The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
City Lodge turns bad rentals into bookings — an SOS panic button wins SA Grand Effie
A hotel chain mocked as 'boring and predictable' builds a panic button that rescues travellers from bad stays and turns frustration into bookings.
City Lodge Hotel Group
What it had to solve
Hotels no longer compete only with each other — Airbnb and novelty stays reshaped summer travel, while City Lodge was seen as boring and predictable. But everyone has a bad story about a disappointing stay, so the agency made that shared frustration the demand moment.
How it works
South African hotels were no longer competing only with each other — Airbnb, novelty stays and curated finds had reshaped summer travel, while City Lodge was dismissed as boring and predictable. TBWA\Hunt Lascaris's insight was that everyone has a bad story about a disappointing stay, and that shared experience resonates more than any claim of superiority.
Instead of attacking rivals, City Lodge built the rescue. SaveOurStay.co.za worked as a literal panic button: a traveller stuck in a bad booking hits SOS, the platform geolocates them and instantly connects them to the nearest hotel across the group's four brands — Courtyard Hotel, City Lodge, Town Lodge and Road Lodge — with up to 30% off a rescue stay (25% at Town Lodge, 15% at Road Lodge). Comedy films and seven influencers dramatised the brochure-vs-reality nightmare to launch the platform.
Running October 2024 to January 2025, the campaign delivered measurable action: influencer content drove 2.1 million impressions, 11.5K engagements, R1.9 million in earned media value and 256 direct booking clicks, while 85 pieces of positive tier-one PR generated R3.6 million in media value and 118.5 million reach. It won the 2025 South African Grand Effie, a Gold for Travel & Tourism, two Silvers, and eight Loeries.
Why it lands
- The insight was universal — everyone has a bad-stay story — so the campaign resonated before it sold anything.
- The perceived weakness (boring, predictable) was inverted into a promise: at City Lodge you get exactly what you expect.
- It closed the loop: instead of entertainment only, the campaign created a demand moment with a working product that ended in a booking.
- It was built for a challenger budget: influencer content and earned PR did the amplification rather than big media spend.
What it did
Seven influencers drove 2.1 million impressions, 11.5K engagements and 256 direct booking clicks; 85 tier-one PR pieces generated R3.6 million in media value and 118.5 million reach. The campaign won the 2025 SA Grand Effie, a Gold and two Silvers, plus eight Loeries.
What you can take
Turn your boringness into the rescue: instead of out-claiming rivals, City Lodge named the shared frustration and gave it a button, so a perceived weakness became the reason to choose it.
Since then
The 2025 Grand Effie jury singled out SOS for breaking category conventions with humour and translating intent into tangible action, and Effie SA's Ipsos insights report made the same point. City Lodge's marketing leadership credited the long agency-client relationship for the bravery, and the group's eight Loeries wins that October confirmed the creative industry's approval alongside the effectiveness awards.
Sources
- City Lodge Hotels wins Grand Effie Award for SOS!
- Inside the Judges' Room with the 2025 South Africa Grand Effie Jury
- City Lodge Hotels: SOS
- City Lodge Hotels Saves the Day from Accommodation Mishaps
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