In the February 13, 2013 e.hotelier.com newsletter Larry Mogelonsky wrote “Weddings are a fantastic business both revenue-generating and recession-proof. It's amazing to me that many properties fail to actively support their weddings.” He is right on target.

The number of US marriages per year is 2,096,000 with a Marriage rate: 6.8 per 1,000 total populations based on the previous year as reported in January 2013 by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s online fast stats and counts. The Huffington post January 2013 posting states that 69% of weddings occur on Saturdays. Over $50 billion is annually spent on weddings in the US alone and 39% hold their receptions at Hotels. And I would assume a similar percentage would hold true in most destinations.

These statistics point out that weddings can be a vital source of revenue especially for hotels in suburban or commercial districts that depend on weekday sleeping room revenue. Consider one wedding reception a month that includes accommodations for out of town guests, usage of hotel amenities and outlets can add another $10,000 to $30,000+ in revenue.

Brides planning destination weddings bring entire bridal parties and all their guests who often stay for the pre-wedding, the ceremony, the reception, and brunch the following day. This can be a huge bonanza for any specific venue particularly in resort areas where ancillary products and services increase the bottom line.

Over the last few years there has been a huge transformation in how communications take place. According to Weddingreport.com, the average bride is between 18 and 35, and 78% of 1.63 million couples use the Internet to find wedding services. The now ubiquitous internet easily accessible from PCs, Smart Phones, and Tablets, has become the focus for a large compilation of data and information. Time zones and geography fade as surfers browse information at any time of day or night and answers to queries are expected instantaneously.

Finding a place to hold any event by searching and browsing has become pro forma. Therefore providing a format that presents more information to brides and wedding planners online, the easier and faster it is to reply to an inquiry, removing the frustration of waiting for an answer and reducing the follow-up effort on the part of the sales and catering teams at any given venue. The first to answer is known in the industry to have a 4 to 1 advantage of booking the business.

About the Author:

Susan Vladeck has a diverse background that includes three plus decades in high-tech marketing. At Wang Laboratories she was responsible for the after-market quarterly B2B catalogs, redesigned the life-cycle for both literature and software, created customer service surveys, oversaw quality improvements and was on the senior staff of her division. At a Philips Electronics start-up she served as Vice-President of Marketing and worked with Citibank and Verizon to launch online banking and Caller ID to the world. She also standardized the world-wide look and feel for Dragon Naturally Speaking products as Director of Marketing at Dragon Systems. Throughout her career she has won awards for graphics, video and web navigation.