Choosing a local partnership that creates the most value among businesses, communities and independent hotels has always required careful thought, but during the pandemic, these strategic connections have required a closer look.

Ron Loman, senior vice president of operations at Real Hospitality Group, said his company thinned out some partnerships in 2020, but it was able to keep ones that had a solid track record for return on investment. The Ocean City, Maryland-based management company has more than 90 hotels in its portfolio, including many independents.

Part of the criteria when deciding whether to keep or pause a partnership was whether it offered a specific-enough benefit to a hotel.

“In a lot of cases, those didn’t meet that criteria, and we did have to skip them for 2021,” Loman said. “In some rare cases, it did make sense to establish a barter agreement with some of these partners. That’s few and far between, but it did allow [a couple of our hotels] to improve their cash position by doing that. I’m typically not a big fan of that, but in tough times, we look for different things to do.”

In some cases, Real Hospitality Group's properties tacked on additional partnerships. Independent resort properties in particular added some new partnerships, many of them focused on wellness initiatives.

Typical partnerships within Real Hospitality Group’s portfolio of independent hotels include ones with museums, breweries, wineries, parks and other outdoor activities, such as paddle boarding and kayaking outfitters, which the company plans to grow in 2021.

“Regardless of where [the pandemic] goes, people are still going to seek those types of experiences,” he said. “We try to look for those first.”

Others include exclusive offers that can only be found at a certain business, such as private tastings and luncheons at a family-owned restaurant or farm. He said that’s another type of partnership Real Hospitality Group will elevate this year.

“If you can find partnerships that have exclusive agreements … it makes it so much easier to market. If [we] can offer to you as a guest something exclusive that nobody else can for that product or that experience, I think it gives [us] a little bit of an edge. That’s really what [we’re] looking for,” he said.

Caroline Dyal, vice president of operations at Pivot Hotels & Resorts, said there’s been some introspection throughout 2020, and company executives realized there were some costs it couldn’t necessarily justify. Pivot is the lifestyle division of Atlanta-based management company Davidson Hospitality.

However, Dyal’s team agreed that significant partnerships were needed now more than ever to support the community, build relationships, find new event propositions and bring back guests.

What her company does now will have an impact in the future, she said.

“We hope to get some of those partners back as the year progresses, because every partnership is potentially valid. Our ability to partner flexes and flows with the world around us,” she said.

Partnerships within Pivot’s portfolio include ones focused on health and wellness, charity, education, sustainability, arts and creativity and more to support each hotel’s local community. The selection process ensures the partner is like-minded in its positioning and open for collaboration.

Dyal said she’s been pleased that some of the company’s larger partners were able to meet them halfway if they couldn’t meet all expenses. There’s been flexibility in terms of scaling back some and potentially partnering again once business improves.

“It allowed us to have some awkward conversations, and to do so in a way that we all came out on the other side in a positive way,” she said.

At the same time, she said some of Pivot’s properties were able to make additional local partnerships after reaching out to their convention and visitors bureaus to offer up hotel venue space.

The key to local partnerships is staying fluid and curious as opportunities come up, she said.

Katie Watkins, marketing, public relations and brand manager at the Jupiter Hotel in Portland, Oregon, said once COVID-19 hit, the hotel’s partnerships shifted. The Jupiter Hotel also has a property next door called Jupiter Next, which opened in 2018.

One of those significant changes included turning the original Jupiter Hotel into a shelter for people in need after partnering with its local county government, she said. The hotel is working to extend that partnership with Multnomah County to April 2022, at which point the property will undergo a full renovation.

Because most events scheduled at the properties were canceled, they’ve had extra space to play with.

“Over the summer, we partnered with crafts organizations … and we were offering in-person crafting classes to offer our guests that were staying [here] something to do and [to give locals] a chance to get out,” she said, adding everyone was masked.

Others include a partnership with a blood donation organization to set up pop-up events every eight weeks.

“That is completely complimentary for them — they just bring their equipment in,” she said.

Her team also continues to promote local small businesses. One way they do that is by offering discount codes for guests to use when shopping those local businesses online.

Those partnerships allow Jupiter Hotel and Jupiter Next to showcase their expertise of local neighborhoods, Watkins said.

In terms of budget, she said partnerships can be supportive of both parties without always requiring funding. Instead, barter or trade agreements can be win-win.

“Having that vehicle of cross-promotion is so huge, and we also recognize that being a hotel, [what we offer] can be twofold. We’re always offering [complimentary] space to our partners if they need it,” she added.

When deciding which partnerships are most beneficial to enhancing guest experience, Loman said it’s also about ensuring they reach an audience online. His team will create hashtags for the hotel and its partner to use on social media.

He said he also ensures his hotels have backlinks included on the partner’s website, and vice versa.

“We always ask our partners, ‘Do you have blogs?’ Any time we can be mentioned … it helps our chances of being discovered on Google. At the end of the day, we’re trying to drive roomnights to the hotels,” he said.

If a satisfied guest partakes in one of these local offerings and talks about it online, that also can help drive direct bookings to the hotel, which lowers the cost of acquisition for an independent hotel, he said.

The reliance on online travel agencies grew for some of its summer properties, he said, which drove costs. Now it’s about limiting that as much as possible.

Watkins said when she’s searching for local partnership ideas online, she looks to see how a business or organization is represented on its social media, whether it’s through photos the business is tagged in or content it puts out.

“On our Jupiter Instagram, there are plenty of local organizations who are tagging us for different events as well as guests who are visiting. That’s a [good] indicator as to whether or not the community is feeling the vibe,” she said.