
Tsogo Sun
Tsogo Sun turns vacant rooms into brand-building opportunities
An innovative approach to increasing weekend occupancies has driven brand awareness and customer engagement for the award-winning hotel operator.
When award-winning hotel and casino operator Tsogo Sun detected an opportunity in weekend occupancy for a number of hotels in the Johannesburg, it turned to LinkedIn. A personalised approach to promoting special weekend rates turned empty rooms into a powerful customer engagement opportunity.
Challenge
- Deliver promotional offers to employees of key Tsogo
- Sun partners and clients
- Leverage the availability of weekend rooms as a brandbuilding opportunity
- Drive engagement and loyalty amongst the target audiences
- Generate leads to increase occupancy at weekends
Solution
- Personalised landing pages for employees of specific organisations like Standard Bank, Nedbank and certain government departments
- Sponsored Content, promoting weekend rates, and tailored to each organisation
- Additional support through Display Advertising
Why LinkedIn?
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Accuracy of profile information versus other social media platforms
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Ability to target specific companies with tailored creative
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Unique access to professional audience in a relevant context
The Results
- The campaign generated click-through and engagement rates that were three times those typically generated by the travel and tourism sector on LinkedIn
- Tsogo Sun’s weekend occupancy rate increased during the campaign
- The campaign added 400 new followers for Tsogo Sun on LinkedIn, providing an on-going lead generation opportunity
- Tsogo Sun is now exploring the potential
Making the promotional personal
Tsogo Sun knew that the most effective way to increase occupancy rates at weekends would be to reach out to its existing corporate clients. Using Sponsored Content to target specific companies – and emphasise the exclusivity of its offers – maximised the engagement and loyalty that this approach delivered. In only its first month, the campaign delivered click-through rates and engagement rates more than three times the LinkedIn industry benchmarks.
The campaign also added 400 new followers for Tsogo Sun, representing an on-going lead generation opportunity. “We’ve seen strong levels of on-going engagement both with our Sponsored Content and with the personalised landing pages that were created for businesses like Standard Bank and Nedbank,” says Tsogo Sun’s Marketing Manager Central Northern Region Hotels, Deirdre Caine Van Staden.
Leveraging further value from LinkedIn
Besides increased engagement, the campaign has also generated valuable learnings for Tsogo Sun when it comes to leveraging the potential of LinkedIn for its business. “Our initial promotion had a very short lead time,” explains Deirdre. “However, based on the results, we can see the value in giving our audience a longer booking window in the future – and driving even more revenue on LinkedIn.”
Deirdre and the team also recognise a wider opportunity for Tsogo Sun on LinkedIn. “We operate a number of conference venues across South Africa,” she adds, “and being able to identify and target the people in businesses who make conference bookings could be really valuable.”



