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Show Me Currency fluctuations are always a challenge, but even more so these days with so much volatility in this area. Add in issues like taxes, shipping and customs, and cultural mores that dictate contracts, and planners will find international meeting planning a unique challenge. One of the most pressing issues for international planners these days is the cost and frequency of international air travel. “International overthe-water airfare has become quite expensive so it’s taking up a larger piece of the budget,” says Kurt Paben, senior vice president, client services, engagement and events, for Minneapolis-based Carlson Marketing. a great deal. Australia has favorable land pricing, but the challenge is the air. It’s really a mixed bag.” In addition to the power of the dollar, hotels throughout much of the world are facing the same occupancy challenges as US hotels, opening up the potential for bargains for savvy negotiators. “We’ve seen hotels much more open to concessions,” says Wendy Parsley, founder of the New York-based integrated marketing agency Quint Strategies, which plans meetings, conferences, and trade shows for clients. As examples, she cites international hotels that have been willing to bundle in high-speed Internet charges or breakfast into the price, or discount catering when a certain number of rooms are booked and confirmed. On the other hand, cultural norms dictate that most hotels outside of the US will charge for meeting rooms regardless of how many attendees are eating and sleeping at the property. And it’s common for some or all of the money to be paid much farther in advance than in the US, sometimes requiring total payment before an event even takes place. Parsley also cautions to pay special to cancellation and attrition clauses. “Even with an international chain, we find that these clauses will be worded differently if the hotel is in Paris than in San Diego,” she says. “They’re subject to local laws and local business customs so we always have an attorney check contracts carefully.” The Money [ “In a world where everything is now subject to such great scrutiny, there’s so much riding on every penny.” ] Ann Godi, CMP, president of Atlanta-based meetings management company Benchmarc360°, Inc. and chairwoman elect of Meeting Professionals International (MPI), agrees. “So far air rate fluctuation has been so short-term that it’s difficult to count on it in any kind of strategy for meeting planning.” She also notes that along with airfares eating up a larger portion of a budget, decreasing air capacities require planners to look at airlift in a whole different way. “That’s a factor that needs to be managed and can play in destination selection.” Pay It Forward Regardless of how good a deal you can find, the method of payment you choose can make a big difference in your final costs. Still, cautions Krugman, “As meeting planners, we’re not currency traders and we don’t have crystal balls. These kinds of decisions should only be made after consulting with a professional.” Although in this economic climate, a professional just might tell you that your guess is as good as theirs when it comes to predicting the value of the dollar moving forward. On the Plus Side While airfares remain up in the air, planners are finding the situation with international hotels more promising. Even with the current economic crisis in the US, the dollar is stronger against many international currencies now than it’s been in the past two years. At press time, for example, the dollar was trading at 1.34 dollars to 1 euro compared to 1.6 dollars to the euro in July. In Latin America, the story is a little more mixed, with the dollar losing value against the Brazilian real, for example, during 2008, but still remaining strong. “Latin America has always been a bargain for meetings compared to the rest of the world,” says Krugman. “It may not be as much a bargain as it used to be, but there’s still value there.” Meanwhile, in Asia, trading was relatively flat in 2008 throughout much of the region, with some losses to the value of the dollar compared to the yen. “One of the destinations that’s newly popular again is Australia because of the exchange rate,” says Philippa Durrant, managing director of The DMC Group, a New York-based company that represents international DMCs covering 24 countries. “Suddenly there’s great value there again.” Other destinations she says are particularly good value for groups include South Africa and Switzerland, which continues to use the Swiss franc instead of the euro and will sometimes guarantee rates in dollars. “Prices are all over the place,” says Paben. “But any destination that has a large inventory is a good value right now. We’re finding destinations that used to be very expensive—like London and Paris, for example—are still expensive, but not to the same degree. Mexico is Successful Meetings/MeetingNews/Incentive / MARCH 2009 [ “Prices are all over the place. But any destination that has a large inventory is a good value right now.” ] 39 There are, however, some basic strategies to consider. “The best approach will vary depending on how long your planning process is, how much money is involved, and the fluctuation tolerance of your financial department,” says Krugman, who dedicated a whole chapter of her 2006 book Global Meetings and Exhibitions (co-authored with Rudy Wright) to “Managing Currency and Finances.” She says common approaches are an “options contract,” which gives the organization the option to purchase foreign currency at a pre-determined price in a certain time period, and a “forward contract,” which is an agreement to purchase a certain amount of funds at a

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Passport Contents Destination Diary Europe Americas and the Caribbean Asia Africa Charting Their Course Show Me the Money

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