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U N I V E R S I T À D E G L I S T U D I D I P I S A
F O N D A Z I O N E C A M P U S
Corso di Laurea Magistrale in
Progettazione e Gestione dei Sistemi Turistici Mediterranei
TESI DI LAUREA
Enhancing Historic Houses as a marketing product.
The case of Associazione Ville Borbone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia
Relatore
Chiar.ma Prof.ssa LAURA GAVINELLI
Candidato
CHIARA RUGANI
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Introduction ... 4
1. The cultural association Ville Borbone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia ... 6
1.1 The history of Versilia and the birth of the Association ... 6
1.2 The events organized by the Association ... 14
The events in 2014 ... 14
The events in 2015 ... 16
The events in 2016 ... 19
The events in 2017 ... 23
The events in 2018 ... 28
Other activities of the Association ... 31
1.3 Introduction of Tourism Marketing and of the strategies of the Association ... 34
2. Mapping of associated Hotels and Villas ... 44
2.1 Modus operandi ... 44
The hotels of the network ... 47
The private villas of the network ... 56
The public villas of the network... 65
2.2 Analysis of online portals ... 80
3. ADSI and HH: two realities in comparison ... 84
3.1 Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane – ADSI ... 84
3.2 Historic Houses – HH ... 89
3.3 Results of the analysis ... 98
4. The ideas and the operational phase ... 103
4.1 The online communication ... 103
Webpage of the Association ... 106
Social Media ... 111
E-newsletter ... 114
4.2 Offline communication ... 115
4.3 Other ideas ... 119
5. Projects for the future ... 124
5.1 Ideation of itineraries ... 124
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5.3 International Summer School ... 129
Conclusions ... 131
Bibliography ... 133
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Introduction
Travelling is one effective way to see the world, experience new cultures and meet new people at the same time. For many tourists, however, traveling accom-plishes many other purposes that do not have anything to do with the joy of visiting a new place. For this reason, many different types of tourism explain why tourists choose a particular destination and the things that they expect to do when they are there. Precisely from these principles, the project of the cultural Association Ville
Bor-bone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia for the enhancement of historic houses of
Versilia has arisen. The idea of the Association is precisely that of enhancing the res-idences of its network, through the creation of events and activities, and promoting them to the tourists of Versilia, typically known for its sea. What the organization proposes to do is to recommend “the other side” of Versilia, without excluding the sea: indeed, combining the two facets to offer a unique and unforgettable package for tourists. For these reasons, it is important to identify the most suitable strategies that a reality such as that of the Association must adopt to make itself known and to act in the best way on the territory. For this reason, the objective of this thesis is to demonstrate how a reality of this type operates, knowing its aspects and character-istics and analyzing the strategies used.
In order to better understand this reality, the thesis will be subdivided into five chapters, each of them with a different theme, which, however, may coincide in the focus of the thesis. The first chapter will focus on the presentation of Versilia and what it can offer, then moving on the birth of the Association and its objectives. After the cataloging of the events carried out from 2014, the last part presents an intro-duction about the marketing strategies of tourism and some of the strategies adopted by the Association. The second chapter will present the structures members of the network, with the description of them and, thanks to the interviews made to the owners or the managers, the strategies used by each one. The third chapter con-cerns two similar Associations that operate at a national level, Associazione Dimore
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Storiche Italiane and Historic Houses. The idea is to make a comparison between the
two, trying to highlight the purposes and the strategies adopted and, finally, to iden-tify common points and divergences of them. The fourth chapter concerns the oper-ational phase recently carried out by the Association and some of the plans for the future, with a specific distinction between the online phase, the offline one and other projects of the Association for the coming years. Finally, the last chapter regards three different kind of projects to realize on the part of the Association, in order to realize a real brand known all over the destination of Versilia.
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1. The cultural association Ville Borbone e Dimore Storiche della
Versilia
The first Chapter of this thesis concerns about the cultural Association Ville
Borbone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia. The Association works in the whole
destina-tion of Versilia, the area along the Tuscan coast, with the aimof showing how the cultural heritage, through appropriate and integrated management, has the potential for making a significant contribution to the social, cultural and economic develop-ment of the Versilia Riviera. The Chapter will illustrate the area of Versilia, with some notions of its history, and continues presenting the organization itself, with infor-mation about its constitution in 2014 as a Committee, its permutation into a cultural Association in the same year, its main goals and purposes and the activities and the events realized. The final part of the Chapter introduces the fundamental elements of tourism marketing and, ultimately, some of the strategies recently adopted by the Association.
1.1 The history of Versilia and the birth of the Association
Versilia is the area along the Tuscan coast, in the northwestern edge of the province of Lucca, between the ridge of the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The coastal strip is about twenty kilometers long. Versilia covers a surface of 165 square kilometers and it is divided into the administrative Communes of Viareggio (62343 inhabitants), Massarosa (22477 inhabitants), Camaiore (32368 inhabitants), Pie-trasanta (23887 inhabitants), Forte dei Marmi (7440 inhabitants), Seravezza (13074 inhabitants) and Stazzema (3134 inhabitants).1 The first true colonization capable of
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changing the territory was achieved by the Romans. During their long presence, they carried out huge hydraulic works, which began the process of land reclamation around the Lake of Massaciuccoli and part of the coastal strip. Numerous villas rose scattered in the territory and surrounded by new olives plantations of which traces are still visible today. The invasion of the Longobards brought a new dynamic to the region. From the 10th century on, a series of battles changed the coastal shore,
de-stroying many of the pre-existing fortifications and starting a new division of the ter-ritory among the noble families. Only from around the year 1200, the structure of the territory became stable with the foundation of the two cities of Pietrasanta and Ca-maiore. The history of Viareggio was highly influenced by Lucca’s domination. Around 1200 the city was identified with Torre di Via Regia, a watchtower built on King Bar-barossa’s path and then replaced by the Torre Matilde. Unfortunately, the unhealthy environmental conditions of the swamp made the area unsuitable for living until the end of 1700, when huge drainage works began, leading to the planting of the today’s pinewood (Faitelli, 2000).
Viareggio inaugurated its promenade (Viale Regina Margherita), with cafés and bathing clubs and Forte dei Marmi became a holiday destination characterized by its famous wharf2: the fashion of sea bathing and the first vacationers began to
appear on the beaches of Versilia. The advent of seaside tourism marked a turning point in the whole destination.
