Travelhost Update
2006 Review and "State of the Market" for 2007 to date!
Since we opened TravelHost of Greater Louisville last summer, we've had quite a learning experience and I'd like to share a bit about it. Before we took the long leap into buying the rights to publish, we did some checking around and found out that we did have some competition. The Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau publishes a piece every couple of weeks, someone called editorial services publishes an unaffiliated book called Welcome to Louisville and a company out of Lexington was trying to introduce a hard bound book called A Look at Louisville.
We looked at TravelHost and we looked at the competition and we felt like there was a good opportunity there so we took it. Even so, we thought we'd do some things to make the differences even more vivid. We've added a number of feature articles penned by folks around town. We've added better maps. Clark Capps has provided his expert photographic touch. We've added information that is timely, i.e. theatre schedules, museum schedules, sports schedules and we'll be adding television schedules in our Derby Edition. We're a better magazine with richer content that travelers like. That's one of the reasons why we're succeeding.
Also, we have an outstanding team in place. Sande Davis Rawlings is an amazing designer! She has the uncanny ability to create a 50+ page magazine that is rich in content, creatively designed, immaculately edited and interesting to read. There are no better designers than Sande Rawlings. Period.
We started with two sales reps, John Hess and Eric Dunn. Eric gave Bass Pro Shops such a great pitch that they made him an offer he couldn't refuse and we replaced him with the incredibly dynamic Tricia Guelda. A recent graduate of the University of Kentucky, Tricia came to TravelHost from TGIFridays at Fourth Street Live and she's setting new sales records almost every day!
John Hess was Conciege at Executive West and a recent graduate of Sullivan University's hospitality program. TravelHost was most fortunate to have been able to pull John away from John Shake's expert Executive West team! John has unmatched knowledge of Louisville's hospitality market and he is an excellent writer as well. Plus, he handles hotel relations making for an outstanding combination.
Market veteran Biggs Tabler is serving as a consultant for TravelHost and, in addition, he's on point for some of the region's largest accounts. Biggs is a winner and we love having him on board!
We really enjoy bringing TravelHost to Greater Louisville and we enjoy working with the city's merchants, hoteliers and restauranteurs.
Another reason we're making it is the quality and abundance of hotels that offer TravelHost to their guests. The large Hampton Inn on Jefferson St. was the first downtown hotel to invite us in and since then we've been blessed with support from The Seelbach, The Galt House, The Brown Hotel, The Hyatt Regency and the outrageous new hotel, 21C. A big "pat on the back" and our warmest thanks to Jim Meyer, John Shake and my dear friend Nick Gardner for making our dreams a reality.
Now the state of the market...
