Objectives

With 1,600 locations in over 20 countries, Days Inn by Wyndham is one of the largest, most well-recognized hotel brands in the world. Welcoming guests with a warm smile and a clean, inviting room, most locations offer fast, free WiFi, breakfast, swimming pool or fitness center, and more. Whether it’s small town or downtown, a trip with family or a getaway with friends, count on Days Inn for a great stay paired with a little extra sunshine along the way. With consumer confidence on the rise this past summer, the goal was to capitalize on pent-up travel demand during peak summer months to drive consideration and bookings. Travelers were ready to get out, but still felt more comfortable being an easy drive from home, so we wanted to make it easy for them to stay close without going too far. 

The main objectives we strived to achieve with this campaign were:

• Strengthen Days Inn messaging of having convenient locations near desirable locations and attractions.
• Tap into pent-up travel demand targeting qualified, in-market travelers who are activity-focused and looking to travel nearby. Target audience includes older Millennial families and couples 35-44 years old with kids looking for memorable nearby vacations.
• Sequentially retarget engaged users to drive them down the funnel from consideration to intent.
• Drive consideration and bookings during key travel moments while supporting the summer promotion: Stay 2+ Nights, Earn a Free Night.

Strategy and Execution

The Stay Close integrated marketing campaign was developed to strengthen the message that we have locations where you want to be. Stay near all the fun and action with our convenient locations, stay relaxed in our comfortable rooms, stay energized with our free coffee, stay ready to go with our free WiFi, stay in the sunshine laying out at the pool, and stay close at a Days Inn.

The campaign successfully launched June 28 – October 31, 2021 across digital video, rich media, social media including Facebook and Instagram, display, and website. Creative assets included four 15-second videos, four 7-second videos, display banners, and a static promotional post launched in the U.S.

The 15-second videos focused on a young couple and a family enjoying the comforts of the room, the pool, and local attractions while the 7-second videos amplified the on-property amenities and proximity to nearby fun. The video carousel combined all the great amenities you can experience at a Days Inn. The media tactics sequentially messaged travelers from digital video to rich media to display to drive them down the funnel toward booking with social media retargeting video viewers and content engagers with a promotional offer.

Results

Campaign effectiveness and success was measured by video views, engagement, traffic, and bookings. The results of our campaign are as follows:

• Garnered 21.7MM digital video impressions, 22% above estimated.
• Drove 92K site visits and 0.42% site visit rate with a $1.65 cost per site visit 58% better than benchmark.
• Digital video delivered a site visit rate 18% above benchmark and the rich media unit delivered a site visit rate 28% above benchmark.
• Sequential retargeting strategy successfully drove people down the funnel resulting in display units beating the ROAS goal by 3.2x.
• Overall, delivered a digital return-on-ad-spend 78% above benchmark.
• Social media posts saw 6.5MM impressions and 560K video views with a 14.31% engagement rate.
• Generated 54K link clicks across social with a 4.03% click-through-rate, 9x better than benchmark.
• Social return-on-ad-spend was an impressive $30.50, exceeding benchmark by 29%.

Media