The Barceló Boost: Building Awareness

Having a great destination is the first step. Making sure the right people know about that great destination is the next step.

Barceló Hotels & Resorts, one of the largest hotel and resort chains in the world, with more than 80 years of excellence behind it, had taken the first step long ago. However, the lack of properties inside of the United States meant that Barceló is not widely known to an American audience.

What We Did

To boost awareness of (and ultimately driving bookings for) the luxurious Barceló Bávaro Beach Resort and Barceló Maya Beach Resort, TURNER launched a strategic, results-oriented, national PR campaign aimed at direct flight markets, important regional publications, and top-tier media outlets.

Instead of starting from scratch, the travel public relations campaign took a more holistic approach, highlighting the resorts’ already fantastic assets, and positioning them as a complete, unique experience. Innovative tactics were used to further help the resort complexes stand out from the competition, including media seeding mailers to select journalists and infographics that conveyed an engaging message.

Results

The response was strong with TURNER secured significant consumer-driven placements in top-tier outlets.

• A brand-oriented article in Skift, “Barceló Hotels Working to Balance Owned and Managed Properties,” singled out Barceló as a leader in travel trends;
• Articles appeared in outlets that don’t typically cover all-inclusive resorts, such as National Geographic Traveler, Shape, Refinery29 and Details;
• Feature coverage included a multi-page spread in Islands naming Barceló Bávaro Beach Resort as one of the top five beach resorts in 2014;
• Numerous articles in MICE and weddings outlets to drive group bookings including Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Bridal Guide, 201 Bride, Successful Meetings, Smart Meetings, Meetings Focus and Prevue;
• Mainstream news media such as USA Today, LA Times, Chicago Tribune and FoxNews.com.