Travel, Tourism Experience – Lodging

Stouffer Orlando Resort and Convention Center
Stouffer Hotels and Resorts – now part of Marriott Hotels

Stouffer Orlando Resort and Convention Center – Orlando, FL
(on-going five year program)

Agency created and implemented the entire public relations, marketing communications program for this luxury resort in Orlando since there was no
in-house p.r. department.

All appropriate public relations tactics were utilized – idea generation, careful targeting of potential travel, tourism, hotel, meeting and convention, restaurant, leisure print and broadcast outlets; list maintenance.

Also, press kit development; photo selection and dissemination, news and feature story preparation; special event coordination; trade show representation; broadcast placements; familiarization trips; food and beverage promotions (with heavy emphasis on the resort’s signature restaurants).

Liaison with the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau, Stouffer’s advertising agency, the property’s corporate parents, Stouffer Hotels and Resorts and Nestle.

Highlights:

  • The agency’s various efforts in one year alone resulted in a combined print and broadcast potential audience of 365 million.  Contests conducted on behalf of the property with print and broadcast outlets nationwide exceeded $2 million in value.

  • These efforts were recognized by the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association International which awarded the property and agency four merit awards in its annual International Golden Bell Public Relations competition.  Stouffer Orlando Resort won more merit awards than any other single property in the 300+ room category that year.  Awards were presented for outstanding entries for Marketing Campaign, Feature Placement – Print Magazine, Publicity Photo With Caption and Food and Beverage Promotion.

  • To promote Stouffer Orlando Resort’s Magic Honeymoon-Anniversary package, the agency created “The Second Time Around Honeymoon” contest for honeymooners who had experienced calamitous or highly humorous first honeymoons.

    Entrants were asked to submit essays with photographs, video or other formats, which would enhance their stories.  Two winning couples received all-expense-paid Magic Honeymoon/Anniversary packages at Stouffer Orlando Resort which included side-trips to area attractions and other VIP treatment.

    A press release announcing the contested was distributed to daily and weekly newspapers nationwide.  The Travel Channel, America’s only cable television network devoted to the world of travel, also was contacted to be the exclusive television sponsor for the event.

    More than 700 entries were received from virtually every state.  In addition to 465 :30 second spots on The Travel Channel, stories appeared in more than 150 newspapers nationwide.  The Honeymoon/Anniversary package became Stouffer Orlando Resort’s most popular multi-night package.

  • Stouffer Orlando Resort gave the agency an assignment to enhance and promote a late summer event which would result in local and national exposure for the property among residents and vacationers alike during a peak vacation period.  The resort – featuring the world’s largest hotel atrium lobby – also wanted an event which could showcase this unique architectural feature of the property.

    A weekend of festivities surrounding the theme, “The Big Chill” resulted.  Stouffer Orlando Resort was transformed into a winter wonderland – the coolest place to be – during a nationwide summer heat wave.

    Elements included:  A huge evening party featuring a live broadcast by one or Orlando’s “oldies” radio stations, a fashion show featuring the latest in furs, chilling drinks and snacks.

    Also, a giant balloon drop; winter decorations including 30 tons of real snow; ice carving competitions; Cypress Gardens ice skaters; penguins from Sea World; a snowball fight for local media; a Friendly’s ice cream sundae recipe competition; a press trip for New York writers editors and editors, among others.

    During the promotion, the resort enjoyed a 90 percent occupancy rate; its restaurants increased business and more than 7,000 people participated in the various weekend events.

    In addition to Orlando print and broadcast coverage, national exposure included NBC’s Today, CNN, The Weather Channel, Nickelodeon, Superstations WWOR and WNBC-TV, New York.  Additional publicity appeared in daily newspapers throughout the country, Ladies Home Journal and Self Magazine (as a result of the press trip, among others.  Total potential audience reach (print and broadcast) exceeded 100 million.

    Broadcast segments totaled 36 minutes.  In addition, trade coverage of this event positioned the resort as an ideal location for large-scale theme events for conventions and meetings.

  • Promoted resort’s signature restaurants, chefs and special culinary events with print and broadcast media nationwide.  One such event dealt with worldwide introduction of the annual Beaujolais-Village Nouveau wine.  No other wine is put on sale in such quantities on the same day at the same time all over the world. 

