As part of a continually increasing emphasis on attracting the "drive" market - visitors who come to the desert by automobile - the Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention and Visitors Authority (CVA) has launched its Palm Springs Hot Deals promotion.
For the remainder of the year. visitors to the desert region can book rooms at special low rates at seven local hotels and earn up to $100 in resort credits for things such as spa services and meals. Room rates start at just $89 per night with resort credits starting at $25 for a one-night stay and going to $100 for three nights or more.
"We are trying everything we can to attract the drive market, which is our best opportunity considering the challenges presented by the distressed economic conditions and the high cost and more limited availability of air travel," says CVA Director of Communications, Mark Graves. "The Palm Springs Hot Deals program in particular really provides great pricing and lots of incentives for visitors to come back to the desert if they have been here before or to try it out for the first time."
As an example of the air lift challenges facing the industry, LA-Ontario International Airport (ONT), which lists 380 daily flights on its website, actually now has 266 departures and arrivals available and will be reducing that number to 174 in the fall according to staff.
CVA, Board Chairman, Rob Bernheimer concurs with the notion of focusing on the low hanging fruit in the drive market. "As much as ever, the drive market is extremely important to the tourism business in the valley," he says. "Hoteliers are telling me that people are booking with very short windows - trending from 7 to 30 days and the window is shrinking. When the economy is tight like it is now, independent travelers are reluctant to plan very far out and book travel plans. Even in a strong hotel and convention region, the drive market is critical to keep bolstering occupancy."
Hotels participating in Palm Springs Hot Deals include: Desert Springs. A J.W. Marriott Resort & Spa; Hilton Palm Springs Resort; Homewood Suites Hilton La Quinta; Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa; Spa Resort Hotel & Spa; Viceroy Palm Springs and the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa. All CVA member hotels were given the opportunity to participate in the program.
According to Woody Peek, Vice President of Tourism and Membership Development at CVA, the marketing outreach for the program is very extensive and potent with a value of approximately $250,000. He notes that all of the advertising and publicity efforts will be focused entirely on the Southern California market.
"We are using barter to cover the cost of the entire program," says Peek. "For this program, each of the participating hotels has allocated script (certificates) that can be redeemed for room fees. Utilizing a long-established promotions company that specializes in barter transactions like these, we trade the script for advertising fees. In many cases, the TV and radio stations give the script away as prizes and they also use it for a wide variety of incentives - as a result, the script creates more visitation and we know those visitors will spend additional dollars in the market."
If you've ever heard the "Come to Costa Mesa" campaign that has for several years run on various broadcast outlets in the Coachella Valley, you have experienced the handy work of Mutual Advantage which is the company CVA has contracted with to negotiate their barter deal.
In all, the Palm Springs Hot Deals program will be promoted with 2,000 thirty-second TV ads and more than 1,000 radio spots throughout key Southern California markets. The messages direct people to the specially designed program website - www.pshotdeals.com - where they can view the options presented by the participating hotels and make reservations immediately. There is a prominent "Learn more about the area" link that points to the CVA's impressive main website so they can see much more about what there is to do in the desert.
"The TV spots will run on The Travel Channel in ten zones including Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire," says Peek. "The radio spots will be broadcast on a diverse group of stations in LA, San Diego and the Inland Empire."
Graves notes that his office is pushing hard on the PR side of things by pitching the program for coverage by major print publications such as the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, The Press-Enterprise and many more.
"This program is a value driven message for shoulder season that targets our best immediate visitor prospects," says Peek. "If it works well we will look for ways to continue it next year."
The Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention and Visitors Authority (CVA) is a Joint Powers Authority that serves as the primary coordinating agency for sales, marketing, and promotional efforts aimed at potential tourism, corporate, incentive and convention group markets.
© 2008 Desert Publication, Inc. and Sharon Apfelbaum Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2008 Public Record, The
