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Instead, the majority of people head online to search and discover travel inspiration (long before they even think about booking. Recent research from Easyjet even found that 55% of 18 to 65 year old have booked a trip based on video they’ve seen on Instagram.

Naturally, it’s becoming even more important for hotel and hospitality brands to stand out from the crowd. Content marketing remains a key way for hotels to do this, typically being used to grab attention and engage users throughout their online journey.

Here are some recent examples that have caught our eye, and the reasons why they work.

Marriott Hotels

Approach: Short Movie Series

“Mecca of Content Marketing”

Marriott went way beyond others to develop a niche for itself in the market. To stand out of the rest and build a niche for itself, Marriott adopted video making for generating the content.

The hotel chain took its first giant step by creating its own unique space, an in house studio, in 2014. The content curated in the studio represented the brand globally.

“Two Bellmen”, which was the first part of the series, was a complete standout. The series consisted of three scripted and original short films. In every video, there was a clear message of the hospitality provided by the employees of the hotel chain to its customers.

The video included shots in which the employees of the Marriott hotel were performing their duties with perfection, adding a personal touch of care, and going to great lengths to work as a hotel bellmen.

David Beebe, The vice president of global creative and content marketing rightly quoted; "We have to shift to not talking about ourselves, but what does that consumer want? How do I entertain them? How do I solve their problems? How do I build a relationship with them and provide value? Then, they're more likely to pay attention to what I'm actually trying to sell."

This is why the entire series was customer-centric and focused upon how they were performing with their best potential. The video series was not long or dull; instead, it garnered huge attention due to its crisp storyline and focus on customer emotions.

With its great performance, it took the hotel industry by storm as everyone eyed the millions of views and the attention the video was getting. The third installment generated more than 9 million views on YouTube.

The big guns from Disney and ABC, Karan Timpone and David Beebe were hired to create the visual wonders. They kick-started the visual storytelling journey and many brands around the world followed suit.

After releasing the short movies, JW Marriott experienced a search lift by 65%. Can you believe it?