HB ON THE SCENE: Meetings Set The Pace For Industry Rebound

NEW YORK— Like the industry as a whole, hotel executives gathered at the Meeting World conference here last week at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here agreed that the current recovery in RevPAR and ADR was widespread and still growing stronger. However, on the much-debated question of whether transient travel, either business or leisure— as opposed to the group side of the business— was spearheading the rebound, they were consistent in their opinion: meetings were leading the charge. The number of bookings is up and meeting planners seemed to be relaxing their budgets, they reported. The one thing that hadn’t changed, though, rebound or no rebound, was the narrow booking window. Approximately 200 meeting planners attended the two-day event. “Business is back, but bookings continue to be very short term,” said Allison Lynch, director of national sales for Wyndham International. “We thought the booking window would lengthen once we came out of the downturn, but that really hasn’t happened. We see major pieces of business booking as little as six weeks out, which used to be unheard of.” Lynch attributes the continuing trend to the fact that technology is available to make such short-term bookings feasible. “Planners know that we’re able to execute the meeting on such short notice. Meanwhile, they know others are holding back finalizing decisions as well, so availability is less of an issue,” she said. Tom Moncho, manager of meeting and group sales for World Hotels, a firm that represents 500, mostly international hotels, sees the increase in the number of meetings being booked as a reflection of corporations’ growing confidence in the economy. “The short-term booking window notwithstanding, we’re still benefiting from significant pent-up demand post-9/11,” Moncho said. While business is up, the competition among hotels for the best bookings remains intense. Accordingly, hotels need to be able to offer planners the right product in the right destination to be able to close the deal. “Planners have become increasingly sophisticated when it comes to site selection,” said Martin Young, regional director of sales for the Americas for Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts, which has seen an increase in both its group meetings and incentive program businesses. “In some cases, budgets may have gotten looser, but planners are still price sensitive. What’s more, even when the dates are very short term, planners are still prepared to shop around for the best deal,” he said. Internationally, Caribbean destinations are gaining in popularity because of the perception of value in the U.S. dollar, compared to other currencies, Young added. Speaking for the conference center segment of the industry, Kelly Commerford, director of sales and marketing at the Dolce Hayes Mansion in San Jose, CA, said the average size of groups has been growing larger as the rebound has gained momentum. “We’re seeing many more groups of a 125-rooms per night. At the same time, we’ve also become much more flexible when it comes to things like the Complete Meetings Package,” Commerford said.