Regional campaign on Shopee to drive online sales and engagement with Ascott Star Rewards members

(TRAVPR.COM) SINGAPORE - December 10th, 2020 - Tis’ the season of giving. CapitaLand’s wholly owned lodging business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), is kicking off this festive season with Southeast Asia’s biggest promotion on Shopee, one of the leading ecommerce platforms in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. About S$13 million worth of goodies are up for grabs; starting from the Shopee 12.12 Birthday Sale till the end of the year. These include flash sales where shoppers can receive up to 90% off best flexible rates at close to 20 participating properties in Southeast Asia. Over 500,000 prizes including complimentary stays, up to 50% off discount vouchers and membership tier upgrades for Ascott’s loyalty programme, Ascott Star Rewards (ASR), will also be given away.

Ascott will be launching the campaign across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Ascott is the first international hospitality company to roll out a regional collaboration with the ecommerce platform. Through livestreams on Shopee, viewers will get to engage with popular television and social media personalities and stand to win complimentary stays with Ascott. Shoppers can also play an Ascott X Shopee Lucky Prize game to receive perks such as free stays, discount vouchers, and exclusive ASR membership tier upgrade.

This regional collaboration follows the success of Ascott’s 11.11 Big Sale with Shopee Singapore. A total of over 1,300 room nights from Ascott Orchard Singapore, Ascott Raffles Place Singapore, lyf Funan Singapore and D’Hotel Singapore were sold out during the 11.11 Big Sale. Over 340 complimentary stays and discount vouchers were fully redeemed. In addition, more than 1,000 shoppers signed up for an ASR membership and over 100,000 viewers tuned in to Ascott’s livestream on 11.11 hosted by Shopee Singapore.

Mr Ervin Yeo, Ascott’s Managing Director for Southeast Asia, said: “Ascott’s regional collaboration with Shopee enables us to tap on the popularity of ecommerce and shoppertainment to reach a wider demographic, and bring the Ascott experience live from our properties to wherever our customers may be. This collaboration also allows us to drive sales, beyond our direct channels and conventional online travel booking sites, to uncover additional revenue streams and deliver greater value to our property owners and business partners. We had strong results on Shopee Singapore on 11.11 and are expanding this initiative across the Southeast Asia region to tap on the expected increased demand during 12.12 and the festive season, offering our customers even more rewards to stay with Ascott.” 

Online transactions in Southeast Asia is forecast to hit US$300 billion by 20251 . COVID-19 has accelerated digital consumption in the region as an average of 36% users tried new digital services for the first time.

Mr Ian Ho, Shopee’s Regional Managing Director, said: “We are excited that Ascott, one of the most globally recognised hospitality brands, has chosen to scale up its collaboration and investment with Shopee to grow its regional presence online. With Shopee’s extensive reach in Southeast Asia, we look forward to creating innovative and engaging campaigns that leverage our popular engagement tools, such as games and livestream, to bring greater value and fun to more consumers. With the ongoing travel restrictions, we trust that many consumers will appreciate having quick access to these attractive hospitality deals on Shopee.” 

12.12 Flash sale and livestreams
The Ascott 12.12 flash sale will be launched on Shopee in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The flash sale features attractive deals of up to 90% off best flexible rates at close to 20 properties such as the award-winning Ascott Orchard Singapore; Somerset Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Ascott Makati in the Philippines; Ascott Sathorn Bangkok in Thailand; and Somerset Grand Hanoi in Vietnam. Exclusive to Shopee Singapore, ASR members in Singapore can also purchase ASR points at up to 20% off during the flash sale. 

To grab these attractive deals on 12 December 2020, shoppers can tap on the ‘12.12 Home’ tab on the Shopee app and search for Ascott’s deals under the ‘Dining, Travel & Services’ category.

Starting from 12.12 till 24 December 2020, shoppers will also get to win staycation offers through a series of six livestreams on Shopee in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. During these regional livestreams on the Shopee app, shoppers can also interact with famous television and social media personalities such as Singapore actor and comedian Gurmit Singh who will reprise his role as the famous ‘Phua Chu Kang’ in the ‘Check out or Drop out’ livestream game segment in Singapore; social media influencer Athava Ghina who will host ‘Shopee Ena Ena’, a mukbang-themed session in Indonesia; Shopee specialist Mary Grace Khu who will host the ‘12.12 Ultimate Christmas Carol’ festive session in the Philippines; and television host and social media influencer Lê Minh Ngọc & Đào Duy who will host ‘Shopee Đại Tiệc Show - Nhận Triệu Deal’ in Vietnam. 

Shoppers can tap on the ‘Shopee Live’ tab on the Shopee app to view these livestreams. The livestreams for each country will be aired at different timings between 2pm and 12am. 

Ascott X Shopee Lucky Prize game
A total of over 500,000 prizes including complimentary stays, discount vouchers with up to 50% off stays at ASR participating properties and ASR membership tier upgrades will be up for grabs in the Ascott X Shopee Lucky Prize game. Specially designed for Ascott, the in-app game will be available from 21 to 31 December 2020 on the Shopee app in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

Winners of the discount vouchers can redeem them for staycations at any of Ascott’s 190 ASR participating properties in over 85 cities and more than 25 countries. These properties include Ascott Orchard Singapore; Ascott Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Ascott Makati in the Philippines; Ascott Sathorn Bangkok in Thailand; and Somerset Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

Winners of the ASR membership tier upgrades will be elevated from the ASR classic-tier to the silver-tier membership for one year. Silver-tier member benefits include seasonal offers of up to 50% off best flexible rates, birthday discount e-voucher, and a 20% bonus ASR points for every dollar spent on stays with Ascott. The winners will be rewarded with 2,000 ASR points when they sign up for the complimentary ASR membership via the ‘Discover ASR’ mobile app. 

Shoppers can tap on the ‘Shopee Games’ tab in the Shopee app and look for the Ascott X Shopee Lucky Prize game under the ‘Featured Games’ category. To play the Ascott X Shopee Lucky Prize game, participants simply need to tap the ‘reception table’ in the game to stand a chance to win a prize. 

Ascott’s regional collaboration with Shopee is the latest among Ascott’s digital initiatives this year to continually engage and reward its customers. In October 2020, during the #DiscoverASR Virtual Travel Festival, over S$12,000 worth of ASR points and staycations at Ascott properties worldwide were given out in conjunction with the launch of the ‘Discover ASR’ mobile app. In September 2020, Ascott launched a points exchange initiative with CapitaStar, Singapore’s leading lifestyle and shopping rewards programme. Ascott also launched a new ASR membership status match initiative that enables existing ASR members and members of other hospitality loyalty programmes to accelerate their progress to higher ASR membership tiers to enjoy even more benefits.

In China, Ascott also collaborated with Fliggy, Alibaba’s online travel service platform, for a 11.11 campaign from 21 October to 11 November 2020. During the campaign, over 17,000 room nights were sold and more than 14,000 Fliggy registered users had signed up for an ASR membership. Ascott also worked with key opinion leaders and influencers to drive further sales during the campaign, garnering over 242,000 views to Ascott’s store on Fliggy.  

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