By now, practically every company you’ve ever remotely come into contact with has emailed you about how they are responding to COVID-19, from car sharing companies to private jet providers. The number one overused phrase?
“We’re working around the clock,” which in most cases, is highly doubtful.
Pandemic marketing: Making lemonade out of one very big lemon.
Nevertheless, while most companies spouted the expected empathetic message followed by, “we’re here for you,” others went a step further in slipping in a little revenue generation, making lemonade out of one very big lemon.
That’s certainly been the case for branding and marketing “experts” who have hired PR firms to promote them to the media. In just the past 24 hours we’ve received a half dozen “timely” pitches.
How about Miri Rodriguez, a “brand storyteller” for Microsoft, who can talk about how at a time like this, companies need to be empathetic with their employees, and also promote her new book?
Or a company that has a “proprietary technology for discovering influencers” and offering “timely data on how COVID-19 is impacting influencer and brand partnerships” – with colorful downloadable graphics to help illustrate?
While subtlety is not their strong suit, other brands have been successful with being more on-brand.
For the intrepid traveler, Marriott Hotels sent an e-blast detailing the hygiene protocols that are in place before you arrive at a property and upon arrival, from front door to lobby to rooms, and even back-of-house areas.
Home improvement stores like Ace and Lowes have managed to stay relevant and targeted those who have discovered that cleaning out the garage or weeding the front yard is strangely, some kind of fun.
From day one of the enforced stay-at-home Ace Hardware has blasted out numerous marketing pitches designed to keep people busy painting or gardening, with specials on virtually every department – especially barbeques.
Meanwhile Lowes has launched a DIY crafting campaign called #BuildThanks to get people to make thank you signs for the doctors and nurses on the front lines of the pandemic. While one is supposed to use materials found around the house, Lowes was “crafty” in creating convenient hot links to Lowes.com for nearly every item you’ll need to make any of the six sign ideas.
The pandemic has also been an opportunity for social media giants to do some damage control with their public image. Remember that not long ago, facebook drew considerable ire for their data mining, lack of privacy and transparency, and not taking a stand against “fake news” and political propaganda.
But the big three — Facebook, Google, and twitter — each created highly detailed community pages dedicated to providing information on virus protection, transmission, and correcting the disinformation and out-and-out lies that are being broadcast by the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, with everyone needing to work from home, companies like Zoom, Webex, Loom, and Salesforce relaxed their terms of service in an effort to “help” people during this time of need. But it was also a very obvious opportunity for new user acquisition.
More than likely, Airbnb saw it coming: a major hotel chain taking the plunge into the home sharing market.
For Marriott International, it’s a plan that’s been in the works for some time, and now other majors like Hyatt and Hilton are considering the same move.
Like the boutique hotel model, which started as a startup strategy and then was coopted by corporate giants, Airbnb laid the foundation for revolutionizing traditional hospitality models, and operators like Marriott have had plenty of time to study the start up’s business strategy. Which markets are the most lucrative and what kinds of properties are the most desirable?
Still, one might wonder if Marriott can able to handle the considerable task of vetting private properties and meeting the much stricter safety guidelines that hotel operators need to adhere to.
In fact, they’re not doing any of it. Marriott is “curating” the properties and setting the standards – it’s regional property management companies, chosen by Marriott, who are doing the heavy lifting.
Twelve percent of major hotel customers booked with Airbnb last year. And out of all US consumer lodging spending last year, Airbnb made up nearly 20 percent of all accomodation reservations.
Homes and Villas by Marriott is already live online and taking reservations, and while there will be plenty of travelers who aren’t ready to stray far from a standard Marriott property (Marriott International also includes Sheraton, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, and Starwood, among others), the company is also hoping this unconventional turn will simultaneously help relaunch and boost their new rewards program called BonVoy – and not a moment too soon.
It was only last year that Marriott publicly acknowledged that their Starwood rewards program was the victim of a massive cyberattack that compromised up to 500 million members, one of the largest data breaches in history.
So, their new chipper and cheerful BonVoy rewards program will (hopefully) erase all memory of that ugly moment.
Is Marriott a threat to Airbnb? Probably not.
According to Second Measure, a company that analyzes billions of anonymized credit card and debit purchases, twelve percent of major hotel customers booked with Airbnb last year, up from one percent in 2013.
And out of all US consumer lodging spending last year, Airbnb made up nearly 20 percent of all accomodation reservations (HomeAway, its home-sharing competitor owned by the travel booking site Expedia, brought in 11 percent.)
The larger question is whether the traveler staying in such properties will accept some of the vast differences in the quality of accommodations.
With an ordinary hotel, one already knows what to expect when you open the door to your room. With home sharing, there are a lot more moving parts: furniture and carpets, for instance, don’t always hold up in the same way that hotel furnishings do. Not all appliances will be the same and there are more opportunities for things to break or malfunction.
One other important details is F&B: most travelers expect mini bars and room service. To date, Marriott has no plans to add that as a feature of their program. True, Airbnb doesn’t offer that either, but Airbnb is not a hotel operator.
So consider that as you’re settling into your luxury home rental in Tulum. What will you do when the late-night munchies hit?