Leading Hotels Strengthens Focus On Corp. Buyers

<B> Leading Hotels Strengthens Focus On Corp. Buyers</B>

By Maria P. Vallejo

<I>New York</I> - Leading Hotels of the World Ltd. is shedding its historically Euro-centric focus and honing in on the needs of North American transient and group travel buyers. For corporate customers willing to double their business with the chain, it is offering exclusive lower room rates, priority space clearance and other perks.

With the goal of doubling its corporate group business over the next 17 months, Leading Hotels also will hire a group national sales manager in each major North American market to focus on corporate business. By June, it will launch a meetings Website, where planners can pose questions and receive immediate responses.

The new focus on North America is part of an expansive business plan recently laid out by the 70-year-old company based on recommendations by Horwath-Landauer, the Chicago-based consulting firm.

"For the past 20 years, our company has had a very strong history and we've been rather successful," said vice president of marketing Marcelo Vazquez. "But we felt we needed a stronger vision for what the company would represent five years from now, 10 years from now."

Despite its reliance on U.S. business for its overseas properties, Leading Hotels has limited representation in North America, the Landauer study found. As a result, the company plans to expand its properties in major business destinations. "We really can't stay the size that we are," Vazquez said. "Heading into the future, we need better market coverage and more critical mass. We are under-represented in North America, and it is something we need to concentrate on. The growth of this company will come from the corporate sector--there's no question about it."

During the past five years, corporate business increased from 40 percent of Leading Hotels' traffic to 70 percent. During that time, the company used a direct-selling method to reach 149 "large volume" corporate accounts, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.