According to Aully Banerjee, Marketing & Communications Manager, The Westin Chennai Velachery, “Hotel brands can build a strong community and sense of belonging where women support and look out for each other, while becoming each other’s strengths. This will lead to the brand’s growth and development, which will then be perceived as an entity that walks the talk.
Talking about her perception of hotel brands celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD), she notes that IWD offers the perfect opportunity for brands to look beyond the RoI of every marketing initiative and instead, create campaigns that promote gender equality, parity and inclusion. They can use this occasion to change the narrative about gender dynamics.
“By adapting the art of storytelling they can also showcase that they are an inclusive organisation. This could be telling real-life stories of their own women colleagues and associates.To create authentic and credible marketing campaigns, hotel companies need to first understand what women want and need; and this includes their workforce and consumers. Women workers need to feel a sense of security and belonging at their workplace. They also seek to have their voices heard and their strengths identified without any bias. Brands can capture this sentiment in their marketing campaigns to make it more relatable.”
The Westin Chennai Velachery decided to outline the individual journey of their woman staffers, across departments and levels and hierarchy. The campaign, which began on 1st March, published stories of ‘Women of Westin’, saw remarkable engagement and conversation on the hotel’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
“It is so heartwarming to see guests who stayed with us remember our associates vividly and talk about them with so much warmth. Even our women workers felt proud to see these stories on social media platforms and delighted to be recognized by their organization,” Banerjee added.
