Pfister Hotel lures mobile users with responsive Web, augmented reality

By: Caitlyn Bohannon

The Pfister Hotel is channeling mobile through a new responsive website capable of processing mobile books and an augmented reality tour that offers an enticing, interactive factor to appeal to younger audiences.

Read more here.

A documentary about The Pfister Hotel has earned an Emmy nomination.

The Pfister: History & Story, a 23-minute overview of the historic Milwaukee hotel, was produced by Deb Zindler and Cory Zimmermann of z2, a branding firm in Waukesha. The makers spent six months conducting research and interviews, filming, writing and editing.

Marcus Hotels & Resorts, a division of Milwaukee-based The Marcus Corp. that owns The Pfister, commissioned the documentary for the hotel’s 120th anniversary last year.

The Marcus family has preserved The Pfister’s Victorian art collection, which is the largest of any hotel worldwide, since Ben Marcus purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1962. The documentary shares stories about many of the interesting events that have occurred at the hotel, the famous people who have stayed there, and its impact on Milwaukee.

“We wanted to capture the incredible stories that are a part of The Pfister throughout its history for future generations and guests,” said Chris Anderson, senior vice president of sales, marketing and brand development for Marcus Hotels & Resorts. “Throughout the process we discovered that everyone has a Pfister story, from small moments to major life events. The Pfister creates wonderful memories every day.”

Today, Marcus Hotels & Resorts and The Pfister Hotel announced that its short documentary,“The Pfister: History & Story, ” received an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Achievement for Documentary Programs – Historical.

Produced last year in order to celebrate the Pfister Hotel’s 120th anniversary, the 23-minute mini doc tells of the iconic Milwaukee hotel’s origins, evolutions and renovations through interviews with historians – and Bud Selig – and archival footage and photos, as well as through the famous stories, events and figures that the building has housed over a century of existence.

“We wanted to capture the incredible stories that are a part of The Pfister throughout its history for future generations and guests,” said Chris Anderson, senior vice president of sales, marketing and brand development for Marcus Hotels & Resorts, as well as one of the spearheads for the documentary. “Throughout the process we discovered that everyone has a Pfister story, from small moments to major life events. The Pfister creates wonderful memories every day.”

The film, copyrighted by The Marcus Corporation, was produced by Deb Zindler and Cory Zimmermann of Waukesha-based z2, who are also the recipients of the Emmy nomination. According to The Pfister’s press release sent this morning, the documentary required six months worth of research, editing, interviewing, filming and writing.

The three other nominees are “Mound Bayou: Jewel of the Delta” from Urban Ministries Publishing & Communications, “A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps” from Wisconsin Public Television and WDJT/TouchVision’s “March on Washington: America 1963.”

The Chicago/Midwest chapter Emmy award ceremony will take place on Sunday, Nov. 1. It will be televised live on WYCC Channel 20 in Chicago.

MILWAUKEE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Marcus® Hotels & Resorts, a division of The Marcus Corporation (MCS), today announced thatThe Pfister: History & Story, a documentary produced for The Pfister Hotel’s 120^th anniversary in 2013, has been recognized with an Emmy® nomination.

The Pfister, a Milwaukee landmark and the flagship property of Marcus Hotels & Resorts, was built in 1893 and quickly became the social center of Milwaukee. The vision of its founders, Guido Pfister and his son Charles, was to create a “palace for the people” – a place of heritage, richness and tradition. The Pfister Hotel changed ownership several times over the years until 1962, when Ben Marcus purchased the property out of bankruptcy and restored it to its original grandeur.

Under Marcus family leadership, and with the investment of millions of dollars, the property once again became the focal point of Milwaukee’s social scene. The family has carefully preserved the hotel’s priceless Victorian art collection, the largest of any hotel in the world. Throughout its history, the hotel has hosted legendary celebrities including Elvis, and nearly every U.S. president since McKinley. Earning memberships in the most exclusive hotel organizations including Historic Hotels of America and Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, the hotel has also maintained its AAA Four-Diamond rating for 38 consecutive years.

The Pfister: History & Story chronicles fascinating stories that have unfolded within the hotel’s walls – from the Presidents and rock stars who stayed there to the history that was made there. The personal stories dictated in the film convey The Pfister’s impact on the local Milwaukee community and all those who pass through its doors through photos, video footage, and interviews with previous guests, employees, historians and notable local figures.

“We wanted to capture the incredible stories that are a part of The Pfister throughout its history for future generations and guests,” said Chris Anderson, who spearheaded the project as senior vice president of sales, marketing and brand development for Marcus Hotels & Resorts. “Throughout the process we discovered that everyone has a Pfister story, from small moments to major life events. The Pfister creates wonderful memories every day.”

Copyrighted by The Marcus Corporation, the documentary was produced by Deb Zindler and Cory Zimmermann, both of z2 based in Waukesha, Wis. The documentary took more than six months of research, interviews, filming, writing and editing to complete.

