STORY

Summer holidays are rescued: City trips despite Corona

The summer of 2020 was dominated by the Corona pandemic. Holidays in Germany were only possible to a limited extent, with popular outdoor-oriented destinations such as the North Sea and Baltic Sea as well as the Alpine regions all fully booked. To show that in the midst of a pandemic, city trips and stays in city hotels in Germany were still possible and most importantly safe, we created a family campaign entitled “Summer Holiday in the City” based on the best sightseeing suggestions in the fresh air from six popular MEININGER cities. From Hamburg to Heidelberg – where MEININGER hotels all offered a well thought out safety and hygiene concept during the pandemic.

STRATEGY & CONCEPT

Psst! Top insider sightseeing tips

After the first lockdown and having had lots of nature walks, adults and children now yearned for that city feeling, of course only with safety and social distancing. The desire to visit lesser-known sights and museums, avoiding those that other tourists flock to, was huge. But where can we find such special places, especially those best explored in the fresh air? We asked MEININGER fans and staff for their top sightseeing tips for a city trip during the pandemic. The outcome was an exclusive family travel guide with true insider recommendations, which we curated into an integrated campaign in a variety of owned, earned and social media formats.

IMPLEMENTATION

One survey – more than 6,000 participants

Public Link set up a large-scale research on what was available in the six MEININGER cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Heidelberg. For each city, we formulated multiple-choice questions to filter out the most exciting tips. On MEININGER’s own social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, we asked fans and guests to take part in the survey. Those willing were shown the specially developed landing page. To boost the campaign, we also created several advertorials and managed influencer cooperations.

The survey results are analysed and made into visual presentations for media relations, owned media and social media. From the insights gained, Public Link created the launch press release, presenting the most popular cities and the best sightseeing insider tips. A follow-up press campaign focused on second-tier cities, showing you can also do some really cool things as a family in Heidelberg, Leipzig and Frankfurt.

The campaign met with an extremely positive response, in the MEININGER community, within the industry and in the media. After just one week, almost 6,000 people had already taken part in the search for Germany’s coolest city for a family holiday in the summer. The campaign was picked up and featured in German and Swiss (trade) media, with The Hotels Network trade blog, for example, praising the campaign for its travel inspiration and positive tone in times of travel restrictions due to Covid-19. Subsequently, leading trade media such as FVW, AHGZ and Cost & Logis were gained for interviews, who referred to the campaign and the good performance of the hotel chain during the 2020 pandemic summer. Thanks in part to the campaign, bookings in German MEININGER hotels were very high in summer 2020, contrary to all expectations, with occupancy rates of up to 80% in Berlin.

SPREAD THE WORD

“Urging their visitors to join the poll to share their favourite German city with travel recommendations, opinions and tips, the brand easily attracted website visitors with an eye-catching Layer on the homepage. Stirring the imagination for a perfect getaway in the Land of Poets and Thinkers, this incentive makes us want to embark on a spontaneous journey now, with or without a prize.”– The Hotels Network