Attracting Local Guests to Resort Food and Beverage Operations: The Case of the Orlando Resort and Spa
Abstract
Restaurants housed inside lodging operations are often subjected to occupancy fluctuations that minimize revenues during non– peak periods. Attracting local diners to a hotel’s food and beverage outlets will mitigate this impact while elevating profit margins. This case study synthesizes marketing and operational practices of a pioneering convention destination for the purpose of demonstrating a real world approach for driving local traffic at hotel restaurants. Primary interviews with the property’s executive team provided in-depth insights. It was determined that differentiating product offerings, community involvement, localized advertising, clientele-specific marketing and effective social media coupled with transformational promotion strategies propelled restaurant profits during low occupancy, but that failure to measure promotional strategies was a important weakness