Independent Collection
Independent Collection
Created for the independently-minded traveler, each boutique hotel in the Independent Collection is known for its authentic connection to the local community. From Downtown Brooklyn to beachfront Santa Barbara, this distinctive hotel concept helps travelers experience each neighborhood like a local at over ten properties around the country.
Spherical has helped the Independent Collection properties stand out to travelers as being acutely tapped into the local scene.
Spherical designed and developed a website theme for the Independent Collection, highlighting the individual character and facilities of each hotel while also creating a template that gave the brand a unified look and feel across all properties. We also produced Neighborhood guides for each hotel, mirroring the brand’s inclusive community approach by promoting local businesses.
Spherical created an "always on" content marketing approach, producing thousands of SEO-driven pieces of destination editorial content. Not only do these articles highlight the hotels' local knowledge, they also are a boon to SEO, increasing overall search footprints, driving traffic, and ultimately directing conversion.
To tell the unique story of each property and neighborhood, Spherical’s content and photography teams regularly visited hotels across the Independent Collection to produce original lifestyle photography. Through our “Where We Walk” series, we introduced travelers to new destinations through the eyes of an Independent Collection staff member who knew their neighborhood best, spotlighting local experiences within walking distance of each hotel.
Impact
Our content strategy for four hotels helped us massively increase Keyword Rankings in the first year, thanks to producing blog posts, events listings and hyper-targeted landing pages. A year later, we expanded the strategy to all IC hotels, experiencing a five-digit-increase across the Independent Collection since 2015. The exponential growth in SEO traffic has also led to more new users converting, increasing the collection’s overall revenue growth, helping reduce the overall dependency on OTA production .
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Spherical created several hashtags, including #TasteTheNeighborhood and #ShopTheNeighborhood, to foster relationships with local businesses and connects them with travelers staying at Independent Collection hotels. Each hashtag shows travelers where to eat, shop and find cultural experiences, while also making experiences in neighborhoods across the collection and the country more discoverable