Overwhelming Community Participation in Contest Results in Familiar Name
California's largest boutique hotelier, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, released the results of its contest to rename one of its new properties, formerly known as Coast Santa Cruz Hotel. After enthusiastic participation in the contest, the community is getting what it asked for -- the hotel will officially be renamed Santa Cruz Dream Inn.
In addition to being the name suggested by most people, this new/old name meets Joie de Vivre's criteria for the project -- that it pay homage to the hotel's strongest feature, in this case the location, and create an emotional connection for the community of Santa Cruz.
"This legendary beachfront hotel's original name was never forgotten and our contest revealed the community's desire to bring it back officially," said Chip Conley, Founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre. "The Santa Cruz Dream Inn is an iconic property that deserves an iconic name and we are pleased that this name relates to our vision for the redesign of the hotel, and fulfills the community's dream as well."
More than 800 suggestions were submitted to Joie de Vivre as part of the contest, which ran from November 5 to December 15, 2007. The vast majority of people thought the hotel should continue to be named Dream Inn. Joie de Vivre responded to the strong local sentiment and approached the Dream Inn trademark holder and successfully negotiated an agreement allowing the company to identify this one property only as the "Santa Cruz Dream Inn."
Joie de Vivre also unveiled a campaign celebrating the movement to retain the original name of the hotel and invites the community to visit http://www.keepdreaminn.com/ for updates about the renovation process. As Joie de Vivre translates to Joy of Life, the company embraces joyous moments and so will select a monthly winner from those who have entered their names into this website. Winners of this ongoing contest will receive gift certificates for stays in the renovated hotel, meals at the new hotel restaurant, and invitations to attend the grand opening party to be held this summer.
Currently underway is an extensive renovation, including a remodeling of the hotel's guestrooms, meeting and public spaces -- to be unveiled in Summer of 2008 as the only luxury beachfront hotel in Santa Cruz. Features of the new design include surfboard and bicycle storage, iPod docking stations, reconfigured and expanded meeting and banquet space, a re-designed pool/lounge area with extensive pool bar service/menu and fire-pits for evening lingering, turn-down brownies, family friendly amenities including room service and kids restaurant menus, and a new restaurant.
