Allen Gelberg, director of sales and marketing for Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.-based Vintage Inns, says the Web has turned everything around for this multi-facility getaway spot that was hard hit by SARS. Occupancy was previously down 30%, but a recent online promotion launched in response to SARS has single-handedly reversed this.

Although sound on the Net is nothing new and Vintage Inns has had a Web site since 1999, Gelberg says the online radio ad and related promo garnered a massive revenue and occupancy increase. Marketing itself without aid of an agency, the company has solved its occupancy problem and rung up over half a million dollars in incremental sales in three months.

The goal: To drive people to purchase new packages while surfing. The online-only packages were made available on dates where occupancy was 60% or less. Gelberg set a ‘conservative’ revenue target of $300,000 for the promotion, which began June 1 and ended Aug. 31.

The strategy: ‘My strategy involved integrating everything and finding the quickest way to expedite the number of hits and transactions that we were getting on the Web,’ Gelberg says of his plans when he joined the company in 2001.

The audio advertisement, a radio-like spot that plays while you visit the site, was the most recent manifestation of that effort. Four packages were created for the promotion and a Niagara winery tour and spa treatment was attached to two of the packages to further drive sales. Packages consist of one- or two-night stays with dinner and breakfast.

The execution: The 30-second ad is a relatively simple, straightforward affair that sounds like a radio spot because it is a radio spot. In the course of its normal advertising, which includes TV, radio, print and DM, Vintage Inns had Hamilton’s K-Lite FM radio station create a generic ad that could be used whenever the former liked. It plays each time you visit the site, extolling the Inn’s features and giving some price information.

Says Gelberg, ‘It occurred to me, going through competitors’ sites, that there was no one utilizing their own Web site as though it was a radio station – other than [those with] very nice music. But [no one] was trying to incite a sale with something compelling on the Web.’

The results: The promotion has been a resounding success – and without resorting to discounting, says Gelberg. The Web site, www.vintageinns.com, had 800,000 unique visitors prior to June. Since the promotion’s launch, traffic has increased by almost 200,000 UVs or about 25%.

But the real action is in incremental revenue through online (or ‘virtual’) bookings. There have been over $20,000 in new bookings daily and as of Aug. 26, Gelberg says incremental room revenue generated was $581,400, easily smashing the $300,000 target.

By comparison, daily online bookings before the online radio ad began airing were about $2,000. Occupancy is well up too at 80%. He says there has also been positive spillover to the Inn’s other revenue component, its food and beverage operations, which are spread out over five facilities including the Prince of Wales Hotel and the Shaw Café and Wine Bar.

Gelberg says Vintage Inns will repeat the ad because of its low cost (hundreds of dollars) and high revenue potential. ‘We’re back on track,’ he says.