Case Study - Stay Here-Fly There. May 27, 2009

STAY HERE - FLY THERE

How Outside The Box made room bookings soar for major hotel chain.

Background

In the last few months of every year, InterContinental Hotels Group's Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express properties typically experience a decline in RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) as business travel drops off across the country.

Previous incentive-based promotions - such as gift cards - were moderately successful in attracting business customers. Recent consumer and market research clearly demonstrated that business travelers were now ready to be rewarded for their "road warrior" life by "earning" a leisure trip. Research also showed that business travelers were predisposed to the Internet when searching for hotel rooms, particularly when these searches occur while waiting in airports.

The challenge now was to design a compelling and unique promotional offer to put "heads in beds."

Client Objectives

• To ensure a successful program, InterContinental required:
• A minimum number of participating hotels (individual properties, which typically are independently owned, would have to financially contribute to the promotion)
• A distinctive, targeted incentive to give potential business customers a motivating reason to elevate Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express above competitors
• A program that was easy to use online
• A positive booking experience for customers

Next page: 'How it Worked' and 'Results'