Hotel Tech-in is our regular feature that takes a closer look at emerging technology in the hospitality industry.
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the New York Marriott Marquis hotel in Midtown Manhattan has unveiled a cinematic drone tour.
The tech-driven video tour, featuring immersive sound design, gives viewers an exclusive look at the 1,971-key Times Square hotel, including its food and beverage venues and flexible events space. The video winds through the hotel’s corridors, with an aim to redefine engagement through innovative storytelling, according to the hotel.
Following the tour’s launch, two of the hotel’s sales and marketing leaders gave Hotel Dive a behind-the-scenes look at how the drone tour was produced and shared how changing guest preferences influenced the project.
Behind the drone tour
The video tour, with nearly 650,000 views on YouTube, starts with an outside look at the hotel. Viewers are quickly flown down to the hotel’s entrance, where valet personnel are greeting guests and pointing them in the direction of room registration.
The drone swivels inside the hotel, passing through the lobby, the elevator corridor and up to the concierge and reception desks, where guests are checking in. The tour then gives a look inside the hotel’s rooms, where staff are fluffing sheets and placing chocolates as they prepare for guest arrival.
The tour also flies through the hotel’s kitchen facilities and restaurants. A swing through NYC’s only revolving restaurant, The View, highlights the property’s panoramic city views. The hotel’s meetings and events spaces are also a centerpoint of the tour, with the drone zipping by business professionals in smaller meeting spaces and concluding its tour in the hotel’s main conference and events space.
The tour — which cost the hotel six figures to produce — was largely an organic work in the sense that guests of the hotel come and go throughout the video as they naturally would, Matthew Pizzimenti, director of sales and marketing at the New York Marriott Marquis, told Hotel Dive.
“It turns out, if you come to Broadway, you’re a natural actor,” he joked. There are some real actors staged throughout the video as well, providing sound clips that help narrate the tour and showcase key property aspects.
A drone flyer operated the drone, and the project took two eight-hour days to shoot, said Maria Medved, senior marketing manager at the New York Marriott Marquis.
Guests were made aware that the tour was filming via email communication and signage throughout the property, and guests featured in the film needed to provide explicit usage rights consent, executives said.
As for the reason behind the tour? “It’s a very simple answer,” Pizzimenti said. “It is unique and it's never been done to our knowledge.”
Shifting guest demand
The New York Marriott Marquis tour comes as hotels look to incorporate “tech-driven experiences” to “strengthen guest loyalty, attract new audiences and drive meetings and events bookings,” according to the hotel. Pizzimenti said the tour represents a top-funnel marketing strategy to drive awareness to new customers.
What has specifically resonated with customers in the tour, Pizzimenti noted, is that it captured the hotel in its raw form. This meant showing families, couples, business travelers and international guests alike, Medved said.
“We really wanted to be authentic to who is coming through our doors,” Medved said, adding that through the drone video’s storytelling, viewers can see how travelers experience the hotel throughout their unique journeys.
Travelers, particularly of younger generations, want to engage with content that feels sincere, authentic and less produced, hospitality pros shared with Hotel Dive last year.
