HotelTonight Gets Inspirational With Instagram Advertising Campaign

HotelTonight has been mostly about spur-of-the moment hotel bookings, perhaps when a customer is out on the town and needs a place to stay, but today the tonight-only hotel app began to get more inspirational with what it calls its first national advertising campaign, and it's being executed on Instagram.

Shot by photographer John Keatley in partnership with creative folks at Instagram, the "Tonight I Am" social media campaign and photo setups (see gallery above) portray a young demographic being transformed and shaken out of mundane activities such as being stuck at the Department of Motor Vehicles or painting a house into becoming a rock star/VIP or a starlet, respectively, all presumably by booking a room through the HotelTonight app.

"Tonight I am Rock Star. From DMV to VIP, let’s escape with HotelTonight #tonightiam," goes one of the messages.

"We believe the joys of spontaneity are for everyone and we're so excited to be bringing that message to even more people across the world, not only with these photos, but also with the HotelTonight app," a spokesperson says.

HotelTonight has plenty of money in the bank, given its $81 million in total funding, but the Instagram campaign might be considered a cost-prudent alternative to a national TV advertising campaign.

It remains to be seen, though, what kind of bang/return on investment HotelTonight gets out of this exercise.

HotelTonight states it was hand-selected by Instagram for the advertising campaign and joins brands such as Starwood, Taco Bell, Audi, Michael Kors and AdAge 100 as early advertisers on Instagram.