VIRGINIA IS FOR RAIL LOVERS

We are in the business of creating unique guest experiences.  With our on-property teams and tourism partners, we have an opportunity to craft vacations that showcase our destination, our unique attractions, and our properties. With grant funding from the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC), we developed itinerary-based marketing campaigns focusing on rail experiences that created interest and eventually bookings during the slowest time of year—the dreaded first quarter of 2024.  

The Blackburn Inn and Conference Center’s Stay. Ride. Relax. paired Staunton’s newest tourism product, Virginia Scenic Railway, the state’s only rail excursion, with an overnight stay at The Blackburn. Guests have the option to choose from two routes: travel west through the rolling fields of the Shenandoah Valley, on a leisurely trip bound for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests aboard the Alleghany Special or journey east on the Blue Ridge Flyer towards Shenandoah National Park, and pass through the Blue Ridge Tunnel before turning around in Albemarle County for the return trip to Staunton. The package was available from January through March 31st but was later extended due to the marketing campaign's success.  With the additional marketing funds from VTC, The Blackburn, in partnership with Virginia Scenic Railway, was able to advertise in Virginia Living magazine along with a dedicated email to Virginia Living subscribers and produce a digital marketing campaign on Facebook and Instagram that included video ads. These efforts resulted in 112 room nights reserved and $32,000 in room revenue and 224 rail tickets sold with $28,00 in revenue for the Virginia Scenic Railway. This package exceeded our expectations, partly due to a successful social media campaign. We served just over 640,000 impressions reaching 262,455 people resulting in roughly 34,000 clicks and 12,419 landing page views. This social campaign had the best click-through rate at 5.40% and cost per click at $0.09 of any campaign to date.  
 
Quirk Hotels partnered with Amtrak Virginia to promote sustainable travel with a car-free getaway to Charlottesville and Richmond. This promotion packaged the ease of train travel with Quirk’s proximity to Amtrak stations and affordability with Amtrak Virginia’s Anytime Discount—when you travel within the state of Virginia or from D.C.—along with 20% off your 2-night stay at Quirk Hotels.  

The campaign titled, Virginia is for Rail Lovers, was also the recipient of a marketing leverage program grant through VTC. The grant funds were used to reach potential travelers within the state and from Washington D.C. to New York City. A landing page was created on each property’s website to include things to do and tips for traveling car-free. A video campaign on YouTube and other social channels was also deployed as part of the overall marketing strategy to drive room nights and revenue during the first quarter of 2024. The Virginia is for Rail Lovers campaign netted 106 room nights for $23,000 in room revenue for Quirk Charlottesville and Quirk Richmond saw 223 room nights booked with over $51,000 in room revenue.  

Along with our digital marketing campaign, to amplify our message, we invited travel and culture journalist Victoria Leandra to experience this package and document her trip, to Richmond, along the way. This first-person point of view showed travelers the ease of train travel and how to navigate public transit. Along the way, Victoria shared travel tips and some of her favorite spots in and around Richmond with two Instagram reels that received a combined view of over 85,000 and almost 2,500 post reactions.  

With the success of these partnerships, we will continue to seek additional opportunities, in collaboration with our properties, to drive value for our guests while crafting one-of-kind adventures because we firmly believe that crafting itineraries that resonate with our guests and that celebrate and promote the destination is key to the success of any hotel.