As the 2025 year-end approached, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater identified an opportunity hidden in a common workplace reality: millions of Americans had paid time off that would soon expire.
Rather than letting those vacation days go unused, the destination launched a creative campaign encouraging travelers to take one last beach getaway before the calendar reset. Powered by Ripe’s In-Market Travel Agency (ITA), the “Get Paid to Use Your PTO” promotion rewarded eligible travelers with up to $250 in digital Visa gift cards, transforming unused PTO into a compelling reason to book a trip.
The result was a campaign that generated significant booking activity, drove direct revenue for local lodging partners, and demonstrated how destinations can align travel marketing with real-world consumer behavior.
The Challenge
Visit St. Pete-Clearwater wanted to find a way to connect with travelers who were approaching the end of the year with unused PTO balances.
The destination needed a campaign that would:
- Stand out in a crowded travel marketplace
- Create urgency around booking
- Drive direct bookings to local lodging partners
- Encourage travelers to take advantage of vacation days that might otherwise go unused
Instead of competing solely on discounts, the team wanted to create a memorable offer that felt relevant, timely, and valuable.
The Strategy
The campaign focused on a simple message: Don’t lose your PTO. Get paid to use it.
Travelers who booked eligible accommodations through the campaign landing page received a digital Visa gift card worth $50 per night, up to five nights, for a maximum value of $250.
The promotion ran from November 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026, strategically targeting travelers planning holiday, winter, and early spring getaways.
More than 325 lodging partners participated in the promotion, giving travelers a wide range of accommodations to choose from while ensuring broad destination-wide participation.
The Solution
Using their Ripe ITA, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater launched an ITA microsite that connected travelers directly to participating properties while seamlessly managing incentive fulfillment.
The campaign messaging focused on turning unused PTO into a reward rather than a loss. Instead of asking travelers to spend money on a vacation, the promotion framed travel as a way to maximize an employee benefit they had already earned.
That simple shift in messaging resonated with consumers and created a powerful reason to book.
Results
The campaign generated strong performance across both booking volume and revenue.
Overall Campaign Performance
- $42267 in Room Revenue
- $196 Average Daily Room Rate
- 85 Reservations
- 216 Room Nights
- 24-Day Average Booking Window
- 2.5 Nights Average Length of Stay
PTO Offer Performance
The PTO promotion accounted for nearly 70% of all reservations generated through campaign offers, making it the most successful value-added promotion during the campaign period.
- 7,011 Landing Page Sessions
- 56 Reservations
- 117 Room Nights
- $25,201 in Revenue
- 0.80% Conversion Rate
- 52 Incentives Redeemed
Why It Worked
The campaign succeeded because it tapped into a highly relatable consumer challenge.
Rather than promoting another travel discount, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater connected with travelers through a message that felt personally relevant. The offer provided a practical solution to expiring PTO while positioning a beach vacation as the perfect way to use those remaining days.
Several factors contributed to the campaign’s success:
- A timely message tied to end-of-year traveler behavior
- A value-added incentive that felt meaningful and easy to understand
- Broad participation from lodging partners across the destination
- A seamless booking and redemption experience powered by Ripe
- Clear urgency around taking action before PTO expired
Client Perspective
“Each year, we leave time off on the table, and Visit St. Pete-Clearwater believed this was a strong marketing opportunity. Our campaign ran off a simple pitch – $50 per night for up to five nights to take a paid vacation. This opportunity would not have been possible without an effective booking solution that worked seamlessly with our offer.”
Eddie Kirsch / Director of Digital and Data, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater
Key Takeaways
The success of the PTO campaign demonstrates that effective destination marketing doesn’t always require deeper discounts—it requires stronger consumer insight.
By identifying a real-world behavior and building a compelling offer around it, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater created a campaign that generated bookings, revenue, and engagement while helping travelers make the most of the time off they had already earned.
For destinations looking to drive demand during key booking periods, creative value-added incentives can be a powerful way to inspire action and differentiate from the competition.
To learn more about Ripe’s In-Market Travel Agency and how it can boost your destination’s tourism economy, schedule a demo with our team of experienced tourism professionals.
