How do you generate customer interest and confidence in a luxury resort in the midst of a pandemic?
Effective began working with Luxury Lodges (owners of four exclusive holiday resorts across the UK) in October 2019 ahead of the launch of Dylan Coastal Resort in Carmarthenshire which had just benefitted from a £20 million investment.
The launch of the resort was due to take place in April 2020, with the Residences following soon after.
However, the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns meant that our initial timeline was completely revised, and instead we turned our focus to encouraging guests back into the hospitality sector.
Don’t take Luxury Lodges to the media, take the media to Luxury Lodges!
With lockdown disrupting our timeline for the launch indefinitely, rather than hosting the opening party we opted for a much softer launch, speaking directly to key journalists, celebrities and influencers.
We arranged over 35 press trips for the likes of Alex Jones and Sarra Elgan, journalists at OK! Magazine, Time Out Magazine and The Sunday Times, as well as several top-performing influencers such as Hygge for Home, LustLiving and KJG Home.
To launch the Residences in April 2021, we built on the staycation trend that was sweeping the nation by promoting the Residences as a chance for lodge lifestyle lovers to be able to own their own home away from home, as well as an investment opportunity for business savvy clientele. We placed advertorials and press releases in national and regional media, as well as luxury high-end titles.
Following some high-profile coverage online and in the press, Dylan Coastal Resort has operated at capacity whenever government restrictions have lifted
Fifty-six pieces of coverage in key regional and national outlets, such as The Telegraph, Wales Online, Boutique Hotelier, South Wales Evening Post and Abode 2, reached an incredible 267 million people.