Printable VersionWith the first wave of college spring breakers anticipated to begin arriving Friday night, area businesses are hoping a new hospitality campaign will send them home with a great impression of Lake Havasu and keep them coming back for years to come.
 John Rudolf/News-Herald Photo Nadine Weatherson, general manager of Barley Brothers Brewery, hangs a sign for the “Hook It Up” promotion aimed at college students on spring break. |
Arizona State, Texas A&M, Utah State, University of Texas, Austin and Washington State are among the first universities off on spring break whose students are expected in town, with many more in the following weeks.
In preparation for their arrival, members of the hospitality industry have banded together in recent weeks to orchestrate a campaign they call “Hook it Up,” which offers special deals, discounts and promotions to college students in town for spring break. Thousands of T-shirts, posters, buttons and special wristbands have been created, and on Thursday morning, dozens of local business owners gathered at the London Bridge Resort to collect their supplies.
“This is great,” said Chris Patterson, owner of Wet Monkey boat rentals. “The city needs it big time.”
Patterson, himself a former University of California-San Diego student, said he was first introduced to Lake Havasu years ago, as a spring breaker. Over the years, however, he said he feared the town had gone too far in cracking down on college students. The new promotion, he hoped, would change that perception.
“It helps the community,” he said. “It’s something positive, rather than the whole ‘come on vacation, leave on probation’ thing.”
Visitors sporting bright red bracelets will qualify for special deals, said Jarrod Lyman, vice president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, but they will be asked to provide university ID to obtain them. “We want to see where they’re coming from,” Lyman said.
In the past, the various players in the hospitality industry have reached out to spring break revelers, offering special deals. But this is the first time that such an outreach effort has been done collectively.
“I think this is probably the first time that we’ve seen a unified front in the hospitality industry, and I think that’s an important thing,” Lyman said.
Lyman said he was still waiting to hear the total number of businesses participating in the promotion, but he said it was large.
The key element of the promotion was not aimed at bringing new visitors to the city, but in leaving a positive impression when they depart, he said.
“It shows appreciation for the people who visit Lake Havasu,” Lyman said. “Tourism is our city’s biggest industry.”
You may contact the reporter at jrudolf@havasunews.com.
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