In October, Olivia and Rebecca from the Youbee Media team were invited by the Leeds Marriott to stay overnight and experience everything the hotel has offer. This invitation allowed us to facilitate a review in the Yorkshire Businesswoman magazine and share insights into the amazing hotel. As a social media marketing agency, we also saw this as an opportunity to capture social media content for the feed, and a chance to interview Sales Leader, Zoe Hands for a video feature in the magazine.
Here’s how we got on…
Finding the Leeds Marriott
You can find the Leeds Marriott Hotel just a short walk from Leeds train, close to Trinity Shopping Centre Leeds and a number of bars, restaurants and shops. The hotel is ideally situated for those looking to experience Leeds – whether it’s for a business event, date night or theatre trip, you’ll find a comfortable stay at this sophisticated hotel. Following modernisation in 2020, the interior has been lifted and lightened, giving it a modern, slick feel. 17 event and break out spaces were uplifted, and the refurbishment project cost £2m and created 52 jobs. It also allowed the Leeds Marriott to open the highly anticipated Gino D’Acampo restaurant as part of the hotel.
In addition to the 239 guest rooms and 8 suites at the hotel, you’ll also find meeting spaces, a fitness centre, an event space and concierge services. During our visit, Sales Leader Zoe also showed us around some of the suites and variety of guest rooms available. Each room was bright, spacious, clean and included a number of finishing touches to make your stay more comfortable.
Our stay at the Leeds Marriott
During our visit, we were delighted to find that the staff held fantastic service records with the hotel, all being in employment for a number of years. With this in mind, it’s no coincidence that the hotel ran like clockwork and the team were attentive and helpful to all guests. Whether it be the staff on the reception desk, team in the Executive Lounge, or room staff – everyone that we encountered was pleased to see us, warm and welcoming.
As we had just one opportunity to experience everything at the Leeds Marriott, we wanted to ensure we explored everything the hotel had to offer!
We enjoyed a tour of the hotel and newly renovated rooms with Zoe, we sampled Canapes and drinks in the Executive Lounge and made ourselves comfortable in our rooms. For our evening meal, we dined at Gino’s and enjoyed a 3 course meal. Gino’s has a really warm, welcoming and laid back Italian dining vibe, but with an air of sophistication. Again, the team couldn’t have been more hospitable, and we captured the whole experience in our social media content. The bar was open until late, and after our Espresso martini’s, Olivia and I headed to the bar area for a further drink before heading up to our rooms.
After a great night’s sleep in our comfortable and quiet rooms, we tried out the gym facilities before we went to breakfast. Here, we found Peleton bikes, rowing machines, treadmills, weights and more. It was great to see that you could enjoy a full workout in the Leeds central hotel.
Breakfast was served buffet style in Gino’s and there was a great selection of meats, cheeses, cereal and hot food on offer.
Our Top 3 Takeaways
Olivia and I had a wonderful time during our stay at the hotel, and we both realised that we had specific aspects of the stay that we particularly enjoyed. Here’s a little roundup…
Becky’s top Marriott Moments
- “As a busy mum, the 12pm check out time was a little slice of luxury for me! It meant I could enjoy an actual sleep in, trip to the gym and a relaxed breakfast.”
- “The location of the hotel is brilliant. I loved being able to watch busy commuters and people enjoying themselves in Leeds from the safety and warmth of my room. For anyone who loves people watching it’s great – but it also makes you realise how central the hotel is.”
- “The bathroom was also brilliant! I know that sounds weird, but the mirrors are big enough to see what you’re doing, the little toiletry extras were great, and I loved how you had a shower and a bath. These are 3 reasons why I would return to the hotel.”
Olivia’s top Marriott Moments
- “The beds in the Leeds Marriott are so soft you feel like you’re sleeping on a cloud. Not only that but there are 4 pillows provided in a double room, with extra in the wardrobe should you need them. As someone who sleeps with lots of pillows – this was a gamechanger for me.”
- “The Executive Lounge is a fantastic addition to the hotel. The privacy and convenience of the lounge makes it the perfect place to catch up on work, relax or grab a snack throughout the day, in a communal area.”
- “The Leeds Marriott don’t miss a trick when it comes to accommodating guests. From a generous tea and coffee caddy in each room, to refreshment bars situated in communal meeting areas, and two brilliant options for guests to enjoy breakfast. There’s something (and more) for everyone. Both the Exec Lounge and Gino’s offer different things for breakfasts, which is great for guests.”
Our content captured
As a marketing consultancy we wanted to make sure that we captured as much of this as possible, especially with the hotel having so much to offer. We created three short-form videos, that could be beneficial for TikTok marketing, to be shared across Yorkshire Businesswoman and the Leeds Marriott’s social media, as well as one longer video which consisted of an interview with Zoe. Zoe’s 2 minute video was a feature in the magazine, and allowed for new, dynamic content to showcase the hotel.
To capture what we needed, Olivia and I set up two smartphones and a lapel microphone to capture Zoe from two angles for the interview, making it easier to mix things up in the final edit and create content optimised for social media management, as well as giving us ample B-roll for the video.
We used a gimbal throughout our stay and made sure we got a great selection of content for the food, gym equipment, reception area and the rooms. To date, our content has reached over 5,176 people on Instagram and gained 148 likes. The first short-form video we shared from the series has been seen by the highest number of non-followers, showing the potential reach of Reels and how engaging content can help users to grow their social media audience.
Watch the full interview with Zoe Hands below!
