Prince Hotel targets leisure travellers

Malaysia - The travel industry has seen much transformation thanks to budget travel options today.Over a casual lunch, Prince Hotel and Residence director of marketing communications Elisa Saw told A+M that the property is going through a multitude of changes in keeping up with travellers' different tastes."How I see the business right how is there being a group of people with tight pockets still trying to travel. There's also a group of travellers who have the money and want a classier experience," she said.Today, the 11-year old hotel is making several changes to become a fresh face and the choice for not only business, but leisure travellers."We want to give travellers everything they are looking for. We primarily get corporate clients, but today we are increasingly seeing leisure travellers to the hotel, hence a new direction."A new brand architecture and look and feel is already underway, with hopes of a total roll-out across traditional and digital mediums by June this year.Saw said the hotel already started reaching out to leisure travellers using search engine marketing in December last year apart from resorting to customer insights on how the different channels are used to reach out to travellers."Booking channels have changed tremendously. If you want to book a hotel, would you look for offers in the newspaper?"You would go online and do your research, right? Travellers have become very savvy and intellectual that way," she said.In keeping to this trait, Saw shared the hotel's plans to launch a new mobile website, also something it hopes to kick off by mid year."The whole idea of the mobile site is to focus on one-click reservations, deals and offers and content incorporating geo-location elements."It is also increasing efforts on social media, followed by ongoing ads on traditional media to complete the marketing process.To find out more about Prince Hotel's new marketing endeavour and Saw's passion for the industry, grab a copy of Advertising + Marketing magazine's April 2013 issue out now.