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Tip a Glass Cause Marketing

When you buy one of three special Red Ribbon Cocktails at any of more than 50 Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants in 19 cities across the country, Kimpton will make a $1 donation to local HIV charities from October 1 to Dec 1

In addition, when you book a stay through Kimpton and use the code RRC, Kimpton will apply a 15% discount and give another $10 per night to a local HIV charity.

December 1 is World AIDS Day.

Kimpton has supported HIV causes for 20 years. Last year the effort generated more than $100,000 for 19 charities.

Kimpton links to all 19 benefiting charities and encourages patrons to make additional donations through the charity’s websites.

That’s a thoughtful step that relatively few sponsors take.

I’m a little surprised at the length of the campaign. Two months is a long time for a promotion like this to last, which demonstrates Kimpton’s commitment.

Making the benefiting charity a local one is normally a good ploy. Local people care more about local charities. But since people who book rooms or drink cocktails at a hotel restaurant or bar aren’t always local I wonder if it’s as effective as it could be in this case.

One thing Kimpton could do to really amp this up is to create some kind of matching gift effort. It could go like this: As you check in or out the desk clerk could ask if you wanted to add a $5 donation to the HIV charity to your bill, Kimpton would match it.

In addition, those that do would be entered into a sweepstakes drawing whereby guests could bring a companion for a whirlwind tour of 5 different Kimpton properties in five different cities.

You could call it ‘Give 5, Get 5,’ or something more clever than that.

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