Horwood House celebrates award win for Butterfly Resort campaign

Horwood House Hotel is celebrating after its sustainability-led Butterfly Resort campaign was named the winner of the Creative Excellence Award at our very own Hotel Marketing Association Awards.

The hotel in Little Horwood, near Milton Keynes, was recognised for creative hospitality marketing with a meaningful conservation message. Working in conjunction with creative PR agency Pic PR, Horwood House created the Butterfly Resort to bring its environmental values to life through community-led storytelling.

Launched in summer 2025, the campaign saw Horwood House transform part of its 38-acre estate into a miniature resort for butterflies, designed to raise awareness of the decline in UK butterfly numbers while reflecting the hotel’s commitment to sustainability.

Working with three local Buckinghamshire schools, the hotel invited more than 50 students of varying ages to design and decorate 20 butterfly houses.

To ensure the project had genuine conservation value, the hotel worked with Butterfly Conservation trustee Hugh Ellerton, who advised on how the resort could best support pollinators. The team also wrote to Sir David Attenborough, President of Butterfly Conservation, who personally replied to wish the project success.

The campaign launched during the Big Butterfly Count, helping Horwood House connect its activity with a timely national conversation. It also became part of the guest experience, with children staying at the hotel receiving butterfly-themed activity packs while conservation messaging was displayed throughout the property.

Delivered with a small budget, the Butterfly Resort generated more than 50 pieces of press coverage and achieved a potential media reach exceeding 1.1 million. Coverage ranged from ITV’s This Morning and BBC Look East to national titles including The Times and The Independent.

Our judges commented that Horwood House had “cleverly aligned its hotel ethos with a timely national conservation initiative," praising the campaign for achieving national publicity on a small budget while cementing the hotel’s environmental credentials across various media outlets.

Caroline Morrone, General Manager at Horwood House Hotel, said: “To bring home the Creative Excellence Award is a huge honour. The Butterfly Resort allowed us to engage with local schools and support vital conservation work here on our estate, while creating something our guests could genuinely enjoy.”

Karim Kassam, owner of Horwood House and founder of ZIZ Hospitality, added: “When we took on Horwood House, our vision was to blend its incredible heritage with modern luxury while ensuring we acted as responsible custodians of this beautiful 38-acre estate. The Butterfly Resort perfectly embodies that ethos.”

Following the campaign’s success, the Butterfly Resort has continued to evolve. More butterfly houses have been added, and the installation has now transformed into a butterfly trail across the grounds, with benches placed along the route for guests to pause and spot different species.

For Horwood House, the award is recognition of a campaign that was playful in its execution but purposeful in its message. It showed how an independent hotel can use creativity to support conservation and create a lasting guest experience.

Written by PicPR on behalf of Horwood House Hotel.