Not Your Average Hotel Video: Example of Visual Storytelling through Video

I recently came across the golden nugget of visual storytelling for hotels, brought to our attention by Josiah Mackenzie’s article titled Short Films for Storytelling: Why Oliphant Wants to Take Hotel Video to a New Level. Mackenzie talks about how Oliphant Productions, a multiple award winning video production company, brings a unique approach to combining marketing objectives with original programming that entertains, educates and inspires.

I agree with screenwriter Ankush Jindalat, of Oliphant Films as he explains the current state of hotel video today. It’s often cookie cutter and lacks a real story that can entertain and inform.

“The current idea of video is to create one “hotel overview” video that includes shots of all aspects of the property. If I am booking a family vacation, I don’t care to see shots of the business centers. If I am already in the hotel, I don’t want to see shots of the room I am sitting in.”

He goes on to suggest that instead, hotels need to “create stories to emotionalize each aspect of the hotel, and target the content so that the right viewer sees it at the right time, thus increasing their total spend during their stay.”

Think about the last hotel video you watched and then watch this one:

This video is actually interesting and a pleasant departure from the typical cookie cutter hotel video. What exactly makes them better? They tell stories about the properties that inspire travelers and create emotional connections with them. Although they are clearly high end productions that exceed the budget of many hotels, what every hotel can take from these examples are the stories and how they are articulated.

They develop characters, and tell a unique visual story while showing off what the hotel has to offer. The ultimate goal is to inspire travelers to envision themselves at the hotel and entice them to create memories. “Travelers want a film that can virtually immerse them in the experience and reveal some of the brand personality.” And this video delivers.

You’re not a cookie cutter hotel, so why create a cookie cutter video?

Let this examples inspire you to find your hotel’s story and realize how powerful it can be when told through video. You too can create inspirational video to appeal to your target audience.

A few pointers to keep in mind:

-Ask yourself, what is the end goal that I want to achieve? Let your answer guide your story

-Find a production option that fits your budget

-Keep your video as short as possible to maintain the travel consumer’s attention

-Ensure your video reaches maximum exposure across all your digital marketing channels from online travel agencies to social media

It’s time to start taking hotel videos to the next level beyond generic overview videos, to interesting stories that actually engage and resonate with people. For more about the benefits of visual stories and video, read this post If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words – Video is Priceless.