CHICAGO—Staying overnight at a hotel with a group of friends after seeing a show can be a hassle to coordinate. Renting the entire floor for the group can be costly, especially if drinks and food aren’t included. Keeping this pain point in mind, a Cambria Hotel & Suites here designed a package around the theatergoer.
“No one here in the city does anything like this,” said Laura O’Hara, the acting GM at Cambria Hotel & Suites Chicago Loop/Theatre District, a 199-room property managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts. “Other hotels partner with area restaurants to make the reservation process easier, but no one offers a one-stop shop. We are a new and unique property; we want to offer new and unique options to our travelers.”
The idea came about almost immediately after the property opened its Green Room, which is marketed to guests as a luxury event space. In the room, there’s a television, a shuffleboard, and pool and foosball gaming options.
Cambria’s Green Room offers guests a television, shuffleboard, and pool and foosball gaming options.
“We are in the Theatre District and share a building with the Oriental Theatre, so a theater-themed package seemed like a no-brainer,” said O’Hara, who is officially the area director of sales and marketing. “While we may want to cater to our corporate and leisure clients, our theater crowd is very important as well with this desirable location. Knowing that groups of friends often travel to the city to make a weekend around seeing a hit show, we thought we would go one step further and help them with that.”
Upon arrival, guests will find two bottles of champagne, two pitchers of margaritas, mojitos or sangria, a charcuterie tray with chips and guacamole, and a souvenir gallon tin of Garrett Popcorn Shops’ Perfect Mix. The total pricing for the property’s Director’s Circle Package, which includes the rental of five guestrooms, the game room, appetizers, drinks, pre-fixe dinner and brunch is dependent upon season, but it averages about $359 per person.
“Shows have similar start times over the weekend, and everyone wants to get ready together and hang out before heading to get a pre-show dinner or drink, so, with our package, the group is able to do all of that without leaving the comfort and privacy of their own floor at the Cambria,” O’Hara said.
The Director’s Circle Package will evolve, but the property will rely on guest feedback for direction. “We pride ourselves on our ability to be flexible and creative to accommodate different groups’ requests,” she said. “As we start to see trends, we will adapt the package to them to ensure we are evolving and growing with our guest, not remaining stagnant and forcing them to adapt to us.” With regard to future packages, the property has ideas in the works.
“We are currently putting together a package with a holiday focus,” she said, noting that the property’s location—across the street from the Christkindlmarket, as well as a short walk from ice skating at Millennium Park and the holiday windows and Walnut Room at Macy’s—makes it ideal for holiday revelers. “We are looking to include ice skates for the skaters, so they don’t have to stand in line at Millennium Park, as well as shopping offers at Macy’s and other holiday treats to round out a visit,” she said. HB
