Making News That Stays: How R&J Made a Difference for a Hospitality Client
As one of the most densely populated and frequently visited states in the country, New Jersey has no shortage of hotels. Several hotels of varying sizes and styles across several different brands can be found within a one-mile radius of our firm’s Bridgewater office alone. For much of the northern and central part of the state, the story is the same.
In a hospitality market as crowded as New Jersey, it can often be difficult for hotels to reach potential guests and establish a unique brand. However, behind the strength of a thoughtful and proactive media relations strategy, it is possible for hotels in this market to stand out and create a unique brand position among a crowded marketplace.
It was with this in mind that R&J was recently tapped by White Lodging, an Indiana-based hotel management firm, to coordinate media outreach for their latest project – the 350 room Hampton Inn & Suites and Homewood Suites in Teaneck, NJ. Featuring floor to ceiling glass windows and a striking 15-story design, the Hampton Inn & Suites and Homewood Suites is truly a unique property in a market filled with hospitality offerings.
Scheduled for an August opening, R&J was brought on to coordinate local media outreach to raise awareness of the project in the local business community and help generate leads for the hotel’s modern meeting space and guest rooms prior to and following the hotel’s opening.
R&J immediately developed a media outreach strategy focused on speaking to the hotel’s three core audiences; the hotel industry, the regional business community, and the surrounding community. R&J prioritized each audience and recognized that it was important to generate interest in the project from the local community ahead of its opening later this summer. R&J recognized that although he project had been covered previously, no local reporter had been on a tour of the hotel since it entered the final stages of construction. This represented the perfect opportunity to invite members of the local media to tour the space and there was no outlet that was better suited than The Record, Bergen County’s most-read newspaper.
R&J was able to arrange a tour of the hotel with Megan Burrow, a reporter from The Record. Megan was joined on the tour by Kim Gagnon, the General Manager of the hotel and Ryan Sanzari, COO of Alfred Sanzari Enterprises, the hotel’s developer. The tour of the hotel enabled the reporter to receive a first-hand look at the exciting project and receive important insights into the project’s progress including a first look at completed guest rooms and suites.
The tour also allowed the reporter to take video and photo of finished rooms and spaces. The story featuring a recorded interview with Ryan Sanzari and complete details about the property ran in both The Record’s online and print editions and helped generate buzz in advance of an August opening through providing members of the local community with an inside look at the high-profile project in their backyard.
To read the piece, click the link below:
