Traveler Guidebooks Attest to Tourist Boom

On Wednesday evenings, shortly after late-arriving guests check into the Quality Inn across from Knott’s Berry Farm, they commonly call the front desk and ask which channel “Dynasty” is on.

“I used to tell them to go buy a TV Guide in our gift shop,” said Nash Rajan, general manager of the 200-room motel.

But now he tells them that the answer is sitting on top of their TV set. This week, the Buena Park Quality Inn, along with 55 other county motels and hotels, began placing the Orange County edition of Travelhost--a nationally published but locally edited television and tourism guide--in 10,000 guest rooms. Among its larger customers are the Westin South Coast Plaza, the Newport Beach Sheraton and the Meridien Hotel.

Although this marks the second go-round for Travelhost in the local market--a broader Southern California version folded less than one year ago--it is yet another clear signal that Orange County tourism is on the rebound. The reintroduction of Travelhost this week also attests to the booming hotel market in Orange County that supports four different hotel tourist guides, including Inn Room Magazine, Guest Informant and Where. Some of the largest cities in the country support only one or two such guides.

“There is no doubt in our mind that Orange County should be among our top markets,” said J. Roger Thrailkill, corporate vice president of Travelhost Inc., the Dallas-based parent to nearly 100 Travelhost publications internationally. He said that in some of the better markets, the magazine posts annual net income in excess of $200,000.

Ronald Smith, general manager of Guest Informant, an annual hard-bound guest guide published in Woodland Hills and placed exclusively in deluxe hotels, said that Orange County is “suddenly a market getting a lot of attention.”

As the competition continues to heat up, hotels and their guests are seeing better quality publications, industry analysts say. At some of the finer hotels, they are also seeing advertisements on in-house television channels, but guest magazine publishers claim that the video competition has not hurt their business.

Publications Upgraded

What the competition has done, however, is generally upgrade all the publications. The listings for restaurants, shopping and entertainment are becoming more comprehensive and accurate. And publishers contend that the more tourists learn about the area, the longer they tend to stay.

“Besides Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, there a whole lot of other attractions that we can tell people about,” said Dick Doyle, editor of Travelhost and former managing editor of the Anaheim Bulletin.

By plopping a comprehensive magazine on top of the visitor’s television set, “we’ll whet his appetite to stay longer,” said Jim Dean, assistant publisher of Travelhost and former editor of the Orange County Register. Dean’s Garden Grove company, the Jim Dean Organization Inc., also publishes the Orange County Business Line, official newspaper of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce.

Travelhost’s toughest competitor in Orange County is Inn Room Magazine, a monthly publication that also has a television guide and circulates to 22,000 local rooms. Among its larger clients are the Disneyland Hotel, the Anaheim Marriott and the Anaheim Hilton.

Marketing surveys indicate that most visitors are last-minute planners. Few decide what to do and where to go until after they’ve checked into their hotel rooms. “What could be better than getting a message across to the visitor while he’s in the privacy of his room?” posed Jerry Barash, publisher of Inn Room.

Travelhost’s Doyle concurs, “What does the visitor do when he gets here? He goes to his room, turns on the TV, then looks for something to read.” Travelhost is sitting in the room free. “It may be the only thing he’ll find to read in his room besides the Gideon Bible and the telephone book,” Doyle said.

$44,000 Income Average

Recent marketing surveys by Travelhost, which reports a weekly readership of 90,000 locally and 1.6 million nationally, indicate that the typical reader has an average household income of $44,000 and spends more than 30 minutes with the magazine.

The reader, of course, is looking for something to do. But the advertiser, ironically, walks a tightrope. Restaurants and hotels might seem to be the most likely advertisers, but some hotels don’t want to see competing hotels and restaurants advertising to guests in their rooms.

That is why a strong concentration of magazines from both Travelhost and Inn Room circulate in the Disneyland/Knott’s Berry Farm area, where many motels don’t have their own restaurants. The advertisements for restaurants, then, become guest services rather than competition. Inn Room also has a cadre of rental car companies and attractions such as Knott’s and Universal Studios that advertise in the publication. Many upscale retailers turn to Guest Informant.

Even tougher than the battle for advertisers is the struggle for a sound reputation, industry executives say. Some magazines placed in guest rooms are actually advertising vehicles used by massage parlors and escort services. Most area hotels frown on such publications, but it is a reputation that legitimate guest magazine executives say they must live down.

“There’s nothing in our magazine that will embarrass anyone,” said Travelhost’s Dean. “We’re the best version of a free lunch that I can imagine.”