Finalist in the USA for Kviknes Hotel's digital storytelling

photo: Kviknes Hotel

Kviknes Hotel is a finalist in the international Historic Hotels Worldwide Awards of Excellence 2025 – this time in the category Best Social Media of a Historic Hotel . For us in Gasta it is extra great to see that a good and long-term collaboration is now bearing fruit on the world stage.

It is no coincidence that a hotel from Balestrand can claim to be among the foremost historic hotels in the world. For several years, Kviknes Hotel, together with us in Gasta and content producer Ragnhild Myklemyr, have put in targeted work to communicate hospitality, art and history through digital channels.

The nomination shows that digital storytelling can be as powerful as traditional marketing – when it is based on quality, continuity and authentic content.

– We no longer advertise in the old sense. People find us on Facebook and Instagram. We have had very good traffic from Norwegian guests this summer, and that is probably largely thanks to the activity on SoMe, says Hotel Director Sigurd Kvikne.

Kvikne believes that such long-term collaborations provide both security and direction:

– For us at Kviknes, it has been proven that long-term collaborations build both quality and continuity, something we greatly appreciate.

This is how we have worked together

The long-term collaboration has made it possible to work both efficiently and purposefully throughout the year. With fixed meeting points, we have together defined and prioritized the most important target groups, and ensured a steady content flow that follows the hotel's annual cycle. When relevant issues arise, we have had short lines of communication and mutual trust to act quickly - a decisive success factor in digital everyday life.

In addition to organic content, we have also implemented paid campaigns in selected periods to boost traffic and reach more broadly towards defined target groups.

The combination of long-term planning and agile handling of the unpredictable has made the collaboration both robust and valuable.

This shows the number

Planning and producing good content is only half the job – we also need to measure, to know what works and when to adjust course. The numbers from the summer clearly show the effect: the website has had an annual growth of 35%, and in July alone there were over 46,000 visits – an increase of 60% compared to last year. The traffic comes mainly from Facebook, which has given an increase of over 75% in views this summer.

On Instagram, we see the same positive trend, with a doubling of interactions. The fact that more people like, comment, save and share the content is a clear sign that it is reaching the right target audience – and helps to further increase the reach.

When we get involved over time, we can truly become familiar with the stories of our customers – and together create content that moves and engages.

We in Gasta We are proud to have been part of the journey, and congratulate Kviknes Hotel on a well-deserved final place!

Do you need a sparring partner on marketing? Feel free to contact me at ragnhild@gasta.no or 918 80 735.