Marriott Bonvoy believes in the power of travel, and they know that the next generation of travelers crave exploration and experiences, online and offline. Social media insights told Marriott that much of this exploration had expanded into the virtual world, gaming in particular. Marriott knew that leveraging the power of an existing gaming powerhouse could help them tap into a key target audience for the brand, Next Generation Experience Seekers. Marriott’s entry into Fortnite was an opportunity for them to introduce the next generation of travelers to Marriott Bonvoy through unique brand experiences and ultimately inspire them to discover the world in real life with the travel program. “Marriott Bonvoy Land” created in Fortnite brought the brand’s ultimate travel experiences into the Metaverse.
With this initiative, Marriott sought to:
Support portfolio affiliation: Drive understanding of the association between hotel brands that participate in Marriott Bonvoy and the travel program in an engaging way.
Engage gamers: Create a game that people want to watch and play to reach a new audience of young travelers.
Innovate: Test and learn in an emerging space for the hospitality industry.
In collaboration with the agency Super Awesome, Marriott developed four mini-games based on four hotel brands in Marriott Bonvoy’s unparallel portfolio: Moxy Hotels, Westin Hotels and Resorts, W Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels. These games could all be accessed in one virtual world, Marriott Bonvoy Land. The four games were:
Moxy Hotels Prop Hunt
Westin Hotels and Resorts Speed Run
W Hotels Labyrinth
Autograph Collection Hotels Scavenger Hunt
Marriott worked with gamification experts to ensure the mini-games created were fun and engaging, but not too easy. The intention was to inspire creators and gamers to spend time in Marriott Bonvoy Land and get to know their hotel brands. Each game was designed to fit the personality of a hotel brand and truly transport players into a virtual version of those properties. The Moxy Hotels Prop Hunt was a social game where one player transformed into everyday items while the other player tried to expose their disguise while uncovering a disco, arcade games, and vibrant art along the way. This connected perfectly to Moxy’s commitment to inspiring play at their hotels. The Autograph Collection Hotels Scavenger Hunt was a treasure hunt to find keys, echoing the brand’s “Exactly Like Nothing Else” mantra. The Westin Hotels and Resorts Speed Run was an obstacle course showcasing the brand’s commitment to wellness, all while the Westin Run Concierge cheered you on. The W Hotels Labyrinth was a captivating maze, challenging players to follow clues and find their way to a DJ performance on the iconic WET deck rooftop – breathtaking views included.
Marriott worked with popular gaming creators to promote the game, including Mr. Savage, Ali-A, Birdo, and more, who posted across social platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch). The creators played the games and talked about Marriott Bonvoy, what they liked about the map and how the games spoke to the personality of the hotel brands. They asked their followers to play along. Marriott held a live Twitch stream with Fortnite content creator Sommerset and Brooklyn Beckham and held a giveaway during the stream to further incentivize viewership.
In addition to being the first hospitality company to launch on Fortnite, by taking a multi-pronged approach to social and digital, Marriott Bonvoy saw much greater success than by simply promoting on their own channels. By partnering with creators within the gaming audience, Marriott Bonvoy was able to make a larger impact by more authentically weaving this project into the gaming space.
From creator and streamer content alone, Marriott garnered 2.4M views with 15K engagements. Most pieces of content showed highly (above 80%) positive sentiment. Marriott Bonvoy empowered each creator to produce content in their own unique style to further ensure the audiences were more likely to view them favorably. Livestream content garnered over 863K views.
Marriott Bonvoy leveraged this creator content in their global portfolio campaign to engage a distinct audience from their traditional brand ads. On TikTok, Fortnite creator content resulted in 30M video views, 6.5M reach, and 118K engagements. In comparison to traditional brand ads, Fortnite creator content significantly outperformed in 6 second view throughs and average watch time. This demonstrated for Marriott that, by partnering with authentic creators in the gaming space, they could create measurable inroads in a new target audience.
With this initiative, Marriott Bonvoy successfully:
Supported portfolio affiliation: Marriott educated new audiences about the differences between four of their key hotel brands via gamification.
Engaged gamers: Gamer and streamer content performed ahead of traditional brand ads on TikTok.
Innovated: Marriott became the first hospitality company to launch a game on Fortnite.
