Hyatt Goes for BlackBerry Gimmick to Boost ID

Can BlackBerrys sell hotel rooms and raise the profile of a major hotel chain that is lagging behind its competitors in brand awareness and global presence?

Hyatt Hotels Corporation is about to find out. The Chicago-based hotel-management company is giving away 100,000 free BlackBerry smartphones with no strings attached except a standard two-year contract with one of the major mobile phone companies. You don't even need to stay at a Hyatt to score one of the current-model BlackBerrys being distributed.

What's the catch? None, really. With only around 400 properties in its global portfolio, Hyatt is dwarfed by competitors such as Hilton and Marriott, which each have more than 3,000 hotels in the fold. The company hopes the BlackBerry giveaway bonanza will draw attention to Hyatt and two of its newer brands, the moderately priced Hyatt Place chain and the apartment-like Hyatt Summerfield Suites properties.

The BlackBerry promotion was timed to coincide with the brands' new mobile Web sites and the smartphones come pre-loaded with icons linked to HyattPlace.com and HyattSummerfieldSuites.com.

Hyatt's giveaway isn't unprecedented—Slacker.com is running a similar deal to promote its Internet Radio app for BlackBerry devices—and the campaign might not be as costly as it seems. Some of the phones now retail for as little as $50 and Hyatt is likely to be paying a fraction of the normal retail price. And the giveaway is sure to be funded through the chain's existing advertising and promotional budget and use dollars normally devoted to more traditional forms of marketing.

"The question is whether there is enough of a synergy between someone who wants a free phone and a potential hotel guest," one lodging analyst wonders.

The free phones are available until December 31 from HPFreeBlackBerry.com or HSSFreeBlackBerry.com. Enter the promotion code F111.