Hotels reach out to niche markets

February 10, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

Hotels across the country are stepping up efforts to cater to niche markets - specific minority groups or the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Executives at Marriott looked at the numbers and realized that they couldn't afford to ignore these groups.

For instance, in 2010, there was a 24% and 19% increase in visitors from Asia and South America, respectively, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. And according to the U.S. Travel Association, the LGBT community accounted for 15.5% of the U.S. population in 2010, but spent a whopping $63 million on domestic travel.

To that end, Marriott has revamped its 2-year-old MarriottGayTravel.com website dedicated to helping the LGBT community plan trips.

"It's a very small group that spends a lot," Apoorva N. Gandhi, vice president of multicultural markets and alliances for Marriott, told Hotel Check-in. "It's important to us with these groups to make them feel welcome."

Get the full story at USA Today

Read also "Reports highlight travel habits of minorities" at Travel Weekly

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