Executive Hotels & Resorts increased overnight stays by 25% with a post-Sept. 11 promotion, and bookings have grown another 10% during the first quarter of 2002, compared with last year.

After the hijackers struck, the bottom dropped out of the travel business. The Vancouver-based hotel chain, like many other hotels, cut its rates by 5%. But then it focused on business customers — travelers who had the least choice about whether or not to hit the road — and wooed them with incentives.

Executive jacked up the number of points members could earn in the loyalty club from 300 to 500 points per stay.

The offer was valid at 19 locations in Canada and the United States from October through December.

Points were redeemable for a free night's stay (for 6,000 points), or at the online catalog of executive gadgets and gifts (www.executiverewards.com). Points could also be converted to air miles through Aire Canada Aeroplan or American Airlines AAdvantage programs.

The company set a twofold goal: to raise awareness, and to show it was responsive to companies' tightening budgets.

“The program gave us the flexibility of offering greater and more instant rewards, so we could grab a bigger mind share of our customers,” said Executive's chief financial officer Hanif Mawji.

To save money, marketing was purposefully spare.

About 10,000 Executive Rewards Club members and other corporate clients were sent a promotional e-mail alert. Signs were also posted in hotel lobbies. (Executive Rewards members comprise between 15% and 20% of the hotel's customer database.)

Some of the e-mails targeted company employees who make hotel arrangements as part of the Rez Agent program. For every room night that's booked, the reservation agent received 100 points.

The marketing cost? Less than $5,000, according to Mawji.

A central reason for the low price is that the entire program is electronic.

“If you have 10,000 people in a program and you send direct mail statements out to them, that can cost you $40,000 to $50,000 a year,” said James Christensen, president and chief executive officer of Ernex Marketing Technologies Inc., Vancouver.

Members' points are automatically totaled when guests register at a hotel. Members can also check on points over the phone.

A Web site for member statements is in the offing.

The slowly recovering economy has kept the number of visits down to 1.8 nights per stay for October through March from 2.5 nights per stay during the same six-month period last year. But loyalty customers are booking more often.

Mawji declines to say how many new members signed on during the promotion, but said the effort represents a revenue increase of about 8%.

“In the hotel business, a small number of customers who stay frequently can really make up the lion's share of business,” Christensen said.