Social media and real-life collide in Sydney, Australia’s 1888 Hotel. Billed as the world’s first “Instagram hotel,” 1888 heavily incorporates the photo-sharing platform into both its aesthetic and its marketing strategy. 1888 is housed in a renovated and reclaimed store first built in, you guessed it, 1888.
The 90-room boutique hotel was opened with photo ops in mind, and it shows. The hotel was opened early in 2013 and has since generated quite a bit of buzz as word got out about 1888′s instagram-readiness.
Aesthetics of the building are in line with the space’s industrial beginnings with brick and exposed wood beams. That’s not to say that the hotel doesn’t have its modern features. The entire edifice is a lesson in “what is hip,” as Tower of Power so famously sang. Perhaps the coolest part?
Reception streams a real-time feed of all photos with the #1888hotel hashtag and includes a “Selfie Space” where guests can prove that they were, in fact, at the coolest place in Sydney. Maps of the areas most Instagrammable locations are available for guests to peruse. Here’s the kicker – this hotel offers a free night’s stay to any Instagram user with over 10,000 followers. And if you’re not quite at that follower limit yet, don’t fret!
You can compete in a monthly photo competition for the best photo at the hotel. The prize is a free night’s stay – a brilliant marketing move on the part of the hotel that gives testament to the ever-presence of social media in today’s world. Why is this so smart?
Instagram has over 100 million users who have uploaded and shared over 16 billion photos, further proving that everything looks better with a filter.
Many brands have hopped on the Insta-train, including Nike, GoPro, and MTV. The platform allows brands to connect with fans in another, more creative outlet. Now that Facebook integrates hashtags on its platform, users and brands can connect via multiple outlets on both mobile and desktop. Hotel 1888 is beautifully combining social and real elements, giving the term “check-in” a unique double meaning.
Questions? Hit us up at www.socialincite.com.au
Social Incite Team
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