ST. PAUL-DE-VENCE, FRANCE— The fifth annual Unisys Travel & Distribution Executive Summit began here in this French Riviera city today. Formally entitled “Travel & Hospitality…Back to the Future— Generating 1999 Results in 2005,” the conference has thus far featured a collection of presentations that provided hoteliers with analysis on the current global hospitality market as well as solutions to current industry issues. The summit led off with its keynote speech, which was delivered by Peter Yesawich, the CEO of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown and Russell. During his session entitled “Emerging Lifestyles and Travel Trends,” he highlighted three major trends that hoteliers must recognize and respond to in today’s rapidly-changing hotel market. First and foremost, he noted that because of the fact that most consumers take at least one vacation a year, the leisure portion of the hospitality business is becoming more pronounced compared with the corporate travel side. “Many vacationers believe its their birthright to take a vacation no matter what is going on in the world,” he said. However, today’s leisure travelers are becoming increasingly selective with their chosen destinations and the hotels they book. Yesawich noted that consumers now want personalized vacations because, unlike the past, “one size does not fit all anymore.” As an example, he cited Disney’s new Magical Gatherings vacation option, which allows prospective travelers to book complicated and customized vacations for up to 12 people traveling together. “This program was introduced in July or August 2003 and the numbers are now off the charts,” he said. “And that has implications for hotels’ future pricing, packaging and promotion.” Travelers are also becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to shopping for hotels on the Internet, Yesawich pointed out. “The Internet was usually just for low-risk transactions such as a quick plane trip,” he said. “But that’s about to change. Consumers want to participate in creating new options for themselves.” Further echoing many of Yesawich’s points was Michael DiLeva, the managing director of Unisys Travel & Hospitality Solutions, who hosted the following session entitled, “Adapting to the Changing Travel Consumer.” DiLeva said that the new Internet distribution channels have shifted consumer loyalty from the hotel suppliers to the Internet intermediary sites. He also noted that, for the most part, hotels have been unsuccessful in their attempts to completely win back that loyalty. DiLeva explained that hotel tactics such as superior customer service, best rate guarantees and loyalty programs have been mostly ineffectual. Hotels should instead be focused on providing competitive differentiation by creating better value, he added. “Without a focus on the value, or experience, price will prevail,” he said. “Hotels should focus on why someone would travel to the hotel over others.” DiLeva also suggested that property management systems should not stand as hotel’s centers of the universe. Instead, guests should be at the center and, consequently, customer relationship management programs are exceedingly important. Taking that subject a bit further was the day’s final speaker, Douglas Rice, the executive director of non-profit hotel organization Hotel Technology Next Generation. He explained that his organization has formed workgroups comprised of various vendors and hotels that have developed and are still working on a number of CRM-related applications and projects. The purpose behind these applications, he said, is to simplify what he described as the mess that is hospitality information technology.