Special RepoRt : Social Hotel awardS
||||| BEST REPUTATION MANAGEMENT : SOCIAL MEDIA
The chef Hilton Buddy was created to promote the Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao .
BY ProPertY
Hilton SHangHai Hongqiao , CHina
Description : In October 2013 , Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao launched a marketing campaign for a
JuDges ’ six-month period centered on the Hilton comments :
Buddy , which created buddy characters “ The Hilton representing the hotel ’ s bellhop , chef ,
Buddy is a very engineer and general manager . The buddies shared their stories on Weibo and creative idea . Not only is it
WeChat , and every Friday , those stories fun and interactive , it gives were accompanied by a professional photograph . The hotel even created dolls this specific of the characters guests could purchase . Hilton a mascot that every- results : The hotel earned more than US $ 11,000 in additional revenue through
one can love .” bookings and the purchase of the buddy dolls . The hotel added 2,500 additional fans on Sina Weibo and 500 followers on WeChat . runner-up : Hilton Garden Inn Shreveport / Bossier City and Homewood Suites by Hilton Shreveport / Bossier City
BY Brand
Starwood HotelS & reSortS worldwide
Description : Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide ’ s global social care team conducts around-the-clock monitoring of all the company ’ s social channels in 14 different languages . Starwood set up a chain that allows team members to escalate guest questions and complaints to the appropriate brand team member . They work closely with Starwood ’ s social strategy team to craft creative responses and address customer complaints or inquiries when they happen or even before they happen . results : Starwood ’ s social care team
JuDges ’ comments :“ Starwood ’ s has a response time of less than 26 minutes and has handled more than 12,000 successful reputation management program realizes that people are on different schedules all around the world .” customer-service issues . More than 96,000 guest email inquiry or complaint tickets have been closed by the team . runner-up : ITC Hotels , Gurgaon , India
24 HOTELS October2014 www . hotelsmag . com