For the Red Lion Hotel and Convention Center, supporting its business partners is just as important as the number of heads in beds.
“Our hotel has been here for years and years,” said Kara Campuzano, sales manager at the Salem, Ore. facility. “We have become very active in the Salem Chamber of Commerce. We want to support local business.”
Part of that support means making every attempt to purchase locally, she said.
“Why order from Vista Print when you can get quality signs right here from Fast Signs in Salem, Ore,” Campuzano said. “When I needed cupcake boxes, we stopped ordering online and went with Rose Paper Products instead. They were the same price, and they delivered.”
Campuzano believes building such business partnerships helps boost the local economy.
“And when businesses refer visitors to the Red Lion, or books a business lunch at our facility, those dollars go right back into our community,” she said.
Besides strong business support, Red Lion gives back to their neighborhood with a number of community events, most recently a large block party for National Night Out.
“Our safety committee as well as some of our managers went door to door and handed out flyers,” Campuzano said. “We had a big barbecue and games and activities for the kids as well as the adults. That was a really fun night, and we got a lot of positive feedback.”
Campuzano credited sponsors including the Kroc Center, Don Poncho, Mighty Mo. Inc., Pixies Photography, Mystikal Entertainment, and Hands and Words Are Not for Hurting for making the event a success.
With more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space, the Red Lion has plenty of room to host community events and believes they are important. Recently, the Willamette Valley Humane Society used the facility to help train service dogs, Campuzano said.
“They worked with our elevator, hallways and maneuvered their way around,” Campuzano said. “It was an important community event, and we were proud to help host that kind of education.”
Education also gets a boost at the Red Lion’s annual ice cream social for local elementary school students, she added.
“The kids who run in a school-sponsored race get to come to the ice cream social here at the hotel, and arrive in a limo,” Campuzano said. “What a blast!”
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