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Fig.1 Viareggio in 16th century
Source: private photo
Versilia nowadays is widely known and popular for its resorts and numerous clubs along its Riviera. The place is characteristic for its pine forests, golden beaches, charming hinterlands and interesting villages, and a mild climate and nightlife brim-ming with performances and entertainment. Versilia is scattering of past glories that influenced the main towns: Forte dei Marmi, Pietrasanta and Viareggio along the coastline; Massarosa near the Lake of Massaciuccoli; Camaiore in the hills; and Stazzema and Seravezza in Upper Versilia. Sea, mountains, hills, endless sandy beaches are the distinguishing features that talk of the charm of an area that has always been a place for fun, tourism and carefreeness.
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Fig.2 Map of Versilia
Source: Google
Moreover, this heavenly locality hides a precious treasure that would be a fantastic touristic product, if used in the right way. In fact, the destination is scattered of historical villas, dwellings and artistic masterpieces that are not adequately appre-ciated and even known by tourists and, sometimes, by residents themselves. Lot of problems obstruct this kind of tourism, such as problems within the public admin-istration, the maintenance of historical houses and stalls due to the Italian bureau-cracy.
It is possible to talk about a real boom for luxury villas and historical houses in Italy, considering the last five years: the demand from foreigners for these luxuri-ous places for their holidays has increased by more than 50%, despite fees of rent that can reach 300 thousand Euros per month and 7 thousand Euros for a week. Win-dows on Italy have realized the snapshot of this phenomenon: 45% of booking comes
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from Anglo-Saxon countries (20% is represented by USA, followed by England and Australia). No wonder if Tuscany is the most requested region by tourists.3
To better understand the situation of Versilia, I realized a SWOT analysis of the destination.4 This strategy analysis tool combines the study of strengths and
weaknesses of an organization, a geographical area or a sector, with the study of opportunities and threats of their environment.
Tab.1 Example of SWOT Analysis
Positive aspect Negative aspect
Internal factors Strengths Weaknesses
External factors Opportunities Threats
The aim of the analysis is to take into account internal and external factors, maximizing the potential of the endogenous factors (strengths and opportunities), while minimizing the impact of the exogenous ones (weaknesses and threats). Where possible, any organization, geographical area or sector, would convert any threats or weaknesses into strengths or opportunities (Pickton, Wright, 1998). This transfor-mation can be done, but it requires the right mindset, willingness to take risks and a team passionate about delivering results.
Tab.2 SWOT Analysis of Versilia INTERNAL FACTORS STRENGTHS (+)
- Identity of the single locality
- Popularity due to the summer holi-days
WEAKNESSES (-)
- Lack of a unique destination brand (Versilia)
- Local rivalry between the localities
EXTERNAL FACTORS
3 Source:
http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/impresa-e-territori/2017-02-03/boom-vacanze-lusso-ita-lia-ville-e-palazzi-storici-185754.shtml?uuid=AEXtPxN
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OPPORTUNITIES (+)
- Cultural, artistic and historical herit-age to make known between tourists - Use Master Giacomo Puccini as a real
brand, to reinforce the symbol of the destination
- Creation of a unique destination for the tourist offering
THREATS (-)
- Seasonality
- Competition between emergent holi-day resorts in the Mediterranean Sea - High prices compared with close
des-tinations
Source: personal elaboration
In the month of January of 2014 a Committee for the appreciation of Bour-bons villas of the Versilia was born: a group of people joined together, with the aim of estimate and appreciate itineraries, above all Bourbons ones, between the areas of Versilia and Lucchesia. The Committee was born from the desire of five women5
who, united by the passion for the historical heritage of the destination, wanted to transform their dream in something real. They put together their competence and enthusiasm, involving actively the seven districts of Versilia. In the month of March of the same year, the Committee became a not-for-profit cultural Association, named
Ville Borbone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia.
Fig.3 Logo of the Association Ville Borbone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia
Source: Archive of the Association
The Association has the aim of promoting the network of villas and dwellings, through a development and a qualification of the touristic offer, operating in a posi-tive way on the growth of the territory. Among the most popular villas, it is important
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to mention Villa Borbone in Viareggio, Villa Borbone in Capezzano Pianore (Ca-maiore), Villa Gobbi Benelli in Bargecchia (Massarosa) and Villa Toscano in Massarosa (the associated dwellings - hotels or villas - will be analyzed in the next chapter).
Fig.4 Villa Borbone Viareggio, Villa Borbone Capezzano Pianore, Villa Gobbi Benelli and Villa Toscano
Source: Google
The whole province of Lucca counts on a real network of villas and historical dwellings that represents for every communes an important historical and cultural patrimony. This is a real holiday package that, in addition with fabulous itineraries, such as the popular Via Francigena, has to be suggested to tourists. The intent of the group is to create a real system of villas (Bourbons and non-Bourbons), to realize an authentic appreciation of the historical and artistic aspects of the destination, to pro-mote activities and new touristic offering for the Versilia coast and to make a unique heritage available for everyone who wants to discover it. The Association wants to make known the historical sites of Versilia, connected with Bourbon and other aris-tocratic families, owners of important heritages in the territory, as a real “sistema
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museale”, in connection with national and international initiatives. The main purpose is to realize an activity of promotion and appreciation of that system, through a strengthening of the touristic offering. In detail, the Association organizes guided tours (differentiated for topic, duration and target), educational activities, historical itineraries, didactic labs for institutes, events (concerts, commemorations, tastes, meetings, shows and plays at theatre, exhibits, auction) and it works as a researcher for the associated villas. The Association comprehends three kinds of members:
- The owners of the associated villas, who contribute with a yearly amount of €150,00;
- The supporters, who contribute with a yearly amount of €50,00 and they dis-pense voluntary contributions;
- The ordinary members, who contribute with a yearly amount of €30,00.
Until now, the Association has not been financed with any public contribution or sponsorship and, therefore, has gone ahead thanks to the contributions of the mem-bers and its own forces. I realized a SWOT analysis6 also for the Association, to
un-derline both positive and negative elements of internal and external sides.
Tab.3 SWOT Analysis of the Association Ville Borbone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia INTERNAL FACTORS
STRENGTHS (+)
- No sponsorship in economic field (the Association realized its events and ac-tivities thanks to its own power) - Collaboration with other Associations
of Versilia
WEAKNESSES (-)
- Lack of online marketing strategy - Lack of collaboration between
inter-nal members
- No sponsorship in economic field
EXTERNAL FACTORS
6 Source: personal elaboration, realized thanks to the experience of the President Maria Assunta
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OPPORTUNITIES (+) - Cultural heritage
- Artistic and historical patrimony - Presence of villas and historical
dwell-ings all over the area of Versilia
THREATS (-)
- Seasonality
- Lack of collaboration between the en-tirety of the Communes and Associa-tions
Source: personal elaboration, thanks to the experience of the President Maria Assunta Casaroli
1.2 The events organized by the Association
The Association has realized numerous events from the first year of the con-stitution, up to these days. As it is possible to deduce from the events described later, the Organization wants to expand its limits, involving every kind of activities that has to do with the world of tourism connected with culture, art and history. The Associa-tion realizes every event in the magnificent sceneries of the associated villas, dwell-ings or hotels that are spread all over the destination of Versilia and offer fantastic landscapes and panoramas to the visitors.
