Newsletter - January 21, 2003  

Ten Meeting Industry Trends for 2003 - Observed by Benchmark Resorts, Hotels & Conference Centers

Benchmark Hospitality, which manages 26 award-winning resorts, conference centers and hotels in the United States, Canada and Japan, has released “Ten Meeting Industry Trends for 2003,” as observed by its properties. 

Trend #1  Technology Rules

Demand for T1 lines, wireless Internet, and high-speed Internet access in guestrooms is becoming the norm for meeting planners today. 

Customers are requiring more advanced technology than ever before but are less willing to pay upgrade charges for it.   LCD and data projectors are rapidly becoming the new “standard” for meetings. 

Trend #2  Meetings Are Strategic and Higher Level

Today’s meetings are strategic, participants are at higher level within their organizations than previously, and the content across industries is focused on top-line revenue growth, new business planning and strategic marketing.

Additional key meeting content issues are mergers and operational savings.  When meetings are for training, they are highly focused.  Fewer product introduction, sales, and incentive meetings are occurring today. 

Demand for teambuilding activities is mixed, with some properties experiencing a continued interest in this training, and for others it has fallen off completely.  When teambuilding programs do occur, they are more basic than in the past, and focus primarily on building camaraderie among participants.

Trend #3  Shrinking Meeting Budgets

Companies have trimmed meeting budgets significantly, and in some cases have cut drastically. 

Additionally, meeting planners are apprehensive to commit to conference space early, as they are well aware it is a buyers' market.  They are negotiating price accordingly and making buy decisions at the last minute. 

Trend #4  Intense Pricing Pressure

Pricing pressure is intense.  This originates from customers as well as from more traditional hotels and resorts competing for conference business, especially during valley periods. 

This is generating creative responses – packages completely customized for the client. City-based conference centers are responding with the "Urban Meeting Package,” designed to enable conferees to explore the vast array of dining options available within a center city setting.   Resort properties are integrating teambuilding or recreation options, such as spa treatments or golf, to add value.

Trend #5  Shorter and More Cost Efficient Meetings

Meetings booked for 2003 are occurring on a less frequent basis than previously,  and in many cases are slightly shorter in length.  Customers are requesting to begin or 
end a conference with a day package, shortening the meeting and enabling further cost savings. 

Conferences tend to be more regional in nature to enable automobile transportation, generating air travel cost savings. 

Trend #6  Websites Excel in developing New Business

Property Websites are important marketing tools today, especially for developing new business relationships and generating Requests for Proposals. 

Email is a preferred means of soliciting and delivering meeting proposals for first-time customers.  For long-term customers, the telephone and one-on-one conversations remain the preferred means of communication.

Trend #7  Booking Pace Shows Improvement

New meeting booking activity for the first quarter of 2003 is stronger than the same period in 2002. 

Booking lead-time, however, remains very short term, as companies delay commitments in order to maximize price advantages. 

Trend #8  Private Functions Continue, But are Scaled Back

Private food and beverage functions continue to be requested as part of a meeting. These functions, however, are much more conservative in nature and are purchased at a lower price point. 

Conferee consumption of alcohol at private functions remains a concern of planners, and is discouraged.

Trend #9  Demand for Videoconferencing Nearly Non-existent

Following the events of September 11, 2001, videoconferencing seemed to offer tremendous opportunity for corporate meetings.  Demand quickly tapered off, however, and today is nearly non-existent.

Where demand for videoconferencing and Web-casting does exist, the technology is used as a means of including as many people as possible without increasing travel expenditures.

Trend #10  Even Fewer Professional Meeting Planners

As companies continue to trim personnel budgets, decisions related to site selection and meeting expenditures are being assumed more and more by senior-level management staff.  These professionals often delegate coordination of the details to their administrative assistants. 

A growing number of companies are electing to outsource all of their meeting and event business to third-party planners.

For more information on Benchmark’s “Ten Meeting Industry Trends for 2003,” or to speak with a Benchmark Hospitality representative, contract Ken Ellens, Ken Ellens Communications, at 201-758-2864 or KenEllens@aol.com.

Benchmark Hospitality, an international hospitality management company based in The Woodlands, Texas, operates luxury resorts, hotels, spas, golf clubs and conference centers throughout the United States, in Canada, and Japan.

Stockholders Sue Marriott

Washington Post -  Two stockholders filed a derivative suit against Marriott International of Bethesda and its board of directors, alleging that the company improperly kept kickbacks from its online purchasing unit, Avendra, and has "damaged its reputation" with owners, causing "irreparable harm and losses to its business."

The suit was filed Thursday in Delaware on behalf of Daniel and Raizel Taubenfeld. A Marriott spokesman said the company "vigorously opposes" the allegations.

Marriott has faced several lawsuits from some of its hotels' owners, who have alleged that the company improperly charged for some of its management services.

