Cork International Hotel on successfully partnering with Fota Wildlife Park to offer guest packages

Cork International Hotel on successfully partnering with Fota Wildlife Park to offer guest packages

“We have worked with Fota Wildlife Park for over 10 years, and it is the most successful package that we offer to our guests visiting Cork, be it for leisure or an extended Workcation. Our Family Concierge love working with the team in Fota Wildlife Park and the new on-line ticketing system is so efficient and customer friendly” Carmel Lonergan, Director of Group Operations of the Trigon Hotels Group

The four-star Cork International Hotel, part of the Trigon Hotels group in Cork, recently spoke about their experience of partnering with Fota Wildlife Park to sell their Fota Family Package and how it provides excellent added value to their guests.

The hotel offers family-friendly features such as spacious and interconnecting rooms, a Family Concierge, an in-house cinema, playroom, yoga mat and games libraries, and a variety of tailored offers for families including a one or two-night Fota Family Package.

Carmel says that “Fota Wildlife Park is one of the biggest attractions for our target family market. It is a key visitor attraction in Cork and it is often one of their main reasons for planning a short break in Cork over other locations. During Easter when the family tourism season kicks off, the Fota Family package is a key offer for this target market and it is a valuable offer in our family marketing.”

The team at Cork International Hotel highlighted the following four benefits in offering family offers with Fota Wildlife Park:

1. Ireland’s only Zoological Wildlife Park within a short drive

Ireland’s only zoological wildlife park, set on 100 acres of natural beauty, is a great local attraction to add value to any guest’s stay at the hotel. One of the unique things about the Park, is the free-roaming animals going about their day, including wallabies, kangaroos, and ring-tailed lemurs. Naturalistic open habitats and species such as Rothschild’s giraffe, European bison, Asian lion, Indian rhino, Sumatran tiger, and the Northern cheetah are hugely popular with guests.

Facilities include, a café, fast food restaurant, gift shop, playgrounds, tour train and lots of picnic areas and play areas for all the family to enjoy a safe, outdoor day out – 30 minutes drive from the hotel. Carmel Lonergan said, “the look of excitement and wonder in the young children’s eyes after their visit to Fota Wildlife Park says it all for me! It is such a magical and fun-filled day out for them”.

2. Something for all Age Groups

The Concierge team at Cork International Hotel said that one of the most significant selling points of Fota Wildlife Park is that it has something of interest for all ages, from young children to teenagers to adults. This makes it an excellent day out for everyone and is an excellent option for families with children at different ages. The team also really like features such as the tour train, which runs in peak season, and free child buggy and wheelchair loans -available on request – making accessibility easier for all age groups.

Megan Pardy, Group Digital Marketing Manager at Trigon Hotels “We have families of all varieties and children of all ages coming to stay with us, often returning year after year,- the wonderful thing about Fota Wildlife Park is that it’s equally enjoyable for teenagers as it is for younger children. Most tourist activities are quite age specific, so it is a wonderful activity for everyone to enjoy – we often find families bring granny or grandad along too and the grandparents sometimes seem to enjoy it even more than the children. It really brings families together, offering a unique experience to bond over and make memories.”.

3. Digital Ticketing – Efficient, Secure and Easy to Use

Fota Wildlife Park recently introduced a pre-booking digital ticket system for accommodation partners, making life easier for the hotel team and their guests. Megan Pardy said, “The digital system is very easy to use. We assign the digital tickets to our guests, who receive an email with a link, through which they can book their preferred day and time to visit FotaWildlife Park. They will then have their pass on their phone, which can be scanned at the gate on arrival at the Park. It has made the booking and issuing of tickets so much more efficient and secure for our guests and our team.”

4. Marketing Support

The front of house and marketing team at Cork International Hotel recently participated in the Hotel Industry Familiarisation morning at Fota Wildlife Park. They were able to sample part of the ’VIP Family’ private tour and experience a day out there first-hand. The familiarisation trip helps the hotel staff relay the experience to the guests and bring the team up to date on the conservation and breeding programmes at Fota.

Printed DL and digital brochure copies are available to hand out or email to guests. The Fota Wildlife Park marketing team have a huge pool of imagery and video collateral available on request that can be used to create great social media content, website posts and email newsletter material.

Fota Wildlife Park also recently updated their marketing collateral to include family day out imagery, suitable for sharing on any digital and social media, available in an easily down- loadable media file, which is so helpful in marketing the Fota Family packages across any of the platforms.

Cork International Hotel, located by the airport, is based within easy reach of many sites and attractions in County Cork and services both the corporate and family market. The hotel offers family-friendly features such as a family concierge team that helps plan itineraries and family bookings. Other family-friendly features include a cinema, playroom, Autism-friendly trained team members and seasonal activities at the hotel. Guests can book the one or two-night Fota Family Package, including breakfast and dinner on their website: www.corkinternationalhotel.com.