Indian Wells Blog » awards

Congrats to Rich Carter, GM of Indian Wells Golf Resort

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:32:35 +0000

Indian Wells Congrats to Rich Carter, IWGR, and Troon Golf… Another reason Indian Wells has a well-earned reputation for hospitality. For full article please copy and past link below.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cypress/golfinc_2010summer/#/28

HeBS and Indian Wells Win in IAC Awards

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:31:27 +0000

HeBS, the hospitality industry’s leading full-service Internet marketing and direct online channel strategy firm, today announced receipt of two esteemed Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) awards:

Outstanding Integrated Ad Campaign for the Indian Wells Scavenger Hunt
Best Hotel and Lodging Mobile Application for The Allison Mobile Website

The Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards are presented by the Web Marketing Association to honor excellence in online advertising, to recognize the individuals and organizations responsible, and to showcase award-winning Internet advertising. Entries in the Internet Advertising Competition were judged on six elements: creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting and use of the medium.

“These IAC awards are further testament to the fact that today’s hyper-interactive travel consumers are no longer satisfied with hotel websites that offer stale visual and textual content. Interactive Web 2.0 functionalities engage travel consumers; mobile websites provide instant information and transaction capabilities via mobile devices for hyper-connected consumers. And these initiatives should be in every hotelier’s arsenal in 2010,” said Max Starkov, Chief eBusiness Strategist at HeBS.

These IAC winners understand that Web 2.0 and mobile initiatives are an integral part of the comprehensive de-commoditization strategy of the hotel. Travel consumers have no tolerance for dull or static content, and hoteliers must align the interactivity of the hotel website with the hyper-interactive behavior of today’s travel consumers.

Indian Wells, California saves money and energy with LED lights By Ginny Skalski

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:21:35 +0000

Most people who visit Indian Wells, California, are probably drawn in by the four world class resorts, the spas and the lush golf courses. The resort community in the southern California desert became a retreat for celebrities after Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz opened the Indian Wells Hotel in 1958. Since then, city officials have worked to make Indian Wells a premiere destination in the Coachella Valley.

These days, city officials are keen on sustainability, and energy-use reduction has become a key goal for the city. I had the “tough” job of visiting Indian Wells last month for an LED City^® Council meeting, and while I was there I had the city’s management analyst Susan Weisbart give me a tour of some of the city’s LED lighting installations.

Indian Wells was the first California city to become an LED City. The LED City program helps municipalities speed up the adoption of energy-saving LED lights by connecting them with information they need to make informed decisions about installing LED lights.

One of the first LED lighting installations in Indian Wells involved swapping out incandescent lights that lit the outside of city hall and other municipal buildings with 12 Watt Cree LR6™ recessed lights. It’s a change that city officials say saves nearly $7,000 a year in energy costs. That’s not counting the maintenance savings of not having to replace burned out bulbs, since the LED lights they installed are designed to last 50,000 hours – or 17 years if they’re on 8 hours a day!

The city also has plans to replace the 50 Watt halogen lights illuminating the signature palm trees lining city streets with 11 Watt LED lights. Get this: The city estimates it can save $10,095 in energy costs per year once the project is complete!

Indian Wells Wins W3 Award for Interactive Sweepstakes

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:04:01 +0000

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

HeBS today announced receipt of three W³Silver Awards for outstanding achievement in Web 2.0 and website development. The W³ awards are sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, consisting of top-tier professionals from media, advertising and marketing firms. The 2009 awards were chosen from a pool of 3,000 entries from top companies and agencies worldwide.

W³Silver Award Winners:

City of Indian Wells, Online Campaign Category (Interactive Sweepstakes)
Biltmore Hotel, Hotel & Lodging Category (Website Design)
The Allison, Hotel & Lodging Category (Website Design)

“These awards show how important an innovative, interactive campaign and a creative website are to a hotel’s marketing and distribution efforts,” said Max Starkov, president and CEO of HeBS. “The award winners, our client hoteliers, understand the competitive advantages of a comprehensive, well executed Direct Online Channel strategy. A powerful web presence enables them to reach out directly to their customers, resulting in increased revenues and above-industry average ROIs.”

The hotel website has become the first point of contact with past, present and future customers. In the case of hotel websites not developed according to industry’s best practices, this is often the last point of contact with the customer. Hotel websites can no longer exist as mere online brochures and transactional mechanisms; they have to be at least as engaging and interactive as social media networks and the blogosphere. Sites must now provide a range of Web 2.0 features and functionalities such as sweepstakes, contests, photo sharing, blogs, quizzes, interactive games and event calendars. With interactive campaigns, such as Indian Wells’ 30 Day Free Room Giveaway Sweepstakes, hotel websites must intrigue users by allowing them to interact with the destination or brand.

The above W3 Award winners understand it is no longer sufficient to have just any hotel website. Today’s online travel consumers demand that a hotel website have honest and truthful content, rich media, and interactive features and functionalities that guarantee an impeccable user experience every time.

The W³ Awards honor superior creativity on the web and recognize the individuals behind award-winning web sites, web advertising and web marketing programs. W³ is the first major web competition to be accessible to a wide range of agencies from the major agencies to the smaller firms.

About HeBS
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS), the industry’s leading Internet marketing strategy consulting firm for the hospitality verticals, is based in New York City (www.hospitalityebusiness.com). HeBS has pioneered many of the “best practices” in hotel Internet marketing and direct online distribution. The firm specializes in helping hoteliers build their direct Internet marketing and distribution strategies, boost the hotel Internet marketing presence, establish interactive relationships with customers, and significantly increase direct online bookings and ROIs. A diverse client portfolio of over 500 top tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel companies, hotel management and representation companies, franchisees and independents, resorts and casinos and CVBs has sought and successfully taken advantage of HeBS’ firm hospitality Internet marketing expertise. Contact HeBS consultants at (212) 688-2731 or info@hospitalityebusiness.com.