Hilton Puts Marketing Focus Back on Hotels With New Brand Platform

In This Article:

One of Hilton's video ads launched in July 2022. Source: Hilton Worldwide.
One of Hilton's video ads launched in July 2022. Source: Hilton Worldwide.

Hilton Worldwide made two marketing moves on Monday. It formally launched an international marketing campaign that highlights a reliable lodging experience as an antidote to the unpredictability of travel today. In a longer-lasting move, the hotel giant also committed to anchoring its marketing to a catchphrase — “for the stay” — indefinitely.

“Campaigns may get swapped out or refreshed, but ‘Hilton — For the Stay’ is kind of what you would tattoo on the building or put on the back of a business card,” said Mark Weinstein, chief marketing officer.

The first corresponding campaign includes light-hearted ads featuring travelers, such as ordinary harried parents, facing the stresses of travel, such as traveling with children. The ads may prove well-timed in this season of highly publicized tales of flight disruption.

“Serendipitously, this story may resonate more than ever,” Weinstein said. “But to be clear, we’re not trying to be mean-spirited. What’s important is to remind people, ‘It’s worth it.’ Even if you arrived at your trip a day later than planned or faced other obstacles along the way, once you get there, it’s worth it.”

The newest video ads include extended scenes at properties showcasing their charms.

“What’s missing in most hotel advertising is the hotel,” Weinstein said. “Most hotel companies — and Hilton has been guilty of this, too — have run campaigns that advertise the destination and its beautiful sunsets or beaches rather than the hotel itself.”

Snark for Airbnb and Vrbo?

The campaign slogan for Hilton’s latest volley of ads is: “It matters where you stay.” The company isn’t shy about implying that its hotels are more reliable than alternative accommodations.

“The home-sharing space has particularly been telling a story about the transformative power travel, which seems to mean you must go out there on a paddle board and eat goji berries and do goat yoga at sunrise,” Weinstein said. “But a lot of times, travel is just about winning back that important client or reconnecting with your loved ones after the birth of a child.”

The ads implicitly draw a contrast between the reliability of hotels with the perceived unpredictability of alternative accommodations.

One commercial specifically criticizes the risks of vacation rental and short-term rental rivals, where guests arrive at a house that looks like a house in a scary Hitchcock film.

Hilton has been a provocateur before. Between 2016 and 2019, the hotel giant generated buzz with its campaign “Stop Clicking Around,” which encouraged consumers to book directly instead of through online travel agencies.