Airport Clubs Attract Mtgs., Despite Airline Ambivalence

<B>Airport Clubs Attract Mtgs., Despite Airline Ambivalence</B>

By Chris Davis

As airline clubs become larger and more technologically equipped, and develop the capacity to hold more small meetings, some corporate meeting buyers increasingly are considering clubs for quick, small conferences. But the airlines walk a thin line: While they want to attract meeting buyers, they don't want to repel paid members with the potential inconvenience of crowded club rooms.

In a recent Meetings Today survey, 19 percent of 169 corporate meeting buyers polled reported they were granted access to airport clubs for conferences as part of meeting negotiations with carriers.

Typically, this usage comes in two forms: The airline offers the use of its club as a component of a single contract for a specific event, or a corporation is granted a limited number of complimentary club memberships as part of an overall meeting and group travel contract.

The airlines charge an hourly fee for the club conference rooms' usage, generally $25, $35 or $50, which they rarely waive.

"Even if we're not members of the airline's club, some will allow us use of the room," said Michelle Rubin, director of Broomfield, Colo.-based meeting consultancy DRS3, which handles meeting and group travel for Champion International (Meetings Today, July 5). "We still have to pay their hourly fee for the conference room, which is minimal, like $25 or $50. But the clubs actually have a lot of space and cater to a lot of business travelers, so it's a good deal if you have three, four or 15 people. You're saving $250 to $500 off a hotel."

One caveat Rubin offers is that airline clubs rarely, if ever, have catered food service, so meeting attendees often have to make do with what they can forage from the airport.

The airlines, however, tend not to extensively market the use of their clubs to meeting buyers who don't already have club memberships. That is simply because they don't wish to risk alienating travelers who have paid for the privilege of club membership.

"It's designed to keep our members happy," said George Coyle, product manager for group and meeting sales at American Airlines. "We don't go out and look for meetings to put into the Admirals' Club conference rooms, because we don't want to lose its appeal to members if it were to become too crowded or unavailable when they want to book."

That said, Coyle recognizes the value of the airline clubs for small, brief conferences or even one-on-one interviews with executives.

"It's not something that we use as an incentive, and buyers rarely ask for it," Coyle said. "We have been focused on redoing the conference space in some of the Admirals' Clubs, and a lot of folks who are members do use it to cut the costs associated with booking a hotel meeting room."

Other airlines agreed and said club use is not something they look to include in their overall meeting contracts. "We primarily focus on our core business, which is meeting and incentive sales," said Marilyn Philbert, manager of Delta Air Lines Meeting Network services and support. "However, we have promoted the use of our Crown Room Clubs at various times."

Despite the carriers' ambivalence toward making their clubs available for corporate meetings, some buyers report that in a time when even airport hotel rates remain high, the clubs continue to emerge as a cost-effective and efficient alternative to reserving hotel meeting space for a single afternoon.

"We've been using the club more and more," said Steve Clark, assistant vice president of conference and travel services at CUNA Mutual Group of Madison, Wisc. "In fact, I've booked it four times in the past four months, including for our CEO. We'll use it especially if we're flying through a city and we can hold a conference during the layover."

Clark said that both of his preferred carriers gave him a small number of airport club memberships--fewer than 10 from each airline--for specific executives as part of CUNA Mutual Group's airline contracts. Like Rubin, Clark said the airlines do not waive the nominal fee for the meeting itself.

"We usually book between two and three weeks out, so it's usually not a problem to get a room," Clark said.

Other buyers noted the airlines' reticence to offer club space as part of general meeting negotiations.

"We do use them quite a bit for quick business meetings," said Suzanne Loeb, director of travel and meetings at Tacoma, Wash.-based Weyerhaeuser Co. "It can be impossible to get out of the area otherwise. But I've never pushed for it from the airlines and they've never offered them. And I doubt they would. They complain that there are too many meetings in the spaces right now."

But not every corporation holds meetings that would necessarily be compatible with the airport clubs. Any meeting that requires catered food or breakout space, or certainly an overnight stay would be better served at a full-service hotel, some buyers said.

"We have negotiated some club memberships as part of the contract, but very rarely for a specific meeting," said Marianne Goodman of Boston-based Keane Inc. "They've never broached it, either. Our meetings are usually for one or two days, so we might as well just use an airport hotel.