After a week of travel, I'm looking forward to returning home. This travel week had a pleasant surprise though. I, kind of, got something for free - a week of gym membership for staying at the hotel. Admittedly, many hotels have special deals for discounted rates with a partner gym but this was different. This gym was free for all hotel guests because it was owned by the hotel. A quick walk to the 2nd floor through a key card access door awaited free weights, nautilus equipment, a lap pool, sauna, volleyball, racquetball, and basketball courts.
The synergy between two seemingly disparate businesses can work. The hotel allows the gym to offer memberships at a significant discount compared to the national chains like Gold's Gym or Bally's. A low monthly rate equals more gym goers and utilization of the equipment. In reverse, having an on-site gym helps the hotel maintain higher occupancy rates than the competition. Business travelers, which this budget hotel chain caters to, enjoy not only the physical exercise but the social interaction with other people at the gym. Its more fun to go do something than sit in a hotel room! I quickly switched my original hotel reservation after my first night from the run-of-the-mill hotel to the hotel with a free gym. When I am back in the area, this hotel will get my repeat business.
Other synergies, where one business supports the other, do exist in the wild. Have you been to a college town lately? Odds are you might find a laundromat and bar combination where the bar offers entertainment for the dullness of doing laundry. Fewer print shops appear to have thought of similar supporting setups. To date, I have seen one print shop run a retail greeting card and gifts shop while running a full print shop in the back of the shop. Another shop in a small town took a similar approach by having an office supply store in the downtown corridor while the printing shop was a few minutes drive away.
What other examples of print shop business synergies are out there?
