Marketplace Secrets of the Hospitality Industry (The Inn Crowd: Inside the purchase decisions of the hospitality market)

Hotels and resorts are in the business of pleasing. Promotional products — as gifts for our guests, employee appreciation and souvenirs — are a constant in this business. As long as we exist, we’ll be buying promotional products.

To put this industry in perspective, consider that travelers in the United States spend an average of $1.⁹ billion per day — that’s $21,000 per second! — according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. With more than 47,000 hotel properties in the nation and $133 billion in total industry revenue, money flows in the hospitality industry.

Whether we are doing something internally for customers or perhaps to wow a special client, we use a lot of promotional items in many different price ranges, but we are always working within an established budget. Keep in mind, the budget can vary widely depending on the marketing goal.

Events. Since conferences and meetings make up a large portion of the revenue stream at hotel properties, it’s in our best interest to recruit events and to keep attendees happy. Therefore, hotels will purchase nice gifts for location scouts to entice their organizations to host their annual meetings, trade shows, conferences or other occasions with us. The right item here will be something upscale that communicates appreciation for their (potential) business.

Once a hotel has secured a large event, it’s common to buy items for attendees — these promos are often imprinted with the attending group’s logo, not the hotel’s. Product choices can vary, but notebooks are a standard item for business engagements since they are both useful for attendees and a nice keepsake.

Promotions. Often, products are chosen to promote a change within the resort. At the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., we once gave our VIP clients a gift set of glasses with a margarita pitcher. Conversely, we sometimes choose items as inexpensive as simple magnets to be used as trade-show traffic builders to gain exposure. Hotel and resort sales staffs are a mainstay at trade shows, too. Here, inexpensive, often travel-related giveaways, such as luggage tags, are best. Items such as pens, notebooks, golf balls, water bottles, spa products, hats and shirts are also popular.

Any chance that we have to get our name out there to our customers adds value to what we consider “free advertising.” Internal programs are also developed to promote the hotel. This may be something as simple as a large drinkware product sold in the hotel bar or by the pool in a “buy a large drink and get this free glass/bottle” promotion.

Kids. Many resorts have kids’ programs to occupy the little ones on family trips. (Properties geared toward business travelers are less likely to have such programs.) The Hyatt has used several promotions for our kids’ programs, including coloring books, neon shoelaces, painters’ caps, aprons and more. Ours was a promotional campaign that linked a mascot to our new program and gave the children something to take home to create a memory.

While some promos are purchased at the national level for all brand properties, much is still left to each location.