Successful Meetings - March 2010 - (Page 43)

HOUSTON > MISSION CRITICAL HOUSTON HANGS TOUGH IN THE BATTLE FOR GROUP BUSINESS By William Ng very March, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo stampedes into town, drawing 2 million festivalgoers and spectators who watch bull riders grapple surly oxen. At the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau (GHCVB), Greg Ortale, president and CEO, and his staff are taking on a challenge themselves, lassoing vital meetings, conventions, and major events, like the rodeo, under tough market conditions. “We have business in the pipeline,” says Ortale. “It’s a matter of converting those bookings, and if we’re able to, it will help carry our year. We’re doing everything we can.” Houston meetings have been buoyed by the relatively robust medical association and oil-and-gas sectors, and the SMERF market has been a stronghold for the city. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ 2011 annual convention is on the city’s calendar, and it recently hosted the American Medical Association’s Interim Meeting, which drew 2,700 attendees. Last month, it wrapped up the NAPE Expo, an energy and petroleum event, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. And with Houston hosting the South Regional of the NCAA men’s basketball national tournament this year, Ortale says first-quarter visitor business “should be very decent.” Ortale says the city, like many other toptier meetings destinations across the nation, is counting on corporate travel to bounce back later this year and fill the shortterm gaps in the calendar. Until then, the GHCVB is tapping the reunion and SMERF markets, though he notes, “SMERF is the sexy thing to [every destination] now.” There is also much in-state and regional group business up for grabs, Ortale says, but with cities like Fort Worth and San Antonio boasting upgraded convention and meetings infrastructure and Dallas having received approval to build a new convention hotel, the competition has toughened. Still, he explains that with a buyer’s market and Houston and its Texas counterparts each having its own destination flair, groups can lock up advantageous multiyear rotation contracts. For its part, the GHCVB has partnered with the Hotel and Lodging Association of SuccessfulMeetings.com I March 2010 I SM I http://www.SuccessfulMeetings.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - March 2010

Successful Meetings - March 2010
Contents
Editor's Letter
A Dust-Up in the Windy City
Education
Mouth for Sale
Incentive Insights
Management Matters
Meetings Law
Good Neighbor
Feast Not Famine
Spreading Out
Your Guide to Green
Places + Spaces
Houston
New York City
Florida Keys
Oahu
Quebec City

Successful Meetings - March 2010