Dana Communications

Situation: Callaway Gardens, a historic 13,000 acre preserve and resort located one hour south of Atlanta, was about to under new management and needed to improve Rev/PAR and occupancy. In addition, it needed to improve its image as it was about to undergo a facelift and addition of a luxury lodge and spa.

Objective: Create a consistent and elegant marketing message that could improve occupancy in the short run, but also be adapted for the new facilities being added the following year.

Strategy: Focus on the Unique Selling Proposition of the property—its fabulous gardens—to add value to the current consumer. Also, incorporate the gardens into the luxury messaging of the Lodge & Spa to separate them from the myriad of other resorts in the southeast.

Tactics: For the Inn, which appeals to the mass market, Dana employed a targeted direct marketing campaign for past guests. Dana also supplemented the direct marketing with broadcast media to bring new customers to Callaway. For the more upscale Lodge, Dana used data-mining to find Callaway’s best customers and others like them to target for direct marketing campaigns. In addition, Dana analyzed Mendelson Affluence data to choose targetedprint publications for its launch.

Results:

Following the launch of the new marketing, Callaway beat its room revenue budget for the second half of 2005 by more than 14.45%. This came following flat revenue results for the first half of the year.
The Lodge at Callaway Gardens opened early to strong occupancy and will surpass its room night budget in 2006 by more than 1,500 room nights.

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Situation: Callaway Gardens, a historic 13,000 acre preserve and resort located one hour south of Atlanta, was about to under new management and needed to improve Rev/PAR and occupancy. In addition, it needed to improve its image as it was about to undergo a facelift and addition of a luxury lodge and spa. Objective: Create a consistent and elegant marketing message that could improve occupancy in the short run, but also be adapted for the new facilities being added the following year. Strategy: Focus on the Unique Selling Proposition of the property—its fabulous gardens—to add value to the current consumer. Also, incorporate the gardens into the luxury messaging of the Lodge & Spa to separate them from the myriad of other resorts in the southeast. Tactics: For the Inn, which appeals to the mass market, Dana employed a targeted direct marketing campaign for past guests. Dana also supplemented the direct marketing with broadcast media to bring new customers to Callaway. For the more upscale Lodge, Dana used data-mining to find Callaway’s best customers and others like them to target for direct marketing campaigns. In addition, Dana analyzed Mendelson Affluence data to choose targetedprint publications for its launch. Results: Following the launch of the new marketing, Callaway beat its room revenue budget for the second half of 2005 by more than 14.45%. This came following flat revenue results for the first half of the year. The Lodge at Callaway Gardens opened early to strong occupancy and will surpass its room night budget in 2006 by more than 1,500 room nights.