Marriott to consider full-length feature film

Marriott International debuted Two Bellmen Two, an 18-minute promotional film that captures the life of two bellmen working in the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai. The film features Hollywood stuntmen William Spencer and Caine Sinclair along with Freida Pinto and local stand-up comedian Ali Al Sayed.

“Our primary aim of doing the second installation of the Two Bellmen series is to connect with the consumers,” said David Beebe, vice president, global creative and content marketing, Marriott International.

“At least 82% of television viewers in the US skip commercials, it’s not like TV is not an effective medium but it has become extremely important to stand out in a world that is full of content creators,” Beebe added.

He said that it is important for brands to engage in mediums that consumers are interacting with such as Youtube and social media platforms. “On the financial side we create packages around the film. We had released a similar promotional film titled French Kiss which was shot in Paris and had a sales package around it. That campaign generated US $500,000 worth of revenue for the hotel in just 60 days.”

Beebe said the package was tied with various elements such as a tour of the city to the locations where the film was shot in. “We have created two packages for this film,” he said.

The Two Bellmen Two film accumulated 5.5 million views on Youtube a week after it debuted on February 5, 2016.

“The package involves various perks such as a tour of the city where the film was shot in Dubai, a gift on arrival, reward points and of course attractive room rates.”

Beebe also claimed that these promotional films have a completion rate of 97%, a figure that Youtube has not seen that frequently with such campaigns. “We are not just giving viewers advertising, but there is a story line. We will do Two Bellmen Three much like we have the first two installations and package them as three shorts together.”

Beebe said that Marriott's goal would be to create a full length feature film. If the project did materialise, he said that the firm would "partner with a movie studio to do that, very similar to how Lego did. We will co-finance the project and then work on distribution rights."

"We did not set out to make films, it’s one of the many platforms that we aim to connect with hotel guests,” he told Hotelier Middle East.