How Hyatt Regency Orlando Uses Digital Signage That Drives Sponsor Value

Glenn: [00:00:00] Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality friend, Glen. I’m excited today because I’m at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. I found my new friend Paul Joseph over here, managing director. This crazy, huge, sprawling convention center property. Paul, so great to see you today.

Paul: [00:00:14] Thank you. Glenn, it’s great to be here.

Glenn: [00:00:16] So I wanted to talk to you today about creating a modern digital event experience. Right. So what is it like? What do you have to think about when you’re putting these kinds of events on to appeal to today’s modern audience?

Paul: [00:00:28] Absolutely. I mean, key challenges with large events and our city wide is that brands want clear visibility. Shared spaces is always very difficult. So being able to utilize digital branding is key to our success.

Glenn: [00:00:43] Right? And you were able to do that because you partnered with our friends over at Xpodigital, and they really make life a lot easier. But what was it like before your relationship with them? Trying to juggle broken screens, outdated content, keeping up with meeting planners who love to submit things last minute. Love you guys.

Paul: [00:01:01] Very very challenging. They had made they have made it extremely seamless. Awesome. Prior to them, you hit it right on the nail on the head. Broken screens dealing with third parties. Hired people, corporate people. Once. Now that we have expo digital, they we know, we know that it’s going to get taken care of immediately.

Glenn: [00:01:25] All right, so give me a give me a story about how an event planner found more success because of the screens.

Paul: [00:01:31] I think you could go with many groups we have. You could go with American Seed. You could go with Ulta. We have great examples where these conferences where we help turn the digital signage into a revenue stream, not only for us, but obviously for for Expo Digital as well.

Glenn: [00:01:51] Right. And that’s the really cool thing because Expo Digital is all about making sure you have the equipment that then you can monetize and they’re not charging you upfront. So that probably frees you up in a lot of ways to just start making money in more challenging times.

Paul: [00:02:05] And that’s exactly what we want to do in this day and age. We want to continue to find different streams to drive revenue. And this is an incredible one to do so.

Glenn: [00:02:13] Yeah. So how does that actually practically work for you here at the Hyatt Regency Orlando?

Paul: [00:02:18] I mean, so with them there, they are proactive from the start. You know, a group is coming in. We have we automatically introduce Xpodigital to the client. They’re part of it from the very beginning, beginning sometimes 12 months out, that they’re able to start selling and utilizing what they do the best. They’re the experts in the branding. We are hotel people. We’re definitely not experts in branding. So being able to utilize them and integrate them with our ITR sales and our events team really delivers tailored packages to the clients.

Glenn: [00:02:54] Makes a whole lot of sense because a lot of companies out there are already utilizing third party providers to take a lot of the stress off. And this is a great solution that’s guaranteed to help you guys be more successful and not have to work so hard. Speaking of not working so hard.

Paul: [00:03:10] Which we like. Yeah, they.

Glenn: [00:03:11] Even have people here on site all the time.

Paul: [00:03:16] Yes they do. And that makes it even easier having somebody here all the time so that if we have an issue with the screen, if we have an issue with a client, if we need to make a last minute change, we’re able to get that done immediately.

Glenn: [00:03:30] That’s pretty cool. So speaking of last minute changes, you got to have that great artwork up there. Give me an example of something that was just like, wow. And it just stopped attendees in their tracks and really got that messaging.

Paul: [00:03:41] So I will say just recently, Ulta, Ulta Beauty, it’s their, it’s their show that’s here every few years. The screen behind the front desk is a wow. If you haven’t seen it, take pictures of it, see it. Any person who walks in, whether it’s a group attendee or it’s just a transient person coming here to the parks always stops and looks at that screen and every branding opportunity we can get to put it there. It sends a message to everyone in the hotel.

Glenn: [00:04:10] That’s pretty amazing because we’re looking at screens all day long. Yet still there are screens that have such high impact. It just makes you go wow and absorb that messaging. That’s correct.

Paul: [00:04:21] You need to find the right places to put the right signs.

Glenn: [00:04:24] Yeah. So what’s next here for the party, for the for your property and your partnership with the friends?

Paul: [00:04:29] So we just walked with, with Expo Digital just recently. And we identified areas where we think it can drive significant revenue, help our group base when they come in for site inspections and show them what we can do. So we’re looking at these new dynamic places where we can put these screens to drive revenue. And again, we love the partnership with the third party because again, we’re hotel people, not the experts in this field.

Glenn: [00:04:56] So having those screens are actually making meeting planners go, I want to come here, not I mean, everything else here is amazing. But that helps.

Paul: [00:05:03] You know, absolutely. We try to find as many competitive advantages. Everybody has big hotels. Everybody has you know, the rooms, the the coffee. We need to find competitive advantages. And that is one of them against our competitors.

Glenn: [00:05:18] So I’ve got one question about a competitive advantage that I need. Where can I get my own pineapple shirt.

Paul: [00:05:25] Well it’s called bonobos. So go to bonobos and you’re all set.

Speaker 3: [00:05:29] I love it Paul. Thank you so much. Thank you guys for watching.

Glenn: [00:05:32] Please like, share, subscribe, check out my friends over at Expo digital.com, Expo digital.com. I’m telling you, they rock. Not going to cost you anything. Make more money. We know you’re feeling pressure of pricing right now. Margins are getting thinner. Take a deep breath. Let them help you be more successful. Paul Glenn you. See you later. Bye bye.