REPORT FROM THE U.S.—As one of the most widely used and successful marketing tools in the industry, destination marketing organizations have consistently helped hoteliers drive visitors to their properties, sources said.
“It’s our No. 1 strategic partnership. And they always deliver,” said Karen McCoy, director of sales and marketing at the 221-room Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown. “I don’t know any (hotels) that don’t partner with Visit Denver.”
Developing a close partnership with hoteliers is equally important to DMOs, suggested Michael Burns, senior VP of convention sales and services at Positively Cleveland, the city of Cleveland’s DMO.
“It's paramount to our success,” he said.
In 2011, U.S.-based DMOs—also referred to as Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus—booked 37.5 million group roomnights for future events, according to a study done by the Destination Marketing Association International. DMAI has more than 3,700 members from 600 destination marketing organizations in more than 20 countries.
“We’re fighting, perhaps more so than anybody … because we want that business in our city,” said Kevin Kane, immediate past board chair for DMAI and president and CEO of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, during the AH&LA’s Hospitality Leadership Forum in November.
“It’s not always about having to advertise (with DMOs) but really understanding who’s coming in and trying to tailor an experience and communicating opportunities back and forth,” said Matthew Sterne, GM at the 165-room Fairmont Pittsburgh.
Partnership benefits
DMOs provide an abundance of opportunities for hoteliers. In addition to attracting meetings and events, the organizations also help draw leisure travelers by promoting a destination’s attractions.
For example, Pittsburgh was named as one of the top 20 places to visit in 2012 by “National Geographic Traveler” magazine. Fairmont’s Sterne said VisitPittsburgh used the award to drive interest by creating ad campaigns touting the accomplishment. He said the city most definitely saw an increase in leisure travel this year as a result.
Targeting travelers with specific ad campaigns is one way DMOs help drive business to hotels. Another way is by showcasing a city’s cultural attractions such as museums and historical sites. The Denver Art Museum recently announced a new Van Gogh exhibit, and Hilton Garden Inn’s McCoy said that Visit Denver is spearheading efforts with the museum to get them to partner with local hotels to create package offers.
DMOs also play a big role in helping push through city initiatives that ultimately will drive more demand. The Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau recently helped organize a campaign for the residents of Miami Beach to support a 1-cent hotel beach resort tax, according to Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of GMBHA.
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Wendy Kallergis The Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association |
During a summer election, the initiative gained 66% of the vote. That money will go toward renovating the city’s convention center, Kallergis said. Ultimately, the renovation will help the city attract more meetings and conventions.
DMOs play an important role in attracting outsiders to a city by organizing what hospitality industry professionals refer to as familiarization trips. A so-called “fam” trip is a tour offered to travel agents by a supplier or group of suppliers to familiarize the agents with their destination and services.
“If they’re (showing) a visitor around a specific night or event happening in the city, we’ll try to customize that experience to the fam,” Sterne said. “It’s not just a matter of the fam coming in. We try to create an experience and a memory.”
Positively Cleveland’s Burns said his organization frequently will help local hotels organize such trips.
“We'll work closely with the hotels to say, ‘Here's the customers coming in, here's how they fit,’ and then we'll work with them through the process,” Burns said. “We'll align the hotels with the right customers and include the hotels through whatever entertainment opportunities.”
Internal strategies
While DMOs offer a great marketing platform, they also provide hoteliers with valuable data. Most DMOs conduct several meetings a month that are open to hoteliers, McCoy said.
Visit Denver does “a lot of research about who’s coming, how Denver rates on the scale to other cities,” she said. “They always validate their studies through outside sources, so it makes you feel like you have the latest and greatest facts.”
Kallergis said the GMBHA’s hotels’ GMs and director of sales and marketing will meet quarterly to provide status updates.
“Sometimes the smaller properties in municipalities, we tend to handhold them more,” she said. “That’s where we meet often to make sure they’re getting the type of business they’re looking for.”
McCoy praised the seamless manner in which Visit Denver shares pertinent information.
“They make everything easy,” she said. “Bidding on the conventions, you simply go on their extranet, put in your relative info, and they take the info and put the bid together for you.”
“It's so critically important to (Cleveland’s) success that we're assisting our community to get the right business,” Positively Cleveland’s Burns said. “The sooner we get (hotels) involved the better.”