Global Hotel chain citizenM went from 0 to 2,000,000 impressions in 14 days

citizenM and The Cirqle partnered together to bring significant awareness for the new citizenM Hotel in Geneva.

Transform influencer collaborations into consistent, trackable revenue.

An efficient and effective way to work with and scale influencer marketing. The briefing process for brand and influencer are both straightforward. Great overall performance management from influencer relations to reporting. Would traditionally consider their work very conversion/ transaction-focused, but there's also scope to build creative campaigns focused on content and storytelling.

Jaimee Hulsmeyer

Social Media and Influencer Manager

Objective

Background

citizenM, the disruptive luxury hotel brand, is known for turning each new property launch into a major cultural moment typically through high-profile influencer events. In 2020 and 2021, they faced two unique challenges: launching citizenM Geneva in the middle of COVID-19 restrictions, and opening citizenM Bowery in the hyper-competitive New York City hotel market. The goal in both cases was the same: create immediate brand buzz and convert it directly into room bookings.

Strategy

To achieve measurable commercial results in both Geneva and New York City, The Cirqle built a bookings-first influencer playbook designed to do more than create awareness, it was engineered to fill rooms. Rather than relying on broad lifestyle content, we focused on pairing high-impact creative storytelling with direct booking pathways, ensuring every piece of content had the potential to convert interest into a reservation. This approach blended premium, on-brand visuals with rigorous performance tracking, enabling citizenM to see exactly how influencer content was driving occupancy in real time.For each opening, we:

Selected high-converting creators with proven travel and lifestyle audiences who regularly generate bookings
Hosted curated multi-night stays, ensuring content showcased not just the hotels’ design and amenities, but also the guest experience from check-in to check-out
Embedded trackable booking links in stories, captions, and bios to attribute reservations directly to influencer activity
Amplified top-performing content via paid social, targeting high-intent audiences in priority regions (short-haul for Geneva; domestic + international for NYC)
Retargeted engaged viewers with limited-time opening offers to push urgency and fill rooms quickly

Results

By combining premium creator content with precision targeting and direct booking attribution, the campaigns delivered both brand buzz and measurable revenue impact:

5–7 high-performing influencers per city generated over 40 premium assets (posts, reels, stories) designed to inspire and convert
5.4M total impressions across organic and paid distribution, ensuring the hotels dominated social conversations during launch windows
Average engagement rate of 7.5%, well above industry benchmarks for travel and hospitality content
Direct booking impact:
- Geneva: +19% uplift in direct booking inquiries within 48 hours of influencer content going live, helping the hotel meet opening-month occupancy targets despite no physical launch event‍
- Bowery NYC: 312 tracked room bookings in the first 14 days, exceeding the opening-month occupancy forecast by 27%
Sustained conversion tail: Content continued to drive bookings for several weeks post-launch, demonstrating the long-tail value of well-executed influencer assets‍
Global audience reach: 42% of Bowery’s influencer-driven bookings came from international markets, perfectly aligned with citizenM’s positioning as a global hospitality brand

Conclusion

The Geneva and Bowery activations proved that influencer-led launches, when engineered for conversions, can achieve (and surpass!) the commercial outcomes of large-scale physical events. The bookings-first playbook is now a core part of citizenM’s market-entry strategy for future openings.