Dolce Hotels and Resorts
Montvale, New Jersey
Promotion: Make us an Offer … Anything Goes

While the hotel meetings market is more competitive than ever, Dolce Hotels’ campaign for meetings planners is definitely unusual. The group’s Make us an Offer … Anything Goes campaign invites meeting planners to submit the price they would pay for their group to meet at one of Dolce’s 24 upscale resorts in North America and Europe.

Planners submit their requested dates, their preferred hotel, food and other meeting requirements, along with price; then the sales staff evaluates the offer and works to book the meeting. Even if Dolce’s staff considers the offer to be too low, they’ll submit a counteroffer that explains what the hotel can offer for that price.

“Every meeting planner is being solicited by every hotel. This is a different way to cut through the clutter,” said Peter Strebel, chief revenue officer for Dolce, which launched the campaign 6 October 2009.

The idea came about during a recent meeting when Dolce’s marketing team realized meeting planners are bombarded with various offers, and they should be empowered to name their price.

“We’re not going to say ‘no’ to customers,” Strebel said. “Most real customers will make a realistic bid.”

At the same time, a lower-than-usual bid is better than no business at all during slow meeting times, Strebel said.

“There are dates in the hotel business where you realize you’re going to get no business, so you’d rather take some business,” he said.

Dolce is advertising the offer through its Web site and e-mail database of meeting planners who’ve booked with Dolce in the past, as well as prospective meeting planners in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, the sales staff at each hotel is making 500 sales phone calls next week.

After the first week of the Make us an Offer … Anything Goes campaign, Dolce booked one group at Dolce Basking Ridge in New Jersey.

“It’s a local group that never stayed there before because they thought they couldn’t afford to stay there,” Strebel said.

Basking Ridge found a soft spot at the property in December for the group, which booked 35 rooms for four nights and a complete meetings package.

Woodlands Inn, The Hotel Hershey and Terranea Resort
Charleston, South Carolina; Hershey, Pennsylvania; and Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Promotion: Mother-in-Law Day packages

Three noncompeting resorts in the northeastern U.S. and California have teamed up to honor an odd holiday: Mother-in-Law Day, 25 October. The Woodlands Inn near Charleston, South Carolina; The Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania; and the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, are providing guests ways to treat their mother-in-laws like queens with packages that include brunch, spa services and long-stem roses.

“We’re constantly looking for slightly unusual events and holidays,” said Matt Owen, corporate director for public relations for Salamander Hospitality, which operates Woodlands Inn and two other hotels. “In this economy, you have to think creatively and stand out.”

Owens found out about Mother-in-Law Day, then researched to see whether other hotels had created packages around the event. When he realized it could be a unique promotion, Owens reached out to public relations professionals at The Hotel Hershey and Terranea Resort, whom he had worked with in the past.

“I believe strongly in collaborative public relations,” Owens said. “The local media is interested in local stories, and three is a trend.”

Mindy Bianca, public relations director for Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, agreed.

“We see the value—something that’s going to get attention,” she said. “It’s probably the first of many packages.”

After sending out press releases to short-lead newspapers, trade magazines and Web sites, the hotels are getting a lot of media attention for their Mother-in-Law Day packages that will likely lead to bookings. For example, The Hotel Hershey’s package, dubbed Treat Your Mother-in-Law like a Queen, offers a guestroom, Sunday brunch for two, a manicure for two at the hotel’s Chocolate Spa, long-stemmed red roses and a spa sampler basket starting at US$499.99.

The packages are available on the three hotels’ Web sites: www.woodlandsinn.com, www.TheHotelHershey.com and www.terranea.com.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Hong Kong, China
Promotion: Meeting Edge package

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is booking groups at its new properties and during slower meeting seasons with its Meeting Edge Package launched in late August. The package offers a guaranteed group rate of 20 percent lower than the best available rate, along with credit to the group’s master account, of up to 10 percent.