The hospitality business is the latest company to use the video game platform as a brand-building tool.
The best place to meet your customers might be in a video game.
Hilton Hotels rolled out a new membership rewards initiative in the video game platform in collaboration with its celebrity spokesperson Paris Hilton, and her media company 11:11 Media.
The hospitality company launched an immersive hotel experience in “Slivingland”–a virtual neighbourhood that Paris Hilton launched on Roblox in 2023. When Roblox players complete in-game challenges in the virtual Hilton hotel lobby, they can redeem Hilton Honours points, which can be used towards hotel bookings, shopping, and even rental cars through Hilton. They also have the chance to win a Diamond Tier upgrade: Hilton’s premium membership status where guests have access to premium WiFi, room upgrades, and executive lounges. The campaign will run through February 22.
Hilton is the first hotel to join Roblox with tangible transferable rewards, but just one of the many businesses joining the gaming platform to advertise. Stephanie Latham, VP of global partnerships at Roblox said in a press release that she expects to see more brands tie their metaverse activations to the physical world with opportunities like loyalty program tie-ins, Roblox-inspired fashion items, or real-world commerce.
“The consumer demand across physical and digital is clear, and brands are smart to tap into it on Roblox where over 70 million people connect and communicate daily, nearly half of them Gen Z,” Latham added in the press release. “Utilizing [Paris Hilton’s Roblox universe] as part of Hilton’s loyalty program is paving the way for other brands to experiment with enhancing consumer engagement and brand loyalty via innovative immersive experiences and communities.”
Offering exclusive benefits and rewards can help business owners enhance their brand loyalty, and using video game platforms like Roblox to leverage rewards is one way to do so. Roblox, specifically, has more than 70 million daily active users; more than 200 brands are on the platform.
Chipotle employed this strategy when it rolled out a similar deal in 2021 that allowed 100,000 players to redeem a free entrée in the Chipotle app when they rolled a burrito in Roblox.
Hilton–the human, not the brand–said in a press release: “Getting actual Hilton Honours loyalty points for playing in Roblox?* That’s iconic.”
Feature Image Credit: Courtesy Company