The events in 2014
Tab.4 Events realized in 2014 Date and
loca-tion of the event
Name of the event Typology of the event Description of the event
11th June – Villa
Borbone
Debut of the Associ-ation
Introduction First debut of the Association to make the Organization known to authorities, institu-tions and privates. The Presi-dent, Maria Assunta Casaroli,
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with the other funding mem-bers, clearly illustrated the aims of the newborn Associa-tion.
18th July – Villa
Gobbi Benelli
Nei luoghi della sto-ria. Scoprire i molti tesori della Versilia.
Cultural An event with the aim of make known the historical heritage. It was possible for visitors to see the spectacular hunting room, painted in 1840 by the “lucchese” painter Francesco Bianchi, alias “il Diavoletto”. October – Villa Orlando Love me in Tuscany - workshop Toscana Promozione settore wedding
Meeting First partnership with Toscana Promozione. A training day in-spired on B2B. The meeting concerned an analysis of the phenomenon wedding in Tus-cany, a new frontier in the touristic sphere.
Week of the Culture – Villa Gobbi Benelli
Canto e Musica in-sieme per l’arte
Musical In partnership with the stu-dents of the conservatory Boc-cherini of Lucca. In the magnif-icent scenery of Villa Gobbi Benelli, the students pre-sented a musical repertoire of the romantic period.
14th December –
Villa Argentina
Villa Argentina – Una speciale visita guidata
Guided tour In partnership with the Prov-ince of Lucca, the touristic agency Wishversilia and the Association itself, with the aim of appreciating the local herit-age and to promote it as a new touristic product for national and international market.
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During the first year of the foundation of the Association, five different types of events were realized, including first of all the presentation of the organization re-alized on the 11th of June at Villa Borbone. In the month of July, the first event
orga-nized was a cultural event, then a meeting, a musical event and the first guided tour realized by the Association. The intent was twofold: to experiment for the first time with more typologies of events, and to figure out which one would attract more par-ticipants.
The events in 2015
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Date and loca-tion of the event
Name of the event Typology of the event Description of the event
23rd January –
Villa Gobbi Ben-elli
A cena con Maria Teresa di Savoia
Cultural Living history, with a distinc-tive dinner, made of 19th
cen-tury recipes, accompanied by opera and piano.
27th February –
Villa Paolina
Il gran ballo storico Themed night The dwelling was enriched of floral compositions and illumi-nated by candles, hosted la-dies and knights, who wanted to re-experience past epochs. 20th May – Villa
Tina
Un tuffo nel Liberty Guided tour Special visit curated by the ex-pert Alessandra Belluomini Pucci, followed by a rich buffet of pastries and coffee. 5th June –
Palazzo Paolina
Incontro con Pao-lina Bonaparte
Guided tour The Association took part to the events of the Compleanno di Viareggio, in partnership with the Associazione cul-turale sorriso Viareggino, or-ganized by Filippo Mori of Club Negroni. Two “special” charac-ters, dressed in the costumes of Paolina Bonaparte and Percy Bysshe Shelley, guided the tours.
14th June -
Mas-sarosa
Passeggiata delle ville
Guided tour A perfect fusion between na-ture and artistic heritage. July – August –
September
Agenda of Musical Events
Musical The Association presented an agenda of musical events in the evocative villas that
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Fig.5 Some of the events of 2015
Source: Archive of the Association
During 2015, the events organized by the Association were seven. These in-cluded one cultural event, three musical events, three guided tours and a novelty introduced for the first time: the first edition of the themed night “Gran ballo storico” which, as we will see soon, will be a regular appointment for the Association every year. “Passeggiata nelle Ville” of 2015 was the first edition concerning the guided
hosted Master Giacomo Puc-cini, with the precious artistic direction of Orchestra del Fes-tival Puccini.
December Mese Pucciniano Musical This event, every year, has the aim of commemorating the fa-mous musician with copious occurrences.
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tours, repeated in the years to follow because it received a great interest and success among the participants.
The events in 2016
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Date and loca-tion of the event
Name of the event Typology of the event Description of the event
20th February –
Villa Gori
Parigi e Venezia nel ‘700, un importante connubio tra storia, arte e moda
Cultural The expert Diana Parlagreco, artist ad and cultist of the sub-ject and a member of the As-sociation, edited the event. 4th March – Villa
Paolina
Il gran ballo storico Themed night An extraordinary event, a spe-cial buffet for dinner and dances, board games in every rooms of the villa and guided tours in Paolina Bonaparte’s bedroom. The evening also had a charity purpose, thanks to the precious partnership with Fidapa BPW Italy Versilia, to fight against forced wed-dings of children in Burkina Faso.
20th May – Villa
Orlando
La dinastia degli Or-lando e le politiche matrimoniali
Cultural A fascinating wander between the world of industry and no-bility.
8th – 11th June –
Chalet del Lago and Villa Or-lando
Concorso Pianistico Internazionale Mas-sarosa
Musical The winner of the contest, made his concert at Ristorante Chalet del Lago and the Asso-ciation, in collaboration with Fidapa BPW Italy Versilia, or-ganized a dinner at Villa Or-lando.
9th July Walk through the
villas
Guided tour The walk, guided by an expert hiker, allowed tourists to visit Villa Ginori, the Roman villa in Massaciuccoli and the Ubaldi’s
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Castle. Azienda Agricola Mari-ani furthermore, gave the pos-sibility to participants to taste wine and typical Tuscan appe-tizers.
22nd – 23rd
Au-gust – Villa Bor-bone
Peperoncino Day Culinary and cultural In collaboration with the Azienda Carmazzi of Torre Del Lago, in the magnificent sce-nary of Villa Borbone in Via-reggio. Two days dedicated to the culture and cultivation of the spicy fruit.
18th September
– Massarosa
Walk through the villas
Guided tour Due to the success of the walk organized during the month of July, the Association rear-ranged a walk through the Massarosa’s villas.
