Starwood Alters Global Sales

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in April officially gave senior vice president Marietta Baldwin direct responsibility for global sales, working with travel buyers whose room night volumes are large enough to warrant national or global account status. David Ogilvie, who previously held day-to-day responsibility for these accounts and had reported to Baldwin, now is general manager of the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto.

Baldwin takes full corporate sales responsibility at a time when lodging demand appears to be strengthening. "The market has rebounded tremendously, especially during the first three months of the year," Baldwin said. "The challenge is that after three years of either flat or declining rates and rising costs, we as well as our competitors have to see some revenue growth as well as rate growth in order to continue to provide great service to our customers."

While the increase in demand is across the board, Baldwin, who in 1990 joined Starwood's predecessor company, ITT Sheraton, said the rebound especially was evident in the major markets frequented by business travelers. "North America is probably the market that's coming back the fastest," she said. "Asia, though, has rebounded significantly, especially considering the SARS situation last year. Europe and Latin America have been a bit slower."

In negotiations this year, the ability to drive marketshare will remain a priority, though rate increases are still likely. "Marketshare remains a critical measure," she said. "However, occupancies are improving faster than rate increases, so in addition to volume and share, the customer's ability to provide rate opportunity is going to be an important factor."

Global accounts can expect more scrutiny on their production this year, and a higher level of reporting in return. "We're investing considerable time analyzing our accounts, going into much greater depth than before, thanks to the technology that's now available," Baldwin said. "We're looking at our business account by account on both the group and transient side, when travelers arrive and depart, what the occupancy was on those days in a particular city and particular hotel, what the rate was, as well as the yield on that rate. It's a much more sophisticated approach to the business. For their part, customers tell us they're pleased with the level of reporting we've been able to provide."

The data buyers bring to the table also has become more sophisticated. "From what we're seeing, the gap is closing," Baldwin noted. "The data are not 100 percent in sync, but they probably never will be due to the different measures used. A lot of accounts rely on credit card reports, but those reports traditionally include things like food and beverage charges. Agency reports also may differ from what we use, but generally speaking they're much closer to our figures than ever before."

Baldwin added that many companies took the opportunity during the downturn to tighten their travel policies and that those changes now would start to pay dividends in terms of improved compliance. "Policy changes may have been implemented from a security perspective, but they follow right through to make sure the preferred hotels are being used," said Baldwin, who earlier in her career held marketing positions at Hilton, InterContinental and Hyatt hotels, among others. "Compliance remains the bottom line."