‘Trade Trash for Spa Treatments’ Wins Poppy Award for Sustainability

The Poppy Awards are sort of like the Academy Awards for the California Tourism Industry.

Or maybe more like the Gold Cup of soccer since they only come around every two years?

To fully appreciate the Poppy Awards, it helps to first grasp the significance of the California poppy.

The official State Flower of California, the flower itself is a brilliant orange cup with delicate scalloped petals that open with the sun each morning, spend their day glowing with a brilliant golden hue, and then close at sunset, only to prevail again the next day. 

California poppies grow wild and free, and are commonly seen creating vast fields of gold throughout the golden state.

Poppies represent California’s natural beauty and resilience as they take center stage every spring and summer for California road trippers.

The Poppy Award trophies are incredible works of art consisting of hand-blown glass and steel sculpture crafted by Nicholson Blown Glass in Auburn, California.

Every other year for the Poppy Awards, hundreds of tourism-related businesses and organizations throughout California embark on a grueling submission process.

There are 10 categories of recognition, with subcategories to level the playing field given the vast range of budgets and resources across public and private sectors:

• Best Content Marketing (Business and Destination)
• Best Strategic Partnership (Business and Destination)
• Best Public Relations Campaign (Business and Destination)
• Best Influencer Campaign (Business and Destination)
• Best Crisis Recovery
• All Dreams Welcome Campaign
• Best Group Meetings Marketing
• Destination Stewardship & Sustainable Travel (Business and Destination)
• Best Paid Brand Campaign, $1million + (Business and Destination)
• Best Paid Brand Campaign, under $1million (Business and Destination)

Applicants submit 500-word descriptions for their Program, its Objectives, Tactics, and Results, plus your 5 best media files for visual support.

It sounds easy, but it requires all hands-on deck to cram as much valuable information as you possibly can into a seemingly impossible space. 

Everyone from Marketing, Public Relations, Search Marketing, Revenue Management, Operations, and any partner organizations involved in your Program burns the midnight oil in order to succinctly summarize their contribution and report accordingly. 

It’s the real deal!

Once all the key ingredients have been assembled and submitted to Visit California in early November, we embark on months of eager anticipation while a secret panel of 20 esteemed industry marketing experts evaluate hundreds of submissions.  

Winners are announced at the Visit California Marketing Outlook Forum closing gala the following March.

Yes, the 4-month wait is torture for the team.

Let’s face it, we all love the idea of sustainability and social responsibility, but when you’re on vacation you don’t want to be lectured on your hotel’s valiant efforts in:

• water conservation,
• waste management,
• social work,
• and achieving the triple bottom line for people, planet and profit. 

As humble leaders in all these areas, we were looking for a way to respectfully share our story and inspire others, without killing the vacation vibe.

As Yosemite Climbing Association (YCA) prepared for their 20^th Yosemite Facelift, an annual park-wide cleanup event with a storied history, the ideas for incredible partnerships that would collectively make a huge impact came rushing at us like the roar of Yosemite Falls on a bright spring morning!

The Crazy Background Story

When the 2020 Pandemic forced YCA to hit the pause button on Yosemite Facelift, YCA turned to creating “Act Local” cleanup events throughout the country.

As part of this evolution, we created our own local “Groveland Facelift” cleanup event in Yosemite’s Highway 120 West gateway town of Groveland.

Most people don’t realize that in rural areas like ours, commercial recycling doesn’t exist yet.

So we cobble together our own grassroots solution. 

• Fun fact: the majority of the waste generated at hotels is not what you see in your guest room. The bulk of waste that needs to be managed is back-of-house.
• Cardboard is one of the biggest waste burdens in hotel operations, so we own and operate our own cardboard compactors and partner with our food supplier to recycle copious amounts of cardboard from our back dock, after they empty their trucks of our food deliveries. So instead of sending empty trucks back down the mountain, we’re recycling tons of cardboard.
• We also partner with Greater Valley Conservation Corps (GVCC) to recycle glass, aluminum, plastic, tires and e-waste from our back dock. Our GVCC friend Deb Phillips is exceptionally passionate about waste management, and she helps us make sure we’re getting our recyclables to the sorting facility in Stockton regularly. It’s nothing fancy; it’s simply friendly emails from Deb to see when we’re full enough for a pickup run at all of our sister properties.

