The Pod Hotel

CHALLENGE
My team and I were tasked to rebrand an existing hotel to make it more relevant for an international millennial audience without turning off older audiences who were currently frequenting the existing hotel. The vision of the interior architect, Vanessa Guilford, was to create a mid-century modern design sensibility honoring Eames and Prouvé.

SOLUTION
We developed all materials from brand strategy, naming, website, signage, on-property acitivation. For the name, we selected POD, reminiscent of the mid-century word used to describe the interior space of an airplane in the 50’s + 60’s. We chose a vibrant color palette and textures that included wood and metal textures honoring mid-century sensibilities. The idea of POD meant intimate and not small and we focused on that for our communication strategy.

Because the rooms were micro-rooms, we positioned the hotel as a place where you can socialize outside the room in the common areas and as a platform to discover the city.

To promote the social aspect of the brand story, we built a private social network accessible to guests after payment confirmation. Guests could “check-in” and communicate with other hotel guests weeks before they actually checked in. We also setup the concierge program that provided daily curated Survival Guides to the city.

12 MONTH RESULTS
• 500% increase in revenues year 1
• Expansion: Another hotel opened on 39th street
• 32% site conversions to booking
• Over 180 articles written about the hotel including The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal

“Alona delivered a sophisticated and complete campaign and since, we’ve seen a barrage of media attention and an overwhelming flood of business.”

Richard Born
Partner, BD Hotel