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Published On: January 8, 2005

Fairfield, located between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area, is a gateway to the world famous Napa/Sonoma wine region and has a number of tourist attractions including the Jelly Belly manufacturing facility, the Budweiser brewery, a variety of quality of shopping establishments and easy access to regional tourism attractions like Infineaom Raceway and Six Flags Amusement Park. In an effort to increase the competitiveness and demand for the community, the lodging properties located in the City of Fairfield formed a Hotel Business Improvement District (HBID) as a means to self asses themselves and develop a sustainable source of marketing funds to be used to promote the region. Additionally, one of the major initiatives was to develop a Welcome Center located adjacent to Interstate 80 to serve as a magnet to attract visitors and educate them about all the activities the area has to offer.

SMG was retained to develop the first marketing plan for the newly formed organization with the intent to guide their efforts to implement a successful marketing strategy. SMG consultants reviewed the situation, met with key local government officials, hotel and attractions personnel. SMG staff then developed a 3 year roll out marketing plan designed to increase occupancy and to maximize tourism spending revenues. A key challenge that was identified was the fact that a local Air Force base was building its own lodging supply which would supplant the local supply normally used by the base. This increase in lodging supply could a have significant impact on the local community. SMG developed a multi-pronged strategy designed to increase demand and make the community more competitive.

The plan is scheduled to be adopted in January of 2005.