Meeting Needs Continue To Fill Conference Center Space

<B>Meeting Needs Continue To Fill Conference Center Space</B>

By Frank Rosci

As a world focal point of national and international business, and related interests and disciplines, New York has its share of well-equipped and well-liked conference centers, and rumor has it, they'll stay just as well-attended, if not more so.

"Conference centers, including those in New York and its environs, of course, are becoming even more important especially for focus groups and goal-oriented meetings," said Andy Dolce, chairman and CEO of Montvale, N.J.-based Dolce International, a leader in conference center meetings.

Dolce is so bullish on the future of conference centers because they provide a distraction-free environment with all the latest technology, and they don't throw groups any curves, such as the unwanted and unwarranted surprises of hidden, last-minute costs sometimes incurred at hotels.

"Conference centers offer tremendous value when you consider that the average Complete Meeting Pricing rate can be $400 to $450 at New York hotels, while it's about $350 or less at conference centers," Dolce said.

Among Dolce International's growing portfolio of U.S. and overseas conference centers, three are in the New York metropolitan area, including Tarrytown House in Tarrytown, N.Y., 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan; Hamilton Park in Florham Park, N.J., 30 minutes from Wall Street; and The Heritage in Southbury, Conn., 90 minutes from midtown. Dolce centers are for groups of from 25 to 200 attendees, and the average size is 30 attendees. Occupancies are steadily high at each, which substantiates the company's positive outlook for the future.

Underscoring this optimism is the fact that Tarrytown House is adding 72 new guest rooms and suites, and installing high-speed Internet access in all meeting rooms and guest rooms to complement its 31 meeting rooms, as part of a $13.5 million expansion. Hamilton Park also is adding 60 guest rooms and 20,000 square feet of meeting space, 5,000 square feet of banquet space, as well as installing high-speed Internet access lines in all meeting and guest rooms. The Heritage, meanwhile, recently completed a $3.5 million renovation that affected most of the property.

These improvements and those being implemented at conference centers everywhere simply make for good business and indicate the strength of the market, Dolce said. "In this multimillion business, it's extremely important to be aggressive today in terms of maximizing cash flow," he said. "For those conference centers with their own guest rooms and with hotel availability, once they've achieved 100 percent occupancy in overnight space, it becomes vital to achieve higher levels of day meeting occupancies as a way to increase cash flow." The rate for a day meeting of up to five hour's duration at Dolce is between $125 and $150 per person.

That the conference center industry is growing also was confirmed in a study conducted by PKF Consulting, Atlanta, Ga. In Trends in the Conference Center Industry North America 2000, International Association of Conference Center members revealed that executive conference centers increased their occupancies 3.6 percent and resort conference centers gained 3.8 percent since 1997, while full-service hotels and resort hotels lost 1.4 percent and 1 percent, respectively, in occupancy during the same period.

At Chase Conference Centers, owned by Chase Manhattan Bank, global banking and financial institutions looking for meeting rooms in New York book space as a way to fill available surplus, said Kathlyn Hoover-Weier, vice president of sales and marketing. "Their need to book is usually short term, only about three days out," she said. "Overall, the trend is that the conference center industry is very strong, with a very good future."

Most conference activity at Chase's four public centers--Chase Manhattan Plaza (up to 300 attendees classroom style, which also offers videoconferencing); 600 Fifth Avenue (up to 120 attendees classroom style); and Grand Central Tower (up to 80 attendees classroom style) in Manhattan; and Metrotech (up to 300 theater style with videoconferencing) in Brooklyn--occurs in July and August, Hoover-Weier said. The all-inclusive, per-person rate then is $150. The per-person rate for the rest of the year is $191. Occupancy at the centers averaged 85 percent in 1999.

Another conference center that has gained notoriety in New York as a complete, comprehensive meeting experience and is available for use by corporate groups is The Coleman Center, on the 22nd and 23rd floors of 810 Seventh Ave. "With the economy booming the way it is, conference centers in New York and around the country will continue to do extremely well," said Coleman Lee Finkel, president of The Coleman Center. Conference centers address the specific need of providing a group with a setting that enables it to focus fully on its meeting because of an environment that is insular, private and practical, he said.

Rates at the 13-room center, which specializes in small groups that range in size usually from 10 to 50 attendees, is $153 per person, per day. "As architects say," Finkel noted, "God is in the details at our center, in terms of a polished and highly discernable difference than the house, office and laboratory offers.