SAN ANTONIO? Asserting that ?quality wins and quality pays,? Chairman and CEO Tom Oliver of Bass Hotels & Resorts told the organization?s general managers that the challenge they face is balancing guest satisfaction with bottom-line improvement. ?Quality and revenue improvements directly feed each other,? Oliver told a gathering of 4,000 at the annual General Managers? Conference here. ?If you don?t give your guests a quality product, and quality service, you won?t have any guests, which means you won?t have any occupancy, which means you won?t have any revenue.? The greatest way to drive revenue, Oliver and other executives said, is to enroll more guests into Bass? Priority Club program. As Bass? numbers show, Priority Club members not only bring repeat business to Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Crown Plaza, but they also stay out of the competition?s hotels. Frequent business travelers, those who spend 50 nights a year at hotels, return to a Bass-owned hotel 32% of the time if they are enrolled in Priority Club. If not, the return rate is 10%. Priority Club members accrue points that can be used for airlines, free room nights or room upgrades. Bass recently enhanced its Priority Club Worldwide to allow members to redeem points for stays at all 135 InterContinental Hotels and Resorts. The redemption options include award nights at Bass Hotels, vacations, travel partners awards, shopping and dining, as well as charitable donations. The enrollment rate on Priority Club across all Bass brands is up significantly. Bass executives were ebullient in promoting Priority Club. Pace Cooper, president of IAHI, a worldwide association of Bass Hotels and Resorts: ?Priority Club is as critical as any marketing program there is. There is no better way to make incremental money than enrolling in Priority Club.? John Chandler, vice president of marketing at Holiday Inn: ?Nothing, nothing, nothing will drive more repeat business than Priority Club.? Tom Seddon, vp/marketing at Holiday Inn Express: ?Priority Club is our main weapon.? The branding sessions for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express resembled pep rallies. President John Sweetwood said occupancy was up at Bass Hotels while declining elsewhere in the industry; average daily room rates and RevPAR are ahead of last year, in both cases eclipsing the competition. Bass previewed new ad campaigns for Holiday Inn and Express, with both receiving rave reviews from attendees. Holiday Inn?s campaign: ?What Do You Think This Is, A Holiday Inn,? was described by an advertising weekly as the freshest new ad campaign in the lodging industry in years. Seddon said the company is spending 75% more in television advertising on Express? ?Stay Smart? message. In all, five commercial spots will air on cable networks; the segments will be shown for a longer period of time and with greater frequency. ?Consumers perceive Holiday Inn as a good value, so they feel they?ve made a smart lodging choice when they stay at one of our hotels,? Seddon said. ?The Stay Smart concept was the result of research that shows guests ?feel smart? when they stay at an Express because they get good value for their money and are not required to pay for amenities they do not need.? Holiday Inn Express plans to continue its Kids Eat, Stay Free summer promotion, one of the company?s most successful programs. Other initiatives addressed at the conference: ? Bass executives said that in the f&b segment, its Best-4-Breakfast program produced $10.4 million in new breakfast sales for Holiday Inn, and that the Breakfast To Go program was boosting incremental sales. Ned Barker, vice president of the f&B division, said: ?Holiday Inn must enter the new millenium as a food service leader.? ? At Holiday Inn, the quality evaluation process will undergo a series of changes. Franchise service managers will be more accessible, area managers have broadened responsibility and will now visit each hotel at least four times a year, leaving
