Hotels.com is a ‘matchmaker’ in new global ad campaign

Dive Brief:

• Hotels.com debuted a global ad campaign, “Introductions,” that casts itself as a “matchmaker” for travelers and hotels, the company announced Tuesday. 
• The ads, produced in partnership with New York-based creative agency Anomaly, will air on social and digital channels in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Denmark and Sweden. 
• Recent Hotels.com campaigns — including one starring NBA players — have encouraged travelers to use the online travel agency’s mobile app. “Introductions” continues the Hotels.com app push. 

Dive Insight:

A Hotels.com spokesperson said the campaign is “meant to build favorability and consideration among travelers to book with one of our hotel partners through the Hotels.com app.” 

In the campaign’s video ads, the app matches travelers with hotels based on their (rather specific) needs. 

In the first of the campaign’s films, “The Artist,” a dad connects with his artistic teenage daughter by using the Hotels.com app to book a stay at the artsy Hotel Palau Fugit in Girona, Spain. Three additional clips will premier throughout January. 

In one, a dog living in a small city apartment gets to stay at a pet-friendly hotel with a terrace. In another, a couple who work on a farm escape to a luxurious city hotel. And one clip features a pregnant woman, exhausted by her commute, who books a stay at a beachside property with a private pool. 

The spots will run 30-, 15- and 6-seconds long. 

All clips were filmed at hotels in Spain: the Hotel Palau Fugit and Torre del Remei in Girona, Le Méridien Ra Beach Hotel & Spa in Tarragona and the Nobu Hotel in Barcelona. “[A]s with most of our creative work, we are keen to work with a range of our hotel partners to shoot on location, highlight their facilities and provide them with additional exposure,” the Hotels.com spokesperson added.

Choice Hotels International debuted a campaign this month as well, which will run across broadcast, cable and streaming TV, SiriusXM, Spotify and social media platforms. The largest marketing campaign in Choice’s history, “A Stay for Any You” also emphasizes different hotels’ abilities to meet specific guest needs. 

And in the OTA space, Kayak launched its latest campaign, “Don’t Do It Yourself,” this week with a series of videos about the absurdity of planning one’s own trip when technology that makes it easier is readily available.