CVBs Target Corporate Market
The convention and visitors bureaus in Los Angeles and Athens, Ga., are both looking to increase their volume of corporate meetings in an overall effort to drive new business into their regions.
In both cases, the drives are being spearheaded by new executives. Bob Moore, who began his job as vice president of sales and marketing at the LACVB in November, will implement in late February a telemarketing program with Hyatt Hotels Corp., designed to generate leads for hotels seeking small and midsize corporate groups.
Moore also is ready to begin the long process of identifying the industries-beyond the obvious candidates in technology and entertainment-that would be likely to travel westward and bring the City of Angels their corporate meetings business.
In addition, Moore wants to identify corporate planners who have done substantial business with the city but might not be in the usual databases.
The telemarketing campaign will be generated from Hyatt's Omaha telemarketing facility.
"We have an expanded mandate," Moore said. "We're very interested in helping the corporate meeting planner get acquainted with our city. We also know that a vast majority of the hotels that belong to the LACVB are designed to handle small to midsize groups. The fit is there."
As the kickoff to a three-year campaign that the LACVB will fine-tune and roll out over the next few months, the organization will host a March 6 through 8 meeting of Meeting Professionals International's Corporate Special Interest Group.
In Athens, newly appointed CVB director Chuck Jones said that his job is to make the city-which is famous mainly for being home to rock supergroup R.E.M. and the University of Georgia-notable as a host to corporate groups as well.
To that end, he will be pushing a new conference facility and performing arts center, the Classic Center. The new facility boasts 50,000 square feet of meeting space and has a 2,100-seat performing arts theater.
"We are a city that appreciates culture," said Jones, who worked as the director of sales at the Jekyll Island Convention and Visitors Bureau for 10 years. "We've done very well bringing Broadway shows here. I think having the Classic Center will just extend our appeal."
Jones said that Jekyll, a resort island that hosts mostly corporate groups on incentive trips, was an ideal training ground for Athens.
"This was a great opportunity for career advancement that allowed me to stay in Georgia and keep all of my corporate contacts," he noted. The same groups will likely come to Athens to appreciate views of the State Botanical Garden, the Georgia Museum of Art, the UGA Sports Hall of Fame, area golf courses and a vibrant downtown district.
Similarly, Moore is banking on his previous experience as senior vice president of sales for Hilton Hotels to help him further the corporate agenda in L.A.
"As a sales director for over 200 hotels, I had multiple constituencies and had to deal with multiple projects in tandem," he said. "I had to address the needs of the staff as well as make decisions that would positively impact the guests at each of those properties."
The sales staff-divided up among three regional offices in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well as the three staff members located in L.A.-also has extensive hotel selling experience.
Four out of the five recent new hires at the LACVB have come, like Moore, directly from the hotel side of the hospitality industry.
"It's fairly common for CVBs to pick up salespeople from hotels," Moore said. "They have the skills and the strict accountability that CVBs are looking for as they becoming increasingly results-driven.