7th October -
Vi-areggio
Viareggio’s history, art and music
Cultural The expert Lisa Domenici who talked about the figure of Amvrosievna Krušel’nickaja, performer of Puccini’s operas. 23rd October –
Grand Hotel Royal
Open Day at Grand Hotel Royal
Open day The open day provided guided tours with storytelling about anecdotes linked with the his-tory of the building.
May – Decem-ber
Visite teatralizzate Guided tour The Association, with the pat-ronage of Viareggio’s district, organized, for the first time around Versilia, a series of seven guided tours called Vis-ite teatralizzate, a sort of living history. The visits took place at Villa Borbone. Two guides, with the gowns of Maria Luisa
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Fig.6 Some events of 2016
Source: Archive of the Association
For the third year since the foundation of the Association, ten events were organized. The most frequent are the one in the cultural field (four events). Due to the enormous success of the previous year, the second edition of “Gran ballo storico” was organized in the same location (Villa Paolina). Furthermore, for the first time in Versilia, the Association arranged a series of seven guided tours called “Visite teatral-izzate”, a sort of living history. The visits took place at Villa Borbone. It was the first edition also for the “Open Day” organized by the Association: this took place at Grand Hotel Royal, achieving enormous success and serving as a trailblazer for further open
di Borbone and her nephew, Margherita, received the guests in a historical itinerary of the villa, reliving the birth of Viareggio and the popular Bourbon estate.
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days. In the open day, the guided tours were realized by the students and were di-rected to everyone who wanted to discover the magnificent structure. This was the first example, realized by the Association, to make a fusion between the hotellerie and the cultural sphere.
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Tab.7 Events realized in 2017
Date Name of the event Typology of
event
Description of the event
28th January –
Villa Gori
Il costume fra due Secoli, XIX e XX sec. riferimenti storici, musicali e artistici
Cultural Afternoon dedicated to the evolution of feminine attire, edited by Maria Di-ana Parlagreco, expert in history and art, with an exposition of traditional dresses of the two centuries.
23rd February
– Villa Tina
Il gran ballo storico – Gran veglione
Themed night
The soiree was accompanied by a din-ner, realized thanks to the collabora-tion of the Istituto Marconi of Viareg-gio and by swing music, played by the musical group Federica Olivieri Swing Trio.
18th March Camminado con Tobino Guided tour Cultural walk through Viareggio’s
roads, in collaboration with Art&Fit. This cultural event has been made with the intent of making known the transition of Viareggio from village to city and to underline the importance of Tobino’s pieces, with his eulogies to Paolina Bonaparte and Maria Luisa di Borbone, two fundamental figures for the history of Viareggio.
14th May Open Day Open Day Guided tours at Hotel Villa Ariston
and Villa Ginori.
21st May Giardini aperti Open Day From 2017, the Association has
be-come part of Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane (ADSI) and, for this reason, the two Associations orga-nized for the first time an event in the destination of Versilia: Giardini aperti. An occasion to visit Villa
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lando and Villa Paolina in Compi-gnano. The students of Istituto Carlo Piaggia of Viareggio led the guided tours through the villas.
9th May – Villa
Ginori
Il regime delle case signo-rili e di pregio: attualità e antecedenti storici
Cultural The event was realized thanks to the contribute of Professor Emilio Petrini Mansi della Fontanazza.
21st July –
Bagno Sauro
Cultural afternoon Cultural The press agents of the Association organized this event with the aim of “bringing” culture and history of Versilia through sun’s lovers: to give them the possibility to realize a travel through secrets and anecdotes of vil-las in Versilia.
5th August –
Villa Paolina
Lo stilista Massimo Bomba e i segni dello zo-diaco… conoscere sé stessi guardando le stelle
Cultural An original evening, overlooking the extraordinary lake. The event was or-ganized in collaboration with Lions Club Pietrasanta Versilia Storica. 19th – 20th
Au-gust – Villa Borbone
Visite teatralizzate Guided tour After the remarkable success of the Visite teatralizzate, the Association decided to rearrange two guided tours at Villa Borbone.
21st August –
Villa Ginori
Cultural boat Guided tour The Association experimented a new experience: a boat trip through the lake of Massaciuccoli, accompanied by the guided visit to Villa Ginori and a taste of typical products.
25th August –
Palace Hotel
Dal Jazz alla musica An-dalusa
Musical An acoustic guitar recital, flamenco and South American musical, played in jazz context for a pleasant multi-ethnic musical journey.
24th August –
3rd September
City and Water Cultural The President Maria Assunta Casaroli, in the name of the Association partic-ipated to the project, organized for
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the valorization of the Lake of Massa-ciuccoli. This was an international project realized by the Architecture Faculty of the University of Pisa. 22nd October –
Palazzo Gigli
Open Day Open Day The Association realized for the first time an open day at Palazzo Gigli in Lucca. The guided tours were edited by the students of Istituto Tecnico Carlo Piaggia of Viareggio, with an ac-companiment of the Conservatory Boccherini of Lucca.
2nd December Visit through the harbor
of Viareggio
Guided tour Second visit tour through the harbor of Viareggio: with the partnership of Art&Fit, the walk comprehended a wander through history, art, knowledge and curiosity of the terri-tory.
13th December
– Villa Ginori
Merry Christmas! Meeting The Association received the mem-bers to pass a bit of time together. The president Maria Assunta Casaroli illustrated the event of the New Year, the collaborations with authorities and institutions both public and pri-vate, with a toast for Christmas and the New Year.
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Fig.7 Some events of 2017
Source: Archive of the Association
In 2017, the events organized increased even more than the previous years. There were fifteen events, including five cultural events, the first edition of the guided tour through the harbor of Viareggio and of the “Cultural boat”, and a musical event. For the third time the “Gran ballo storico” was organized, in a new location: Villa Tina, in Viareggio. Once again, the event achieved resounding success among the participants. As previously mentioned, the first open day of 2016 served as a trail-blazer for the three ones that were organized during 2017. Two open days were or-ganized on the same day, 14 May, with two different themes: participants could choose between Villa Ginori and Park Hotel Villa Ariston. The third one was organized in a different location, in Lucca at Palazzo Gigli, with the collaboration of the Institute ISI C. Piaggia of Viareggio.
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The events in 2018 Tab.8 Events realized in 2018
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Date and lo-cation
Name of the event Typology of the event
Description of the event
20th January –
Grand Hotel Principe di Pie-monte
Cerimonia del tè Cultural Cerimonia del tè: at Grand Hotel Prin-cipe di Piemonte in Viareggio, as the first event of the New Year. The Omotesenke’s teacher Letizia Del Ma-gro realized the ceremony. The demonstration comprehended one of the most significant moment of Cha-noyu, with the presence of “usucha”, also called light tea, typical pastries and Japanese utensils.
