Snapchat Filters: W Hotels Launches 'Wish You Were Here' Ads, Joining McDonalds, Starbucks And Dunkin' Donuts

Snaps have a new touch of class on Snapchat. W Hotels, the luxury hotel brand owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and marketed for young travelers, launched a sponsored filter, the latest marketer to try advertising on the disappearing photo app.

Snapchat users who are nearby the W Hotel's 24 locations in the United States as well as the W Montreal and W London will have access to three rotating filters, starting Thursday. The filters appear as a sticker with "W Hotels" and then has three different messages -- "Current Situation," "You Wish You Were Here" and "Auto Reply" -- and can be overlaid on photos and videos taken in the location.

"The new filters will allow Snapchat travelers at W hotels to humblebrag like never before," the press release reads. "[The filters] are playful, tongue-in-cheek spins on the traditional postcard like 'You Wish You Were Here.'"

W Hotels joins several other major corporations who have sponsored filters since the ad feature was released in June. McDonald's was the launch partner, followed by General Electric and Universal Studios. Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts have also joined the system.

Sponsored filters is one of several ad products Snapchat offers under the ad pitch the company released in June. Brands can also purchase 10-second video spots within a "Live Story," Snapchat's curated feeds around events, and Discover, the app's network of 15 media partners. Stories average 10 to 20 million views.

These video spots reportedly cost 2 cents per view (a view is reported to be a millisecond for Snapchat). Snapchat may soon offer a third ad option by allowing brands to sponsor lenses, or animated filters, released in September. These ads could cost $450,000 on a regular day and up to $750,000 on a holiday such a Halloween and Thanksgiving, according to the Financial Times.

Each of these options are expected to support $100 million expected revenue in 2015, FT reports. Snapchat is valued at $16 billion, and CEO Evan Spiegel is ranked as the world’s youngest billionaire by Forbes. The app attracts more than 100 million daily active users each day.