Costa Mesa targets out-of-town customers

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- While the holiday season is a prosperous time for many

industries, hotels in the city often suffer from a drop in business.

“Most hotels in our area rely a lot on business travel and groups,”

said Joe Bann, president of the Costa Mesa Conference & Visitors Bureau

and general manager of the Hilton Hotel. “Typically, the months of

November and December are a little slower for the hotels because business

travel is not taking place quite as much and people don’t necessarily

like to meet as a group. The market runs approximately 70% to 80%

occupancy during busy months; during the holidays, the occupancy falls to

between 50% and 60%.”

This year, the bureau is trying a new promotional tactic in an attempt

to bring more holiday cheer to its hotels’ coffers.

It has sent out 60,000 mailers offering shopping, dining,

entertainment and transportation discounts to American Express gold and

platinum cardholders.

The “Shop Like the Dickens” promotion is an attempt to persuade

shoppers from outside Orange County to spend a night or weekend in town

for holiday shopping at South Coast Plaza.

Aside from offering discount coupons to their customers, bureau hotels

have lowered prices between 15% and 20% to further entice out-of-towners

to spend the night between now and Dec. 30.

A pilot promotion last year, which offered the same discount packages

but did not include mailers to American Express cardholders, resulted in

a slight increase in business, Bann said.

Westin South Coast Plaza, which normally has between 50% and 55%

occupancy in November and December, averaged 60%, said Bill Allison, area

director of marketing for Westin Hotels.

“This is an opportunity for the hotels in the metro area to join their

efforts and market Costa Mesa as a destination more than we would at

other times of the year,” Allison said. “The South Coast Plaza is really

the anchor to the whole effort, plus the Performing Arts Center and the

Repertory Theatre have a lot of shows for people to take in while they’re

here.”

Ed Fawcett, president of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, said he

thinks the promotion is likely to be successful.

“They are taking Costa Mesa’s finest assets and putting them in front

of the market most likely to appreciate those assets,” he said. “They are

seeking to bring people into town from within about a 60- to 70-mile

radius, because it makes sense for those people coming to South Coast

Plaza to make a night or weekend out of it.”