14 January 2010

How are conference centers faring with meeting slowdowns?

The meeting market may be starting to rebound but what is happening to conference centers? They are still feeling the impact of the economic downturn, reports Meetings/Focus e-newsletter.

"Some are doing worse than others," said Dave Arnold, CEO, East for PKF Consulting, which produces an annual conference center trends survey in conjunction with the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC). He added:

"Resorts, which were demonized, are suffering the most. Those [conference centers] that rely on corporate meetings are impacted the most after resort conference centers."

Who is doing the best? Centers focused on training, he said.

But the situation may be improving.

"It is getting better. Government and non-corporate business is up. Corporate is down to flat in some areas, but transient business is up all over," said Eric Terry, vice president of sales and marketing for Benchmark Hospitality, which manages centers.

Some properties as Lansdowne Resort near Dulles, Va., and Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs, Colo., are doing well, he said.

Dolce Hotels & Resorts, which has 24 hotels, resorts and conference centers in North America and Europe, has seen shortened stays, smaller meetings, more day meetings and a little less spent on F&B, according to Barry Goldstein, chief revenue officer.

"The greatest drop-off by far has been in corporate business," said Barry Goldstein of Dolce Hotels & Resorts, which operates conference centers.

Last fall, Dolce launched the "Make Us an Offer…. Anything Goes" campaign, challenging meeting planners to name the price they would pay for an entire package, for meetings held through May 31 of this year.

"We’ve had a lot of success with it — a 25 percent increase in leads," Goldstein said.

By David Wilkening