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Hospitality Holiday Season Case Studies
The Pfister Hotel successfully used the holiday season to celebrate its 125th anniversary and hosted traditional Christmas events such as lighting its Christmas tree and Breakfast with Santa as a way to promote its brand. In honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the Omni Hotels & Resorts offered holiday packages for guests where they could save money on booking their holiday stays.
CASE STUDY #1: PFISTER HOTEL
- In 2018, the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, WI celebrated its 125th anniversary with several holiday events including its annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, a Thanksgiving brunch, a holiday themed marketplace featuring local artists, and Breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus in the hotel's ballroom.
- The hotel also collected food for Hunger Task Force and encouraged guests to bring non-perishable food items for the drive.
- These events were promoted across online news sources such as Lodging Magazine and in local blogs and news such as the Milwaukee Mom's Blog.
- While it is hard to find specifics on how these events impacted the Pfister Hotel brand, it can be assumed that these events left a positive impression of the hotel and its association with Christmas traditions. The Pfister Hotel is one of the top hotels in the city. As a AAA Four Diamond hotel and has a good reputation.
CASE STUDY #2: OMNI HOTELS & RESORTS
- In November 2017, Omni Hotels & Resorts offered a few holiday packages for guests where they could save money on booking their stays in honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- One of these packages was the "Season of Savings" package. Guests could have a $99 starting rate at several hotels and resorts across the country.
- Another package was the "Sip, Stay, & Save" package. Guests who booked this offer received 15 percent off their stay, two vouchers for complimentary holiday cocktails, and a late (1 PM) checkout.
- The "Sip, Stay, & Save" package offer was available from Nov. 14, 2017 to Dec. 30, 2017 and the "Season of Savings" package was available from stays from Nov. 14, 2017 to Feb. 28, 2018 and needed to be booked by Nov. 28, 2017.
Research Strategy:
It proved challenging to find clear data on the fallout and impact of holiday events on hotel brand promotion. Many announcements and press sources mentioned holiday events and explored the immediate reception of those events but few to no sources discussed those events after the fact.
We ultimately selected the case studies above because both cases hotel hosted holiday events dedicated to specific holidays (rather than holiday seasons,) both events received press coverage at the time and after the fact to some extent, both hotel chains were and are highly rated (when looked at both before and after the events examined,) and neither holiday event received any negative press that we could uncover.