Accor Hotels launches ‘Room to play’ ads for Ibis budget hotel brand
Accor Hotels Group is launching a nationwide push to trumpet the contemporary “extras” guests at its ibis economy hotel brand experience as it ramps up efforts to wrestle share from Premier Inn and Travelodge.
The ‘Room to Play” campaign touts how “the social spaces make the hotel chain come alive” to carve out a niche for the challenger brand in the competitive budget hotel sector. Marketing across the sector has traditionally focused on price and bedding, according to Ibis, which has meant the growing popularity of shared social spaces in hotels has been ignored.
A BETC-created TV ad (see below) attempts to exploit the trend by using the everyday sounds heard in hotels such as someone typing on a keyboard and orange juice being poured into a glass to form parts of a music track. The sounds are made by different guests to show that whether they are a business traveller or a young family, it is the social spaces that separate the brand from its rivals.
It is Accor Hotels’ second major marketing outlay for since 2012, a year after it rebranded its three hotel chains under the existing Ibis brand in order to fully back its strongest proposition for the economy market.
Ibis’ is banking on the latest campaign to elevate its “ergonomic and energising spaces” as it looks to create a proposition capable of going head-to-head with the brands of Premier Inn and Travelodge. Market leader Premier Inn has cultivated a reputation around price and a good night experience, while Travelodge has recently relaunched to highlight customer experience.