Wanted: Hotel Duckmaster

(AP) Wanted: Personable employee who is good with water fowl. Classy work environment. No heavy lifting.

That's not exactly how The Peabody Hotel is wording its ads for a new "duckmaster," but it does indeed describe the job.

The Peabody, an ornate Memphis landmark, needs a new handler to lead the world-renowned, twice-a-day duck marches to and from the hotel's lobby fountain.

The ducks live on the roof and arrive at the lobby via elevator. From there, they march to the music of John Philip Sousa along a narrow red carpet to the fountain.

One mallard and four hens do daily duty from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., swimming around eating corn kernels and having their pictures taken by tourists.

"We have hundreds of spectators who will crowd the lobby and the mezzanine level every day to watch the march," said hotel spokeswoman Nikita Flynn.

The current duckmaster resigned, Flynn said.

To get the job, a candidate must be good with tourists as well as with ducks, and follow the lead of the first duckmaster, Edward Pembroke, in also becoming part of the show.

Pembroke, with a distinguished air and gold-trimmed red jacket, was the hotel's duckmaster for 50 years until his retirement in 1991. He died in 1994 at age 84.

The duck tradition got its start in the 1930s after a Peabody manager, Frank Schutt, and some friends returned from a hunting trip.

Live ducks could be used as decoys in those days, so they put a couple in the fountain.

The "March of the Peabody Ducks," as it is seen today, began after Pembroke got a job as a bellman in the 1940s. He was a former circus worker who had experience in training animals.

Hotels get creative to offer travelers something different

Cox News  -  Hotels used to be the place to hang your hat and fall asleep to bad late-night TV. But over the years, travelers began to scorn rooms lacking a hair dryer and a spot to plug in a laptop.

But even that's not enough for today's savvy consumers. So hotels, still trying to recover from the travel slowdown that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, are offering discount deals, high-tech entertainment and rooms with bizarre twists.

Consider the Jules' Undersea Lodge, an underwater hotel in Key Largo, Fla. where guests must suit up in dive gear just to get to their rooms.

Or the JailHouse Inn Bed and Breakfast in Preston, Minn., a restored county jail built in 1869. The inn offers a "cell block" where clients can sleep behind bars.

And then there's the Library Hotel in New York City, where all the rooms have a theme and are numbered according to the Dewey Decimal System.

"Many folks are so burned out on traveling that they really want to find places that offer something completely different," said Mary Tabacchi, professor of hotel management at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. "Seasoned travelers are looking to find a market niche they've never experienced before, and hotels are giving it to them."

Even the most popular hotels are coming up with new packages to lure travelers.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Chicago, a Four Seasons property named "best hotel in North America in 2002" by Condé Nast Traveler, unveiled a "shopper's package" this month that lets certain guests enjoy a shopping spree with more than $600 in merchandise certificates. Another "Family First Package" allows younger guests to enjoy in-room Sony Playstations, an array of children's videos and DVDs, and a welcome box filled with homemade cookies and juice.

Chains, too, are doing everything they can to stand out.

Embassy Suites Hotels, a unit of Hilton Hotels Corp., has come up with a class of rooms called Creativity Suites designed to stimulate a guest's creative juices. They boast showers with grease boards for scribbling down great ideas. Their sofas come in sections that can be rearranged in thought-provoking positions. They're stocked with brain-teasing toys and a mini-bar filled with "brain food."

"Twenty years ago, we introduced the all-suite idea because we listened to consumers. They wondered why they couldn't sit on the couch and watch TV like they do at home," said Mark Snyder, Embassy Suites' senior vice president of brand management. "Now we've listened to them again, and they've told us they want tools in the suites that fuel productivity, especially for those people on the road doing business."

The initial test Creativity Suite rolled out in New York in early December. Others will open next month in Los Angeles and in Chicago in March.

"We hope to have 20 to 30 of these kinds of suites at each of our hotels by 2005," Snyder said.

Guests who stay in the Creativity Suites will find the latest in high-tech equipment, including computers, plasma screen TVs, and even a full-body massage chair from Sharper Image.

Snyder said the company hasn't determined how much guests will pay for a Creativity Suite.

"We feel these are going to be popular, as travelers have learned to expect more from the traditional hotel room than a bed in a box," he said.

Meanwhile, Hampton Hotels has launched an online database called "Hampton's Year of 1,000 Weekends" that is designed to connect travelers with 1,000 fun and quirky events happening across the United States and Canada in 2003. Examples are the "O. Henry World Championship Pun-Off" in Austin, Texas, and the "Great Fruitcake Toss" in Manitou Springs, Colo.

"Today's leisure traveler wants to seek out memorable experiences," said Geoffrey Godbey, professor of leisure studies at Penn State University. "When the decision is made to leave home for a getaway, it is to find people, places and events that will always be remembered."

