On March at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, we debuted our short film showcasing the top 10 outstanding independent accommodations worldwide and promoting our Dream Trip competition. This kicked off the eviivo Collective 2.0 World Tour, which ran from March 16 – 24 — beginning at SXSW, the world-renowned film, media and music festival and finishing in London on Independent Accommodation Day. Independent Accommodation Day — launched in 2023 — celebrates the millions of independent and privately owned accommodation providers across the globe.
Encompassing eight iconic cities around the world, and such landmarks as Montmartre (Paris) and St. Paul’s Cathedral (London), our World Tour aimed to give our customers the spotlight they deserve. We also extended our social media competition to the public, offering them a chance to win an all-expenses-paid dream trip to one of the ten winners of our top independent accommodations competition.
The eight stops of our tour were:
Austin (SXSW Festival) — March 16
Belfast (St. Patrick’s Day) — March 17
Canterbury/Margate — March 19
Brussels — March 20
Amsterdam — March 21
Dusseldorf — March 22
Paris — March 23
London — March 24
In six out of the eight cities, we partnered with DRIVEABOUT Projection, a first-of-its-kind projection-mapping van equipped with a 100,000-lumen projector, capable of putting our film up in lights all over Europe.
After a successful launch weekend covering Texas for SXSW and Belfast for St. Patrick’s Day, our team hit the road for the subsequent European stops from Margate, UK, on March 19. Our activations around Europe aimed to generate interest in our Dream Trip competition, as well as promote our top 10 winning independent accommodations.
From Montmarte to St. Paul’s Cathedral, some of the hotspots we visited were truly iconic, and we are incredibly proud to be the only travel tech company to have performed activations at these locations. We were also lucky to be joined by our fantastic German and French teams in Düsseldorf and Paris. It was fantastic to have the eviivo team’s various regions represented at each location, especially as it inspired some great team bonding!
On the road, we were kindly hosted by eviivo customers in nearly every location. We stopped by to discuss independent property, hear their kind words on eviivo Suite, and to give them a small thank you for their business! It was wonderful to meet so many eviivo customers and to see the diversity of their accommodations. Below is a recap of the amazing properties and owners we met on the World Tour:
Moxie Luxury Apartments in Belfast, Ireland:
In Belfast, we were welcomed by one of the owners of Moxie Luxury Apartments. These centrally-located, modern apartments were incredibly tastefully done, with spacious beds, charming furnishings and great views of Belfast.
Mount Ephraim Gardens in Kent, UK:
Our second customer stop on March 19 was Mount Ephraim Gardens, a privately-owned family home in the heart of Kent, UK, with over 800 acres of woodland, pasture and a fruit farm. We were welcomed by Lucy with warm hospitality and given a tour of the incredible property and its gardens, learning about the incredible history behind the house. The only problem was that we weren’t able to stay for longer!
Lucy said: “It was so lovely, to receive a visit from the team at eviivo recently and show them around our family home and accommodation. As a very small and independent accommodation provider it means a lot to get a visit from eviivo and it just goes to show they really do go the extra mile for the businesses they support! The team were lovely too and really enthusiastic and appreciative of what we have to offer here. We hope to see them again in the future!”
Tor Spa Retreat in Canterbury, UK:
Next up on our stops at customer properties was Tor Spa Retreat, an Ayurvedic spa that offers unique spa days and packages. Tor is set within beautiful gardens, alongside a small lake. The owner, Ky, took us around the idyllic location and we were mesmerized by the calming atmosphere.
Ky said: “It was good to meet the eviivo team and put some faces to the names so to speak. As a small business it’s great to be associated with a small team that can fully understand and appreciate what goes into running an independent business like ourselves.”
The Hussar in Margate, UK:
We were lucky enough for our first night’s sleep on the tour to be in an eviivo customer property, staying at The Hussar in Margate. This family-owned business – run by Michelle – greeted us with friendly faces and gave us an incredible impression of Margate for our first time there!
Michelle said: “It was lovely meeting [the eviivo team], and a pleasure to have [them] stay with us. What I liked about this was that the eviivo team are supporting independent accommodation providers rather than the big chains who already have a massive footfall. It is a hard industry and we are only very small compared to some hotels, so we’re grateful for them coming to The Hussar Hotel. We hope [they] enjoyed [their] stay with us and hopefully [they’ll] come back again.”
Hotel Fahrhaus in Dusseldorf, Germany:
Our final customer stop was at Hotel Fahrhaus in Dusseldorf, Germany. Located right on the River Rhine, this hotel offers peace and discretion whilst being close enough to the city centre. A big thank you to the owner who took time to talk with us and discuss eviivo Suite.
Our eviivo Collective 2.0 World Tour was one for the books. We hope our customers and the public enjoyed our efforts in producing this engaging, interactive, one-of-a-kind campaign … because they deserve it!
