Quad Cities: Just in time for the holidays, the Quad Cities Lodging Association (QCLA) teams up to bring you great deals on hotel rooms and packages featuring Quad Cities area restaurants and attractions through a joint promotion with the Quad-City Times aptly named Hotel Extravaganza. From October 26-November 1, you can get 50% off on select rooms and packages in the Quad Cities by purchasing them at www.qctimes.com/hoteldeals. (Webpage will go live Monday morning.)
All you have to do to take advantage of these great deals is visit the website! Once there, view the hotel properties to find out what each is offering, and purchase it online for 50% off the regular package price. Once you make a purchase, you can print out the certificate. Each certificate has a unique code, and each certificate is good for 12 months. Almost 20 hotels/motels are participating in the Hotel Extravaganza.
The Hotel Extravaganza is fundraiser is designed to benefit the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (QCCVB). Proceeds will go toward the "Invest in Your Hometown" campaign, a program developed by the QCLA, which has hotels pooling their money into a bid fund for future tourism business in the Quad Cities. Future tourism business includes meetings, conventions, sports tournaments and events that require bid funds in order to secure the business. The QCCVB uses the funds as leverage to compete with other markets that are vying for the same business. Last year, meetings/conventions and sports events generated a $22 million impact for the Quad Cities area.
This is the fourth time the Hotel Extravaganza has been offered to the public. The last fundraiser was held last spring. During that promotion, over $9,000 was raised for the "Invest in Your Hometown" campaign. In turn, this money helped secure such events and tournaments as the American Softball Association, North American Fastpitch Association, USA BMX Nationals, North American Strongman, Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Championships, and NAIA Men's Golf Championship.
"We put together the Hotel Extravaganza Promotion to help raise funds for the QCLA Bid Fund. This fund is used to assist the QCCVB in bringing events to the Quad Cities, helping to grow the local economy, and to showcase the area for long term growth and development", said Carole Coykendall, QCLA President. "We are pleased that hotels in the area are behind this cause and support the efforts of this fundraiser and QCLA. We are excited that this fundraiser has been a hit with the community; offering local hotels at a discounted price and raising money for a good cause go hand in hand. We are happy to announce that we have added some restaurant gift certificates to some of the packages this year. We want to continue to grow our Invest in Your Hometown campaign."
Each year, the QCCVB team is out selling the Quad Cities to meeting, convention and sports planners across the Midwest. The sales team follows leads, makes cold calls, attends trade shows, appointment-based shows, and researches possible business through contacts and the Internet.
"The Invest in Your Hometown Campaign and the Hotel Extravaganza initiated by the Quad Cities Lodging Association is an invaluable resource for the QCCVB and its efforts to bring meetings, conventions, and sports events to the Quad Cities. The competition is high for these events as we compete against other cities to secure them for our region. Good proposals and a bid fund can make or break the deal," says Joe Taylor, QCCVB President/CEO. "These funds help us bring such events such as International Softball Congress Men's Fastpitch Tournament, NAIA Men's Golf Championships, FLW Bass and Walleye Tournaments, BMX National Tournaments, and ASA Girls' Softball Tournaments to the Quad Cities. In turn, these events have a huge economic impact on all facets of our economy because they pump new money into our area's economy."
The QCCVB is the destination marketing and management organization for the Quad Cities region. The staff at the QCCVB works to bring meetings, conventions, sports tournaments, group tours, and leisure travelers to the Quad Cities through targeted sales and marketing efforts. Over the last year, leisure visitors spent over $800 million in the Quad Cities and generated over $12 million in local tax receipts. www.visitquadcities.com