28th January –
Viareggio
Viareggio’s Liberty Guided tour First walk through Viareggio’s Liberty, with a tourist guide who accompa-nied the participants through the his-tory of the destination.
10th February
– Hotel Prin-cipe di Pie-monte
Il gran ballo storico – C’era una volta Viareg-gio… dal Novecento agli anni ‘30
Themed night
A return trip to Thirties, in the Lib-erty’s halls of the hotel. The evening started with an elaborate buffet with a taste and it was accompanied by the musical group Esco da me, with a rep-ertoire of jazz music.
18th February
– Viareggio
Viareggio’s Liberty Guided tour Due to the enormous success of the first walk, the Association realized the second edition of Viareggio’s Liberty. 10th March –
Viareggio
L’Altra Viareggio Guided tour Another occasion for the historical walks: the departure left from Torre Matilde up to Museo della Marineria, with the show of Mario Tobino’s in-terview about Darsena of Viareggio.
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For the time being, the events organized in 2018 were seven, three of them for cultural purpose. The fourth edition of the themed night dedicated to the “Gran ballo storico” was organized for the first time in the Sala Butterfly of Hotel Principe di Piemonte. The remaining three events were guided tours. The first one, to discover the Liberty of Viareggio, was arranged in the month of January. It was repeated in February for the enormous request from the members and non-members. The third, named “L’Altra Viareggio”, had the aim of illustrate the “unknown” part of the town, namely the Darsena.
24th March –
Villa Argentina
Elisa Baciocchi e Maria Luisa di Borbone: destini incrociati
Cultural Elisa Baciocchi and Maria Luisa di Bor-bone relived at Villa Argentina: a part-nership realized with the Associa-zione Napoleone ed Elisa da Parigi alla Toscana, a meeting organized to talk about the destiny of the two women.
22nd April –
Villa Ginori
La vita in villa tra ‘700 e ‘900
Cultural The event was realized in collabora-tion with Lions Club Versilia Storica, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, Amici del Festival Pucciniano, Fidapa Versilia and Ente Ville Versilia. The representatives of every Association reported his knowing into the sub-ject.
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Fig.8 Some events of 2018
Source: Archive of the Association
Other activities of the Association
The Association also works for the social sector in the whole destination of Versilia.
On 25th of August of 2014 there was organized for the Associazione Italiana Epilessia
Farmacoresistente Onlus Versilia, an evening called Una notte di fine estate, un luogo magico, uno spettacolo sotto le stelle, una cena a bordo piscina, in the wonderful
landscape of Villa Gobbi Benelli. The evening was organized with a theatrical show, performing “Il processo” of Oscar Wilde and, to follow, a dinner around the pool. Part of the proceeds were devolved to the above-mentioned Association.
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On 17th of April of 2015, the Association delivered the “Gran Premio Terre di
Canossa”, a plaque in memory of the event and of future collaborations. The award ceremony was realized at Hotel Villa Ariston.
On 26th of September, the Association participated for the first time to the
“Premio Letterario Massarosa”, realized by Commune of Massarosa, at Teatro Vitto-ria Manzoni.
On 25th of November, the Association, in collaboration with Casa delle Donne
– Comune di Viareggio, organized at Villa Borbone an afternoon completely
dedi-cated to women: “Contro la violenza sulle donne”. During the event, there were many speeches of numerous women, involved in this battle. This event has the aim of a gathering of funds, donated to the already mentioned Casa delle Donne in Viareggio.
On 8th of July of 2016, the Association participated, for the second time, to the
XXX Edition of “Premio Letterario Massarosa” at Villa Paolina in Compignano. The Association offered to the guests a guided visit of the villa. During the evening, there was a gathering of funds to support the initiative.
Every year the Association participates to the meeting organized by ADSI –
Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane, of whom the Association is a member.
Moreover, the Association organizes AFA Courses: activity courses with the partner-ship of ASL Versilia, in Torre Del Lago and Viareggio Campo d’Aviazione, realized by the physical therapist Emanuela Paola Casaroli.
During the four years from the constitution of the Association, more and more activities have been carried out, with various themes: guided tours, cultural events, debates, meetings, conferences, dances and historical reenactments. This wide choice of events makes perfectly understand the main purpose of the Association that wants to broaden its horizons, in order to offer a great selection to its users.
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Fig.9 Diagram of the events realized
Source: personal elaboration
As it is possible to see from the Fig.9, the events have grown in the four years. In 2014, the Association organized only five events in six months (from June to December). In the following year seven events were organized, two more than the previous year: it was not a big increase, especially considering the whole year. In the third year of the constitution, the events realized were ten and, finally, the last year taken into consideration saw the organization of fifteen events and was therefore the most “prosperous” year. This is a clear demonstration of the growth of the Organization during the four years from the constitution.
After having introduced the Organization, the last two sections of this chapter regards a foreword of the tourism marketing and the strategies recently adopted by the Association. The choice of improving the marketing strategies is due to the im-portance of a concise plan of action, also in an entity like the one of a cultural Asso-ciation, which certainly does not have the imprint of a big company or tour operator.
5 7 10 15 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 2014 2015 2016 2017 N u m b er o f t h e ev en ts Years
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1.3 Introduction of Tourism Marketing and of the strategies of the Association
Marketing is a process through which goods and services move from the con-cept to the customer. Marketing mix is originating from the single P (price) of micro-economic theory (Chong, 2003). McCarthy (1964) offered the “marketing mix”, often referred to the 4Ps, as a means of translating marketing planning into practice (Ben-nett, 1997). These elements concern the identification, selection and development of a product, the determination of its price, the selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer’s place and, finally, the development of a strategy for the
pro-motion.
Tourism marketing has distinct characteristics from other kind of marketing, because tourists are temporary, and they are exposed to goods and services of a des-tination only for short periods. Tourists count on having an enjoyable time during their holiday, so marketers must use strategies that appeal to the emotions and feel-ings of the consumers. The best marketing strategy can be composed thanks to the formulation of some questions. The first one is: “Who are you marketing to?” The marketer cannot reach everyone with his strategy: he needs to define the character-istics of an ideal visitor, considering some identifying factors like age, income, job title, location, interest challenges, wants/needs, goals and so on. The second step is defining “what, how and when”: establishing the goals that the marketer will achieve thanks to the marketing strategy. Basing on “buyer personas” previously identified, it is possible to modify the goals and be specific, e.g. to families, couples, young pro-fessionals or any segment of the population (Revella, 2015).
