<H1> Meetings Beat</H1><FONT SIZE="+2"><B>Marriott, Westin Offer Net Access</B>
The Copley Connection, a joint meeting facility run by the <B>Boston Marriott Copley Place</B> and the nearby <B>Westin Hotel, Copley Place</B>, now offers easy plug-and-play access to the Internet and World Wide Web.
The Marriott offers Internet access in its 35 meeting rooms, exhibit hall and grand ballroom, while Westin guests will be able to hook up to the Net in the hotel's three ballrooms. Conference attendees can plug into either hotel's network, where they will be connected to the Internet or to each other; up to 2,000 computers can be online simultaneously. The need to run slow and expensive T-1 lines will be eliminated.
For more information, call the Boston Marriott Copley Place sales office at 617-236-5800, or the Westin Hotel, Copley Place sales office at 617-424-7449.
<A NAME="art2"><FONT SIZE="+2"><B>Hyatt, Cruise Line Launch Package</B>
<B>Hyatt Hotels </B>and <B>Royal Caribbean Cruise Line </B> have launched a resort-and-cruise meeting package tryout, offering pre- and post-cruise nights at Hyatts in Florida, California and Puerto Rico.
The first-of-its-kind alliance, called Hyatt Better Business Getaway, draws two Pritzker-family interests together: An entity of Pritzker, which owns Hyatt, also owns the cruise line along with a Norwegian shipping family and public shareholders.
Meeting attendees can spend two or three nights at a Hyatt resort-"holding bigger meetings, theme parties, and golf outings-and then go on a three- to four-night cruise, attending smaller meetings," said John Lavin, assistant vice president-individual travel for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.
The package includes airfare and transportation and can handle up to 1,000 people.
<FONT SIZE="+2"><B><A NAME="art3">McGettigan Revises Meeting Program</B>
<B>McGettigan Corporate Services</B> has introduced its most recent version of the Partners in Excellence Program. According to director of industry relations Judi Taylor McLaughlin, the program-designed for McGettigan clients with full-service meeting contracts-brings together meetings clients with suppliers such as destination management companies, printers and special-event production companies. "What sets this program apart is its comprehensiveness, as well as its focus on fulfilling client objectives," she explained. The program offers annual supplier reviews, guaranteed discounts and negotiated services for the meeting firm's clients.
<A NAME="art4"><FONT SIZE="+2"><B>Dealing With Early Checkout Fees</B>
With early departure fees beginning to proliferate in the industry, even planners who think the fee is fair are beginning to feel a little heat. Meeting services manager Laurel Coote at <B>ACE Medical Co.</B> of El Segundo, Calif., for example, recently began rethinking her position after hosting a medical meeting at the <B>Silverado</B> in Napa, where fully 20 percent of her attendees got hit with an early departure fee.
"The meeting was a CME course for orthopedic surgeons, and many decided to leave a day early and go to San Francisco," Coote said. "The early departure fee seemed a fair solution-but next time I'll have to think about putting a clause against it in the contract if I want to protect my attendees."
At <B>Sheraton</B>, meanwhile, North America division vice president Frank Camacho said he will continue to stand firm against the fees. "We have so many large global accounts that won't tolerate it," Camacho said. "We are concerned that an early departure fee simply forces people to underbook and then overstay.