There’s so much more, but you get the idea, and this is probably enough waste management nerd talk for now.

Proud as we are of our herculean small-town efforts in waste management, how could we possibly make this dirty work fun for the rest of the world? 

We figured it was time for an audition of sorts for all of our ideas…

In 2022 we saw the Groveland Facelift as the perfect chance to take “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” out for a little test run. 

We offered our guests a ‘Free Foot & Face Detox’ in Rush Creek’s Spa if they volunteered for either Groveland Facelift or Yosemite Facelift. 

We had absolutely no idea what the response would be, but our brave Spa team was ready, willing and able to share some Wellness with people who love Yosemite as much as we do.

Pulling off the Groveland Facelift was hard work, but well worth the effort. 

It required significant levels of partnership, planning and cooperation with Yosemite National Park, Tuolumne County Public Works, U.S. Forest Service Groveland Ranger District, and a strong team of local businesses and nonprofits.

We’re grateful for the cheerful participation of Subaru’s Leave No Trace field team, Visit Tuolumne County, Groveland Trailheads, Yosemite Highway 120 Chamber of Commerce, Around the Horn Brewery, and Echo Adventure Cooperative, to name a few.

Everyone worked together beautifully.

The 2022 Groveland Facelift highlights over the weekend of September 24th, 2022:

• attracted 50 volunteers,
• who spent 238 hours of cleanup time,
• and collected 2,051 pounds of trash and recycling. 
• Old Priest Grade was the star of the show, thanks to help from Tuolumne County closing the road for a few hours so we could clean up safely. We found a gigantic, big screen TV and countless miniature bottles of Fireball whiskey on the roadsides!

A handful of young men from a climbing gym in the Central Valley happily redeemed their hard-earned Spa time at Rush Creek. 

By all accounts the 2022 “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” audition was a success and set the stage to make our 2023 “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” experience in celebration of the 20^th Annual Yosemite Facelift an even greater success.

In September 2023 “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” was the star of a groundbreaking stewardship program honoring the 20th annual Yosemite Facelift, the renowned annual park-wide cleanup event dedicated to preserving the pristine beauty of Yosemite National Park.

In the historic Yosemite gateway town of Groveland, Rush Creek brought a vast collective of public and private sector organizations together to host the new “Groveland Facelift” volunteer cleanup effort on September 9^th and 10^th, ahead of Yosemite Facelift’s 20^th annual cleanup event in Yosemite National Park that would take place September 20^th – 24^th, 2023.

THE INCENTIVE

Volunteers of either the Groveland or Yosemite Facelift cleanups who stayed at Rush Creek Lodge & Spa, or its sister property Evergreen Lodge, were invited to “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” at Rush Creek’s Yosemite-inspired Spa.  Volunteers were treated to a complimentary magnesium foot soak and unlimited access to indoor and outdoor Spa amenities including Warm Waterfall Coves, Granite Waterfall Mineral Hot Tub, Aromatherapy Sensory Room, Himalayan Salt Block Sauna and more.

THE TRASH

The lodges partnered with Yosemite Climbing Association (YCA), founders of Yosemite Facelift, and others to organize the Groveland Facelift cleanup on September 9^th and 10^th, 2023.

Groveland Facelift operated out of Around the Horn Brewery on September 9^th, and at Rush Creek Lodge & Spa on September 10^th.

Each day volunteers were welcomed with coffee courtesy of YCA and freshly baked coffee cake from Rush Creek’s in-house baker. 

YCA and Groveland Trailheads supplied volunteers with safety vests, pickup sticks and bags.

