Skift Take

For hotels, Instagram videos are essentially 15 seconds of free advertising, so it makes sense for any company with social media know-how to get on top of this trend.

Instagram rolled out its video feature less than a month ago, but its already a popular tool for hotels around the world, who use it to show 360 degree views of rooms, tempting food spreads, parties, and panoramic shots from their best views.

“Video for us was a dream come true on Instagram,” said Felicia Yukich, the worldwide Social Media Manager for the Four Seasons, which has 70 Instagram accounts with a combined 62,272 followers. “Travel is so experiential, and the beauty of social media for a  luxury travel company is you have the ability to virtually transport people to where you are,” she said. “Then they want to really be there.”

One video the Four Seasons in Paris used to lure potential visitors was this idyllic scene of the running water fountains in its floral garden, one of the videos that Yukich said they consider “a fifteen-second postcard” to potential future guests.

Meanwhile, the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris uses Instavid to broadcast its entertainment options.

Similarly, the Sanctuary hotel in New York City used instavids to show off the crowds at a Gatsby-themed summer party it hosted in June. As its representative told Skift, “we want our fans to know what’s going on, so that when they do decide to visit, it will feel like they already know us.”

The Drayton Manor Hotel has two videos up on its Instagram page, one a virtual “Welcome” to the hotel, which guides the viewer through the reception and garden areas, and the other a trip through its Thomas the Tank Engine-themed kids’ room.

The Hyatt Regency in Austin is also a repeat user – it used one Instavid to  demonstrate how to use the foldable frisbee it was giving away as a loyalty prize, and another to show off the fun vibe of an outreach problem.

The preliminary data on the popularity of Instagram’s video feature indicates that its not something hotels can afford to ignore. The company reported that users uploaded 5 million videos within 24 hours of the feature’s launch, and according to research by Marketing Land, it has fast eclipsed its competitor Vine in the number of Twitter users sharing via its platform.

 

 

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Tags: four seasons, instagram, marketing, shangri-la

Photo credit: The Hyatt Regency in Austin used an Instagram video to demonstrate a product it gave away. Instagram

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