The New Hotel Collection owns and operates one hotel in downtown St. Petersburg, two beachside condo properties in the Indian Rocks Beach area, and a Smoky Mountains retreat in historic Sevierville, Tennessee. In early 2020, the four destinations that comprise the New Hotel Collection hoped that COVID-19 would run its course quickly.
But, it became apparent that the hospitality company needed to rethink how it could serve its clientele — not to mention stay afloat. With four locations to support and new public health realities to contend with, the New Hotel Collection needed to strengthen its marketing and communications to ensure continued success.
B2’s Solution
With B2’s help, New Hotel Collection was able to increase sales, heighten visibility and enhance its credibility within the industry and in the communities where it does business. B2 focused its efforts on sales, marketing, and operations with both targeted and ground-up changes.
- Targeted marketing: With the help of experts at B2, New Hotel Collection revved up its organic and paid social media efforts, started property-specific e-mail campaigns to encourage repeat visitors, and cranked up its digital marketing efforts.
- Strong news media coverage: Readers heard about the company’s news in high-impact outlets ranging from the Pete Catalyst to the Business Observer to I Love the Burg.
- Events and attention: In June 2021, B2 worked with the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce to hold a successful ribbon-cutting event for The Scott, a lobby bar in downtown’s Cordova Inn that serves craft coffee by day and fresh cocktails by night.
- New partnerships: At the New Hotel Collection’s Smoky Mountains destination, B2 connected with the Sevierville Visitors Bureau to establish a key marketing partner that would help to raise awareness of its historic Central Hotel there.
Success
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the hospitality industry overall, with B2’s help, the New Hotel Collection doubled its revenue from 2020 to 2021. "In my opinion, B2 is not a PR firm, but a ‘get it done’ group,” said Alex Hodges, CEO of New Hotel Collection.