Hotel & Motel Management - March 17, 2008 - (Page 52) 52 News H&MM March 17, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Hotel waterparks Continued from page 50 In addition, the various entertainment and retail ventures—including waterparks—in mixeduse developments can be set up as separate ventures and operated by entities other than hotel companies, according to Migdal. “Does the operator of the waterpark have to be the operator of the restaurant, for example?” Migdal said. “What about a flag that does it better? They need to look at a much more sophisticated structure of the waterpark project.” While resorts and hotels with waterparks are growing their businesses, they can do a better job of attracting business and leisure trav- Stop using your vacuum cleaner as CHANGES YOUR VACUUM FROM A BATTERING RAM a battering ram that dents furniture, scratches baseboards, bangs up doors and walls. And leads to bruising repair bills. Instead, tame the beast with a Soft Vac Protective Vacuum Cover. • Ends vacuum damage forever • Installs in seconds with Velcro tabs • Soft, durable cordoura fabric outside • High-density foam rubber inside • Eliminates costly repair bills • Extends vacuum cleaner life • Increases housekeeping productivity • There’s a Soft Vac model to fit any vacuum To learn more, contact your distributor, or call us at or visit Waterparks will be part of more mixed-use developments in the future, speakers said at the Waterparks Resort Leadership & Development Conference. Speakers included [from left] Jeff Coy, JLC Consulting; Vail Brown, Smith Travel Research; Dan Martin, Economic Research Associates; and Nelson Migdal, Greenberg Traurig. INTO A GENTLE LAMB softvac.com. 800-866-7001, search Associates. “Some waterpark hotels look like budget properties and some are four-star.” Waterpark resorts also can attract more leisure travelers, including those who might want to hold a family event in the property’s meeting space over the weekend. “Waterpark hotels draw a flow of family business to what normally would have been a business hotel,” Martin said. “Smart couples could make it a destination wedding for their guests.” Another untapped target market for waterpark resorts is adults traveling without children. “You [can] use your waterpark hotel as an advantage over other hotels if you address the adult traveler. Possibly have a swim-up bar, for example,” Martin said. Waterparks also could be a great fit for timeshare resorts in the future, said Bob Craycraft, v.p. of industry relations with the American Resort Development Assn. “Waterparks are perfectly suited for today’s timeshare buyers, who are usually 52 and older and typically traveling with grandchildren,” Craycraft said. Over the past year, timeshare buyers were less interested in playing golf and skiing, which opens the door to water activities. In addition, the average timeshare family spends $110 per week on entertainment, according to Craycraft, so they would consider waterparks as part of that entertainment. hmm@questex.com CIRCLE NO. 154 © 2006 SOFT VAC CORPORATION CHRISTINE BLANK Attracting more guests elers, industry consultants said. “If business travelers come for business travel and enjoy themselves, they are going to come back for leisure,” Brown said. In order to attract guests, some of the budget hotel/waterparks might have to upgrade their facilities to become more like resorts. “Business travelers come during the week and all year, and they tend to be drawn to a specific level of accommodation,” said Dan Martin, v.p. of Economic Re- http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://softvac.com http://softvac.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.