THE CHALLENGE
Hotel Crescent Court has been an icon of Uptown Dallas for more than 35 years and has been been serving traditional afternoon tea from its lobby for years. However the pandemic and increased competition in the market has caused sales to be inconsistent outside of the holidays.
THE STRATEGY
We wanted to find a way to make the afternoon tea program more relevant throughout the year, so that we could drive sales consistently even during non-holiday seasons. To do this, we decided to revamp the tea program to introduce themed tea activations, interspersed with seasonal menus. This event-based strategy would create buzz-worthy activations throughout the year that would drive traditional media coverage, influencer interest and social media buzz. Because there were always new themes and menus coming out, we hoped this would lead to repeat visitors. Additionally, we hoped the momentum from the added exposure for afternoon tea would increase visibility for the hotel overall and drive interest throughout the year.
THE CAMPAIGN
In early 2022, we decided to launch the new program with a particularly buzz-worthy theme, the season 2 premiere of Bridgerton, the Regency era drama that was one of Netflix's most watched shows of all time. We worked with the culinary team to create a themed menu and designed the physical menu to look like the famed Lady Whistledown Society Papers, with the idea that the menu would double as photo props and souvenirs for guests. We bought fans as giveaways, created a signature cocktail and hired a harpist and violinist to play instrumental versions of modern pop songs, which was the music often featured on the show. We even worked with our florist partner to bring in a wisteria tree, a significant flower in the show, to replace our usual lobby floral display for the month. With these additional details adding to the activation, we were able to raise the ticket price for the event, so that we could drive additional revenue.
With limited budget, we promoted the activation through owned and social media, including paid social ads, email and a strong PR push to local media. This was a strategy we repeated with subsequent events.
THE RESULTS
As a result of our campaign, we quickly sold out our initial two weekends for Bridgerton Tea and decided to expand the event for two more weekends, which also sold out. In total, the four sold-out weekends resulted in more than $25,000 in revenue. The event got significant coverage in local media, including in PaperCity, Eater Dallas, CultureMap and Thrillist, as well as strong social media engagement for the hotel all four weekends.
The success of the event also helped drive excitement and creativity internally for the afternoon tea program. We followed up Bridgerton with two other successful themed teas over the summer, a Kentucky Derby theme and a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme, both of which also sold out.