NBG Lodging Discount Program w/ P&L Draft
In the order to make our organization distinct and to set it apart from all of the other well-meaning clubs, organizations and associations, etc. that are out there, we will make it possible for our members to stay downtown in all of our Anchor Cities affordably. In order to do this, this will become the money making goal of our organization. Once we have our PR Firm producing the results we discuss in As They Did for Computers, How a PR Firm will Get the NBG into the Mainstream, our resources, as we will show you, will be devoted to making it possible for our cyclists to enjoy downtown America at hostel prices.
Once our Downtown Greenways are put in place, by making our Anchor Cities friendly to human powered propulsion, we will be able to use our PR Firm to sell them as tourist destinations similar to those found in exotic far away lands. They will show bike travelers, that they are an affordable way to escape the limits of the familiar while they learn about all that is new and exciting in their own country. Instead of feeling called to visit those vacation paradises found in travel magazines, our PR firm will have made them aware of the wonder that can be found here in America, here in our NBG Anchor Cities.
Card-carrying NBG Members will be able to stay the night at the top hotel accommodations each of our Anchor Cities has to offer at prices that will allow them to then spend money at those NBG merchants who support us. This will have the effect of making our downtowns the places to be. Instead of having to go to far away countries for the pleasure they seek, NBG population centers will become centers of a new kind of activity. Exploring the homefront will become the new cool as our cyclists also learn about all of the people and places that make America tick.
The turf they explore will, of course, be made beautiful by the infrastructure we will have built into these cities in the form of our Indianapolis-like Downtown Greenways. Because our Downtown Greenways will make it safe for families, and all levels of cyclists to be able to enjoy our Anchor City centers of commerce, a whole different population of people will fill the downtown streets.
During the daylight hours, bicycles will replace cars as the preferred way to get around. Like the chicken and the egg, merchants and shopkeepers will structure their businesses so that they are attractive to these new types of visitors. Bike racks will abound and businesses will orient themselves to the new customers they can expect. For the purposes of security, more and more picture windows will crop up to make bicycles visible from inside the places of business.
Menus will also change. Because many cyclists are more health conscious, restaurants will include offerings that will replenish lost energy stores. Some will even make it possible to carbo load for a longer ride that may be in the cards for the next day. Hydration offerings will also expand to include sports drinks and high protein meals will also be made available. Our diners will even be able to buy energy bars they can enjoy for desert or take with them for the road.
Businesses that are not on the Downtown Greenways itself, will push for their cities and city governments to make it easier for cyclists to get from our supporting hotels to them. It is this that they would like to see happen from April through the end of October, a period of seven months. During the other 4 to 5 months of the year, when the weather forces people inside, our Anchor Cities can return to the car-centric business model that has kept their doors open during the 20th and 21st centuries.
During the colder part of the year, by revealing themselves to our bicyclists when it was warm, this will make it easier for them to be found when the weather is less friendly. It will make it easier for locals to find them during the non-cycling season. It will help them build a path from our hotels as well as other locations in the city to their own front doors all year round.
We will be able to help get lower priced accommodations for our cyclists by subsidizing the money hoteliers need to charge. We will be able to offset the expense of overnight stays with revenues from earmarked portions of NBG Membership fees, corporate sponsorships, POI map advertising as well as from the Fundraising Programs we foresee (NBG Day at Whole Foods and other merchants, our yearly National Mayors' Ride Festival/Gateway Fest in Indy, the National Bike Capital, Checkout Charity - rounding sales up to the nearest dollar, etc). Because increased bicycling addresses pollution problems, as well as climate change, there will also be funding available from grant monies.
By making room nights more affordable for cyclists who come from distances near and far, there are victories on many levels. To begin, bike riders are limited in how long they can stay in our cities by the amount of sunlight they need to see and be seen. If they can stay the night affordably, those who visit from nearby cities, will not have to clear out of town when darkness begins to set in.
NBG Members will have a place to clean up before they explore the town or spend the night on it. This will allow them to enjoy eating and drinking establishments when darkness sets in. Low priced lodging will also give them a shower and place where they can relax after a day of two-wheel exploration.
For those long-haul cyclists who are just passing through our Anchor Cities, they can use the shower facilities at our lodging purveyors to get themselves cleaned up. Toward that end, we can pay the hotels to set aside and maintain a certain number of day use rooms for the long distance bike traveler. During the two hour period of time we will ask them to provide, a laundry service and WIFI can also be made available.
For those staying overnight, whether on the road or within the region, our plan is to make it possible for hotels to set the charge at the same rate that hostels charge. In doing so, as we keep trying to underscore, our cyclists will have more money to spend on food and entertainment possibilities. Once this is the case, our members will then be inclined to do business with those merchants who support the NBG with discounts of their own.
As our cyclists cause cash registers to ring, this will also help to address the traffic congestion problems that automobile trips bring. Because the evening hours will cause most of our NBG hotel guests to be on foot, this will also keep their activity closer to the accommodations providers. Because this is so, there is a savings to the cities themselves.
Since our members will not be ravaging their downtowns in automobiles, our Anchor City downtowns will not only feel safer, they will be safer. Nor will our members bring the trouble associated with drinking and driving. As a result, the cost of enforcement for the use of the local roads will be reduced. There is also the added benefit of noise abatement. Downtowns will feel more like small villages, instead of roaring race car factories.
When our PR Firm points out that our lodging discount program has caused bicycles to displace the number of cars on the road within the downtown city confines, it will pique the interest of those who have not yet joined. When our PR Firm circulates stories about how because of the prevalence of cyclists, violence and car accidents have decreased, while city tax coffers have increased, becoming an NBG member will feel like exercising one's duty as a citizen. When our PR Firm reminds people that a different city has become the result of making it possible for more bicyclists to be downtown, officials on and off our route will know this is so because of our lodging discount program.
Because this will also cause Americans to take an interest in their fellow countrymen, it will help to heal some of the divisions that presently keep us apart. As they learn about their fellow American brothers and sisters, there will be a greater understanding and empathy for those whose geography is different from our own. As people moving about under their own power slows down the pace of our cities, we get to know one another. And as we do, we come to realize our own needs, wants and desires are all so similar.
When our cyclists can enjoy luxury room nights at hostel and budget hotel prices, NBG Membership will surge dramatically.
This schedule presumes a $100 a night discount for 8 weekend nights per month.