Klook blends guerrilla stunts with playful hotel booking push

Klook Hong Kong has launched a playful campaign to promote its hotel booking services, leveraging celebrity-driven guerrilla stunts and a localised pun to capture consumer attention.

Also known as “Searching for hotels? Just KLOOK it” (旅行睇住宿 記住上Klook), the campaign is executed in collaboration with Frengers Communications, which took the lead on all social creative ideas and PR stunts.

The campaign's primary awareness push runs from 28 May to 30 June, featuring six hotel offers across popular destinations, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Mainland China. Promotions include such offers as HK$200 off the first hotel booking, 90% off select hotels, and 15% off global hotels.

The campaign is built around a fully localised, multi-stage initiative featuring a playful Cantonese character named “Uncle to watch over”. In Cantonese, this name sounds identical to the phrase “search for hotel accommodation”. The character represents an avid, expert traveller (專業玩家) who is constantly flying around the world. 

Much like Klook itself, “Uncle to watch over” acts as the ultimate travel insider - someone who knows how to explore the global market and keep a watchful eye out for the best hotel deals on behalf of consumers.

The campaign followed a highly coordinated timeline to create a "talk-of-the-town" buzz. On Tuesday (26 May), local artist Sica posted an ambiguous Instagram story featuring "Uncle to watch over (睇住叔)" wearing a hotel bathrobe, then deleted it after two hours to mimic an organic leak.

At the same time, other leaked images showing another local personality, local actress Louise Lee Sze Kee, with the same mysterious man, fueled rumours on Threads that he was a glamorous "playboy."

A Klook spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that by pairing Gen Z icon Sica with legendary actress Lee, the brand aims to bridge a key demographic gap. This dual approach allows Klook to reach both Millennial and Gen Z travellers drawn to Sica's energetic charm, as well as mature, family-oriented travellers who deeply trust Lee.

The guerrilla marketing stunt sparked lively discussion among local netizens, who screenshotted Sica and Lee’s Instagram stories and posted them to Threads, generating over 370,000 views, 1,330 likes, and 720 shares, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE confirmed.

To push the stunt beyond core social circles into the mass market, Klook partnered with major local entertainment and lifestyle media outlets. These platforms fueled the mystery with editorial spin-offs and commentary on the "scandal," which aims to trigger a domino effect in local coverage.

Yesterday (28 May) at noon, the mystery was unveiled through a pre-recorded "press conference" video posted as a joint Instagram Reel by Klook, Sica, and Lee. Mimicking a live media announcement, the trio addressed the public's burning questions and introduced "Uncle to watch over as the ultimate "expert traveller", a character who embodies Klook's global hotel hunting platform. 

Following the official reveal, Klook has used generative AI to produce surreal campaign videos that grab attention and boost message recall. Lee's video features a beach scene that turns into an alien abduction, promoting the HK$200 first-time booking discount. Sica's video is set in a hot spring resort with capybaras, promoting flexible 30% off vouchers for Japan and Taiwan.

Kenny Sham, global events head and general manager, Hong Kong and Macau, Klook, said: “Here at Klook, our mission is to empower travellers to discover joy and unlock the world. This campaign marks a strategic evolution as we double down on our global hotel pillar, solidifying its role as a core growth engine and a primary driver of our ecosystem, proving that Klook is the end-to-end companion capable of seamlessly managing your entire travel journey.”

“To win in today’s fractured digital landscape, brands must move beyond traditional and weave themselves into local culture. By a standard commercial launch into an immersive narrative that the public genuinely chose to debate and decode, we earned profound consumer trust and sparked a conversation that disrupts long-standing habits. The era of fragmented planning is over; today’s explorers demand the seamless continuity of a complete, frictionless stay," Sham added.

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