Background

In the 1960’s, “The Connie” as it was affectionately known, was the largest conference and convention center in Canada, with over 90,000 square feet. This privately owned property had over 800 hotel rooms, including a separate wing of 2 story rooms and a 6 story glass roofed atrium. It was also the first culinary training school in Canada that produced some of Canada’s best known and most celebrated chefs. And for a long time it was THE place to be and to be seen.

But time marched on. Competition on the airport strip grew. Funds allocated for upgrades and improvements in the hotel went to keeping things running until …. in 1992 the hotel was sold and a professional, energetic hotel management group took possession. They had money to spend. Big plans to restore the hotel to its past glory. And a passion to succeed.

Renovations were begun. Acres of carpet where installed. Swimming pools of paint were applied. New guest room doors were put in. New molding and wall coverings were hung in the rooms and halls. New restaurant concepts were developed, designed, built, staffed and opened. And the name was changed to The Regal Constellation. Now all they needed were guests.

The Challenge

Bring people and guests back to the property and to its facilities; both of which, had slid in consumers’ awareness and reputation. Excite them to trial and begin to develop the repeat business with the diverse groups that could benefit from the Regal’s new offerings. Take the very limited dollars available and short lead times allocated to build traffic, room nights, covers and a quality reputation, while monitoring the investment costs and the results for each initiative to justify on-going funding.

The Solution

Whiting & Holmes began with some “grandmother research” to get a lay of the land and suggested a small project for The Regal Chinese Restaurant. For the in-house guests, we developed a unique 4 color in-room card utilizing an existing “plastic display. We designed unique window displays for the conventioneers (searching Toronto’s China town for the items) and we produced mailers for the sales and convention folks to include in direct mail and sales calls. And results? An increase in covers were noticeable.

We repeated that idea for the Atrium Restaurant and the Banyon Tree Lounge. Another home run. We were then asked to work with the sales group to stimulate room and small meeting and convention sales, which we did by creating some innovative all inclusive packages and advertising and PR materials to support them . Plus, specific programs for Special events, Travel agents and Event Planners that were direct mailed from a list that we developed.

Business picked up on all fronts. More importantly, the cohesive and low cost campaigns created a buzz that resulted in tangible business and an increase in competitive activity to combat the gains made by Regal.