<B> Conf. Ctr. Use Increases</B>
By Chris Davis
Corporate use of conference centers is up--welcome news to many of the major conference center chains, which recently have been lining up venture capital to expand their portfolios.
According to a Meetings Monitor survey of 202 planners, 77 percent use conference centers for their meetings--a solid increase from the last Monitor survey on the topic in 1996, when just 62 percent of planners used them.
While that increase partially can be attributed to the fact that companies continue to stage more meetings with less lead time, necessitating that planners consider a wider base of facilities from which to find the best deal, meetings involving the training of employees are growing faster than any other type. Many planners feel those types of meetings are perfect fits for the private, sequestered nature and high technological capabilities of conference centers (<I>Meetings Today</I>, Jan. 25).
"We'll use conference centers based on the type of meeting we're holding," said Patricia Stemple, manager of travel and meeting services with Kellogg Co. of Battle Creek, Mich. (see story, page 25). "If it's a meeting with a lot of breakout sessions in small rooms, hotels need to get very inventive with tearing down and setting up rooms quickly. Conference centers, though, have more flexibility with meeting space and more small rooms."
Lagging behind the number of planners who use conference centers, though, is the number of planners who like the complete meeting package style of negotiating, a conference center staple where planners are charged a daily rate for all guest and meeting rooms, food and beverage and audiovisual needs.
About 68 percent of planners surveyed felt the complete package is an effective way to negotiate, up slightly from 1996, but well below the percentage of planners who use conference centers.
"I don't like the complete meeting package because that rate includes things you may not use," said Connie Knisley, manager of meeting services with Wheat First Union of Richmond, Va. "They'll have things like slides in their audiovisual package but anything unusual is an additional charge. I don't see any great advantage there, and I'd rather pay as I go."
Conference center industry officials acknowledged that the complete meeting package isn't universally embraced, but said most planners eventually come to appreciate the package.
"We often see resistance to the complete package at the onset of a sale because the hospitality industry has trained planners to shop for room rates," said Jack Schmidt, vice president of sales and marketing for The Woodlands, Texas-based conference center chain Benchmark Hospitality. "People will heavily negotiate $2 from a room rate at a hotel, but they're never given a list of banquet menus, for example. They place so much value on such a small fraction of the contract."
Stemple has no difficulties with the complete meeting package, which she said can be more cost-effective, depending on the location and the type of meeting. Any trouble with the complete meeting package comes when flexibility and customization is needed, she said, "like when we want to serve a Kellogg breakfast instead of bacon and eggs."
Ralston Purina of St. Louis has increased its use of conference centers over the past few years and will continue to do so because of manager of meeting and travel services Annette Morris' satisfaction with the complete meeting package. "It's good to have just one price that covers everything," Morris said.
Other planners said the complete package also is helpful when time is of the essence. "The complete meeting package isn't my favorite way to go, but when you break it down, the price can be nearly the same if it's á lá carte or all combined," said Maria Sithens, senior coordinator of events and trade shows for Merant Software of Mountain View, Calif. "Sometimes it's hard to tell what the room rates really are."
The complete meeting package, however, does permit Sithens to wrap up negotiations for short-term meetings quickly, so she said she'll turn to a local center when time is squeezed.
Opinions were split, though, on whether the negotiating climate is better at conference centers than it was one year ago, with most believing it is just an extension of the longtime seller's market in the hospitality industry as a whole.
Knisley believes negotiating is easier now than it was a year ago. "I don't know why, but it would be nice if that's a trend," she said. Knisley does not drive a particular type of meeting to a conference center, rather, if a conference center offers her the best value at a particular date and location, that's where the meeting goes.
Sithens has seen a more difficult negotiating climate over the past year with conference centers, but believes it's simply an industrywide trend. Merant's conference center usage probably will stay about the same in the future, Sithens said.
There was no overwhelming choice between corporate-owned or commercial conference centers. About 44 percent of planners use corporate, 28 percent use commercial and 28 percent use both.
There is a conformity of offerings and service between corporate-owned and commercial conference centers, Morris said, so she doesn't have a preference between the two. "We'll use any of them because they are consistent.