TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/070389/07038900.018

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 5.9 KB | 116 lines

                                                                                TRAVEL, Page 70

Room Service? Get Me Milk And Cookies


Hotels are discovering a big market in little guests


    Not too long ago, parents traveling with small children
smuggled them into luxury hotels like illegal pets. Most did not
dare venture into the dining rooms for fear of waiters who
sneered, diners who scowled and menus with nothing resembling a
hamburger in any language. But now the baby boomers, that bulky
and insistent generation, are traveling with their youngsters
in tow -- and once more transforming an industry that is intent
on meeting their every need. The travel business will never be
the same again.

    At the stately Four Seasons Clift Hotel in San Francisco,
children are greeted by name at the check-in desk and treated as
honored guests. Their private room ($175 a night) connects with
Mom and Dad's ($235 for a deluxe room) and comes equipped with
tiny terry robes and teddy bears. Instead of mints on the
pillows, children find Oreos or Blue Chip cookies and milk
after a night on the town. One call to housekeeping will produce
not only fresh towels and ice cubes, but also games, books,
diapers and the use of a Nintendo video game. A pediatrician is
on call round the clock. "Our business has doubled," says
general manager Stan Bromley, who began emphasizing service to
children about two years ago. "We gave away 1,200 comic books
in 1988 -- more than we sell orders of caviar."

    Though the Clift has taken pampering to an extreme, its
efforts are now typical of an industry that once merely
tolerated children. Nearly 80% of U.S. hotels offer
kids-stay-free programs to guests, according to the American
Hotel & Motel Association. Many also provide baby-sitting
services, day care and activities from cooking classes in the
hotel kitchen to kite flying. Many airlines, meanwhile, allowed
children to fly free last spring, and some are still offering
substantial discounts. Delta hands out Mickey Mouse visors,
Alaska Airlines provides pencils and slates, and Midway
Airlines serves up children's meals on Frisbees.

    Among the first to jump into this new market niche was
perhaps the least likely: Club Med. Once the ultimate swinging
adult summer camp, Club Med saw its customers growing up and
recognized that many baby boomers did not want to have to
choose between their travel fantasies and time with their
children. By introducing Baby Clubs, Mini Clubs and children's
programs at 40 locations worldwide, Club Med has become a leader
in family vacations. Other luxury resorts have followed suit.
The Village at Smugglers' Notch in Vermont even offers a
money-back guarantee: "If your child for some reason doesn't
enjoy all the activities we have planned, we will refund that
portion of your package fee."

    Even more remarkable is the effort of traditional business
hotels to cater to families. By one estimate, as many as 10% of
all business trips include children. At large medical and other
professional conventions, up to a third of participants bring
the family. In a highly competitive industry, hoteliers have
found that children's services can help win loyal business
travelers and lure future customers into the fold. "If we hook
them now, we've got them later in life," says Hyatt Hotels
president Darryl Hartley-Leonard. "This is going to become the
way of life in the travel business -- offer a specialty product
line for children, and you build brand loyalty."

    Working parents will often try to combine business trips
with family time by tacking a long weekend at the end of a
stay. "We used to be empty on weekends," observes John
Norlander, president of the Radisson Hotel chain in Minneapolis.
"Now the yuppies have helped solve the problem. I don't know
whether they have a guilt complex or what, but they're looking
for opportunities to have quality experiences with their kids."

    Perhaps the most ambitious of all the children's programs is
Hyatt Hotel's new Camp Hyatt, available at 97 hotels and
resorts. After a year of testing, Camp Hyatt made its national
debut last month as a way for children to be merrily distracted
while their parents attend meetings, go sight seeing or just
soak by the pool. Campers can pan for gold at the Hyatt Regency
Denver, ride a gondola in Scottsdale, Ariz., take hula lessons
in Maui, Hawaii. Says Hartley-Leonard, himself the father of
two frequent flyers: "We did it for a lot of reasons, including
damage control."

    The luxury hotels are not alone in their new marketing
strategies. Some economy hostelries not only allow children to
stay free in their parents' room but let them eat free as well.
"We don't lose money," says Steve Cavaluzzi, manager of the
Ramada Hotel Classic in Albuquerque. "It's a hell of an
attraction." Others try to make hotel dining less forbidding to
the littlest guests. The Holiday Inn in Orlando has a dining
room with down-scaled furniture for tots. California's Ramada
Maingate Anaheim, across the street from Disneyland, even
offers a McDonald's room-service menu.

    Also attractive to traveling parents are the new all-suite
hotels. Originally designed for business people, the suites lend
themselves to both conducting business and personal privacy. But
they are perfect for families with children too. "The appeal of
suites is savings and security," says Kathy Seal of Hotel/Motel
Management, a trade newspaper. "No longer do you have to rent
two rooms for a family of four."

    Delighted as peripatetic parents are with these
developments, some other travelers are not likely to be quite so
thrilled. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, many
people may prefer the sedate elegance of the bygone hotels to
the merriment of summer camp. Perhaps eventually the travel
industry will notice a market for mature-guests-only resorts
and cruises -- but probably not until the baby boomers' kids
are teenagers.