Building relationships in the visitor economy – a conversation with Chase Distillery
Strong partnerships have been essential during the past difficult year.
For independent hotels, working with established local visitor attractions that reflect your brand values can be one of those partnerships.
Don’t just list places of interest in your welcome brochure – work with those businesses to bring unique experiences to your guests.
In my consulting role at Tewkesbury Park Hotel, we have worked with Chase Distillery for more than four years. Based in Herefordshire – less than an hour’s drive from the hotel – and home to both the Chase Vodka and Chase Gin brands, the company offers very popular distillery tours.
As well as recommending tours to customers, Tewkesbury Park Hotel has also worked with Chase on fun and engaging events that work directly in the hotel environment. Supper clubs and gin tasting nights can work for private or corporate events.
Against a background of changing restrictions – Chase has taken a further step to offer virtual gin tasting events.
Tasting kits of miniatures plus distinctive literature are sent to hotels in advance; hotel staff just need to provide a few fresh garnishes. The virtual tour reflects the successful style and of the in-house tours along with tasting advice for the drinks laid out for guests.
I asked Tilly Morgan, brand development manager at Chase Distillery, what a visitor attraction may look for in a hotel partnership.
“We’re looking for a team that is going to engage with us and links to the ethos of what we are trying to do. For us as a premium drinks brand, a hotel that has a link to cocktails and has a strong bar offering is important.”
And what does a hotel potentially gain from working in this way with a local business?
“The hotel gets the opportunity to work with a premium brand that reflects their value – for example we are known for sustainability – our ‘field to bottle process”.
Linking to premium brands in the food and drink area could be a real asset for some hotels.
At Tewkesbury Park, the team has been on one of our training sessions so they’re more knowledgeable with guests about their drink offering in their own bar areas”
Which local attraction could be the perfect fit with your business?
What do you think is the key to success in making a partnership work?
I would love to hear your comments and please share your successes!