A recent Forbes article discusses the marketing partnerships that Starwood Hotels & Resorts has secured, which provided an astonishing $6 billion in revenue last year. Chief Executive Officer, Steven Heyer, plans to upend the view of hotels as merely places where people sleep. They are instead, in his scheme, a place where marketers can reach well-to-do travelers. Companies that have partnered with Starwood include: Starbucks, Pepsi, Jeep, Levi Strauss, Nokia, Time Warner, American Express, Apple, BMW, and Yahoo.
Full article: Suite Dreams
—-
Starwood gets it. They fully understand the potential revenue a hotel can provide outside of rooms, and they capitalize on it. These marketing partnerships, in addition to being an incredible source of revenue, also help position the hotels as hip, trendy, and in-tune with its guests’ lifestyles.
One of the many benefits of a hotel digital signage network is that it can provide a new revenue source by selling slots to third party advertisers. These advertisers are eager for new means of reaching consumers, especially the select client that hotel companies such as Starwood can provide. As long as the partnerships are carefully selected, consumers will not see it as “selling out”, and it’s a win-win situation.
