5 Reasons We Love Hospitality

If you’ve ever heard someone complaining about their boring and repetitive job, then we can guarantee they don’t work in the hospitality industry! Full of unique clients and exciting projects, we at McConnell Marketing love the hospitality industry for a variety of reasons. Here are our top five:

1. Everyone is so hospitable!

This may sound silly, but yeah, people in an industry where guest satisfaction is a measure of success, tend to be really nice and helpful. Our business development director communicates with people from all across the industry often and is always impress with how helpful and friendly they are.

2. Working with clients all around the country

Hospitality is a global industry, and meeting with our clients from around the country helps us keep things in perspective, and get to appreciate the world outside of our northeast Ohio bubble. It’s always an interesting experience to talk to a client in New York in the morning and client in Los Angeles that same afternoon.

3. Hotels are like snowflakes

Hotels come in a variety of shapes and sizes, each has its own story, style and architecture. Some are traditional, some are boutique. Even hotels that are part of the same brand can be very different, take for example Marriot hotels. While the Ritz-Carlton and Fairfield Inn & Suites are both Marriots, they are structured and marketed completely different.  Even when comparing two Ritz-Carltons or two Fairfields you’ll find that they each have their own  individual personalities. Adapting our marketing style to reflect these differences can sometimes be a challenge, but that’s what makes it fun!

4. Hospitality is much more than just hotels

Resorts, in-hotel spas, golf clubs and even travel organizations like convention and visitors bureaus fall under the umbrella of hospitality! One week we might be dealing with a client’s challenge to book more suites, while the next week we’re designing their restaurant’s menu. The sheer variety within the industry keeps us on our toes.

5. It’s incredibly diverse

 According to a 2012 study by Forbes, “Hotels and Catering” is the #2 most diverse sector of the workforce! We definitely see that diversity first-hand here at McConnell Marketing. We’re a women-owned firm, and we deal with clients who come from a variety of demographic groups. There’s no typical age, gender or ethnicity, when it comes to our clients.

Whether it’s the nice people or plethora of different projects, there’s never a shortage of reasons for loving the hospitality industry! Today’s blog was brought to you by coffee from a stainless-steel tumbler. What it lacks in microwavability it makes up for in shininess. Until next time, be well.

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Our Most Unique Holiday Card

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This animated gif served as our digital holiday card a few years ago. It was a fun way to stand out against a sea of static holiday cards. #McConnellMoves

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Happy Holiday Cards

According to Hallmark, 1.5 billion holiday cards were sent in 2015, and at least some of these were sent by luxury hotels.

Here are two unique and very different cards we worked on this holiday season. Hope they inspire you for next year!

Mandarin Oriental New York Holiday Card 

Mandarin Holiday Card

This unique card features a hand-drawn sketch made specifically for the property by one of Rodarte’s award-winning fashion designers, Kate Mulleavy.

Mulleavy Sketch

Mulleavy’s sketch.

In the final version of the card (shown below) the woman in the sketch is slightly obscured by a vellum cover, giving the winter scene a dreamlike quality.

Final version of Mandarin Rodarte Card

Front of the Mandarin Oriental “Rodarte” card.

 The Rittenhouse Holiday Card 

Rittenhouse Hotel Holiday Card

The Rittenhouse decided on a more traditional, straight-forward card than the Mandarin.

Holiday Card Gold Foil Close Up

We love how the gold foil came out on the border and word “reimagined.” It really gives this card a luxurious feel. Of course, the inside of the card is simple and clean, leaving plenty of room for a handwritten message.

Rittenhouse Interior card shown

The holiday card certainly shows no signs of going away. If your hotel put together a great holiday card this year, please post a link in our comments section!

This post was fueled by “Eight O Clock” coffee, the workhouse caffeinated beverage of the McConnell Marketing office.

Until next time, happy holidays, be well and be sure to stop back this Friday for a new post!

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A Historic Building With A Bright Future

Historic Building

It is always exciting when a historic building goes under renovation. Like a makeover, the renovation brings a breath of fresh air to a building in need of some TLC. Being in the hospitality industry, we get a little more excited when the renovation leads to a new hotel. And best of all, it’s in our backyard.

The Stambaugh Building which first opened its doors in 1907 will reopen as DoubleTree Youngstown in December 2017.

The Rise

The building has the lengthy history that one would expect from a 109-year old building.

  • 1907: Construction is completed on the eight-story, $1.5 million tower.
  • 1908: Euwer’s Department Store moves into the lower three levels, selling items from 25 departments.
  • 1912: Four more floors would be added to the building.
  • 1940’s: Several businesses including Youngstown Sheet and Tube, the Youngstown Automobile Club and Western Union operate out of Stambaugh.
  • 1967: The building is sold to Youngstown Realty Corporation for $1 million.
  • 2006: Lou Frangos, a Cleveland, Ohio developer purchases the building with plans to fully renovate it into a hotel, but lacks enough funding to do so.

