project?

Creativity and Innovation:
What new and innovative ideas did you incorporate in either your method of outreach or in the implementation of the project that you think could inspire others committed to sustainability in the tourism and travel industry?

Communication:
How did you communicate your actions to the public, the media and other key stakeholders and what was the aim of the message?
How did you generate publicity in order to build awareness of, or support corporate values on your sustainability initiatives.

Results:
How did you measure the effectiveness of your efforts and what direct and tangible results did you achieve?

Leadership:
Please list the individual in a leadership role responsible for the project and how would you characterize their commitment to promoting preservation and sustainability best practices in the travel and tourism industry?

Entry TitleBest Western Rewards Launches Alert Program

DivisionDigital Marketing

Sub-categoryDigital Single Item

CategoryLoyalty

Classification