Kenshō Boutique Hotel in Mykonos, collaborates with the top Greek Vloggers and shapes the Summer's new social trend

8 mins read

YouTube Vlogs (video blogs) are already established as the most modern and influential channel for online positioning. Despite its popularity though, the global hotel market seems to be accepting this new trend quite slowly. Vlogs’ similarity to Travel Blogs, which have overwhelmed hoteliers over the recent years, delays their penetration in the market even more. But the truth is that Hotel Video Blogs can not be compared with Travel Blogs at any level, as their dynamics are clearly much more powerful.

To measure the influence of Vloggers on the travel community, we worked with Kenshō Boutique Hotel in Mykonos. Having Travel by Interest as our sponsor, we invited the leading Vloggers in Greece for the first Hotel Social Vlog in the global hotel market.

The results exceeded all expectations, as the produced videos gathered more than 500,000 views, while social media interaction – mainly on Instagram, reached 1,000,000, ensuring a dynamic brand positioning for Kenshō.

The selection of these specific vloggers was not only based on their profile type and audience number. We also gave emphasis to their engagement with the audience, which reaches remarkable levels as it is described below.

The Case Study analysis will include:

  1. How are Hotel Video Blogs (Vlogs) shaping Hotel Marketing’s future?
  2. Why choose local Vloggers and what are the local travellers’ dynamics?
  3. Why choose Lifestyle Vloggers and not Travel Bloggers?
  4. Who were the selected Vloggers and why are they considered the top in Greece?
  5. Do Lifestyle Vloggers have a potential audience for Luxury Hotels, such as Kenshō?

 

SPONSORED
The campaign was set up by www.morantis.com Tourism Strategy Experts, to develop Hotelier Academy’s Case Study. Setting up tourist-related campaigns is one of Morantis | Tourism Strategy Experts’ key services. Similarly successful projects include September in Greece for Travel by Interest and Greeks Teach Hospitality for 100% Hotel Show.

How are Hotel Video Blogs (Vlogs) shaping Hotel Marketing’s future?

Quality content plays an important role in online hotel marketing, as it does not only determine the search engine and social media results but it also affects the travellers’ final decision when choosing a hotel.

Video now holds a prominent role on Google and Facebook and is the most sought-after and influential content during a traveller’s market research. In this context, the videos produced by Video Bloggers (Vloggers) are among the most important content for a hotel. This has also an increased added value, as the content is produced by a third influencer.

Vlogs can play a key role not only in a hotel’s brand awareness – since they will be very successful in social media – but also in the hotel’s overall web-based strategy. Vlogs are expected to boost the property’s organic results and affect the traveller’s final decision, due to their originality and undisputed content credibility.

Why did we choose local Vloggers and what are the local travellers’ dynamics?

For this Case Study, the goal was to approach the local Greek Travel Market. Various Hotelier Academy surveys, have shown that there is a significant percentage of local Luxury travellers in each country — and in Greece as well. These travellers usually choose to travel abroad, as local Hoteliers do not engage in their dynamic approaching.

Targeting the local market can be very effective for a Hotel’s sales, as:

  • The local travellers can boost low season sales.
  • They are more likely to become repeating guests, due to the close distance and easy access.
  • The local market presents an important perspective in events organising, such as weddings, parties etc.

In addition to the above, local Vloggers can have a greater influence as they speak the same language with their audience and they are closer to their culture.

Why choose Lifestyle Vloggers and not Travel Bloggers?

Wanting to use Vloggers to promote Kenshō to the Greek market, we decided to use an alternative strategy. Our decision was to choose Lifestyle Vloggers and not travel bloggers, for the following reasons:

  • The audience has a greater engagement as they follow the Vlogs on a regular basis, receiving more general ideas and information, and not just travel ideas.
  • As they have a continuous contact with their audience, the Vloggers’ influence is very high, and their Vlog’s content becomes their personal proposal to their followers. Vloggers act as powerful influencers since the audience chooses to follow them for their overall mentality and not just because they want to get holiday ideas.
  • As the hotel content will be different than the usual Vlog content, the audience will notice it more easily and engage more dynamically. This is in contrast with Travel Channels and Travel Blogs, which only feature travel-related content.

