Disney's Aguel Holds Negotiating Line, Sees Recovery Ahead

Disney Parks & Resorts senior vice president George Aguel recently spoke with Business Travel News editor Seth Harris about the developing meetings industry rebound.

Business Travel News: Hotels have offered steep discounts to lure meeting business. Have you used similar tactics?

George Aguel: Not in the same way. We philosophically feel that when you are taking that tactic, it's not necessarily good. If a company simply is not going to have a program, it doesn't matter what inducements a hotel puts out there, it's not going to make it run that meeting. Certain suppliers would have to admit that it probably didn't drive any new incremental business as a result. On top of providing value for all the things you'd like to do, we'll provide an evening for you and your attendees. As our guest, come to our theme parks, which we know are unique, and have a meal compliments of us. Then we let you go in with your peers and guests and spend some time. This is something we launched not long ago. It's something we are looking at maintaining for a while because we've been getting such a great reaction.

We also said to organizers, "Let us set up a collaborative session that we can put together for you. No obligation. No cost. We just want to give you an opportunity to sit down with some unique professionals and creative minds—who you might have had to go out and spend a lot of money on—to help you think about your business and what you're going to accomplish."

BTN: How has the recent negative public perception of meetings affected your business?

Aguel: I don't think anyone was prepared. You had a public discourse about the meetings industry, which was unprecedented.

That said, we've seen things stabilize in a major way. The industry is confident that we've at least put that volatility behind us. Now, it's about the confidence level that organizations have toward the economy. Although Disney was impacted for sure, we didn't get impacted to the same degree as others.

BTN: What is your future outlook for the meetings business?

Aguel: It is coming back. We are seeing many favorable indications. If anybody said it's coming back like a hockey stick, they'd be lying. There is no way it will be like that under any circumstances. If we look back to the early '90s downturn, by no means did it come back overnight. This will be a slow but steady climb. It will take a while. Many in the industry speculate that will be more favorable in '10. Better, but not great. Most might say that '11 is where it will start to be a lot better. At that point, based on past history, '12 will feel really good. That's realistically the curve that we are more likely to see. As long as it goes in the right direction, everybody will be able to work through that.