Know-How Exchange : Branding

As a traveler, I think that what's important to me is the hotel's business center and the room facilities regarding internet access. I want that room internet access as a free service of the hotel. I also want 24-hour access to the business center.

Moreover, I enjoy the hotels that offer free full breakfast included. if I can get these three items to work for me, then I'm happy!

When I visit Chicago, I usually stay at the Monaco Hotel -it is nice to get to my room and have a personalized message from the manager with a bottle of water and small bowl of fruit as a return welcome to the hotel. Not to mention every time you pick up the phone, they know your name - it might be trite, but even for a seasoned traveler like me, it sounds good.

The rooms are not ovely huge, but they are comfortable and intimate. Late check-out upon request is another amenity I welcome greatly. An iron, a full-size ironing board and a hair dryer in the room are a must!

Since you are catering to business travelers, I would put together a CD of the hotel showing the rooms, meeting rooms, etc. and talking about the amenities and other facilities as they refer to benefits for the business traveler; as traveling nowadays is a painful experience to many of us.

I would mail out this CD to business travelers (would suggest renting a business travelers list, the American Express business list or similar) with a special free full body massage offer for a first try-out of the hotel.

I would suggest an advertising message that balances the benefits between the male and female genders. Women business travelers are quite a few in today's world so you might want to speak to "safety" as well! For example, if you have self parking, would you consider a "walker" service to walk women to their cars if late at night or very early morning?

Of course, as a Hilton hotel brand, you have easy access to the Hilton Honors membership and could send out the invitation to these constituency as well.

Wish you great success!
Mayrah

(I'm assuming that the party will be for local government, larger businesses, and the Chamber of Commerce)

Given you're a Garden Inn, you could focus on business/garden. For example, in each of the rooms you're showing, have fresh flowers everywhere (being sensitive to people with allergies!). Provide guests with a "treasure hunt" game card. On the card, ask them to identify some key aspects of the rooms on the "tour". For example: 1) How many meeting rooms do you have, 2) how many rowing machines, 3) How many sq ft was the guest room, 4) What was the size of the bed in the guest room, 5) Where were the high-speed internet cables located, 6) Which room had Hawaiian flowers, etc. The point is to highlight your new features by having them fill in the blanks visually. Each contest entry (with correct answers) is eligible for a weekend's free stay at your new hotel. Grand prize might be a free weekend at any of the HGI properties.

Realize that your bigger goal is getting new guests, not throwing a party. That's why each entry form should have not only a phone number, but full contact information so you can contact them after the event to get feedback on the property, their business travel needs, etc.

I love Jay's idea of a scavenger hunt themed event. The invitation could include a fake room key-card on a chain, like an event badge. The guest's name could be printed on one side as their 'name badge' for the evening (almost like a press badge).

I agree that the hotel needs to go out of its way to connect with business travelers and make them feel as comfortable and pampered as possible. Every amenity a traveler needs should be shown within room's reach including easy access to internet in each room. Coffee in the a.m. and a paper.

Highlight your conference facilities and have someone on hand to demonstrate user-friendly equipment like smart boards, LCD projectors and other hook-ups. These are all a must for sales meetings.

Of course, other services are good too - dry cleaning, room service or a good listing of delivery options - all those things that will make their stay EASIER.

If you go the extra effort to make your grand opening guests feel special, it will definitely set the tone for busines referrals.

For travelers that are not in town for the grand opening, you may want to do a clever direct mail piece that provides the CD mentioned above and include a discounted or free night's stay. Extra traveler rewards points are always good motivators. If you have a concierge service, have the concierge call your top Hilton Honors members in person to help them book their next stay - offer to arrange special services for this group such as dinner reservations, theater tickets or whatever else your business traveles might need to entertain clients.


Additional ideas to show the rooms could include internet 360s that show the entire room at a click, well-designed direct mail pieces that have a panoramic 180 or 360 of the room that folds out or even has life a flaps that show the cool features like internet hook ups, etc underneath the flap.

As a business traveler, one of the things I love about this chain are the refrigerators and microwaves in every room.

The business center, internet and gym are kind of obvious attributes in this day & age. But I always put the microwave and 'frig to good use when I am on the road and wish I had access to these things when I am in let's say a Courtyard.

One other thing that could help is take to a page from the new Hyatt business travel property and make cooked food available 24/7.

Many times I have found myself up late at night playing catch-up on the email that I missed during the day.

I recently read the Courtyard is putting focus on providing a nice lounge atmosphere which includes have a bar and nice comfortable furniture and free Wi-Fi.

Having lived in Ashburn, I am familiar with the area and I would assume a good portion of your business will be repeat customers. Create an experience that brings them back.

We all want a comfortable bed and a clean room, but what else can you do to make the staff relaxing?

Lastly, it would be good to reach out to all of the businesses in the surrounding area and establish corporate rates to encourage them to push their employees, vendors, etc. to stay at your property.


Apologies for the all-over nature of this post. I was in and out of typing this.

Best of luck!