Meeting News - October 20, 2008 - (Page 60)

Cover Story Taxis continued from cover of the Rockville, MD-based Taxicab, Limousine, and Paratransit Association. “We don’t receive subsidies like public transport. Airlines, cruise ships, and all forms of transit have a fuel surcharge these days, or a permanent rate increase. Fuel costs have had a significant impact on all transportation carriers.” Although taxi drivers in many cities have enacted fuel surcharges, not every city has seen it.“I was just in San Francisco, and there were no fuel surcharges from the taxis,” noted Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM, president and chief strategist of Strategic Meetings & Events. However, “our transportation company [had] a fuel surcharge— which I paid without question, as I fully understand that their cost of business has risen, while the demand for their services has dropped. We now estimate a 15-percent [difference] in our travel budgets for ground [transportation] and 25-percent for air price fluctuations between contract signing and event execution.” In the Big Apple, the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission is holding out. “We looked at the issue carefully, balancing all of the variables—including the industry’s overall health, driver earnings, and a surcharge’s potential negative impact on passengers and ridership—and believe that a surcharge is not warranted…We will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Matthew W. Daus, chairman and commissioner of the city agency, said in a public statement. One spokesperson at the commission told MeetingNews that “the price of fuel has come down. We don’t expect to hear those cries for fuel Dolce continued from cover In Chicago, a cab ride to McCormick Place is costing an extra dollar for fuel. surcharges again.” “That’s just not true,” said Lagasse. “Fuel costs are still significantly higher and will probably remain so. We encourage cities to reevaluate their fare structures to make sure that [they are] reasonable and to allow the taxicab industry to remain profitable.” The surcharges and fare increases are changing the habits of MaryAnne Bobrow, CAE, CMP, CMM, of Citrus Heights, CA-based Bobrow and Hotels & Resorts] does not help the differentiation,” he said, but “in all other respects, they are differentiating their properties and meeting all the [IACC] criteria with flying colors.” Benchmark Hospitality dropped “conference centers” from its name many years ago. Eric Terry, Benchmark’s VP of sales and marketing, said that “there certainly is enough business” to go after the pure conference center customer, but “by broadening the reach of the facility and having a spa and [golf, and fine-dining restaurants that serve a la carte dinners], we’re able to appeal to the executive training segment as well as traditional training.” Dolce chief executive Andy Dolce told MeetingNews, “You can rest assured that we’re staying true to the IACC standards at all our properties.” But, he said, in focus groups, meeting planners told the company that the phrase “conference center” was confusing. “They Associates. “I used to always take taxis but now often weigh the convenience against the cost and will sometimes rent a car instead,” said Bobrow. “What it means is leaving even earlier to drop off the rental car when returning home, but sometimes the savings is substantial.” All of which means that in cities where fuel surcharges have been enacted, they are likely to remain in place. And where they haven’t, it is only a matter of time before increases appear. r thought it was just meeting space and it didn’t represent the standards today’s travelers require, such as more than one option for places to eat, flat-screen TVs, pillow-top mattresses, and luxury bed linens and pillows.” Soon, all Dolce properties will feature those items, plus cybercafes in breakout locations and on-demand printing from laptops anywhere on site. The company’s owners have invested $100 million Dolce’s brand relaunch and individual property upgrades. With the re-branding, the company hopes to gain broader appeal to three market segments: meetings, leisure, and transient business. While Dolce said his aim is to grow the group business from 800,000 room nights a year to 900,000, meetings are now 80 percent of the company’s business, and he sees them becoming 70 percent in the new era. r For more conference center news, go to page 62. www.meetingnews.com and its brand] were such things. Part of my frustration is that the conference center ‘brand’ that always struggled to be understood is really being undermined.” It has become highly difficult for training industry newcomers to know the differences between meetings hotels and conference centers, she said. Tom Bolman, IACC’s executive VP, said all but two of Dolce’s properties are members. “The name itself [Dolce Andy Dolce wants to spread business out beyond meetings. 60 MeetingNews October 20, 2008 http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - October 20, 2008

Meeting News - October 20, 2008 Contents Letters to the Editor What's Up @ MeetingNews.com People Making News Transportation & Services Conference Centers Advertisers Index Live From the Forum

Meeting News - October 20, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.