NEW YORK—Last month, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) launched a new digital bundle, The Wall Street Journal Digital Daily, aimed at hotels.
Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the paper, first launched a digital program, The Wall Street Journal Seamless, in 2008, but like so many other aspects of the industry, the downturn affected progress. Now, the new digital bundle addresses limitations of the first program, though Seamless is still available for hotels that feel it is best aligned with their needs. The way that program works, WSJ allows access via the hotel’s IP address, so if a guest isn’t connected to the hotel’s WiFi, they can’t reap the benefits. In addition, as soon as a guest leaves the property, access is gone. “In the past, folks going to catch a flight would grab their paper and run,” explained Michael Corliss Jr., director print and digital circulation sales, the Americas at WSJ. “This didn’t have that ability.”
Corliss felt this was a big issue, particularly with the shift in digital media, and has spent the past 18 months engaging the subject with anyone he could from the corporate level—presidents, heads of operations, heads of rooms, VPs and SVPs from the major brands—to general managers at the property level. “I was really trying to identify what is the best program. What do you need that would make this beneficial for you and, more importantly, your guests?”
In the end, Corliss identified a number of important features: a digital alternative to the newspaper; a program as easy as delivering a newspaper to the door; portability so the access goes beyond the property; access to the WSJ app; global consistency; and a cost-effective solution.
Digital news
The end result is the WSJ Digital Daily. At check in, the hotel will ask whether a guest wants access and, if so, the front desk attendant inserts a dual-branded card into the key jacket. This card gives guests a unique, specific URL, such as wsj.com/Hyatt, and a code. The guest then enters his email address and code, and has access to the WSJ on any device that’s web-enabled. Each code lasts for two days—since the industry average stay is 2.2 days—but if a guest is staying for longer, he can call down to the front desk for a new code when the old one expires. “For folks checking out after one night, they’ll have access once they leave,” Corliss pointed out. “The best part is it’s portable and not tied to the hotel’s IP. You can stay on 4G. If you have five devices, you get access on five devices.”
There is also flexibility on how many codes a hotel can buy, which mirrors the print program. “A lot have 20 or 30 copies in the lobby for people to grab,” Corliss said. “We’re not forcing a 200-room hotel to buy 200 codes.”
He continued, “Because it’s digital, we can roll this out anywhere in the world.” He noted this was particularly important since emerging markets are no longer in the U.S. In addition, WSJ is already a global player. “The Wall Street Journal is not just a U.S. brand,” Corliss said. “We have a U.S. print edition, and Asia and Europe editions. With a click of the mouse, you can access all of those. We are able to translate into eight different languages. You can press a button and you can get Japanese, Indonesian, Chinese, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Korean.”
Corliss noted that this program is particularly important for boutique and luxury brands—the innovators of the industry, according to him—to stay competitive, but it’s also an amenity that all hotels can benefit from. “Limited-service could potentially be where we’re going to gain the most,” he said, adding that it’s a great option for properties in tertiary markets. “USA Today, The New York Times and us, we’re reducing our delivery for print,” he explained. “Wholesalers can’t afford it, it doesn’t make sense for them and many are going out of business. This is finally something for these limited-service hotels in these markets.”
In Corliss’ opinion, the program is a win-win: Guests get access to an amenity, while WSJ gets exposure to potential new subscribers. “Wall Street Journal Digital gives access to our exclusive content, offering a full spectrum from global events, politics, business and finance, travel, sports, entertainment—a lot of things people don’t think about when they think about The Wall Street Journal,” Corliss noted.
In addition, hotels are given the ability to increase guest satisfaction scores and attract new customers. “They need to attract this younger generation to come to their hotels,” Corliss said, adding that many millennials have not ever read a print newspaper. “What do they think about a hotel when there are papers sitting in the hallway at 10 in the morning?” he asked. “Millennials want to be social; they’re tied to their devices. They can’t do anything without their devices, and this is a way to give them something of value.”
He also noted that there’s a cost-saving factor. In addition to competitive pricing, hotels will save on recycling and waste.
“Once it gets out there and people are aware of it, it’s going to make a nice run,” Corliss predicted. “I think this is the next trend.”