NEW YORK— Hyatt Hotels & Resorts is re-affirming its commitment to the resort experience, particularly in and around the Caribbean, via an across-the-board series of undertakings. The effort will be highlighted by a $16-million advertising campaign slated to kick off next month promoting the whereabouts— and merits— of “Great Places” to this nation’s vacation travelers. As detailed by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts’ Divisional VP Victor Lopez during a media and sales gathering convened at The Grand Hyatt here, in addition to some $14 million raised as part of a public/private sector integrated Caribbean marketing initiative, another $2 million has (so far) been added to the pot by participants outside the immediate Caribbean community. “All told,” Lopez said, “our goal is to raise approximately $30 million for our promotional war-chest over the course of the next three years.” But Hyatt is committed to more than just heightened advertising and promotion as a means of replenishing consumer interest in the “exotic” resort product— a segment of the industry many maintain has been particularly impacted by the nearly year-long U.S. recession as well as the more recently manifested traveler aversion to “fly-to” destinations. According to Lopez, the Chicago-based organization has been especially active on a number of fronts vis-à-vis the overall resort sector… and intends to continue its efforts throughout this arena at an accelerated pace. To this end, Lopez pointed to the opening of a bevy of new resort properties, with some, like the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM and the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa in Bonita Springs, FL, already up and running. Among Hyatt resort sites scheduled to throw open their doors in the near future are such properties as the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa & Marina, situated on Maryland’s eastern shore and timed for a March 1, 2002 entrance into the marketplace. Additionally, Hyatt is also supporting its resort-oriented offerings through a spate of grand-scale expansions and renovations to a number of its existing locations, as well as increased attention and play to its spa and golf facilities. Finally, what would all these efforts amount to if they weren’t tied to some economic mechanism triggering greater consumer interest in the resort option. As such, Lopez also revealed that Hyatt is rolling out several decidedly value-oriented resort packages, with a substantial number of them concentrating their focus in and around Caribbean destinations.
Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa