Although the Roosevelt Hotel may be known as a historic hotel in New York City (it recently celebrated its 85th birthday), the hotel and its rooftop lounge, mad46, are creating quite a stir on the social media scene. With the introduction of Kelli Crean as the hotel’s e-commerce manager, the Roosevelt has stepped up its social media presence through Facebook, Twitter and the hotel’s blog, and opened the lines of communication between the hotel/lounge and its patrons.
“Creating this online community has been nothing but a positive experience for everyone.” Crean says. “Guests love it because it’s a great resource to get exclusive deals from our hotel and its outlets, plus we are developing a personal relationship with the people who come to the hotel.”
Many of the hotel’s social media initiatives have focused on its bar outlets, which are especially popular during happy hour due to the hotel’s Midtown location, Crean says. Patrons sign up for exclusive promotional text messages, which can also enter them to win prizes. For example, the bar featured a spirits special for The Roosevelt’s 500th Twitter follower. And then there was the successful “Name of the Night” initiative promoted through social media outlets that offered drink specials and free drinks to guests having the designated first name of the night.
To generating buzz about a street-level bar opening this spring, the Roosevelt also the hotel invited entrants to suggest a name for the bar. The winner will be a special guest at the grand opening, will have his or her name etched on a barstool and will receive tickets to a Broadway show and a free two-night stay the hotel.
“The hospitality and bar business is all about the people. It’s about what we serve, how we serve it and who we serve it to, so we thought, if it’s all about the people, why not let them in on the action and really make them part of who we are?” Crean says, noting that a name has not yet been selected. “The response was awesome. We received a ton of entries. Some really clever, some historical and some just plain silly, but we all had a lot of fun during this process and I think our guests and clients did too.”
As of Jan. 19, The Roosevelt has 1,283 fans on Facebook and 2,260 followers on Twitter. But perhaps one of the most important parts of the hotel team’s success is their interaction: The Roosevelt follows 1,215 Twitter accounts and often retweets posts or sends messages to particular followers.
“It’s all about the conversation,” Crean explains. “Social media outlets, like Twitter and Facebook, are not only about allowing you to reach out to your audience, but they’re about listening and interacting with your community. If you’re just shouting information at people, they won’t feel like they are a part of something and that makes you unmemorable.”