Beset by "intrusions into their traditional markets by hotels," conference centers are offering more technological capabilities and more frequently customizing complete meeting pricing packages for their corporate clients, said the leaders of the International Association of Conference Centers.
Conference centers are trying to attract small, tech-heavy meetings by pitching properties' abilities to enhance meeting content and offering additional flexibility in the per-attendee, per-day rates conference centers traditionally charge as part of the complete meeting package, instead of focusing on the destination of leisure-based amenities.
"Hotels are coming after our business, so the differentiation between conference centers and hotels will serve us," said IACC president Joe Sebestyen, who also serves as general manager at the United States Postal Service's National Center for Employee Development, a Marriott Conference Centers-managed property in Norman, Okla. "We can help to deliver content and enhance return on investment because we're distraction-free and secure."
As conference centers have seen some corporate meeting business dwindle, largely due to overall corporate cutbacks, they have had to deal with more direct challenges from hotels—some of which even have offered CMP-style pricing, which some buyers consider an asset (Meetings Today, Sept. 24, 2001). The target is small corporate meetings, often planned with short lead time, which IACC said its members are uniquely qualified to handle.
"It's not a unique market to hotels," said IACC executive vice president Tom Bolman. "They deal with weddings and large conventions in addition to meetings. Our mindset has a specific purpose, which is the small corporate meeting of 25 to 75 people.
"We have to work for it now," Bolman continued. "Destinations are not the hot ticket. Everything is content-driven, and people want to know how the property can drive ROI."
IACC's annual meeting, to be held April 6-10 in Englewood, Colo., also will focus on technology offerings increasingly requested by corporate meeting planners, including videoconferencing and Internet data-streaming capability. IACC now "strongly encourages" its members to offer LCD projectors as part of the CMP, but additional technology has resulted in increased flexibility, Sebestyen said.
"CMPs are becoming much more highly tailored and customized, especially with offsite services and transportation," Sebestyen said. "However, most of the advanced technology requests—streaming data and use of a dedicated server—require a surcharge."
Recent spikes of interest in videoconferencing and Webconferencing, generated in the wake of Sept. 11, do not threaten conference center business, Sebestyen said. "That technology can help us with the onset of digital sessions, as corporations can archive streamed data from a meeting and share it with other employees," he said. Corporations see value in that, and the technology is not a substitute for the meeting."
IACC has made some minor changes in its Universal Criteria required for every member, focusing primarily on specifications for round tables and chairs, but likely will seek to update the criteria to include emergency preparedness requirements and the inclusion of LCD projectors in the CMP.
While Bolman promoted the stringency of accreditation requirements, it's unclear whether such accreditation means a great deal to the typical corporate meeting buyer.
"Some do and some don't," said Bolman as to whether buyers understand accreditation standards. "Our members try to educate their clients, and though it's difficult to quantify, my sense is that there's a substantial increase."
One trend that seems to have waned, if not disappeared, is the development of corporate conference centers entirely devoted to corporate business and inaccessible to the general public or other companies. "There are so few that are 100 percent proprietary anymore," Bolman said. "Those centers used to be 20 percent of our membership, but most have gone to mix-use properties, and have been flexible in optimizing revenue with outside groups."