Guest-Generated Virtual Reality Initiative Invites Travelers to Experience

What It Means Be Central in 360°

New Campaign Kicks Off With Microsite, 360 Mobile App, and 15-Night St Giles Experience Trip Giveaway

London, UK – St Giles Hotels has launched a global campaign, St Giles 360, to showcase experiences nearby their centrally located properties through virtual reality (VR). Through this global campaign, St Giles Hotels guests and personalities bring viewers on a journey across the sights and sounds of the cities that they live, breathe, and travel in, including the U.S., U.K., Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines.

St Giles 360 is a guest created extension of the “Be Central” campaign which launched in March and establishes St Giles Hotels as the first hospitality brand to use guest-generated virtual reality content. A departure from the industry norm of utilizing VR to showcase the inside of their hotels, the St Giles brand is instead choosing to connect travelers with enriching travel experiences steps away from their global properties.

“One of our aims was to create something that our guest and viewers could have a little fun with, something interactive, engaging, and cool, that anyone could watch a few times over to capture the 360 experience. Our goal with the St Giles 360 campaign is to breathe further life into what it means to Be Central, which in itself creates endless possibilities, with the aim to inspire guests to explore and immerse themselves in authentic local experiences,” said Abigail Tan, Head of St Giles U.S.A, U.K. and Europe. “Our guests inspire us every day, and this campaign enables us to connect with them as well as for them to connect with each other. We are thrilled to create this cutting-edge campaign to bring their Be Central experiences into Virtual Reality.”

To jump start this initiative, St Giles issued an open casting call to their guests and also called upon key social media influencers across four continents to provide them with Samsung 360 Gear cameras to capture their travels, which are hosted on the just launched St Giles 360 microsite, www.stgiles360.com. The entire St Giles 360 campaign is shot by and starring St Giles guests and social media influencers. The videos give viewers a 360 look into how guests and influencers explored the iconic sites around each hotel and invites them to vote for the best St Giles 360 guest content. Through the VR videos, viewers see iconic sites including The London Eye and Windsor Castle in UK, the Kek Lok Si Temple and Penang Hill in Penang, The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, and experience taking a yellow taxi cab in New York City, visiting the Top of The Rock and surfing in Sydney.

Created by New York-based creative agency, Piranha, the St Giles 360 videos can also be accessed via the new St Giles Hotels mobile app which is available on the Apple app store and Google Play as an Android app. The St Giles Hotels App allows visitors to watch 360 videos from St Giles 360 campaign, search property and city information, book reservations and secure the best deals at each St Giles hotel.

“For this campaign, we wanted to push the editorial capabilities of 360 video. We wanted to see how far this exciting new medium could go in advancing traditional story telling technique," said Rob Sabatini, creative director, Piranha. "By collaborating with hotel guests and social media influencers, and stitching that footage together in unique edits for six cities, we were able to find an authentic voice that helps highlight the centrality of St Giles Hotels.”

To celebrate #StGiles360 and further connect guests with these experiences, St Giles has launched 360 themed offers across their global portfolio. These offers include various perks from accommodations to amenities to special city-specific experiences that are located near each hotel. All St Giles Hotels in London (St Giles London, St Giles Heathrow), New York City (The Court, The Tuscany), Kuala Lumpur (The Boulevard, The Gardens), Penang (The Wembley – A St Giles Hotel), Manila (St Giles Makati – A St Giles Hotel) and Sydney (The Tank Stream) will be participating; for more information and to book, visit www.stgiles.com and www.stgiles360.com and use the promo code stgiles360.

Guests booking any of the St Giles 360 themed offers will automatically be entered for a chance to win their own ultimate St Giles 360 Experience. One lucky person and a guest will be eligible to win a getaway to experience all properties in the St Giles Hotels portfolio on a 15 night trip (3 nights per city) and a $5,000 USD gift card towards air travel. Winner must book and travel between January 1-December 31, 2017.

To experience St Giles 360, www.stgiles360.com and for more information on St Giles Hotels, visit www.StGiles.com.   

About St Giles Hotels

With nine hotels across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, the St Giles family of hotels invites business and leisure travelers to experience the most central locations in the hearts of major cities around the world. St Giles is uniquely positioned to provide the attentive service and charm of independently managed hotels, with the signature St Giles Experience of warm, authentic and locally-rooted hospitality. St Giles Hotels recognizes that every guests has individual needs and style, which is why the group's portfolio spans three levels of service: Three Star, Four Star and Signature. The Group continues to grow its family of hotels, and has added several properties in 2015 including two new four star hotels: The Wembley – a St Giles Hotel – in Penang and The Tank Stream – a St Giles Hotel – in Sydney. 

For more information, or to make a reservation, please visit www.StGiles.com and follow St Giles Hotels on Twitter (@stgileshotels), Facebook, Instagram (@stgileshotels) and YouTube for the latest news and updates.  

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Media Contacts:

Finn Partners                                                    

Aubrey McGovern / Phillip Novoa                                                                           

Tel: 212.715.1600                                                                                                             

E-mail: aubrey.mcgovern@finnpartners.com / phillip.novoa@finnpartners.com