YCA instructed volunteers on safety, and the U.S. Forest Service Groveland Ranger District was there with maps highlighting and prioritizing trails, roads and forest areas in the greatest need of attention.

Representatives from the Subaru Leave No Trace field team exhibited their wares and provided additional insight on being good stewards of our great outdoors, and Visit Tuolumne County was there to share information on recreating responsibly.

Volunteers were particularly excited to learn that although Old Priest Grade was closed for repairs lingering from winter storm damage, the Tuolumne County Department of Public Works unlocked the gates and allowed Echo Adventure Cooperative and Evergreen Lodge to transport volunteers up and down the Grade for roadside cleanup on Saturday morning.

Each cleanup ended with weighing and separating trash from recyclables and reusables. Some items were repurposed by a local artist specializing in mosaics and sculptures.  Greater Valley Conservation Corps took recyclables to their Stockton facility, and remaining waste was hauled by Evergreen Lodge.

When the work was done each day, volunteers were treated to a celebration that included informative and entertaining guest speakers, random drawings for fabulous prizes, and outstanding live music.

Our main objective was to make a meaningful impact as stewards of Yosemite National Park and our natural surroundings while also increasing awareness of our lodges’ ongoing and multi-faceted role as progressive social enterprises using business as a force for good.

Using the combination of Rush Creek’s Spa and Yosemite Facelift’s 20^th annual event to garner maximum attention, our aim was to maximize cleanup of Yosemite National Park and our surrounding area – which is primarily US Forest that has been severely underfunded for many years – while simultaneously attracting and rewarding overnight guests who share our values as a Certified B Corporation.

Furthermore, we saw this as an ideal opportunity to help guests, locals and visitors see how at the heart of it all our lodges are really people using business as a force for good.  If people see our businesses thrive while prioritizing our many social and environmental efforts, they will be inspired to join us in making the world a better place.

RECYCLING

There is no commercial recycling service available in our rural Yosemite gateway community. We wanted to both illuminate this reality and highlight our own initiatives to solve this problem through internal collection at our lodges, combined with partnership with Greater Valley Conservation Corps to transport collected glass, aluminum, plastic, tires and e-waste. Since the bulk of waste in lodging is from back-of-house operations, not in guest rooms, we purchased our own cardboard compactors and partner with our food supplier to recycle cardboard from product deliveries to our remote location.

WATER

We were excited to bring Facelift volunteers to Rush Creek to see how we repurpose 100% of our water on site through shower and laundry greywater landscape irrigation and blackwater recycling, which feed surrounding forest, rain gardens, pollinator corridors and more.  Thanks to Sierra Watershed Progressive, Rush Creek and sister property Evergreen Lodge serve as testing grounds for innovations in water reuse and management.  Lessons learned from our lodges’ water programs are carried out to water management programs throughout California.

YOUTH

As we were preparing to welcome our 500^th Youth Intern served, we were more excited than ever to showcase our fully self-funded, behind-the-scenes Youth Program that combines on-the-job training, outdoor adventure, life skills coaching, housing, meals, scholarships and more to promising Northern California youth in need of support to become thriving adults.

B CORPORATION CERTIFICATION

It’s a little-known fact that Evergreen Lodge was one of a handful of founding B Corporations back in 2007 and in 2015 was awarded the ‘Best for the World’ honor.  Rush Creek Lodge & Spa opened in 2016 and joined Evergreen Lodge as a certified B Corporation back in 2019.  Today these sister lodges are proud to be among thousands of B Corporations around the world, meeting the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

Check out our Sustainability-At-A-Glance for the big picture!

Rush Creek Lodge & Spa utilized a diverse mix of micro and macro outreach across PR, Social Media, Search Marketing, Email Marketing and Industry Partnerships.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Working with San Francisco PR firm Andrew Freeman & Company (af&co), the team pitched individual journalists and influencers on participation in Groveland Facelift, Yosemite Facelift and “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments.”

