VacantReady

Today Vancouver based VRX Studios announced a global marketing partnership which will see VRX Studios Inc. serving as Fairmont Hotels and Resorts’ preferred provider of online visual content.

VRX, led by President and CEO David MacLaren, specialize in visual content production, management, and distribution services for the travel trade. They produce high-def virtual tours, still images and interactive maps for hotels, cruise ships and destinations. In addition to production services, VRX Studios provide managed content hosting services, and they distribute approved content to third-party travel websites.

“VRX Studios stood out from the competition for their uncompromising commitment to quality as well as their renowned consistency, global reach and integrated approach,” said Brian Richardson, Vice President, Brand Marketing & Communications, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. “We are confident that VRX will not only capture and share the unique architecture, expressive décor, elegance and experiences of Fairmont’s extraordinary places but also help us manage the presentation of our brand across our various online channels.”

It’s no industry secret that hotels are often challenged to keep their marketing images current (and appealing) throughout online distribution channels, and VRX Studios offers an excellent suite of services to help hotels and brands create, manage and distribute their visual content. VRX also offers their “Always Fresh” guarantee, which means images are date stamped to let viewers know how ‘fresh’ they are.

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting VRX Studios’ head office in Yaletown a couple of times to talk shop and check out the organization, and I’ve always been impressed with the professionalism and passion from the photography and production teams. It’s a high energy place to visit, full of creative folks.

VRX Studios is a well oiled content machine too, and they can produce and deliver over 3,000 virtual tours, interactive maps, and still images each month.

Check out these cool hotel maps produced for a few local Vancouver properties:

- Listel Hotel
- Wedgewood Hotel & Spa
- Hyatt Regency Vancouver
- Sutton Place Vancouver
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport

Linkage
VRX Studios, Vancouver

0 comments | Permalink | Canada • Vancouver • Marketing • Revenue

HVS is an international hospitality consultancy, probably best known by hoteliers across Canada for its weekly occupancy and ADR reports by market. If you don’t receive these updates by email and would like to, you can sign up right here.

Neel Lund, an HVS consultant out of New York wrote an interesting article titled ”Successful Front Office Upsell Incentive Programs”. While I didn’t find anything particularly ground-breaking in Neel’s upsell strategy, it is a well written and useful template that other hotels could adopt and tweak when formalizing their own front desk upsell programs.

If you’re not familiar with upsell incentive programs, they are a strategy employed by many hotels that incentivize hotel front desk agents to sell guests a “better room” upon check-in, for a premium (ie/ higher room rate). Desk agents often receive a percentage of the difference between the original room rate and the new one, or sometimes a flat fee per successful upsell.

The point of these programs is, of course, to maximize the room revenue received by the hotel for the day. Remember, the hotel product is extremely perishable--a guestroom can only be sold “today”.

0 comments | Permalink | Front Desk • Revenue