Meet Montco Showcase panelists and moderator (left to right:) Tumoor Haye, Paul Wong, Scott Higgins (moderator), Lauren Curtolo, and Melissa Waller
Images: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/j6px8rvr81ahzmhhfycyj/h?dl=0&rlkey=kaimqweae7q94as2zwwcsi15v
KING OF PRUSSIA, PA – The Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB) celebrated its brand-new “Room” Meetings Campaign with the Meet Montco Showcase, an event and trade show with more than 100 event professionals at Flourtown Country Club.
Planners were provided the opportunity to learn, connect, and explore at the networking event that included a panel discussion and vendor expo, which was exclusively designed to make it easy for planners to choose Montgomery County for their next meeting location. Additionally, planners were encouraged to work closely with the VFTCB as destination experts who provide free meeting support from coordinating site tours to recommending team building activities.
It’s the organization’s first meetings-specific marketing campaign aimed at attracting corporate meetings and association conference involving weekday overnight accommodations, and includes a newly refreshed web page: meet.valleyforge.org.
The VFTCB partnered with Aloysius Butler & Clark to invest $325,000 for the initiative, which has been targeting meeting planners for local corporations within 300 miles of Montgomery County, PA through digital and print. The messaging includes a play on the word room, “Room for Meetings, Room for More” highlighting all Montco has to offer: breathing room (dozens of parks and almost 100 miles of trails), driving room (50 historic and top-ranked golf courses), room for every taste (1,800-plus restaurants and Montco Makers).
Approximately 36% of Montgomery County hotels have invested more than $100 million in capital improvements, including the Alloy King of Prussia, the Sheraton Valley Forge, the Holiday Inn Lansdale, and the Marriott Philadelphia West, Higgins said. Montco’s hotel family also welcomed two new properties – the brand-new Element Valley Forge, and the riverfront Residence Inn Bala Cynwyd – with another on the way – the high-end West & Main, a Tapestry by Hilton coming in the fall. The destination has also added new restaurants such as Lark by Top Chef winner, Nicholas Elmi, according to Scott Higgins, Director of Sales for the VFTCB.
The campaign includes the company’s strongest rewards program ever offered: new groups receive $10 off per contracted room night regardless of which hotel they use out of the county’s 80-plus property portfolio. Groups can use the funds to enhance or offset program costs. Meeting attendees can also get access to area discounts with the “Show Your Badge” program.
So far, the VFTCB’s meetings-focused investment has certainly impacted web traffic. Since January, valleyforge.org/meetings has seen almost 10,000 pageviews. That’s an increase of more than 1,000% over the same period last year, and a 95% increase compared to pre-pandemic traffic in 2019. Users are coming from Pennsylvania, Kansas, Texas, and Virginia, and are spending more time on the page, which is also in the top 10 pages visited for the VFTCB – another first for the organization.
Besides a variety of things to do beyond the meeting (i.e. 50 golf courses, and the best shopping in the country between the King of Prussia Mall and Main Street boutiques), the VFTCB continues to offer tools like Montco360 virtual tours to assist planners with their event needs, site-tour services, and a FREE Visit Valley Forge mobile app.
