Marriott Plans for 20 Nickelodeon Resorts

From DIS News:

Long in the shadow of Anaheim’s Disneyland and its Hotels of Disneyland Resort, San Diego may get a boost in its battle for vacationing families with a proposed 650-room hotel with a 100,000-square-foot water park.

The complex, being developed by cable TV network Nickelodeon and Marriott International, is the first in a planned chain of 20 “Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott” properties that will be built worldwide.

The article later mentions that the Holiday Inn Nick franchise agreement ends in 2009, and I guess this Marriott announcement implies that the Orlando Nick Hotel‘s days are probably numbered. As much as I enjoyed my stay there last October, I must say that overall the customer service wasn’t quite what I’d expected, and I suspect that Marriott may fare better in this regard.

Disney vs. Nickelodeon: Battle of the Brands

The Orlando Sentinel has a story today about the brand competition between Disney and Nickelodeon, embodied in the Nick Hotel right outside WDW campus.

Though the Disney empire dwarfs Nickelodeon’s, Orlando marketing analyst Britt Beemer said even a giant like Disney needs to be on guard.

“If Dora the Explorer is the hot item for your children and Minnie Mouse isn’t, Disney has something to worry about,” Beemer said. “In this area, you are either right or dead. You are either the hunter or the hunted. The hotel in Disney’s backyard speaks to this. Nickelodeon knows its audience, and that audience is at Disney.”

The Nick Hotel also differs from Disney’s offerings in that it’s operated by a partner organization, Holiday Inn, and participates in the associated hotel points program (Disney’s Swan and Dolphin fit the former, but not the latter as far as I can tell). This may not sound like much, but it scores big with frequent business travelers like myself who rack up points during business travel and want to cash them in with the family. And Cosmo didn’t seem even the slightest bit threatened by my Mickey Mouse t-shirt.