IH/M&RS Panel Finds Changing Marketing Times

NEW YORK— If there is any one marketing truism attendees at the 87th International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show here can count on, it’s that there is no single “silver bullet” that will unerringly address all the problems and potholes facing hotel sales professionals today. Such was yesterday’s observation of Regent Wall Street President/Managing Director Christopher Knable— and the consensus of five other lodging-property (and other industry-related) panelists— lending insight to what it takes to “Market Your Property In A Recovering Economy.” On the front end of the process, Bolongo Bay Beach Club General Manager Richard Doumeng maintained: “The art of forecasting is dead today.” Specifically, he said it has become virtually impossible to track and project operating results year-over-year. As to why this is so, Associate Dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Travel Administration at New York University Dr. Lalia Rach explained: “This [represents]the new normal.” As such, she explained this spurs later booking patterns, elevated customer expectations and— in general— finds a real sense of “uncertainty underscoring everything.” Accordingly, the panel’s recommendations for dealing with today’s challenging marketing scenario includes sticking to all the basics of delivering quality service, establishing joint-marketing partnerships whenever and wherever possible, and— as particularly emphasized by Kahn Travel Communications President Richard Kahn— be open to “stressing value-added features instead of cutting rates.”—Michael Billig