Hotels feel they have no choice but to go the extra mile.

A study released last month showed that demand for rooms is picking up slightly, but not enough to make much of a dent in occupancy rates.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said occupancy rates for 2002 averaged just below 60 percent -- the industry's worst performance in 31 years -- and will remain flat this year. In 2000, the occupancy rate was about 64 percent.

The firm predicts that industry pretax profits will rise 5.3 percent to $16.9 billion on revenue of $113 billion, up 3.4 percent from 2002.

In general, analysts say there's still downward pressure on room rates, which have fallen for two years in a row, and the threat of a war with Iraq and a weak national economy means they're likely to stay down this year as well.

Competitive Technology – Choosing your Weapons

Written By:  Chris Hartmann   HVS International

Business hotels, high-end properties and resorts today face a brave new world of technology.  Properties of every type lament the good old days, before the Internet, price transparency, and seemingly endless discounting.  That horse is well out of the barn and running though, and if it’s any consolation, he’s taken virtually every industry along for the ride.  The challenge now is to use technology to provide a competitive advantage, or at least to remain competitive.  One such approach to technology worth considering is called Experience Design, which is described as:

• A different approach to design that has wider boundaries than traditional design and that strives for creating experiences beyond just products or services
• The view of a product or service from the entire lifecycle with a customer, from before they perceive the need to when they discard it
• Creating a relationship with individuals, not targeting a mass market
• Concerned with invoking and creating an environment that connects on an emotional or value level to the customer
• Built upon traditional design disciplines in the creation of products, services, as well as environments in a variety of disciplines

Experience Design can be applied to all areas of an organization, from physical design to the Internet.  Those technology areas in which experience design can add value to a hotel or resort are:

Internet Marketing:  Flat text with a few property shots, buttons that lead to button after boring button, an inability for prospective guests to quickly find what they’re looking for, and a reservation link that takes them to an entirely new (and usually even more unpleasant) web site are all indications of poor communications and a lack of experience in design.  At one eastern U.S. resort, conference business increased by more than 25% over the previous year and local leisure travel sales gained by almost 40% simply by redeploying its website using Experience Design principles. The payback period for this effort was an astonishing four months.

Intranets:  Intranets are simply standard Internet pages restricted to authorized users.  A simple intranet can include basic policies and procedures and some company directories.  More complex installations can include entire workflow and electronic routing systems.  Whatever your goals, communicating seamlessly, reliably and instantly with employees, guests, suppliers and other organizations is now a business necessity.  The Internet has overtaken the phone as the major source of information because it is both less expensive and allows communications to proceed at the pace determined by those utilizing it.  Intranets however must also be secure, reliable and easy to navigate. 

On-Property Communications:  Guests traveling for leisure or business have one thing in common – a lack of time and patience for scheduling, planning, and problems.  Various technologies exist now and many new ones are being deployed to assist these efforts, including secure and reliable high-speed Internet access in rooms and common areas – both wired and wireless, video-on-demand with property specific content available, and interactive keyboard based communications between guests and property management.

Guest Service and Task Management:  Guest service requests, maintenance and general task allocation, tracking and feedback can all be handled through an automated system.  In addition to providing guidance as to common requests and “best practices”, employee evaluation and guest satisfaction can also be handled in an objective and consistent fashion.  For properties focused on guest service delivery, fully automated solutions from the moment of request (and in some cases, even before the request is made) through completion and guest evaluation provide immediate answers, consistent quality and let your guests know you are ready to serve them as effectively as possible.

Guest (past, future and potential) Communications:  Many alternatives now exist for targeted e-mail.  This e-mail is always permission-based (opt-in) and targeted to information the recipient has already indicated an interest in.  Professional e-mail communications now include “individual” messages (where the communication dynamically builds based on the recipient’s profile), complete tracking (who read what, which additional areas were viewed), and an ability to complete a transaction directly from the e-mail directed content.  This focus on web-based communications allows for instant availability, real-time reactions to inventory or service availability and a far richer environment than print or even television advertising.

Traditional Marketing:  For high-end properties with a very selective potential guest market there are several ways in which an experiential approach can help.  Primarily through lifestyle analysis, which goes beyond standard target marketing by geographical or viewer/readership habits, a much narrower audience can now be targeted.  This tighter targeting allows for a more lavish sales pitch, but also permits that sales pitch to be “tuned” to the interest or profile of the recipient.

Process Improvement:  Much of the guest experience depends on “process”, or how things get done.  At the core, each guest service is a process.  Process Improvement can take many forms, from a simple “best practices” book to a process model, where a process (like taking a reservation or providing conference services) is modeled and tweaked on the computer without affecting actual guests, to a full “Six Sigma”, organization-wide, quality improvement effort.

