After more than a year of generally staying in the same place, and in the same houses, consumers are traveling again, and a battered hospitality industry is ready to receive them.
To help lure families back into vacationing, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is offering a unique perk: kick scooters for kids’ use. The program is an extension of the brand’s popular bike loaning amenity and is intended to give families some incentive to explore their surrounding areas.
“We find that parents traveling with kids are often trying to bring as many toys and activities as possible to keep their kids entertained and off their screens during vacation,” said Kathleen Reidenbach, Kimpton’s chief commercial officer. “While many hotels, including Kimpton, have popular bike rental amenities on property, we’ve found that often those bikes are only appropriate for adults, so the expansion of Kimpton’s bike program to include scooters allows kids as young as two to join in on the fun.”
Kimpton has partnered with scooter company Micro Kickboard to develop a custom design and color scheme developed by Kimpton’s in-house design team. The scooters will come in two sizes, suiting children between two and 12. The hotels will also provide toddler and youth-sized helmets.
“This new scooter amenity helps ensure that families don’t have to choose between spending time with their children on vacation and seeing the sights and all their destination has to offer,” Reidenbach said.
Both Kimpton and Micro Kickboard have been sharing the perk on their respective social media channels to reach fans of both brands. In addition, Kimpton is offering a 20% off pricing discount at booking tied to the Kimpton X Micro Kickboard promotion.
Few sectors have been hit as hard as the travel industry over the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel spending in 2020 was $679 billion in 2020, down 42% from the previous year, according to Tourism Economics. Since restrictions have begun to loosen, the urge to travel — particularly for leisure — is starting to recover. More than 47 million Americans said they planned to travel over the July 4th weekend, according to the U.S. Travel Association. And, with international guidelines still opaque, domestic travel is more popular than ever.
“It’s more important than ever that as an industry we continue to evolve and innovate to meet the changing needs of travelers,” Reidenbach said. “Our new Kimpton X Micro Kickboard partnership is just another example of how we as a brand continue to listen to our guests and evolve our offerings to ensure we’re always delivering upon our brand promise of heartfelt hospitality.”
