Bargain hunters eye hospitality sector
Dallas Business Journal - by Kerri Panchuk Staff Writer
GREATER METROPLEX-- Meeting planners may turn into bargain hunters as hotels reduce their rates to offset a decline in business.
The Dallas hotel market was already feeling the sting of economic slowdown before the acts of terrorism in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., brought predictions of a further 25% dip in business, says Sandi Bailey, executive director of the Hotel/Motel Association of Greater Dallas.
"These events transpiring are a significant hit on the hospitality and travel industry," she says. "They've had a direct impact on us."
The Dallas hotel industry is no stranger to slowdowns. Bailey says renovation of the Dallas Convention Center, slated for completion in 2002, had already derailed some of the city's business traffic before the September attacks.
The local hotel industry had been hoping that once the convention center reopened next year, with 1 million square feet of meeting space, it would attract large-scale meetings to the Metroplex and create critical mass for hotels.
Some meeting planners, however, believe the economic difficulties could make their services more attractive to companies looking for cost-effective meeting locations -- especially if businesses can choose from an assortment of suitable meeting venues at negotiable prices.
In the past three years, Dallas added more hotels than Austin has in total, according to the Hotel/Motel Association. Continuing rate reductions to fill Dallas' 60,000 rooms and numerous meeting centers are more than likely, the association says.
"There has been a long-term economic slowdown that has increasingly affected the laws of supply and demand," says Ed Griffin, president and CEO of Dallas-based Meeting Professionals International. "So it's very realistic to assume a meeting planner can negotiate a reasonably good rate for rooms, food and beverages."
Companies willing to splurge on off-site meetings still expect certain accommodations for their dollar. Meeting planners will have to juggle these expectations with tighter budgets and a more competitive market place.
Hotels wanting to outshine the competition will most likely be easily accessible, cost-efficient and technology-savvy, says Griffin. First and foremost, hotels have to be wired, he says.
"American business is so attached at the hip regarding the use of computers, if a hotel doesn't have that kind of capability chances are a businessman won't travel there," Griffin says.
Dan Lowden, vice president of marketing for Wayport Inc., agrees. Wayport has been a supplier of wireless and wired technology to the hospitality industry for more than five years. Clients include national hotels like Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Sonesta Hotels & Resorts. The company also connects travelers to the Internet in four national airports, including Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Lowden believes the ability to provide technology for product demonstrations, interactive communications, presentations, active Web links and online conferencing during meetings is imperative for staying competitive.
"We've had some hotels come to us and say they want high-speed Internet because they had potential customers lined up, but those customers selected another hotel because it offered high-speed Internet and they did not."
Wayport also connects individual Web users to the Internet from their guest rooms.
In addition, Lowden says technology fosters employee interaction during meetings and conferences.
"I've gone to several meetings where they've done online surveys live, in real-time," says Lowden. "A question pops up on the screen and then everyone in the room responds to the same question."
Lowden says tallies of such surveys are added within seconds, so employees receive immediate feedback during training.
One local hotel, the Wyndham Anatole on Interstate 35, not only delivers technology to meeting clients but has joined a local campaign to boost the image of hotels and meeting spaces in the Dallas Market Center area.
A group of hotels adjacent to I-35 has partnered with Dallas Market Center, the World Trade Center, International Apparel Mart and Market Hall to form the Dallas Market Center Square. The area promotes its 3,000 guest rooms and 1.7 million square feet of meeting space as an all-inclusive, business-travel package.
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