Philip Kotler, one of the leading exponents of the marketing field, affirms that as the goals are established, it is important to identify the appropriate KPIs (key
per-formance indicators): they serve to measure the efficacy of every strategy and to
optimize them, to improve the results and, at the end, the returns. After these phases of comprehension of the market, of planning of marketing for the specific target and
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of preparation of a marketing plan, there comes another fundamental phase: the cre-ation of profitable relcre-ationships with clients. This is what we technically call customer
relationship management (CRM): a business process in which client relationships,
customer loyalty and brand value are built together through marketing strategies and activities (Chen, Popovich, 2003). It allows businesses to develop long-term relation-ships with established and new customers while helping streamline corporate per-formance. Two are the keywords: client value and customer satisfaction (personal elaboration of Kotler P. and others, 2018). To construct good relationships with cus-tomers it is not enough to develop a valid product, establish a price for the product and make it available to the clients (the first three P’s). Every business has to com-municate its proposals to possible users. The communication must have a specific planning, combined with integrated marketing programs. Promotional mix refers to the fourth P of marketing (promotion) and consists of five fundamental elements (personal elaboration of Kotler P. and others, 2018):
- Advertising: it refers to the paid promotion and presentation of ideas, ser-vices and goods made by a specific sponsor to a mass medium, through bill-boards, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV…;
- Sales promotion: it involves marketing communication aimed at increasing consumer and market demand, as well as improving product availability through discounts, exhibitor and demonstration of the product;
- Personal selling: it involves helping potential buyers about the many benefits of goods or services, through launch, trade shows…;
- Public relations: they serve to obtain a positive image of the company, using press releases, sponsorships, extraordinary events, dedicated webpages…; - Direct and digital marketing: they are direct contacts to the customers,
through emails, catalogs, telephone, webpages, social media, mobile apps and other technological instruments.
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As customers are different, communication strategy must be conformed to the specific target identified by the company. This is a methodical tactic for an excellent communication process (personal elaboration of Kotler P. and others, 2018):
1. Identification of a target: potential users or established ones. The composition of the target clientele influences the decisions that concern the content of the message, the modalities, the period and place of the transmission and, finally, the individual who will transmit the message itself;
2. Determination of the aim of the communication: after the individuation of the target, other aims of the communication concern the result (almost always the result is the purchase of goods or services). In that case, there are six “stati di disponibilità” of the product, where the defined public can exist: aware-ness, knowing, appreciation, preference, certainty and purchase;
3. Definition of the message: it has to get the attention, capture the interest, create a desire and incite the last action (the purchase);
4. Selection of the communication channel: there is a distinction between per-sonal channel and non-perper-sonal channel. The first represents a direct com-munication between two or more people. This kind of channel is an effica-cious one, because it allows a personal interaction and a feedback made by the consumers. The non-personal channel does not comprehend a personal contact or a feedback: I am talking about mass media (daily newspapers, mag-azines, radios, TV, posters, banners and billboards), atmosphere (specific lo-cation created to produce into the client’s mind an inclination for the pur-chase) and events (press conference, opening ceremony…);
5. Selection of the message’s source: it must be influential, reliable and transmit empathy to users;
6. Calculation of the communication’s results: this happens through questions to the public’s members, like “do you remember the message?”, “how many times have you seen it?”, “what do you remember of it?”, “what feelings has it caused to you?”, “how do you feel towards the product and the company?”
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Nowadays, with the technology development, every company or business must update its marketing strategy, above all using online marketing and social
me-dia marketing. The online marketing instruments are webpages, online videos,
emails, blogs, social media, apps and mobile communication that involve directly the clientele anywhere and anytime, thanks to the usage of smartphones, tablets, com-puters, TV and so on (Gurau, 2008). Social media are technological solutions that sim-plify the creation and the sharing of information, ideas, contents and other forms of expressions via virtual communities and networks. Because of the excessive use of social media, companies have had to adapt themselves and to use social media mar-keting: the use of these platforms with the aim of promoting goods and services. For example, in the case of tourism, it is possible to identify three phases of the holiday: pre-trip, during-trip and post-trip (personal elaboration of Kotler P. and others, 2018). The impact of social media exists in every phase. Before the holiday, social media incite innovative ideas: in the planning phase of the trip, tourists can consult videos, images and reviews, to know more about the destination, but also to reduce the per-ception of risk related to the purchase. Thanks to the development of Internet con-nection and of mobile devices, tourists can share their experience with relatives and friends also in the “during phase”; the use of Internet concerns “what to do” in the destination, information about transports, restaurants and places to visit. In the post-trip phase, tourists continue to share their experience, maybe with more sophisti-cated device like the computer and specific software (personal elaboration of Kotler P. and others, 2018).
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Fig.10 Social Media Influence on Travelers
Source: BrandBa.se – Brand management for a wired world
As it is possible to see from Fig.10, 49% of travelers will use social media more if they have the possibility to connect to a free Wi-Fi connection, while traveling, and 88% of respondents take mobile devices with Wi-Fi or 3G capabilities, while on vaca-tion. 68% of travelers globally use mobile devices to connect with their families and friends. Over 50% of travelers will “pack” travel apps on their devices before going on vacation. Finally, over 1/3 of travelers will share vacation-related online content, if they think families and friends will enjoy seeing it. After the introduction of tourism marketing, the latest part of the chapter will illustrate how the Association has worked during the four years from the constitution, above all talking about the strat-egies for the communication.
During the four years from the constitution of the Association, its team has changed several times and, therefore, the marketing strategies and methods used for communication and promotion. Certainly, the organization has defined its product, price and place (already described in the previous section). Unfortunately, there was
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any strategy for the promotion, above all the online one. Even if there was the crea-tion of a website of the Associacrea-tion and a Facebook page, these were not used in the right way for the first two year. Both pages were not organized with a planned strat-egy and they result as something obsolete and not interactive. Actually, the commu-nication was primarily an offline one, using especially brochures and posters. To-gether with these communication channels, there was (and it exists still now) the possibility for the users of the webpage, of a subscription to the newsletter of the Association: once a month, the members receive an email concerning the planned events of the following month.
In 2016, a young couple, already owners of a blog for the promotion of the destination of Versilia, Davide and Rachele, joined the Association: they renewed the Facebook page, introducing a strategy for the publication of posts, the creation of the events, the sharing of photos and videos. Every week, they plan the publication of posts and news. Now, the page counts 1546 followers, numerous interactions on the published posts and visit every day, without any added costs for the insights.
