Meeting News - August 10, 2009 - (Page Cover1)

J.D. POWER HOTEL INDEX Guests satisfaction rises p.3 GOV’T MEETING BLACKLIST D.C. officials take action p.4 MEETINGS SPOTLIGHT Siemens integrates data p.6 MeetingNews w w w. M e e t i n g N e w s . c o m August 10, 2009 MeetingNews Vantage Point Disney’s Aguel Pursues Growth Disney Parks & Resorts senior vice president George Aguel recently spoke with MeetingNews editor Seth Harris about the company’s expansion plans, the growth of the Disney Institute and the developing rebound of the meetings industry. MeetingNews: Hotels have offered steep discounts to lure meeting business. Have you used similar tactics? George Aguel: Not in the same way. We philosophically feel that when you are taking that tactic, it’s State, Local Governments Seek Revenue Tax Hikes To Raise Meetings’ Hotel Tabs By Jay Boehmer everal state and local governments in recent months have proposed, implemented or approved tax hikes on hotel stays as they put the onus of closing budget shortfalls on meeting planners, outof-towners and travel buyers. Popular meetings destinations Hawaii and Las Vegas last month enacted new taxes on hotel room stays, while Oakland, Calif., last month passed a measure to do so. Boston at press time also was poised to pass a new hotel tax, joining the S George Aguel not necessarily good. If a company simply is not going to have a procontinued on page 22 Planners More Focused On Managing Risk more than one-quarter of the 100 largest U.S. business travel destinations that have increased lodging taxes since the beginning of 2008. “Every time there is a downturn in the economy and jurisdictions have trouble with funding, they add some type of occupancy tax that goes into the general fund,” American Hotel & Lodging Association president and CEO Joseph McInerney said. “It happened after 9/11, continued on page 24 By Seth Harris Percentage Of U.S. Hotel Mortgages This year’s outbreak of swine flu and recent terrorist attacks on hotels in In Delinquency Jakarta and elsewhere have refocused a spotlight on the importance of preevent risk management. Mean1990 14% while, some planners are weighing the viability of developing enter2002 5% prise-wide meeting risk manage- By Michael B. Baker ment standards. Several analysts are predicting more defaults and foreclosures on high2009 2% Such a standardization effort end hotels and resorts throughout the rest of this year. While their opinions differ on the severity of the threat this poses to the industry, they agree continued on page 30 Source: NYU Tisch Center associate professor Bjorn Hanson that meeting planners could begin to see service impacts at some of their preferred properties and should take Average Cost Per Attendee, 2008 a hotel’s financial health into consideration when negotiating a deal. Several hotel foreclosures have made headlines in recent months, most MN 8% continued on page 8 11% Research Hotel Foreclosures Back On The Rise 11% Volume 33/Number 11/$10.00 35% 21% Under $50 $51 - $100 $101 - $150 Source: A MeetingNews survey of 250 meeting planners 14% $151 - $200 $201 - $250 More than $251 See story, page 12 http://www.gonewport.com http://www.MeetingNews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - August 10, 2009

Meeting News - August 10, 2009
Contents
Meetings Spotlight
MeetingNews Research
Meeting People
Construction Cites
Travel Dashboard
West Regional

Meeting News - August 10, 2009