Hilton Orlando Turning Digital Signage Into Event Revenue

Glenn: [00:00:00] Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality friend Glenn here. And I found Shannon Butler, director of catering events here at the Hilton Orlando on International Drive. And you know, and I know and you double know that we’re trying to figure out ways to make more money when our margins are getting squeezed. And that’s why I’m doing this series with our friends over at Xxpodigital, talking a little bit about the challenges that hoteliers face when it comes to creating great, awesome meetings. Look how excited I am. I can’t even speak this morning. I can’t wait to talk to Shannon over here. So, Shannon, if you’re doing these great meetings, right, but it’s really pressure cooker out there right now, the meeting planners want to do something above and beyond and they need a flawless modern experience. How are you delivering that here?

Shannon: [00:00:43] Well, as part of our experience at the hotel, branding is a great option that we have for our customers. Traditionally, branding is very expensive and clients want to walk into a space that feels like it’s truly their own and is customized to their program. Sure, digital signage has enabled us and them to become a much more flexible and cost effective way to do that.

Glenn: [00:01:02] I’ll also throw in more sustainable because you don’t keep printing up all those giant foam boards.

Shannon: [00:01:07] The big signs that are everywhere that can’t be updated. Digital signage can be updated in the minute on the floor, and unlike physical signage, it allows us to adjust messaging daily and in real time. Whether it’s showcasing schedules for the day, sizzle reels, or award winners, it makes a much more dynamic and personalized experience for the customer and for their attendees, which is what’s really important.

Glenn: [00:01:29] Which is really critical right now. It is so essential to make that emotional connection with guests and do things that other hotels aren’t doing. But you probably say to yourself, hey, this could be really expensive right now. We just talked about how our margins are getting crushed and it’s a lot more difficult, right? We’ll get to that in a minute. But what was it like back in the day before you partnered with our friends over at Expo Digital? That, by the way, is helping provide the screens at no cost or little cost. How have things changed? How were they before?

Shannon: [00:02:01] Yes. The biggest issue we had was that the expectations of the clients had had outpaced what we were our previous provider before digital could deliver. They just didn’t have that in their wheelhouse. We relied very heavily, again on static schedule schedules, with week long schedules on the signage being printed, and it couldn’t be updated easily. Any last minute changes had to be handled manually.

Glenn: [00:02:23] That’s a great point because every conference I go to there are like major panelists are switching in and out last second, and the event planner doesn’t want to be embarrassed by having a name of someone who doesn’t show up.

Shannon: [00:02:35] Yes, I remember the days when people would take the white-out strip and have to put that on the sign, because that was the only way that they could reproduce all these signs that they had the floor. So it wasn’t efficient, and it didn’t meet the level of expectations that our planners have today.

Glenn: [00:02:49] Right. That makes a whole lot of sense to me. All right. But now getting to the point of how expensive it can be to update to digital signage and all of that, and Expo Digital really comes in and creates a program that you could share revenue and they put in all of this stuff. So how is this working for you folks specifically here?

Shannon: [00:03:04] Yeah, from our side, it’s a fantastic opportunity and it creates a wonderful shared revenue opportunity. Obviously, we’re very fortunate that they came to us to install originally one sign just to kind of try to try it out. But what that did is give us the flexibility to sell and program signage in ways that we weren’t able to before, including supporting multiple clients at the same time. I love to walk in and see different companies branded on different screens.

Glenn: [00:03:29] Because the fact of the matter is your your sales team is probably doing a great job and you’ve got all of this space here complementing the convention center. So you might have a smaller event, you might have a bigger event. And then that evening, maybe you just have someone coming in for dinner.

Shannon: [00:03:42] Exactly. So it doesn’t limit it to you have to buy all the signs. You have to have a buyout. Of course, we have those situations, but it really affords a lot of flexibility as far as different clients being able to use different signage at the same time, opens the door for sponsorship visibility as well for some of those association clients. And what makes it the investment from Expo especially impactful? It took the barrier of a large upfront investment away from our team and the ownership. So as they invested alongside us, we saw results immediately and it was much easier to get buy in from ownership for future screens and areas to be identified. And it’s really proven that it drives incremental revenue while also enhancing the overall experience.

Glenn: [00:04:25] I could just see I just see you in the meeting explaining the success of it. And everyone’s like, what, what? We got to do it. We got to do more of this. Yes. I think what I want to know now is a specific story, a specific example, so they could understand how it works.

Shannon: [00:04:37] So one specific situation that came in mind, we talked about association groups. They a lot of times will purchase the signage, but then sell it to their exhibitors as a sponsorship opportunity. So what once became a big cost for them turns into revenue opportunity. Sometimes they mark it up, as well as us being able to maximize the signage. We see this a lot of times, especially with city wide or budget conscious groups. They’ll secure the signage, resell it to the sponsors, and then that makes a revenue stream for themselves. What makes it work is a as a flexibility. They can again purchase something for one session for the day or the full event, and Expo Digital works closely with those planners to guide them through the best ways to do that, because that’s where their experience lies.

