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  • 90 Day Hotel Launch

90 Day Hotel Launch: Aloft Miami Doral

 

Situation

Aloft Miami Doral was the first of Starwood Hotels' hip, sassy, youthful brand to launch in South Florida. The destination, Doral, is a young, ten year old city within metropolitan Miami, little known outside the county and South America, where much of its population hails. The challenge was to sell the destination, communicate the points of difference of the hotel, and generate opening buzz among its target markets in 90 days.
 

Objectives

  • Create awareness among target markets regionally, locally, and in the travel industry in the US and Canada with an eye popping grand opening event
  • Position Aloft Miami Doral as preferred Miami destination for shopping, golf, business and capitalize on the boom of Doral
  • Jumpstart awareness in pre-opening phase especially with key influencers
  • Generate inquires and bookings.
 
 

Program

Media Relations

  • An aggressive media relations program included pre-opening pitching to target local and regional media, a news release and an exclusive sneak peek to Miami Herald's tourism reporter.
  • Area media from the Society of American Travel Writers were also targeted with special outreach and invites to the opening. Efforts were coordinated with Starwood Hotels' public relations and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau to maximize opportunities.
 

Launch Events

  • Ribbon cutting with the Mayor of Doral and key political luminaries, Starwood executives, Venezuelan-born hotel owners and management, media from Doral and US based Venezuelan newspapers and magazines.
  • Targeted niche interests in luxury lifestyle media (food, spa, design, etc.) to build awareness and breadth of editorial placements
  • A head-turning Grand Opening party, including mermaids and a bejeweled globe dancer in the hotel pool, fire dancing, and carnival feathered greeters to compliment the hot Latin band. A vibrant ALOFT blue carpet guided guests into the lobby, perfumed with its signature Orange fragrance, adding to the sensory delights. Foods and cocktails from across the Americas fueled guest's energy until after Midnight. Guests were given a passport upon entry encouraging them to visit and collect a stamp at each of the hotel facilities, which entered them in a drawing to win prizes including hotel stays and iPads.
  • A follow-up event/ happy hour for the Doral Business Council whose members represented a "who's who" of the English and Spanish business community of Doral.
  • To continue to maximize visibility, groundwork was laid for additional post opening events with Doral shopping malls, a major attraction for international visitors; world renowned Blue Monster Golf Course; and a "tweetup" with Miami New Times to attract socially savvy locals.
 

Results

The grand opening was a huge success by any measure.
 
  • Media coverage ranged from The Miami Herald, Travel Weekly, Hotels, Meetings, and South Florida Business Journal, to trend setting blogs Thrillist, curbed, Miami.com, HotelChatter, as well as South American newspapers and magazines including El Venezolano and El Nacional
  • Over 1500 guests turned out, arriving at 5:30 and staying until after Midnight
  • A follow-up event with the Doral Business Council attracted one of their largest audiences and added to the corporate community buzz
  • The hotel opened to occupancy and revenues that doubled projections
  • Aloft Miami Doral General Manager, Claudio Bono, had this to say about KWE Partners: "We hired KWE Partners to do our property launch and they delivered on all fronts with top marks. They hit our key media targets and conceived and executed events that were flawless as well as out of the box creative, high energy, and great fun, consistent with our brand message. I wouldn't look anywhere else for PR services."
 

Click to watch the Grand Opening Party Aloft Miami Doral