One + July 2011 - (Page S12)

they don’t want to give the impression of f wasting stockholders’ money), upscale hotels s are eager to go the extra mile to get bookings. But the consensus of hotel industry analysts is that rates at four- and ﬁve-star hotels s will be going up soon, and deals are going to o be more difﬁcult to ﬁnd as the next two or r three years elapse. “That’s because business is getting better r for the high-end hotels and doing so faster r than at the lower-end properties,” said Scott t Brush, an independent hotel industry analyst t based in Miami. “And that is because the e economy is getting much better for their clientele—the people on the higher end of the e spectrum—than it is for the average working g stiff.” B 12 Brush forecasts that sometime during g 2011 rates at high-end hotels will return to o what they were before the current recession, and by 2013 to 2014, upscale hotel rates will l reach where they would have grown to if the e recession had never happened, in part because e fewer high-end guest rooms are being built t right now, and demand for them is starting to o grow again. “It’s inevitable that upscale hotel rates will l be going up,” Brush said. “It’s only a question n of how fast that happens.” Peter Kacheris, managing director of the e Waldorf Astoria Orlando and the Hilton n Orlando Bonnet Creek (two hotels that adjoin n each other and share a common convention n center), says his hotel complex is experiencing a strong recovery in bookings versus the e recent past, but still sees a demand for sensible e event budgets for the foreseeable future. “I think the days of excess craziness on n expenditures; maybe they are not gone forever, but certainly the mood has changed toward d meetings and incentives that are demonstrably y cost-effective,” Kacheris said. He pointed out that savvy planners are e bringing their “A-game” of cost-saving g strategies and that he and other hoteliers like s working in that environment. w “One way to save big dollars is to book in i our occupancy valleys,” he said. “There is a return to groups arriving on a Sunday, for instance, and you can save 20 percent to 40 i percent on room rates doing that, even on p short notice. You give me 90 days lead time s and a have your group arrive on Sunday, and I am a going to reward you for it.” One iconic, beachfront Florida conference and incentives property, the TradeWinds e Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach, has put price I point as such a focus that in dealing with p planners the hotel sales teams starts from the p group’s bottom-line total budget for an event g and a works back from that. “What we do is ask the planners what their desired budget is going to be, and then t we w put together a package that will not only meet m that, but wow them a bit with what we can c offer for that budget, and exceed their expectations,” said Terry Popelka, vice presie dent d of sales for the TradeWinds. Mark Burrell, chief operating ofﬁcer for United States Infrastructure, says the f TradeWinds recently delivered exactly that— T an a on-budget event that impressed the attendees e and exceeded the in-house planner’s expectations of what the budget would buy. t “We went to the TradeWinds because we were looking for beachfront and Florida and w February, and that equation can sometimes be F cost-prohibitive,” said Burrell, whose group c included about 80 attendees, mostly managei ment m from 40 geographically dispersed ofﬁces. “But sure enough, we were within the budget g for the event, which included an offshore ﬁshing trip they arranged, a sunset banquet on the t beach and meals in their lush, tropical patio area,” Burrell said. “It was a huge hit with a our o group, and they felt rewarded by it. It’s not n often that you are within budget, because you y usually elect for extras that take you over budget. But in this case, we got everything we b wanted and met the bottom line budget that w we w set at the beginning of our planning.” one+ 0 7.1 1 SUPPLEMENT

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + July 2011

One + July 2011
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
Paradigm Shifts, Part II
Web Watch
Agenda
Thoughts+Leaders
Ask the Experts
Recognizing Community and Organizational Excellence
Overheard
Art of Travel
The Prism Effect
Top Spots
Connections
Irrelevant
Using New Tech for Old Purposes
So You Think You Can Dance
Don’t Use Tech You Don’t Understand
Are You In It to Win It?
Anything is Possible
Night of the Radishes
Well Played
When People Come Together, Magic Happens
Size Matters
Building a Better FAM
One Bar at a Time
MPI + CSR
Industry Insights
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again

One + July 2011