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The Far Reaching Effects of the Travel Slump: USA Today Circulation Dips

April 4, 2009 at 12:40 PM | by | Comments (2)

You know how whenever you stay in a big chain hotel, you get a copy of USA Today delivered to your door every day? Well, it turns out that hotel distribution is a huge part of USA Today's circulation, and the slowdown in business and leisure travel is really taking a toll on the Gannett behemoth's bottom line. The Wall Street Journal points out that the newspaper has seen a 7% decrease in the number of copies distributed through hotel chains such as Marriott, which is seen contributing to a 35% dip in ad revenue in the first quarter. In a statistic that I found quite surprising, the Journal notes that the 1.3 million daily copies of USA Today distributed at hotels last year accounted for more than half the paper's average weekday circulation.

Whatever your opinions on USA Today - "McNews," or a delightfully concise, reader-friendly information source - you've got to admit that it has definitely succeeded in becoming the newspaper of the traveling public. Its reach goes far beyond hotels, as travelers can find stacks of complimentary papers in airport terminals all over the country, there for the taking. I've certainly thumbed through my share of complimentary copies. What can I say, I like their travel section. It's a dependable way to catch up on the main stories while you're waiting for your flight to board.

As for the hotel circulation, I only recently realized that those papers ain't free. Guests are charged something like a dollar a day for the papers, and the charge is automatically added to your room bill unless you "opt out" at check-in. Readers, I'm curious. Have any of you ever opted out of the USA Today delivery at your hotel, to save that dollar? After all, desperate times do call for desperate measures.

Related Stories:
· USA Today Dealt New Losses [The Wall Street Journal]
· USA Today Coverage [Jaunted]

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I Don't Remember Ever Paying For It

Unless that dollar was hidden under some other fees when I traveled.
4aroundtheworld on April 6, 2009 at 12:34 AM #Permalink

I'd pay $1 for the WSJ or NYT in my hotel but...

McNews? I'm opting out next time. How did they negotiate that hotel deal anyway? And why haven't the NYT or WSJ tried to do the same to up their circulation #s?
BrooklynMama on April 7, 2009 at 2:54 PM #Permalink

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