TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY

Traveling Companions Hotels bunk with bedfellows from soccer players to turtles. Partnership has taken on new meaning in the hospitality industry as hotels go the extra mile to attract families and casual travelers.

We’re not talking about a frequent-flier mile, either. Of course, hotel/airline affinity programs are alive and well, but not particularly compelling to leisure travelers. So top chains are bringing more personality to their partnerships with entertainment and sports tie-ins as well as more grassroots sponsorships.

U.S. hotel revenues hit $99.7 billion in 1999, a record year after a decade of falling occupancy rates, according to the American Hotel & Motel Association’s annual Lodging Industry Profile. Revenues were $62.8 billion in 1990. Pre-tax profits for ’99, the latest year available, neared $22 billion and are projected to hit $29 billion by 2002, the association reports.

U.S. and foreign travelers are expected to spend $577 billion this year, up from $549 billion in 2000, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. The average cost per hotel room was $84.87 last year.

Kids are the most popular travel companions. Traveling with children has increased 55 percent since 1992, AH&MA reports. With leisure travel on the rise, top chains are courting families. Holiday Inn, Atlanta, this fall signed on as sponsor of U.S. Youth Soccer with plans for more grassroots sponsorships aimed at families. The soccer deal reaches three million players and their parents through a dedicated soccer.holiday-inn.com Web site that lets teams and parents book rooms for out-of-town games. Teams get free equipment storage, group rates, late Sunday checkout, and other amenities. They also can redeem Priority Club points – collected by individual members who pay for team rooms – for customized soccer equipment, free stays, and airline miles. (Any club member can redeem points for soccer certificates to donate to teams.)

Holiday Inn’s site, which is linked to youthsoccer.org, has an automated request-for-proposal system that lets tournament directors e-mail team requests to 1,100 hotels nationally, then book based on location and dates. U.S. Youth Soccer’s agency, Octagon Marketing, Stamford, CT, handled negotiations and runs the program with an assist from BEN Marketing, also Stamford.

Holiday Inn plans a direct-mail campaign to members of U.S. Youth Soccer’s state associations, but its primary target is tournament directors, coaches, and team travel planners.

Shell Game Radisson Hotels, Minneapolis, last fall ran a joint promotion with USA Home Entertainment’s winsome toddler turtle, Franklin, whose feature-length Franklin and the Green Giant bowed on video and DVD last October. Packs carry coupons for one weekend night free with one paid at Radisson’s 250-plus U.S. and Canada locations. In-house shop Carlson Marketing Group, Minneapolis, handles promos; Holland Mark, Boston, takes care of advertising.

Franklin is Radisson’s first entertainment tie-in, although the chain has featured Lego and Monopoly in past family pitches. The deal didn’t include P-O-P nationally, but Radisson encouraged hotels to find Franklin’s local retail partners for grassroots deals.

“In an environment where our product is increasingly commoditized [by price and online sales], we’re always looking for new niches,” says executive vp-sales and marketing Brian Stage. “We want to develop with families the same kind of reputation we have with business travelers.”

Radisson suspended a long-running grant program that gave money to local arts organizations because competition for those foundation dollars increased. “We wanted more than to just give money. We wanted a marketing relationship,” says Stage.

Last summer, Ramada Franchise Systems, Parsippany, NJ, teamed with Hard Rock Cafe for an instant-win sweeps. The Ramada Rockin’ Trivia Contest gave away five million game cards to Hard Rock patrons and another one million to Ramada guests. Players scratched off an answer to the card’s trivia question to reveal prizes including free nights (on Hard Rock cards) and Hard Rock gear (on Ramada cards). Attached coupons were worth 20 percent off Ramada’s rate or Hard Rock food or souvenir. (Ramada will measure coupon redemption.) Impax Marketing Group, Philadelphia, handled.

An unprecedented 12,000 consumers mailed in non-winning cards for a second-chance drawing. “We were shocked,” says Ramada corporate director of marketing Rosanne Zusman. “People not only kept the cards, they read them very carefully.”

The partners may follow up with joint direct mail. “We have a similar customer base,” says Zusman. “Hard Rock is a real tourist attraction, which is perfect for us in summer.” About half of Ramada’s business is leisure travel.

Currently, a Ramada Getaway Giveaway sweeps with American Express will award 115 trips for two including airfare anywhere in the U.S. Through February, guests who pay via AmEx are automatically entered. TV, print, and online ads support.

In March, Ramada will sponsor the Food Network’s Win a Chef for a Year sweeps, in which the top winner gets a chef-cooked meal at home each week for a year. Sponsorship is part of an ad buy, and Ramada is mulling how to leverage it.

Meanwhile, Ramada sister chain Days Inn last fall piggybacked the 50th anniversary of Peanuts by giving away one of five videos to guests through December. (Guests mailed their receipt and a $5 shipping fee.) AAA members also got a 10-minute AT&T phonecard. Lobby collateral featuring the Peanuts gang supported. Days Inn handled in-house with Paramount Hotel Entertainment.

Elsewhere, Marriott International, Washington, DC, used its Olympics sponsorship as springboard for a November-through-February sweepstakes that will award a trip for four to the 2002 Winter Games. Guests who pay with a Visa card are automatically entered. The $37,000 grand prize includes airfare, accommodations, tickets to events, and access to hospitality venues. Marriott handles in-house.

Marriott is sponsor of the 2000, 2002, and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams as well as the 2002 Winter Games – its biggest sports sponsorship to date and first Games tie.

As family travel continues to rise, hotels will stay receptive to partners that can help court leisure travelers. After all, it’s better than bunking alone.

87 percent of parents travel with their children. Family vacationers spend an average 7.4 nights a year away from home, more than half of it at hotels, motels, inns, or bed and breakfasts, according to the Travel Industry Association.

New York’s Plaza Hotel is in the spotlight as itsy bitsy Entertainment Co. readies to release its first Eloise movie in summer 2002. The hotel – where author Kay Thompson’s fictitious girl lives – hosted a November auction of five handmade, designer-dressed Eloise dolls to benefit five children’s charities.