Fig.11 Facebook Page of the Association
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Fig.12 Followers on Facebook page of the Association
Source: Facebook
The webpage has been improved by me, from the beginning of my internship. I have changed the home page of the website, putting in evidence the symbol of Fa-cebook (up to now the unique social media used by the Association), of the telephone number and of the email; I realized specific sections for the events, as before they were inaccurate and not divided into specific parts. Now, users can easily find the planned events in the section “Eventi in programma”, with description and photos. The storage of the past events is in the section “Archivio eventi”, the events where the Association has participated like guest in “Il nostro curriculum si arricchisce” and a section called “Dicono di noi” where it is possible to find direct link to blogs and pages that talk about the Association and the activities organized by it. Moreover, I refined the section concerning associated villas and hotels: now they have a precise description, the same number of photos and the direct link to the website to have more information. Finally, the most essential element for a webpage: it is updated every week with the planning of the events, news and important things to know. These and other information will be detailed in the fourth Chapter.
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Fig.13 Webpage of the Association
Source: Website of the Association
Fig.14 New insertions in the webpage of the Association
Source: Website of the Association
When a planned event will occur, these are the phases: - Sending of the newsletter to the 800 members;
- Creation of a specific article in the webpage, precisely in the section called “Eventi in programma”, with the date, the name and the location of the event;
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Fig.15 Before the event
Source: Website of the Association
- Creation of a post on the Facebook page of the Association; - Only in special occasions, some paper posters.
When the event passed:
- Elimination of the article previously created in the webpage from the above-mentioned section “Eventi in programma”;
- Creation of a new article in the section “Archivio eventi”, with the insertion of reports, photos and videos of the event. A brief description with some photos are posted on the Facebook page, with the use of hashtags and the direct link to the webpage to read more about the event;
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Fig.16 After the event
Source: Website of the Association
***
The intent of the first chapter of the thesis was to contextualize the Associa-tion Ville Borbone e Dimore Storiche della Versilia within Versilia area, with its char-acteristics, its objectives and its offers. After this introduction, the choice of a “cata-logue” of the events was born, to make known in detail the activities realized by the cultural Association during the last four years. Moreover, the chapter wanted to un-derline the importance of marketing strategies in every company or business, as in the world of tourism. The idea was to make a real focus on the importance of making a precise strategy in every company, organization or entity, to make good results and, maybe, benefits and advantages. For this reason, the next chapter will illustrate one by one the whole network of the Association, composed by luxury hotels, private vil-las and public vilvil-las. After a brief description, there will be a precise focus on the strategies adopted by the structure, realized thanks to the construction of a series of questions to the representatives.
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2. Mapping of associated Hotels and Villas
This Chapter regards in detail the villas and historical dwellings, members of the Association, and the structures that are not members, but that collaborate with it. The network comprehends four hotels, four private villas and five public villas. The last ones are not Ordinary Members (they do not pay the amount), but the Associa-tion works in collaboraAssocia-tion with them for specific events. I am going to make a de-scription of every structure, in particular concerning the history and the structural features. Then, thanks to the interviews made by me, I am going to show their strat-egies. In particular, the interviews were addressed to the marketing managers (for the hotels) and to the owners or keepers (for the villas).
2.1 Modus operandi
The research was realized talking directly with every director or vice-directors (for the hotels) and with the owners or keepers (for the villas). It was easier for the first ones because, clearly, they have specific department and figures that operate in the marketing area. Every hotel of the network adopts a marketing strategy, differ-entiated for the target of their clients and for the period of the year. On the contrary, concerning villas and dwellings, the interviews were primarily addressed to the own-ers or the representative. These are not technical experts of marketing, but most of them are trying to use marketing strategies through a seasonal planning to attract tourists, through the realization of events, like weddings, cultural meetings, exhibi-tions, guided visits and, in some case, realize an accommodation in the structure
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(with the formula of Bed & Breakfast). The method was set up through the identifi-cation of the fundamental features of the structures, to better understand the expla-nations of the strategies adopted.
Tab.9 Data for interviews
Structure Interviewee Duration of the
interview Modality of the interview Processing method Park Hotel Villa Ariston
Vice-director 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Palace Hotel Director 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Hotel Principe di Piemonte
Vice-director 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Hotel Royal Director 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Villa Argen-tina
Manager 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Villa Borbone Manager 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Villa Cenami Owner 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Villa Ginori Owners 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Villa Gobbi Benelli
Marketing man-ager
20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
La Brilla Keeper 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Villa Lorien Owner - E-mail Transcription
Villa Orlando Owner 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Palazzo Medi-ceo
Keeper 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Palazzo Pao-lina
Keeper 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
Villa Paolina Keeper 20 minutes Face to face Direct transcription
The questions to the spokespersons were realized using the methodology shown in Tab.9 and can be resumed in that scheme:
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- Client target: the nationality, the age and the spending capacity of the cus-tomers;
- Typology of stay: how customers use the structures and, if it is possible, the average stay;
- Opening and closing time of the structure;
- Presence of meeting rooms in the structure to use in special occasion; - Presence of restaurant for the hotels and in the case of villas, the possibility
of using the kitchen for guests; - Participation to touristic expos;
- Website: presence of it, the quality, the possible translations, the updates made by the staff of the structure, the sections of the website;
- Presence on social media: which social media is used, the update of the social media, and the number of followers of the page;
- Organization of events: possibility of organizing events in the structure and which events;
- Offline promotion: if it is used, what kind of offline promotion.
Through the identification of the points below in Tab.10, the aim is to under-stand the different strategies and modus operandi of the three distinct typologies of structure (hotels, private villas and public villas).
Tab.10 Features used for the analysis of the structure Location of the structure
Class of the structure Customer target
Accommodation capacity Opening time of the structure Services of the structure Price category
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Quality of the website Presence on the social media Organization of events Offline promotion
Starting from the points provided in Tab.10, the analysis of each structure of the network of the Association will be developed, beginning from the hotels and then continuing with the private and public villas.
The hotels of the network
The analysis is going to start from the four hotels of the network: Park Hotel
Villa Ariston that is situated in Lido di Camaiore and Palace Hotel, Grand Hotel Prin-cipe di Piemonte and Grand Hotel Royal, in Viareggio. All four hotels are members of
the Association as they are emblems of the Versilia Riviera: they are magnificent his-torical dwellings, with characteristic architecture and history.
Park Hotel Villa Ariston
Park Hotel Villa Ariston is a historic four stars superior hotel in Lido di
Ca-maiore, just fifty metres from the beach. It consists of four separate splendid build-ings, situated inside the majestic park: “La Villa”, “La Torre”, “La Fattoria” and “La Duse”. The complex is an elegant, luxurious setting, surrounded by a splendid cen-turies-old private park that offers to the guests a magnificent scenery. A true work of art that boasts two centuries of history and preserves all its ancient charm: stay-ing here is like gostay-ing on a journey back in time.
