A first-of-its-kind beverage brand partnership will bring Coca-Cola into the guest-room and on-property holiday programming at eight Marriott International resort destinations this season, spanning all Gaylord Hotels properties plus JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa and JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa.
Two New Guest Touchpoints
The collaboration centers on two activations. The Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan — the brand's iconic red truck, which has toured North America for decades — will make multi-day stops at each resort from early November through New Year's Eve. During each visit, guests can access free interactive activities, product sampling, branded giveaways, and photo opportunities with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear mascot. Caravan stops are scheduled at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville (Nov. 5–8), Gaylord National in National Harbor, Md. (Nov. 15–18), Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Fla. (Nov. 23–26), JW Marriott San Antonio (Nov. 30–Dec. 3), Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas (Dec. 6–9), JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge (Dec. 13–16), Gaylord Pacific in Chula Vista, Calif. (Dec. 19–22), and Gaylord Rockies in Aurora, Colo. (Dec. 28–31).
The second activation is the Coca-Cola Christmas Suite, a limited-availability branded accommodation offered across all eight properties throughout the full holiday season. Each suite features immersive seasonal décor, a themed Christmas tree, in-room Coca-Cola products, a keepsake item, four tickets to the resorts' signature ice! attraction, and seasonal food offerings. Additional amenities vary by property.
What It Means for Hospitality Operators
For resort operators, the partnership illustrates a growing trend: leveraging consumer-brand equity to differentiate experiential packages in a crowded holiday travel market. Embedding a globally recognized beverage brand into room product and live programming creates multiple ancillary revenue opportunities — from suite premiums to on-property F&B featuring the partner's products — while also giving the brand partner a high-dwell-time, family-focused environment for sampling and engagement.
"Each resort is known for bringing Christmas to life in incredible ways through ice! and beloved holiday events, and this collaboration enhances those experiences with the nostalgia and traditions that guests have long associated with Coca-Cola," said Johann Krieger, Regional Vice President of Marriott International.
Rachel Chahal, Vice President of Customer Marketing for the North America Operating Unit at The Coca-Cola Company, framed the deal as an extension of the brand's long-standing role in holiday culture, noting that the suite and caravan formats give families new ways to build seasonal memories tied to the brand.
The ice! attraction, which debuted at Gaylord Opryland in 2001, uses more than 2 million pounds of ice carved by master artisans to create walk-through scenes and two-story ice slides. The addition of a named beverage brand sponsor elevates the promotional reach of an already well-established seasonal draw, a strategy that hospitality operators elsewhere may watch closely as they seek beverage industry partnerships to animate their own seasonal programming.
For foodservice and restaurant hospitality professionals tracking how major hotel groups are monetizing holiday periods, the Marriott-Coca-Cola model offers a replicable framework: a brand with mass-market nostalgia, a physical touring asset, and a premium room product that packages the experience into a bookable night.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
