Simplifying sustainable choices for properties and travelers

Global research showed 82% of travelers felt sustainability was important. However, only half believed there was enough choice in sustainable accommodations and 38% didn’t know where to look. Yet internal research and input from multinational chain hotel partners showed that sustainable initiatives had been in place for years. Building from a 2019 hackathon project, my product team launched a new feature that allowed hundreds of thousands of properties to share their sustainability efforts. The team also began to design and test ways to showcase these efforts to prospective travelers.

As the team’s product marketing manager, my role was to identify property and traveler segments for initial product roll out, develop the value proposition and support the launch via external and internal communication channels.

Objective

Drive partner awareness and adoption of the new feature, ensuring sufficient volume for traveler testing

Strategy

I used internal partner data, traveler survey data and supplemental research on country-specific sustainability regulations to identify the initial segment for outreach. I then collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure placement in partner-facing communications and drove awareness with account managers via internal communication channels.

Results

The April 2020 partner campaign was paused due to Covid-19. However, cross-promotion in evergreen external channels as well as proactive outreach from passionate account managers drove an organic adoption rate of nearly 27% of the total property base…sufficient to begin testing with travelers.