The documentary is available online at: http://www.thepfisterhotel.com/boutique-hotel/pfister-history or at www.marcushotels.com.

The Emmy® award ceremony will be held on Saturday, November 1 and will be televised live on WYCC Channel 20, Chicago.

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Marcus Hotels & Resorts’ flagship property The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee is channeling mobile through responsive Web design and augmented reality to appeal to younger audiences.

Having launched a new responsive Web site capable of processing mobile bookings and an augmented reality tour that offers an enticing, interactive factor, millennials will be more likely to consider the hotel. Mobile is being used in a multitude of ways to deliver modern and convenient experiences for guests.

“The hotel industry has seen tremendous growth in mobile and tablet bookings over the past two years, and now over 35 percent of Web visits come from either a mobile or tablet device,” said Chris Anderson, senior vice president of Marcus Hotels & Resorts, Milwaukee. “With so many people doing travel research on these types of devices, it became imperative to improve our user experience on both mobile phones and tablets.

“Because our old Web site redirected these visitors to a limited version of our Web site, we knew that a growing number of our customers were not experiencing the Pfister brand in the best way possible,” he said. “Our goals were to make our extensive desktop site content accessible to mobile customers, improve their onsite experience, and increase conversions.

“The best way to do that was to create a whole new, responsive Web site. In addition, we also believe that the old way of handling mobile traffic was negatively impacting our search engine rankings and site traffic.”

Serving millennials
Claiming to be the first hotel in the United States to offer an augmented reality tour, the hotel also wants to make its 120-year-old establishment appealing to millennials.

Being that the hotel stands on historical art, millennials will be more attracted to an interactive learning experience.

Built in-house, the Marcus’ design team developed the responsive Web site to fit all screen sizes. In addition to making reservations, the site contains a list of the hotel’s amenities, dining options and guestroom features.

The Pfister plans to release an iOS app soon. Until then, iOS users can download the Junaio app and scan a QR code at the front desk of the hotel to tap into the tour.

Android users can Pfister Hotel Art Tour app to access the tour.

There are also preloaded iPads in the hotel to access the tour.

The tour allows users to interact with the historic items in the hotel, such as paintings and sculptures.

Several pieces of artwork can be scanned to reveal games, videos and more. Once users have tapped into every scannable piece of artwork, users are awarded with special pricing of the book The History, Art and Imagery of the Pfister Hotel. Books can be purchased at the front desk.

“Augmented reality is technology at its coolest,” Mr. Anderson said. “We wanted the Pfister guest to be able to experience this 120-year-old building and all of the unique character within it through a fresh set of eyes.

“There is so much history here and the younger generations coming through our doors need something exciting to engage with to keep the Pfister’s tradition alive,” he said. “The hotel was built on the cutting edge of technology with a serious of firsts, and it is our duty to continue that technological progression.”

“Though augmented reality is definitely something to enjoy while onsite, videos of the clips will be available on the Pfister’s YouTube Channel. We hope that the cool factor of augmented reality will make the Pfister the obvious choice for booking when someone does travel to Milwaukee.”

Resting assured
Hotel chains tapping mobile are able to better satisfy their customers.

A Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. executive at the Mobile Marketing Association’s SM2 Innovation Summit discussed how the brand is personalizing guests’ stays via a new application that offers specific details about all hotel rooms in its 1,200 worldwide properties.

During the “Starwood Resorts Leverages Mobile to Enhance Guests’ Stays” session at the Mobile Marketing Association’s SM2 conference, the executive discussed the efficiency with which the brand’s new mobile application gathers data and provides extensive details to customers. Starwood aimed to scale the solution across its global branches, bolster guest enhancement tools and accomplish these goals in a quick turnaround time (see story).

Hilton Hotels also strategizes mobile in the form of social to better its guest experience.

Hilton Worldwide employs a single social media strategist whose job it is to convey the latest intelligence from different platforms to each of its 11 hotel brands, but each brand maintains its own voice and often relies on individual hotels to supply content.

Other companies using a similar strategy include Hotels.com, which also employs a single social media strategist while social media teams around the world operate independently. Having a central resource for social media intelligence to stay on top of the trending platforms and the latest technologies helps these companies focus on the customer communications aspects of their social media efforts (see story).

Mobile will continue to be an increasingly relevant tool for Marcus Hotels.

“With the new responsive site, our customers will have a better mobile experience with the Pfister brand because site content and pictures will be optimized for whatever device they are using,” Mr. Anderson said.  “In addition, they will be able to use gestures such as swiping and pinching pictures when researching on our site.

“We expect that this better experience will lead to more time spent on site and hopefully an increase in conversions,” he said. “In addition, smart phone users will now have access to a vast amount of content and images that were not available to them with our old mobile site.

“The improved ease in booking and overall better experience reflects the customer-focused brand that is the Pfister. We’ve already seen a greater number of visitors and bookings via mobile and tablet since the launch two weeks ago.”

