Hotel & Motel Management - December 10, 2007 - (Page 10)

10 Sales Clinic IN THE details Military reunions growing Participants meet yearly Events bring steady business Must locate key personnel H&MM December 10, 2007 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Military reunions could mean big business J By Howard Feiertag H&MM Columnist ust a few years ago, there was a drop in U.S. military reunions held around the country to about 11,000. Now the latest ﬁgures from The Reunion Network indicate that these reunion celebrations now are passing 13,600 a year. There was a big drop in reunions of WWII veterans; however, with the increase in veterans groups, it looks like this market is growing. I’ve booked many myself, years ago, and I really had a wonderful time working with the volunteer planners who coordinate the reunions. The interesting thing about military reunions is that they come to the property when you really need the business. Further, they are not just an “in and out” convention. The attendees make it a weeklong event, and 90 percent of the participants attend year-in and year-out, working it around their vacation time during the summer months. These groups of veterans represent all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces who belonged to a wide variety of military units during the various armed conﬂicts. Even with the drop in the number of reunions involving WWII veterans, there are still some units that continue to meet. In fact, they say they will continue to meet “even if they have to crawl” to get there; the average age of this group is 87! Vietnam veterans are coming out of the woodwork, and many are joining reunions with veterans who wore the same patch, even during a different time and conﬂict. These veteran member groups usually get together for a week-long series of visits with each other, along with their families, where they retell stories of their wartime activities, show pictures and documents of their experiences and share their friendships, which really are lifelong friendships. It is a wonderful experience to actually be a part of these gatherings and to just sit and listen to some of the experiences. Of course, during the week there are visits to local attractions, especially when there is a military connection or involvement. Any properties located reasonably near military monuments, armories, military installations, etc., surely would be a good prospect for a military reunion location in 2008 or 2009. One of the difﬁculties sales staffers may have is being able to locate the key personnel in these markets who plan the meetings. The best bet for seeking “connections” to ﬁnd the right person with whom to make contact is The Reunion Network. This is the only organization of its kind with direct contact with reunion planners. TRN conducts Conferences and Familiarization trips every year, which are sponsored by convention and visitors bureaus. At ConFAMs, reunion planners come together to learn about an area, its facilities and attractions. For more information, contact TRN via: paul@reunionfriendly.com hmm@questex.com Howard Feiertag is on the faculty of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va. He can be reached at howardf@vt.edu. CIRCLE NO. 136 http://www.hotelmotel.com http://www.hotelmotel.com/digital_edition http://www.tritonatm.com/en/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - December 10, 2007

Table of Contents News Wildfires test hotels' emergency plans LIIC roundtable: Capital available for hotel projects Departments Perspective Letters to the Editor At Your Risk Family Business Matters Sales Clinic On Finance Satisfaction Trends HotelWorld Update Events Trends & Stats Special Report H&MM's "year in review" tackles the top seven in 2007 Transactions Consumer Insight Travelers rank free breakfast high on must-have items Hot Products IH/M&RS Editors' Choice Award winners Construction Spending up, costs steady in construction Design Window treatments Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - December 10, 2007

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