A recession-busting promotion has paid off for Fairmont Hotels, which sold about 14,000 room nights – or 4,000 bookings – in just 99 hours.

The deal on medium-priced rooms at $99 was praised by Tourism for its courage and innovation.

Tourism Director William Griffith said: "The Department of Tourism encourages all tourism-related businesses in Bermuda to develop innovative promotions and offers to demonstrate value and opportunity for our visitors.

"We promise to continue doing all we can to market and sell the destination, and to support the efforts of our partners."

When the Department of Tourism learned of Fairmont's promotion, the Department immediately stepped in to support with sales and marketing efforts, said a Government press release.

Shernice and Thomas Lazare of Los Angeles, California found out about the promotion on the Internet and acted quickly.

They honeymooned at the Fairmont Southampton Resort in July 2000 and for the first time since then will return to the hotel as a result of the promotion.

"This year we wanted to enjoy Bermuda with our three-year-old daughter, but with the US economy in its current state, international travel wasn't a possibility," said Mr. Lazare.

"That is until we saw the incredible '$99 for 99 hours' deal on the Internet. We could not resist this chance to both recharge our batteries and coax other American friends to get in on a piece of paradise.

"As a result, our travels bags will be packed this August for a return trip to the Southampton Fairmont. We will also be bringing along several friends to see Bermuda for the first time."

Director of Global Operations, Bermuda Department of Tourism New York, Ann Shutte believes there are other personal stories like the Lazares' as a result of the promotion.

She said: "We congratulate Fairmont for stepping up and being extremely courageous and creative in this difficult time.

"They decided on something very risky and produced great short term results.

"When we added the promotion to our Twitter page, ten more journalists elected to follow the Department's updates."

A paid keyword search campaign on Google was also developed.

On Thursday alone, it produced 15,711 impressions and 150 clicks to a dedicated landing page created specifically to promote the offer, said the Government press release.

The Department also created a banner ad on the bermudatourism.com homepage, generating an additional 9,880 visits to the promotion's site.