The Ritz-Carlton introduces World Concierge on Foursquare to engage mobile travelers

by Josiah Mackenzie on July 24, 2011 No Comments

Recently, The Ritz-Carlton introduced World Concierge on Foursquare as a way to extend their brand to a mobile audience. I talked with The Ritz-Carlton team to understand the purpose and process involved.

What The Ritz-Carlton was trying to accomplish

The goal was to accomplish what The Ritz-Carlton staff does on a daily basis with new audiences: To further connecting with existing guests and new consumers. The concierge team at Ritz-Carlton properties are some of the best in the business, bringing exceptional knowledge of their local areas. Given the adoption rate and availability of location-based services, they saw this channel as the perfect way to share their internal knowledge with the world. Travelers would be able to “carry the collective wisdom of The Ritz-Carlton staff in their pockets.”

What they built

Their project was a simple concept: taking internal knowledge and making available it outside four walls of hotels. The team collected the knowledge and the tips from concierges at each property, and collected it all into central account. The goal of building this database was not to be a one-time effort, but rather an ongoing process. The campaign launched with specific tips, but each week new tips are added.
They got the whole team to contribute through close collaboration between the agency, brand, and staff at each property. There are 76 Ritz-Carlton locations around the world – representing a huge infrastructure of knowledge – so it was just a matter of collecting this and putting it online. Acquire raw knowledge and putting appropriate form for the channel (a location-based service in this case).
Travelers have two ways to access this information. The first is to follow The Ritz-Carlton on Foursquare, where you can see every new tip that is published. The other way is through traditional check ins. The program was designed to not be exclusively about The Ritz-Carlton, and you don’t have to be a guest to engage with the brand. For example, if you are at the Red Square in Moscow, you might see tip or something special about the neighborhood. Promotional messages are not the priority.

Initial results

The Ritz-Carlton initially had 300 Foursquare followers on the launch of this project, but now this number has risen to over 1,300. Initial press reception from social media world was impressive: Mashable, Gadling, and many other publications covered the launch. There was a strong response from travel professionals massive response on Twitter.
The Ritz-Carlton team is still analyzing internal performance numbers, and it will be interesting to see the full business impact over months ahead. As more and more people use location-based services as they travel, this could be a strong opportunity to connect with travelers, raise brand awareness, and drive revenue growth.