Culinary Journeys was a marketing partnership between renowned Australian chef Peter Kuruvita and Club Wyndham South Pacific, one of the region’s leading vacation ownership clubs, and included three events for members and prospective members.
Peter Kuruvita is a celebrity chef in Australia, renowned for helming five TV shows with network SBS and writing three cookbooks, including the iconic My Feast with Peter Kuruvita. Across a storied career, he has pioneered restaurants in Sydney, Fiji and on his home of the Sunshine Coast.
His personal journey was heavily influenced by memories of cooking with his grandmother and aunties in their Colombo, Sri Lanka, kitchen. The purpose of the campaign and events was to inspire families to cook familiar favourites or experiment with flavours utilising the kitchen facilities at their Club Wyndham South Pacific accommodation.
One of the club’s unique selling propositions is a “home away from home”, offering spacious accommodation with multiple bedrooms and kitchen facilities. The campaign was designed to highlight the rich potential families have to create lasting memories together with these amenities available.
During the partnership, Chef Kuruvita conducted three cooking demonstrations at two resorts: Club Wyndham Dunsborough and Ramada Resort by Wyndham Phillip Island. Members and prospective members had the opportunity to attend two of these events – one at each resort – while the third was reserved for 100 Club members, top tier Club Wyndham South Pacific owners who have bought more than 100,000 credits with the club Developer.
Those who attended the events enjoyed a cooking demonstration from the famed chef, then attempted to replicate his dishes with guidance from the chef. They were then served some of Chef Kuruvita’s dishes (made by the resort chefs) and had the opportunity to meet with Chef Kuruvita himself.
The events received plenty of positive feedback online and in post-stay surveys:
“A shout out to all the staff both local and travelling, that made the 100 Club event in Dunsborough so awesome. We all got to meet with many other owners and share experiences. Peter Kuruvita is amazing.”
“Fantastic 100 Club event at Dunsborough. A big thank you to everyone who created and worked hard to make this event the success that it was. It was wonderful to connect and reconnect with owners. A special thank you to Peter Kuruvita for the cooking lessons and laughter.”
“The 100 Club function in Dunsborough was just awesome! Met so many fabulous people, ate delish food and drank divine wine. Can’t ask for much more. Thanks heaps for organising such a fantastic event.”
The events are also estimated to have generated more than US$250,000 in upgrade or frontline sales in the days following. At Phillip Island, the first demonstration, volume per guest rose 108% on the prior period, revenue lifted 97% and cancellations dropped, while at Dunsborough, tours were 51% higher than expected and the average transaction size rose 75%.
Overall, about 110 members and prospective members joined these events, but the entire member base was encouraged to photograph their gourmet masterpieces – made in their home or apartment kitchens – and share them online or through a landing page, for a chance to win a three-night getaway and a signed copy of one of Chef Kuruvita’s books. This represented an opportunity for them to feel part of the event even if they could not attend.
In total, there were 102 entries and the competition generating an estimated 5% increase in website traffic, and an additional 7,600 sessions. Content from the events generated almost 75,500 social media impressions and reached an estimated 174,000 people.
To tie in with the partnership, the Club Wyndham team created travel guides and visitor maps on mywyndhamholidays.com to give members insight into the best culinary experiences locally and regional flavours they could adopt in their own cooking. These are an enduring legacy of the campaign and events, and also featured in the twice-yearly club magazine, Club Wyndham.
The events and overall partnership also generated 14 pieces of media coverage with an estimated reach of 1.23 million people, indicating interest in the initiative outside the member base.
The campaign won the Marketing Campaign category of the HM Magazine Hotel Management Awards, considered the most prestigious hospitality awards in the South Pacific region.
