Nickelodeon Family Suites: Kids Only
Featured Spotlights
Written by Meghan Flynn   
Sunday, 01 March 2009
Nickelodeon Family Suites: Kids Only
Catering to kids and families comes naturally for this Florida resort. Its capable staff and strong partnerships are part of a foolproof formula for success.




Premier Business Partners:

PTL USA
Today, there are a number of kid-friendly amenities hotels and resorts adopt to attract families. Jim Olson and his team invented most of them in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At Nickelodeon Family Suites, a 24-acre kids’
paradise and the world’s only Nickelodeon Hotel, these amenities make for an unforgettable
experience.

Nickelodeon Family Suites: Kids Only
Jim Olson, VP of operations
“When Nickelodeon started trying to break into the hospitality industry, none of the big hotel brands understood what it meant to be a kid-centric resort,” said Olson, VP of operations. “For us, however, giving kids a vacation comes naturally.”

Nickelodeon Hotel is situated on 24 acres in Florida and features two water parks, 777 family suites, and a 25,000-square-foot mall, which houses on-site dining; Nicktoons Café, home of character breakfast; Universal Studios souvenir and apparel store; the 180-seat Studio Nick theater; a 4-D Experience theater; and the Kid’s Spa, where kids can get their hair braided, nails painted, or get inked with temporary tattoos.

The hotel features popular two-bedroom KidSuites, offering Nickelodeon-themed kids’ rooms with bunk beds featuring favorites like Spongebob Squarepants, Dora then Explorer, Fairly Oddparents, and Danny Phantom, as well as a separate TV for the kids. Each suite includes a family room with an LCD flat-screen TV, game table, pullout couch, kitchenette, and an adult bedroom with a king or queen sized bed.

Families eat breakfast with their favorite Nickelodeon characters and see live shows in Studio Nick. At Lagoon Pool, there are poolside games and crafts, live entertainment, “dive in” movies, and a daily mass sliming. There is also a 3,000-square-foot arcade, mini-golf, and multi-level basketball.

When the hotel is full, Olson said there can be as many as 1,500 kids running around thrilled to be at Nick Hotel.

“Trying to contain the energy of these super wound-up kids is the biggest challenge we have day to day,” he said, explaining that in addition to lifeguard stations at each of the pools and water parks, the hotel employs roving lifeguards and a huge security force. “This hotel is unique because our goal every day is to provide both kids and parents with an unforgettable experience they will enjoy.”

The hotel’s entertainment and recreation staff is a huge asset in keeping all those kids busy each day and is another aspect unique to Nick Hotel. When guests arrive, they receive an itinerary called The Script that outlines daily activities, nightly shows, and poolside games that are hosted by the high-energy team. More than 250,000 guests participate in the live interactive shows in Studio Nick. The most popular of these are the mass slime and pie events, for which the hotel uses more than 150,000 gallons of slime and 10,000 whipped cream pies a year.

Growing up
Olson and his team have been steadily improving Nick Hotel, installing a $2 million, 4-D Experience Theater, which opened last June. It features eight-minute 3-D films that also include a fourth dimension: scent and touch. For example, when a pickle explodes during the Sponge Bob film, the crowd gets misted with a “pickle” scented spray; when bubbles fill the screen, bubbles fall inside the theater.

“This was a huge investment that no other hotel is going to make, but that’s what makes our concept so unique,” Olson said.

In February, Nick Hotel launched the Florida Resident Club. Any Florida resident can book suites at the hotel for less, get 10% off food and beverages, and receive a free gift and a coupon book at check-in that includes free Barnie’s coffee, discounted adult drinks, arcade cards, and more.

“Now is a great time to invite our Florida neighbors to experience the ultimate family-friendly vacation at a price they won’t forget,” said Olson. “Our Florida Resident Club gives families a chance to slip away for a memorable trip at a rock-bottom rate with tons of extras.”

Olson said the hotel runs newspaper advertisements throughout Orange and neighboring counties to promote the hotel and this new discount club. In addition, Nick Hotel is frequently featured on the Nickelodeon channel, which broadcasts around the country and in the UK and Australia. Four of the network’s original programs, including “The Fairly OddParents” and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” were among the top 20 most-watched programs on cable in 2008, and during that year, Nickelodeon increased its total-day audience by 6%.

Last year, the hotel began hosting Wii competitions several times a week leading up to a Wii Fit competition last September at the hotel hosted by the Nickelodeon network and Nintendo. Finalists from all over the country competed against each other during the competition, which was also broadcast on the network.

Olson said all that airtime makes Nick Hotel a widely recognized place for kids but added that the hotel has also seen increased recognition from Trip Advisor.com. Nick Hotel was named in the site’s Top 10 Best Pools and Top 5 Best for Families. Nick Hotel is quickly becoming the standard to which all other family resorts are held.
 
< Prev   Next >