Finally, this population tends to travel more than other traveling populations because, according to Parets, they have a "generally higher discretionary income(s) and more flexibility (in their) schedules." With these numbers, the potential for profit is substantial, thus making marketing to gay and lesbians "big business." (Parets, 2005). IV. How to Market to the Gay and Lesbian Population

In his book Pink Tourism: Holidays for Gay Men and Lesbians, author Howard L. Hughes reviews specific strategies for marketing to the gay and lesbian population. For example, in the chapter regarding marketing a hotel, Hughes focuses on how hotel managers can market and provide desired services to the gay and lesbian traveling niche. In it, he provides the hotel manager a step-by-step guide to how to run a successful marketing campaign aimed at attracting the gay and lesbian population, including sound advice on how to operate a hotel that caters to the needs of gay and lesbian travelers. (Hughes, 2006).

Hughes also focuses on how politics and other issues effect the gay and lesbian travel market and what a hotel manager can do to successful market to and serve all populations at the same time. Here Hughes' point is that all too often marketing to the gay and lesbian population seems like a Catch-22. On one hand you may gain a paying client, but on the other you run the risk of loosing a heterosexual client who has moral issues with gay and lesbian people. In this book, Hughes does a thorough job at discussing...

(Hughes, 2006).
V. What Others are Doing

If a hotel manager is still not actively engaged in marketing to the gay and lesbian traveling population, they have essentially missed the boat. According to the research of Edward Iwata, as opposed to the trend of ten years ago when no marketing was done towards gays, "today the market for gay and lesbian consumers is highly coveted and hitting the mainstream in a huge way." (Iwata, 2006).

According to Iwata, there are over sixteen million gay consumers with a collective $641 Billion in annual buying power. It is because of this spending potential that many hotel chains are actively engaged in competing for this coveted market. Thus, a hotel manager must understand what his or her competitors are doing otherwise they run the detrimental risk of failing to reach out to this market and thus loosing an ever-increasing market area.

Works Cited

Hughes, Howard L. Pink Tourism: Holidays of Gay Men and Lesbians. New York: CAB International, 2006.

Iwata, Edward. "More Marketing Aimed at Gay Consumers." USA Today. 2 November 2006.

Parets, Robyn Taylor. "Marketing to Gay Community Can Pay Dividends to Hotels." Hotel & Motel Management. 7 May 2005.

Poria, Yaniv. "Assessing Gay Men and Lesbian Women's Hotel Experiences: An Exploratory Study of Sexual Orientation in the Travel Industry." Journal of Travel Research, Vol 44, No. 3, 327-334 (2006).