The af&co team reached out to 200 journalists over the course of August 2023 and early September 2023.

For broad reach the team also issued a syndicated press release, “Celebrating 20 Years of Yosemite Facelift: Trading Trash for Spa Treatments,” which illuminated the history and intent of Yosemite Facelift and promoted “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” as a follow up to recent success pitching travel with purpose.

The syndicated press release was distributed to 914 national Associated Press outlets.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Rush Creek featured 12 engaging SoMe posts dedicated to “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” on Instagram and Facebook between August 18 and September 15, 2023. 

Post content incorporated a range of content such as images, carousels, video reels and stories.  Our content showcased promotional materials, heartwarming volunteer images and videos, and compelling data.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Rush Creek Lodge and Spa (@yosemite_rushcreek)

SEARCH MARKETING

We leveraged our strong partnership with Google using Insights to understand Sustainability Trends and inform messaging. Audience Insights helped us effectively target users interested in sustainable travel and sustainable options. Campaign messaging highlighted our EV charging stations, local sourcing and plant-based food options in our restaurants, as well as eco-friendly cleaning products. We targeted drive markets to reduce air travel, proven to have the most significant impact in carbon reduction.

EMAIL MARKETING

Content rich email campaign to over 60,000 loyal Rush Creek subscribers.

INDUSTRY & COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Partners amplified Facelift events and “Trade Trash for Spa Treatments” across a variety of Social Media channels, email campaigns, PR efforts and promotional signage:

• Yosemite Climbing Association
• U. S. Forest Service
• Visit Tuolumne County
• Leave No Trace/Subaru
• Groveland Trail Heads
• Greater Valley Conservation Corps
• Regional Chambers of Commerce and local businesses

2023 GROVELAND FACELIFT

• Volunteers: 55
• Volunteer Hours: 330
• Pounds Collected: 899 lbs
• 37%  OF WASTE DIVERTED FROM LANDFILL

YOSEMITE FACELIFT

• Volunteers: 1,501
• Volunteer Hours: 12,151
• Pounds Collected: 10,432 lbs
• 91.12% DIVERTED FROM LANDFILL

ECONOMIC IMPACT

In September 2023, Rush Creek achieved the highest September occupancy we’ve ever seen. This is not only good for business and good for jobs, but it also translates to significant tax revenue for vital county services including Education, Fire, Law Enforcement and more.

MEDIA RESULTS

Total unique visitors per month reached from 7 pieces of coverage on sustainability initiatives:
3.5 Billion

Time Out
August 10, 2023
Headline: “Get free spa treatments for helping to clean up Yosemite”
Estimated views: 41.1K
Social Engagements: 10

Travel + Leisure
August 17
“This Hotel Near Yosemite Is Offering Free Spa Treatments to Guests Who Volunteer to Clean the Park”
Estimated views: 37.1K

 Yahoo! Life
August 17
“This Hotel Near Yosemite Is Offering Free Spa Treatments to Guests Who Volunteer to Clean the Park”
Estimated views: 2.85M

TheStreet
August 17
“Luxury spa hotel found an unconventional way to solve a littering problem”
Estimated views: 66.4K

The Smithsonian
August 22
“This Resort Is Offering Free Spa Treatments to Guests Who Clean Up Trash in Yosemite National Park”
Estimated views: 12K

SYNDICATED PRESS RELEASE VISIBILITY REPORT

• Exact Match Pickup with 408 different outlets with a potential audience of 271.4M
• 4,610 total release views
• 7K total engagements
  • 599 click-throughs to Yosemite Climbing Association Facelift locations page
  • 593 click-throughs to Rush Creek Lodge Yosemite Facelift special offers page
  • 593 click-throughs to Rush Creek Lodge homepage

PARTNER HANDOFFS

The syndicated press release resulted in the following click-throughs to Yosemite Climbing Association pages:

• 599 to Facelift 2023
• 589 to Yosemite Facelift
• 577 to YCA Home Page
• 292 to Groveland Facelift
• 292 to Joshua Tree Facelift
• 291 to San Francisco Facelift

SoMe

(In addition to ongoing campaign efforts around guest experiences, lodging, activities and timely news at both lodges and throughout the region)

Our Facelift social media campaign of Posts, Stories and Reels across Instagram and Facebook not only raised awareness but also sparked significant engagement.