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The sixty-two rooms are all furnished with the greatest attention to details: the result is a skilful combination of elegance and refinement. Outside the rooms, guests can enjoy the magnificent landscape that embraces the hotel. The restaurant offers a unique mixture of elegant locations and high-quality cuisine, with traditional Tuscan foods and international dishes. It also offers outdoor swimming pool, wellness room, gym, tennis courts and playground for children. Park Hotel Villa Ariston is a meeting hotel, ideal for hosting events and business meetings. Numerous spaces are available to guests, including the indoor rooms and outdoors areas, perfect settings for parties, anniversaries, conferences, conventions or business meetings.
Italians are at the first place in the presences of the hotel (target), at the sec-ond place there are English and Germans and, finally, some Russians choose the structure during the summer months. It is mainly frequented by people with a high spending capacity. The average stay in the hotel is four nights. The hotel is open from April to September and, as the Vice Director told me, the closing period penalizes the positioning of the structure, above all on the online portals. June, July and August are the best months for the arrivals; in the other months, they use a stronger strategy for revenue management, especially using Booking.com for the analysis of competitors and for the re-positioning of the structure on the online portals. Thanks to the pres-ence of meeting rooms, they use business tourism to fight against the worst periods of the year.
Concerning touristic expos, the hotel participates only to the major ones. Cli-ents can find the structure on the principal online travel agencies. An external com-pany manages the website, that is translated into Italian and English (in my opinion, this is a weakness for a high-quality Hotel like Park Hotel Villa Ariston). A part from this feature, it is very well structured and it is divided into thirteen sections: The Park, Restaurants & Bar, Weddings, Wellness & Fitness, Meetings & Events, Concierge, Lido di Camaiore, Special offers, Contact information and How to get to Villa Ariston. Con-cerning social media, the hotel uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The most used
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is Facebook (with the name Park Hotel Villa Ariston), with 2122 followers, which is weekly updated. On Twitter, there are only 85 followers, but it is not used by the structure: indeed, the last update dates back to 2014. The Vice Director told me that they want to improve the YouTube channel with videos and news.
Fig.17 Website and Facebook page of Park Hotel Villa Ariston
The facility hosts events, with a specific attention to weddings and, as already mentioned, the online users can find the specific section in the website of the hotel that is described as a fairy-tale location where celebrate a dream wedding.
The Vice Director told me something more about the structure. As for Palace
Hotel that will be analysed in the next section, the most relevant costs that the
struc-ture has to deal with are for the maintenance, above all due to the presence of orig-inal furniture in the rooms.
50 Palace Hotel
Palace Hotel is a four stars hotel located on one of the Viareggio coastline
most attractive stretches, at the heart of the promenade and near the pine grove. It is a magnificent, period building: visitors can admire the prestigious style of its archi-tecture and the fascinating traces of the past that appeal to those who enjoy hospi-tality in such timeless surroundings. Frequented throughout the first half of the 20th
century by an international clientele of artists, writers, scientists and aristocrats, in-cluding members of European royal families, the Palace Hotel offers guests that un-mistakable essence of bygone travel.
The structure has seventy-three rooms, spread over four storeys. The rooms located on the first three storeys have a splendid sea view. The hotel offers an added value to its guests: four-legged friends are welcome. This feature is really appreciated nowadays and gives “something more” to the prestige of the hotel. Guests can spend the holiday with their small and medium sized pets (even if they are not allowed in the restaurant), if they communicate it when booking. The restaurant of the hotel is named “Decò” and it is under external management since February 2018. The hotel offers two meeting rooms: their names are “Room A” and “Room B”, especially ideal and equipped for conferences, meetings, presentations, workshops and any other type of event and can host groups of up to 150 people. The hotel offers a breath-taking view, thanks to the terrace: on summer evenings, people and music enliven it.
The hotel accommodates any type of client, of any nationality, but above all from Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China (in April and October), Canada (in May), Ireland, Netherlands, United States and Russia (in the summer pe-riod). It is mainly frequented by people with a high spending capacity. It has an
open-ing period: from February (usually for the first date of the Viareggio’s Carnival) to
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and in October and November, low season periods. The staff of the hotel participates only to some of the Italian touristic expos, it uses tour operators, online travel
agen-cies and it has been among the first hotels of the destination present on Booking.com.
An external collaborator manages both the website and the social media. The first one is translated into five languages (Italian, English, French, German and Russian) and it counts on eight sections: Hotel, Guest rooms, Restaurant, Meeting, Our ad-dress, Surroundings, Gallery and Special deals. The unique social media used by the hotel is Facebook (Palace Hotel Viareggio), with 498 likes, and it is daily updated with photos, videos, news and events organized by the hotel. Indeed, they organize
events, but their focus is on room’s sale.
Fig.18 Website and Facebook page of Palace Hotel
The Director exposed me one of the most significant problems of the hotel: as it is a historic structure, it needs a great deal of maintenance every year, before the reopening.
52 Principe di Piemonte
The prestigious Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte is located in the promenade of Viareggio, between the beach and the pine forest. It was founded in the early Twen-ties with the name Select Palace Hotel and, in 1925, it was extended by two floors and embellished by the magnificent façade that harmonizes the central part. Time has transformed the structure into a Grand Hotel of international fame: it was the preferred residence of aristocrats, intellectuals and artists. From 1938, its name is
Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte. Thanks to its celebrity, it has been the scene for
prestigious cinematographic productions. After nineteen months of restoration, it was restored to its splendor in 2004.
The structure counts on one hundred six rooms and suites, laid out across five themed floors, either with a sea view or looking out at the Apuan Alps. There are two
restaurants, “Piccolo Principe”, with two Michelin Stars, and “Regina”, with a
splen-did view of the Apuan Alps and the Viareggio shoreline: here tourists can taste refined Tuscan and Versilian cuisine. The hotel offers also three equipped rooms for meet-ings, “Butterfly”, “Turandot” and “Musetta”. Finally, the hotel provides a wellness center.
The hotel does not address to a specific target of clients, concerning their per-sonal characteristics: they host everyone who wants to pass a wonderful time in the destination (individual, couples and groups). It is mainly frequented by people with a high spending capacity. Concerning nationality, the hotel hosts particularly English, Russian (through agreements with tour operators), Italians (especially in winter and for business tourism), French, Germans, Americans, some tourists from North Europe and Arabs (in August). There is not a closing period of the structure but, as seasonality is one of the weaknesses of Versilia, it works with strongest strategies during the “worst” months of the year. Therefore, from June to September, Grand Hotel Principe
