NEW YORK— Day three of the IH/M&RS kicked off amongst controversy here as the city was hit with yet another airline tragedy. An American Airlines flight bound for the Dominican Republic crashed upon takeoff from JFK International airport, leaving the exhibit floor here rather empty as convention attendees gathered around televisions to receive the latest news, and others were stranded in traffic as the city clamored to deal with the crisis. Vendors, including MTS Seating, Ginger and The French Reflection, had mixed reviews on show traffic this morning, but all agreed that it was “a slower show than usual,” especially compared to last year. MTS President Phil Swy told HOTEL BUSINESS® despite the plane crash in Queens, NY, his company had a busy morning. In contrast, Alice Myers of The French Reflection said that it was extremely slow. Overall, however, vendors still noted that while they weren’t getting a large quantity of leads, they were getting quality leads. They stated that they did have some backlog of business during the current recession, but were also still seeing some slowdown to varying degrees. At the Six Continents Hotels’ booth, Roland Schick, vp/franchise sales and development, said, “I’ve been here [to IH/M&RS]seven years and its never been lighter, and it looks like it’s going to continue to be that way. It was extremely light [Sunday], and Saturday wasn’t bad until about 3:30 or 4 p.m., then it fell off really hard. We have not seen a lot of the people we normally see. Put it this way: Monday is usually the busiest day and I’m reading the newspaper.” At the show for the third time, Reid Sellgren, vp/Clear Mirror via Newhome Bath & Mirror, noted business has been much slower, but added “we’re finding we’re now starting to get quotes and requests for quotes from the industry. It seems that things have settled down a little bit.” Steve Ladd, vp/sales at Shaw Hospitality, said traffic on Saturday was “very, very good. On Sunday, very slow and [Monday] it’s so-so.” Ladd said he was hopeful more showgoers would attend on Monday afternoon, but given the given the plane crash “we’re not sure.” Given the recent spate of events, Shaw said “the future of the show is questionable as to where it’s going to end up. As far as shrinking of the show, I don’t think we’re going to have as many people as we have had in the past, at all.” Shaw said the upside was more qualified buyers were coming through the current show, “so we’ve had as many decision-makers as before.” Douglas Fiedler, vp/program development and marketing at Avendra, agreed that the attendees at this year’s show “were more qualified customers, decision makers.” Dennis Baker, president/COO of Avendra, added that given the difficult economic conditions, many hotel companies are looking for ways to cut costs and e-procurement is an one way to do that. Baker noted that of Avendra’s 3,100 clients, only a small percentage are using the company’s Go Co-Op powered e-procurement system- Procura, however, he expects that number to grow significantly during the first quarter of 2001. Meanwhile, among the design firms that spoke with HOTEL BUSINESS® during this year’s show— including HVScompass, BBGM/Architects and The Gettys Group— the consensus was that clients, to varying degrees, are taking a wait-and-see attitude about capital improvement budgets. Each firm has gotten calls from clients who are mostly putting projects on hold for approximately 90 days, many of which are holding off on improvements until after Jan. 1. The only projects getting done are those currently in the pipeline or those that have the budgets to back them up despite the recession. The firms all said the key to design now is to provide value for their owner clients. They also said to look for owners who will want to cut costs via energy-efficient HVAC systems. Lastly, they noted they have not seen, thus far, an uptick in owners asking for any sort of security installations in light
Attendees gathered at TVs at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.