CASE STUDY 4: DORNOCH CASTLE HOTEL
Dornoch Castle Hotel
Brief: To promote eco improvements, namely installation of a biomass heating system, at this stunning Sutherland Castle Hotel, which dates back to the 15th Century. At the same time to announce to the media that the Hotel had planning permission for an extension involving 12 new deluxe bedrooms, spa, bistro, coffee and gift shop and private dining rooms which would be commencing next year for completion 2011.
As well as ensuring that the profile of Dornoch Castle was raised through presenting this information to the local, national, business and leisure media and aiming for editorial coverage, Advantage PR recommended that Dornoch Castle attract general editorial as an indulgent, historical place to stay which was luxurious, full of character and an ideal short break destination. This would target wedding media too as weddings were a large part of the hotel's yearly business.
Target publications: Local Highland press; quality national dailies and Sundays in Scotland and UK wide; upmarket wedding and lifestyle magazines; leading English regional papers especially those which link in to areas with direct flights to Inverness such as Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham etc.
Dornoch Castle Hotel 4 poster bedroom
Advantage PR prepared a Press Pack on the Hotel which included its history; profile on the owners; current offering in terms of food, short breaks, weddings, sample menus etc; what to do in the area. The Press Pack is in effect all the information a travel journalist needs to whet their appetite in one easy to digest document The Press Pack also included a newsy press release on the announcement about the biomass heating and future expansion/investment - this was sent separately to the local Highland papers as a news story. Having achieved local coverage for the Hotel in this sphere (and nationally in the Business Scotsman) a drip feed of stories was adopted to maintain momentum including significant coverage on the appointment of the new French chef.
Nationally, Dornoch Castle has attracted a steady stream of quality travel journalists including The Herald (twice); The Scotsman (twice); Western Daily Mail (Bristol); Manchester Evening News; Birmingham Mail; Sunday Post; North West Evening Mail etc who have been keen to visit and write about this part of Scotland. Many have picked up on the eco angle and intend to do follow up articles on this too and look at the expansion when it is underway and also when it is completed.
Dornoch castle has received a great deal of positive press about the appointment of its new french chef
Competitions were placed in No1 magazine, The List magazine (who also did a travel review aimed at young professionals from the Capital looking for an indulgent short break perhaps in a part of Scotland they had not considered before) and Real Life Weddings promoting the hotel as a luxurious short break with an in house beauty therapist and the ideal location for a Highland wedding with everything you need within easy reach.
Feature wise, there is still tremendous scope in the food and a feature is planned on recipes from the French Chef, Mikael, in Homeplus Scotland Spring 2010 as well as a Travel Review.
Dornoch Castle Hotel remains the perfect example of a hotel with layer upon layer of stories to be exploited PR wise and which can therefore be directed to a number of different media categories. PR is enabling the Hotel to raise its profile and attract guests from fresh parts of the country. It is also enabling it to establish relationships with journalists which will prove to be long term.