The Fall

By the time the 90’s rolled around, things were starting to look bleak for the Stambaugh Building. The interior condition was deteriorating, and tenants were relocating to the suburbs. The building changed hands several times throughout the late 1990’s into the 2000’s. The building was on its last leg and was in need of a major facelift. Enter NYO Property Group.

The Rebirth

In 2012, Dominic Marchionda, Chief Executive of NYO Property Group purchased the building from Frangos and announced new plans for a $30 million renovation. The end goal of this renovation was to bring a hotel to downtown Youngstown.

DoubleTree Youngstown was announced in November of 2014. The DoubleTree will serve as the first hotel downtown since 1974. The building will feature 134 rooms and provide a perfect place to stay for business travelers, YSU visitors, and Covelli Centre visitors alike. One of the most anticipated amenities is the rooftop bar that will offer visitors a breathtaking bird’s eye view of downtown.

Now guests will be checking in where people once checked out with their new purchases at Euwer’s Department Store 100 years prior. Others will lay down to rest in a room where Youngstown Sheet and Tube executives made crucial business decisions many moons ago. You can even have a drink looking out over the city with the same view that Youngstown Sheet & Tube Chairman and steel industry visionary James Campbell had from his office.

To stay up to date with the construction of the DoubleTree Youngstown, Follow NYO Property Group on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Our 5 Favorite Takeaways From Doyo Live

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table!

Last week we attended the first ever DOYO conference, a digital marketing conference that took place in our own backyard right here in Youngstown Ohio.

The conference brought together the region’s leading experts on digital marketing for a day of learning, dialogue and networking.

Here are some of our favorite points from DOYO Live 2016

1. Schedule Your Content Like a TV station 

TV Remote

There was plenty of talk about Content Marketing at the convention. In fact, the morning keynote speaker was Content Marketing Institute founder, Joe Pulizzi. One of Joe’s ideas that we found really interesting was that consistency is more important that frequency. Having a steady content schedule can actually develop an expectation with your audience.

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A view of Joe Pulizzi’s keynote talk

So just like you tune-in to AMC every Sunday at 9pm to watch The Walking Dead your audience will learn to tune in at a certain time each week to consume your content.

 2. Be More Human With Social Listening 

Never forget that there are actual people behind those twitter accounts!

Never forget that there are actual people behind those twitter accounts!

In his session: “How to Win Big With Social Selling” Jeff Herman told an anecdote about how a prospective client shared her interest in being shot out of a cannon on her LinkedIn profile.

Jeff was then able to use that information in a subsequent conversation with the prospect to make a connection. Taking a few minutes to look on Linkedin enabled Jeff to come across as genuine, have an entertaining ice breaker and avoid being another typical shallow sales guy.

Moral of the story: people are putting valuable information about themselves online that we in the digital marketing community can use to build genuine relationships.

3. Video Is Where It’s At 

And you don't even need a camera like this one!

And you don’t even need a camera like this one!

Another point that came up in Jeff’s talk, as well as several other sessions, was the importance and ease of creation of video content.

Video is the best way to capture someone’s attention, it doesn’t require them to read a lengthy article and it simulates face to face contact that’s hard to replicate over the phone. There’s just something about someone seeing and hearing you that facilitates communication so much better.

And the nice thing is today it doesn’t take much equipment at all! Just check out this cool video note Jeff left us after the conference (shown above) it did not utilize a fancy production studio (in fact it was shot in a gym) but still makes a bigger impact than a text tweet or even this blog!

4. Being Successful at Content Marketing Takes Time… Lots of It! 

Close-up of a wrist watch

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 90% of companies are doing content marketing but only 30% say they are successful. Of course, most companies are eager to embrace content marketing as a strategy but few are able to implement it correctly.

One of the biggest reasons for this lack of success is that many businesses aren’t invested for the long haul. Businesses should be prepared to put in 1 year or more of content marketing work  before getting any real returns on their investment.

5. Depth Not Breadth

Pinpoint your niche and most effective

It’s better to focus on one target and nail it than miss several

With so many ways to create content and interact with an audience it’s tempting for companies to try their hand at everything, however digital marketing is a “less is more” endeavor.

Another theme presented at DOYO Live was the idea of narrowing efforts and trying to be successful on fewer platforms and media channels. For example, in his breakout session: “Essentials for Developing an Online Marketing Strategy” Gene Bonanno offered the advice that a company should only focus on optimizing SEO for one domain name, because most don’t have the resources or time to do proper SEO for more than one. A similar message came through in several other marketing presentations with the idea of focusing on fewer channels and fewer content types but doing them extremely well.

Did you attend DOYO Live? Tell us about your favorite part in our comments section below! 

 

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