    Stouffer Orlando resort had the opportunity to be the only hotel/resort in Central Florida to celebrate the uncorking of the George DuBoeuf vintage Beaujolais.  The mission was to obtain statewide and national coverage of this event when similar uncorkings were occurring all over the world.  This was achieved by the following:

    Stouffer’s “Beau” supply was air freighted to Orlando International Airport where the agency arranged for it to be met by the maitre d’ of Atlantis, the hotel’s signature restaurant, who then proceeded to deliver it to the property in a hot air balloon.  Whereupon, it was carted by horse drawn l7th century carriage and pomp and pageantry into the hotel’s 65,000 square foot atrium.

    Phase two of the program popped later that evening, when the hotel hosted a wine tasting party attended by almost l,000 civic leaders, guests and other dignitaries, headed by the Consul de France, who, at the stroke of midnight opened the first bottle.

    Local and regional media – print and broadcast – recorded the event.  The agency arranged for television personality and naturalist, Jim Fowler, to be on hand to accent the size of the atrium/lobby by flying an American eagle through its vast airspace.  In addition, an agency-produced video news release documented the party.  It was produced and distributed overnight by satellite to television stations nationwide.  Estimated audience for print and broadcast was close to 100 million nationwide.

  • Other attempts to showcase the hotel’s 65,000 square foot atrium (included in the Guiness Book of World Records) included promotion of a foot-ball field long Sunday Brunch; a convention consisting of meeting planners nationwide and the Bay Hill/Nestle Golf Tournament … see further information in this document.  

  • Stouffer also broke ground on a $12 million expansion program which would add 56,000 square feet of ballroom and prefunction space, boosting available meeting and convention space to a total of 185,000 gross square feet.  The addition made the resort one of the largest convention facilities in Orlando.

    The agency implemented a major trade campaign throughout the renovation issuing quarterly press releases and photography to update editors on progress.   These materials were used by virtually all appropriate travel/trade/meeting/convention/hotel/motel publications as well as local media.  In addition, writers and editors were encouraged to make site visits to the property.

    Since, the opening of the convention center, Stouffer Orlando Resort has become one of the most popular sites for conventions and social events in the Orlando area.

 

Stouffer Hotels and Resorts – Cleveland, OH
(on-going corporate program)

The agency implemented a corporate program for Stouffer Hotels and Resorts for six years.  Activities included:

  • Grand openings, special events and other projects for this 40-property chain on an as needed basis.

  • Press conferences to introduce new corporate packages, incentive programs, advertising campaigns, etc.  Media relations to promote these programs.

Highlights:

One of Stouffer’s promotions permitted its guests to accumulate points redeemable towards U.S. Savings Bonds in its “Share in America” program.  Stouffer used advertising to promote the program during a Presidential Election year.  Pat Paulsen, quadrennial presidential candidate, was selected as the advertising spokesperson for the campaign.

The agency’s mission was to create a special event – as zany as Paulsen himself – which would focus attention on the program and its advertising campaign.  And so we did – by creating an unconventional “convention” and media luncheon aboard a Hudson River ferry cruise, hosting more than 50 media representatives to the Statue of Liberty.

The on-board hoopla that accompanied Paulsen’s announcement about “Share in America” was accompanied by a “poor man’s” fireworks display (a video of Macy’s July Fourth pyrotechnics), a balloon launch, red, white and blue banners, streamers and confetti – all accompanied by “Happy Days Are Here Again” and other patriotic music performed by a local jazz band.  Media loved it and showed its gratitude with plenty of print and broadcast coverage in New York and nationwide.  Guests to Stouffer Hotels went for it, too, earning more than 10,000 bonds during the campaign.

  • Corporate profile stories/segments focusing on the company’s president, his contributions to Stouffer and his civic activities on behalf of Cleveland.

    Placements included The Travel Channel, Nation’s Business Today, “First Business” (Lifetime), Success Magazine, Cleveland Magazine, ASTA Agency Management, Restaurant Business, among others.

  • Positioning Cleveland as “America’s Comeback City” with print and broadcast media in order to focus on Stouffer’s and its president’s contributions to the city’s renaissance.

 

The Royce Carlin Hotel – Melville, NY
(on-going program)

Agency implemented activities similar to those conducted for Stouffer with proportional results given the smaller size and location of this property.

 

The Mansion on Turtle Creek – Dallas, Texas
(grand opening)

Agency created VIP grand opening for local and state officials, Federal Government representatives and other civic, business and social leaders.  Conducted media “fam” visits by national print and television personalities that resulted in broad national, regional and local publicity to successfully launch this luxury property.

 

Ritz Paris Hotel – Paris, France

Provided U.S. publicity support to the annual Hemingway Literary Award competition sponsored by the Ritz-Paris.  Included positioning advance stories on the competition and writers from around the world with major print outlets; announcement of winners to both print and broadcast media which produced extensive pick-up worldwide.