Westin Indianapolis has been a staple in downtown Indianapolis since 1989, offering visitors a top-tier place to stay in town for conventions, Colts games and more. The hotel has witnessed downtown Indianapolis evolve from an afterthought on the national level to one of the country’s best host sites for events, sports championships, national conferences and tournaments.
In order to meet the growing demand for luxury accommodations in downtown Indianapolis and to compete with new mega-hotels like the JW Marriot, Westin Indianapolis set out to complete a multi-million dollar renovation to provide guests with the best experience possible.
The renovation features 575 all-new guest rooms that include the latest technologies and designs, such as the signature Westin Heavenly® Bed and Westin Heavenly® Shower. It also unveiled the largest pipeline of high-speed Internet bandwidth available in any Indianapolis hotel and introduced its innovative office space, Tangent, which enhances productivity for small business groups
The impressiveness of the renovation needed attention, both locally and nationally. The Westin team set out to find a way to effectively spread the word about its renovated hotel and to make sure the public knew they had become the most state-of-the-art hotel in downtown Indianapolis.
That’s where the Dittoe Public Relations team came into play. Westin worked with our firm to create buzz about the renovation through media relations, social media, contest promotions and the grand unveiling party. The team created a strategic campaign to ensure Westin’s success.
Regarding social media, the team updated Westin’s channels and created a unified goal for all posts and content. The results were tangible – showing a 5.4 percent increase in Facebook page likes, 6.9 percent increase in Twitter followers and a 32.5 percent increase in Instagram followers – all in only 45 days.
All of the focus around Westin’s renovation culminated with the grand unveiling party on April 22. Dittoe PR helped the Westin team prepare for the event by creating a press release outlining the renovation, crafting an email promotion campaign and constructing the invite design and copy.
Ultimately, Dittoe’s most important job was to make sure that the media attended and/or covered the event. By sending personalized invites to local media, Dittoe received eight confirmed responses from media members to either attend or write about the event.
The party was an incredible success, with more than 150 people arriving throughout the night to experience Westin’s renovations, sample delicious food and drinks and participate in a comprehensive tour of all of the hotel’s new offerings. Media outlets in attendance included the Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and Where Indianapolis, and WXIN-TV previewed the event
At the start of 2014, Indianapolis residents may not have known that one of downtown’s mainstays had become a hotel worthy of a successful celebration, but thanks to Dittoe PR, they do now.
Photos courtesy of Indy Star Photographer Brent Drinkut.
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