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Cool
Ideas...Ripe for Stealing (pt. 2)
Taken
from Summer/2000 issue of the ZEITGEIST Client Newsletter
Or creative borrowing. Pick the one(s) that are best for you.
HAVE WE GOT A DEAL FOR YOU....
Why
just discount hotel rates when you can have some fun with it? A recent
off-season rate at Salt Lake City's Hotel
Monaco: The "pay your height" rate charges by
the inch. But, what if you're a basketball player? No sweat, a special
rate of $80 per night applies to women who are over 6 feet tall and
men who are over 6'3". Another Hotel Monaco promotion, is the "pay
the year you were born" rate. For example, if you were born in
1969, you would pay $69 per night. Makes spending the night with old
short people more attractive, don't it?
DON'T SEND A PACKET...SEND A BOX
Most Chambers of Commerce and a handful of CVBs dutifully provide the
obligatory Relocation Packet to callers that are contemplating or in
the middle of a move. But the Corvallis
(OR) CVB blows the tried and true "packet" concept
away with a BOX...loaded with the Sunday paper (possibly one of the
most important things anyone would want), a video on the community,
maps, coupons and more. Better yet, they actually make a few bucks on
the deal by charging $9 for the service. And why not?
PERFECT PACKAGING
With all the research pointing to the "time poverty" of our
society, it's a natural that CVBs would want to make the customer's
decision process as easy as possible. Most Bureaus know that packaging
is the key....but it's the "how" that becomes problematic
for many.
Enter the Mount
Pleasant Area (MI) CVB with a program called Golf
Central Michigan. Carol Emmendorfer and her staff have
lined up 14 courses, 13 lodging properties and a bunch of restaurants
to create a wildly successful packaging program that doubles by creating
a brand identity for the Mount Pleasant region.
To book a package, visitors can choose the courses and hotels they want
and the CVB will quote them a price. If it's agreeable, the Bureau books
the deal with the golfers credit card. Still too hard? They also offer
unlimited play packages...already assembled, described, priced and ready
to go.
The result: The Bureau reports over $400,000 in packages sold in 2000
through June. And, oh yea...the Bureau gets a percentage of every transaction.
The partners couldn't be happier and the Bureau's making money by providing
a service that has everybody smiling. And ain't that exactly the way
it should be?
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