Throughout the ages, technological superiority has been the deciding factor in every battle fought.  The “battle” for guests and business is no different.

Whitbread to add 1,000 hotel rooms in London

Independent  -  The leisure group Whitbread is opening 1,000 new hotel rooms in London this year, despite the worst travel downturn to hit the capital since the Gulf War.

The group, which also owns the David Lloyd Leisure fitness clubs and Costa Coffee chain, will open a 216-room Marriott hotel in Kensington in June, as well as two new Travel Inns – its budget brand.

Alan Parker, the managing director of the group's hotel division, admitted: "It's a bit counter cyclical." But he said the projects were too far advanced to defer them when the hotel market collapsed after 11 September.

Both the Travel Inns will be located near airports. A 590-room Travel Inn at Heathrow and a 202-room Travel Inn near London City Airport are both scheduledto open in June. Other projects, including one to convert Whitbread's former head office in Chiswell Street, on the edge of the City of London, into executive apartments are still on hold, Mr Parker said.

While the threat of war with Iraq meant booking patterns remained unclear, Mr Parker said the current trend for Marriott had been "quite positive" over the past couple of months, and would "continue the figures we saw at the half year". Like-for-like sales across the Marriott estate fell 1.7 per cent in the six months to the end of August.

Mr Parker said Whitbread had "contingencies in place" to cope with the inevitable travel slump that would follow the outbreak of a new war in the Gulf.

Meanwhile, Thistle Hotels, London's largest hotelier, painted a bleaker picture, warning that it remained cautious about when hotel trading conditions would recover. In a trading update, the group, which runs 18 hotels in London, said the second half of 2002 had seen turnover return to growth, rising by 1.9 per cent, after a 13.6 per cent fall in the first half. The group said turnover for the full year from its 18 London hotels fell 6.8 per cent to £151.1m, in line with earlier guidance

Thistle puts question mark over London hotels' future

Money.Telegraph.com  -  Thistle Hotels yesterday said it would not rule out selling its portfolio of 18 owned and leased London hotels, though such a transaction would not be possible in the current "uncertain" markets.

London's biggest hotelier sold its 31 regional hotels to Orb Estates last March for £600m, while retaining the management contracts.

Ian Burke, chief executive, said: "We would not rule out a similar sale and management contracts deal on the London hotels, but with the yields where they are it couldn't be done in the current environment."

His comments came as the company released an end-of-year trading statement, showing a 10.5pc fall in average room rates in London last year, and declined to say how it would spend the cash raised from the Orb deal. Revenue per available room in London fell 8.2pc.

Analysts believe Thistle, which has net cash of about £110m, could afford to return £150m-£200m to shareholders via a buyback or special dividend.

Mr Burke would only say that his options spanned returning cash, redeeming a £260m debenture or buying hotels but would not discuss "the merits of one versus the other".

James Hollins, an analyst at WestLB, said: "Sitting on the cash is not very exciting for equity investors."

Mr Burke said Thistle was still in dispute with Orb, itself at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into Izodia, over £15m due from the deal.

Orb has until todayto lodge its defence against Thistle's claim for the remaining sum amid speculation it could launch a £45m counter-claim. Orb could not be reached for comment. Last week, under pressure from the Takeover Panel, Orb withdrew from a possible bid for Thistle.

Thistle said turnover at its 18 owned or leased London hotels rose 1.9pc in the second half, against a 13.6pc fall in the first half, helped by weaker comparisons following September 11 2001. Full-year sales fell 6.8pc to £151m.

Thistle remained "cautious as to when there will be a recovery in general hotel trading conditions", adding "it is difficult to forecast turnover for 2003". The shares fell 1.5 to 108p.

E.China province records 70 billion yuan in tourism revenue last year

(Xinhuanet) -- East China's Zhejiang province reported 71 billion yuan (8.6 billion US dollars) in tourism revenue last year, a year-on-year increase of 21 percent, according to official figures.

According to the figures released Thursday by the Tourism Bureau of the Zhejiang Provincial government, the coastal provincereceived 2.04 million tourists from outside the Chinese mainland in 2002, up 38.9 percent from the previous year.

A total of 1.21 million foreign tourists toured the province last year, an increase of 48 percent, while tourists from China's Taiwan province totaled 527,000, up 32 percent.

The tourism sector in Zhejiang earned 926 million US dollars in foreign exchange, up 30.9 percent.

The number of tourists from other parts of the Chinese mainland reached 80.2 million, up 16.3 percent, generating 63.3 billion yuan (7.7 billion US dollars) in revenue for the province's tourism sector, 19.8 percent higher than the previous year.

The coastal province is famous for tourist attractions such as Qiandao Lake and Hangzhou.

A total of 154,000 people from Zhejiang traveled outside the province, up 32.9 percent.

They traveled mainly to neighboring Jiangsu province and to southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Enditem

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