Who were the selected Vloggers and why are they considered the top in Greece?

Choosing the right team was not easy, as the Internet is filled with ambitious YouTubers uploading their video content online. The bet was to select the right partners that would ensure maximum visibility for Kenshō Boutique Hotel and would have the right audience that would guarantee not only brand awareness but also potential future sales.

Our final selection was based on the following goals:

  1. To increase brand awareness and maximise the social media interaction.
  2. To develop a potential new market of future travellers.
  3. To turn the hotel into a ‘dream place to be’ for the younger ages.

I Mikri Ollandeza – The No 1 Greek Vlogger

Her video for Kenshō Boutique Hotel was viewed more than 210.000 times

I Mikri Ollandeza, or else Danae is the most dynamic Greek Vlogger with more than 175,000 YouTube Subscribers and 150,000 Instagram Followers. Danae’s choice was not only based on numbers. Her Videos’ high aesthetics, as well as her personal direct contact with her followers, clearly showed that her audience follows her suggestions, which are a result of her own personal experiences.

I Mikri Ollandeza’s produced video has managed to gather more than 200,000 views in less than a month, while her Instagram photos at the hotel, as well as the related Stories, have exceeded 250,000 interactions.

I Mikri Ollandeza’s Media:

AmiYiamiTube – The most successful Greek Comedy Vlog

Her video for Kenshō Boutique Hotel reached 190.000 views

AmiYiami, with nearly 160,000 YouTube Subscribers and more than 150,000 Instagram Followers, was the ideal choice for creating an alternative video that would help the hotel’s diverse visibility and reach a different audience. The funny but quality character of Anna Maria’s videos created a unique Content for the hotel, which the audience watched and shared on social media.

The relevant video on AmiYiamiTube reached 190,000 views, with a particularly increased interaction in social media, becoming ‘viral’ among the channel’s audience.

AmiYiamiTube’s Media:

FosVloque – The most dynamically rising real-life YouTuber

Her video for Kenshō Boutique Hotel reached 150.000 views

Foteini Aristakesyan is one of the most dynamically emerging Greek YouTubers with a strong influence on her audience, mostly because of her alternative and casual approach. With more than 50.000 YouTube Subscribers and 50.000 Instagram Followers, Foteini was the ideal choice to achieve a more direct communication with our targeted audiences, since they would engage more dynamically with Foteini’s more spontaneous and simple way of communicating.

FosVloque’s produced video reached 150.000 views, while the reach of Instagram Stories and Photos exceeded 200.000.

FosVlioque’s Media:

 

Sponsored

For the campaign’s most effective results, we set up a special motto/hashtag and built a dedicated website, which served as the main reference point. The campaign was named Beach Me Now (#beachmenow) and the audience was directed to www.beachmenow.gr. Within the website, a parallel contest received more than 17.000 participations and 2.000 shares. You can visit the campaign website here.

Do Lifestyle Vloggers have a potential audience for Luxury Hotels, such as Kenshō?

There is a general perception that lifestyle vlogs’ audience is mainly teenagers, because of their more relaxed and direct character. This is largely based on the fact that young people are generally more prone to interact with the published content, through comments or shares on their personal social media. However, the statistics give a different aspect.

Based on Vloggers’ analytics, we found that:

  • The majority of their followers are between 18 and 32 years old.
  • Their teenage audience is usually under 20%.
  • The male audience exceeds 30% of their total audience.

However, the importance and effectiveness of the campaign are strongly supported by the Vloggers’ remarkable engagement with their audiences, which exceeds any existing online tool.

More specifically:

  • The Video average viewing time exceeds 5 minutes, supporting the Hotel’s brand positioning.
  • The Vloggers’ followers on Instagram interact with the published content with thousands of likes and views.
  • Any ‘Call To’ Actions, such as social follow actions and participation in related contests, prove to be very successful.