Stephanie Corbin

Will Hotels Giving Gas Away Help Shows?
July 2, 2008

As I looked for shows to contact for my recent story about promotions shows are offering to keep their attendees driving to shows despite the climbing cost of gasoline, I found hotels are doing the same thing.

It seems the United States has gone crazy about gas prices – and not in a good way.

Once oil started topping record prices per barrel and gas in many regions hit $4 or more a gallon (my most recent fill up in Los Angeles was $4.59 a gallon, if it makes anyone feel better), the stories started that people are driving less and staying home more, postponing planned summer vacations.

It’s bad news in these economic times because the government wants us to spend our money on domestic travel to stimulate the economy.

Ta-da! Some hotels are offering gas gift cards for those booking a certain number of days. Stay three nights or more at Best Western Hotels, and get a $50 gas gift card. Hotels.com and Expedia.com also are giving gas gift cards when you book hotel room nights through their Web sites.

For show attendees, that might be a beneficial way to still make it to a show, even if the show itself isn’t offering the promotions I wrote about.

Posted by Stephanie Corbin on July 2, 2008 | Comments (0)