OK, folks, have you seen the new (?) Renaissance Discovery Door Contest? Renaissance:Discovery Doors
Does it work for you? Does it make you want to stay at (or avoid) a Renaissance Property?
Supplemental question: has anybody won anything yet? If so, what? (And, sure, if you explain how, so much the better!!!)
Ladies & gentlemen - apparently, we have a (or at least) one winner!!!! click here for more info:Discovery Doors, created by Renaissance Hotels
I hate to admit I just wasted the better part of 10 minutes on it. Some quick observations:
- The target audience is younger, hipper, and more socially-media-obsessed than me. My sense was that participation is all about sharing (your friends' email addresses or Facebook contacts) or tweeting - that's how you score more points (or in this case, accumulate keys).
- It's stunningly, well, weird - and I'm guessing that's the intent. Weird music, weird people, weird nouveau-arty themes. Think Cirque de Soleil, but out of context and without cohesion.
- Somebody spent a lot of time (and money) designing the complex door-and-key regime, and a fair number of actor/performers were employed (however) briefly in the campaign. It sure seemed like a waste to me.
- But my most visceral reaction was that nothing in the videos made it seem like I'd be welcome, let alone comfortable in any of those properties.
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- I guess I get it - I've seen a number of the Renaissance R-Life bars, which are younger, hipper, and trendier than I am - the last few I saw were in Times Square (killer view - really good/fun food), the 57 in New York (a gem in the city), Baltimore Inner Harbor, and Chicago (on the river - alas, we went in for a late night snack, but the menu didn't push our buttons so we left) - but I did not sense that they reflected the core clientele in the hotel. Alas....
What I found most disorienting is that - and it shouldn't come as any surprise to my geezer colleagues - we are decidedly not the target demographic, audience, customer base.
I guess I find it a little depressing, since Renaissance is my first-choice, go-to Marriott brand - both in the U.S. and outside the country. Alas.