The campaign reached 22,043 individuals, with a total of 22,157 impressions, and accumulated 1,572 engagements.

• Accounts Reached: 22,043
• Impressions: 22,157
• Accounts Engaged: 1572

DEDICATED SEARCH MARKETING

We leveraged our strong partnership with Google using Insights to understand Sustainability Trends and inform messaging. Audience Insights helped us effectively target users interested in sustainable travel and sustainable options.

Campaign messaging highlighted our EV charging stations, local sourcing and plant-based food options in our restaurants, as well as eco-friendly cleaning products. We targeted drive markets to reduce air travel, proven to have the most significant impact in carbon reduction.

Our Facelift Search Marketing campaign drove over 120k impressions for Rush Creek and our sister property, Evergreen Lodge, along with significant Interaction and Conversion rates.

Fast forward to March 12, 2024 at Visit California’s Marketing Outlook Forum in Palm Springs.

At the closing event the room is filled with about 500 amazing California tourism professionals eagerly anticipating the Poppy Awards and the showcase of some of our industry’s finest efforts from the past 2 years.

As finalists for the Destination Stewardship & Sustainable Travel Award, Business category, we were in good company.  The Ranch at Laguna Beach even has their own chicken coop to supply their culinary program, and Sonoma County Farm Trails impressed everyone with their army of event volunteers who facilitate large-scale events with minimal impact to the environment.

Words cannot describe what an honor it was to hear Rush Creek’s name called out as the award recipient.  So many of us put our heart and soul into our program, and whether or not we took home the prize we knew we were committed to continuing the program for years to come.

The moment was even sweeter when our friends at Mono County Tourism won the companion award for the Destination category with their hilarious and effective “How to Poo Like a Pro” viral video. 

Our region swept the Destination Stewardship & Sustainable Travel category, and bookended Yosemite National Park with the highest honor from the California Tourism industry.

Getting our precious Poppy Award back home quickly and in intact reminded me a lot of the time I won a Cadillac on Wheel of Fortune back in the mid-1980’s. 

At the time, it was my privilege to be a college Freshman at a private university on a full ride with grants, scholarships, part-time jobs and loans galore.

But I had no car.  In Southern California in the ‘80’s, a girl needed a car. 

So naturally I became a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, got to hang out in the makeup room with Vanna White because I was late as usual. After 2 days of filming I won a Cadillac Seville, which nearly ruined my financial aid, but that’s another story for another day. 

When the show was over, I walked out of the glamorous Wheel of Fortune studio, and on paper I was the proud winner of a brand-new Cadillac, but on the pavement, I still had no car, and needed a ride back to campus.  It was a harsh reality on a hot sunny day on the backlot in Burbank.

Nearly 40 years later there I was in sunny Palm Springs with that familiar feeling of receiving a huge gift in life, but the show was over.  How could I get this gorgeous hand-blown glass and steel sculpture safely back to the team in Yosemite toot sweet?

Any normal person would have waited for Visit California to transport the award through the proper channels, but I couldn’t wait to share with the team. We all worked so hard and had been waiting for months for an answer. Plus the award was so very pretty and I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to it in transit, so I felt the need to escort it home myself.

Long story short, and with a little help from family friends in Palm Springs and some new friends at Southwest, mission accomplished.

You can see our beloved Poppy Award on display in the lobby of Rush Creek’s Spa.

Stop by some time and take a selfie!  Simply by being a guest at any of our lodges, you become a part of the win, and we appreciate you for it.

xxoo