Marcus Hotels & Resorts, which is a division of The Marcus Corporation, has announced that The Pfister Hotel, its flagship property, will launch an augmented reality art tour for its guests. This Augmented Reality tour will be the first for any hotel in the US. This hotel in Milwaukee will launch the tour during the Gallery Night on 17th October, Friday. Those present in the event will be asked to download an augmented reality app in their smartphone which will take them on a guided tour of the exclusive art collection of the Pfister Hotel.

The Pfister Augmented Reality (PAR) Art Tour

At the time of launch, not all works of art from the exclusive art collection of the hotel will be displayed in AR. Only ten of them will be made interactive using the technology. The hotel plans to add more pieces of art in this interactive collection in the near future. A real-time, digital and full motion experience will be provided to the guests. The experience will include games, graphics and videos.

According to the Senior Vice President of Marcus Hotels & Resorts, Chris Anderson, by including augmented reality, they will be able to offer tech-savvy guests and the millennials a chance to engage with a 120 year old hotel in a contemporary way. AR will give them the chance to learn more about the art work as well as the history of the hotel. The Marcus Hotels & Resorts are excited to provide a hi-tech augmented reality art tour to their guests. They are also looking forward to expand this technology to other hotels in their group in the coming years.

Availability and Pricing

The Pfister augmented reality app is available for download now. The guests checking in the hotel will be able to learn more about the AR tour and how the app will work from this site. It can also be downloaded from the Apple App Store or the Google Play and is compatible with any smartphone and wearable device like Google Glass or Epson. The app is free of charge.

By using augmented reality, the hotel will be able to present their brand in a new way and interact with their consumers on a completely new level.

Pfister to launch augmented reality art tour

By: Mary Louise Schumacher

The Pfister Hotel will be the first hotel in the U.S. to launch an augmented reality art tour to show off its collection of Victorian art.

Read more here.

MILWAUKEE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Marcus® Hotels & Resorts, a division of The Marcus Corporation (MCS), today announced that its flagship property, The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wis. will be the first hotel in the U.S. to offer an augmented reality (AR) tour available to guests. To be launched during Milwaukee’s Gallery Night Friday, October 17, participants will be invited to download an AR application from their smartphone that will prompt them on a guided tour of the hotel’s extensive art collection.

At launch, ten of the items in the hotel’s world-renowned art collection will be interactive, with the goal of adding additional pieces in the coming months. The tour provides a real-time, digital, full motion experience for guests, featuring games, videos and other graphics. The app is free and is available for download where guests can learn about the tour and how it works. The app will also be available on the Apple Store and Google Play, and can be used on any smartphone or Epson or Google Glass wearable.

“We now have the ability to provide millennials and tech-savvy guests the opportunity to connect and engage with a 120 year old hotel in a modern format. What a perfect way to visually learn about the story behind the pieces and engage with the items that make this historic hotel so unique. Many guests of the Pfister are interested in the stories and history behind this landmark hotel – AR will help us tell those stories better than ever before. We are excited to be the first hotel to offer a state-of-the-art augmented reality tour such as this and hope to expand the technology to other locations in the future,” said Chris Anderson, senior vice president of Marcus Hotels & Resorts.

Augmented reality, a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented, or supplemented, by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data, is gaining popularity among marketers. “AR is a creative way to capture our customer’s attention, and allows them to see our brand in a new way and engage with us on a completely new level,” added Anderson.

New Pfister Hotel Website

Marcus Hotels & Resorts also unveiled The Pfister Hotel’s new fully responsive website at www.thepfisterhotel.com. The Marcus Hotels & Resorts design team built the new website to fit properly across all screen sizes and tablets, utilizing responsive web design techniques. As new devices are introduced, the website is able to resize itself based on any screen size to make the viewing experience seamless. The newly branded website includes impactful imagery, a modernized look and feel and easy navigation for amenities, dining options and guestroom features. The new Pfister website is the first website to be built using a custom content management system developed in-house to meet the requirements of hospitality websites.

“Marcus Hotels & Resorts is unique in that the creation of advanced technologies and websites is done by a talented group of in-house employees. Whether creating guest experiences or showcasing our properties, we feel that this approach gives us advantages in speed to market, flexibility, and innovation,” said Peter Engel, chief technology officer for The Marcus Corporation.

Marcus Hotels & Resorts’ in-house design team has won recent awards for their outstanding work. The company received an award from The Web Marketing Association for the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa’s website in the category for Outstanding Achievement in Web Development. They also received two awards from the Horizon Interactive Awards (HIA), a leading international interactive media awards competition, winning a gold award for the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa website in the travel and tourism category and a bronze award in the restaurant and food industry category for the Kil@Wat website, located inside the InterContinental Milwaukee.

“We continually strive to inspire our guests and give them a unique experience when staying with us. Our cutting-edge technologies will provide state-of-the-art hospitality offerings to guests and residents alike, making The Pfister Hotel the first choice for those traveling to Milwaukee,” added Anderson.