Glenn: [00:05:24] Yeah. And think about what you could do. It’s more dynamic, it’s more visible. And say you can sell something to one of your premier sponsors out there. You could offer a creative packages that’ll be displayed to the event, to attendees throughout the entire event. That gives them more ability to be creative, flexible, and create something that’s stickier to get people to either come by the booth or purchase that particular product. But it seems like a lot of technology and stuff like that, right? That would give me a headache.

Shannon: [00:05:53] Without my wheelhouse.

Glenn: [00:05:53] Yeah. Right. Right. But it is Expo Digital’s wheelhouse, and they’re actually here on site with you, right?

Shannon: [00:06:00] They are on site. They’re a phone call away if response is immediate. And at this point, digital signage is really an expectation of our clients. It’s not a nice to have, it’s a must have. And the levels of what they’re expecting just continue to grow. So it allowed us to, since we got in early, really kind of be on the forefront of that. We’ve seen groups experience on property realize the value and maybe they didn’t do it the first time, but when they come back, they’ve actually budgeted for it, which is a wonderful success story. We’ve had dance groups and just lower rated groups that would typically not have money for something like that, that really feel it’s important. So they make sure that they add that into their budget for the next time they come with us. So it, it also helps us drive rebooking and continues to enhance our offerings. As we’ve expanded into the inventory, it helps our market share position really strengthen when we’re vying for those new pieces of business, right?

Glenn: [00:06:54] Because if you think about it, there are so many competitors out there and quite frankly, everyone is pretty darn good. I’ve said I’ve said it before, everyone on our hospitality is 98, 99% the same. It’s that one, those little differences, those little nuances that make that emotional connection. So when the director of sales and marketing or one of their team members is trying to close that deal, it’s these little things that really add up to take it over the edge. So what is it like having them almost as an extension of your your team?

Shannon: [00:07:23] They really, they really are an extension from pre-planning and site visits where they’ll complimentary give us use of the remote standing signs that we have to welcome the guests as soon as they walk into the lobby to the beautiful new signs that we have on the elevator banks with just wonderful graphics that our marketing team uses to put their logo and things on them. It really makes an impact. It’s take a huge burden off of the hotel team because their support is truly 24 over seven. It doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend, it doesn’t matter if it’s after hours. They always answer. So they can also make adjustments a lot of times remotely, even if they’re not here, which is amazing. But they step in immediately and we have a very strong comfort of them speaking to our customers in person. If there’s issues on site, they, they keep us communicated all the time as far as what’s happening. And that level of reliability allows our team and my team to stay focused on the broader guest and planner experience, knowing that the technical side is being fully supported.

Glenn: [00:08:20] Yeah. So tell me about a time where it really was you had this visual display and attendees just were kind of like, whoa, wow, that’s really, really cool.

Shannon: [00:08:29] Well, it’s really all about the attendee, right? If you’re coming down the escalator, going back up the escalator, seeing a picture of yourself getting, presenting an award on stage is your big wow. You’re taking pictures of it. You’re letting your friends know. So it’s really the moments where the content is immediate and personalized that means the most. Again, award winners that we talked about really creates a storytelling that’s much more engaging than just a foam sign board that you’re walking by. It can also enhance the overall flow of the event, right?

Glenn: [00:08:58] You know, just thinking those sign boards, while they’re nice, they become part of the background. And after you don’t really notice them. But when you have the visual image on a digital digital screen that’s changing and creating action up there, you can’t help but notice it when it’s not static. All right, so what would you say to folks that are out there right now? The GM’s, the ones that are making the decisions, the, the ones that could improve their bottom line if they just do things a little bit different. What would you say about your relationship with them?

Shannon: [00:09:28] Well, I can speak from our experience and it’s been a really strong addition to our business model. It allows us to support groups of all sizes and elevate how they might show up in the space when they’re on site for their programs. It might not be the right model for every property, but we would strongly encourage opening the conversation to see what they could do for you. You can start small and then scale up and based on the results, it’s a really effective approach. Again, we started with one and I think now we’ve got four, and there’s plans to install even more because they’ve been so successful. And for us, it’s delivered wonderful results both operationally and financially. So it’s a win win.

Glenn: [00:10:05] I love it, and every property I’ve spoken to started and then added more and more and more. If you want to add more to your bottom line, check out our friends over at Xpodigital. Check them at xpodigital.com. Shannon loves them. You’re gonna love them, too. I’m Glenn, she’s still Shannon. See you all later. Bye.