Meetings Beat - 1997-03-17

CLC Plans Open Forum

Convention Liaison Council chairman Craig Smith has set a tentative date to host that organization's first open forum in more than 20 years in the spring of 1998. "We're finishing up the RFP and are hoping to hold the meeting in New York City, although its too soon to be certain," said executive director LaRue Frye. The forum, to be chaired by Loews Hotels CEO Jonathan Tisch, will address the need to raise the meeting industry's profile through better marketing and lobbying, as well as adopting a leadership role in educating the industry's top executives. This is a bold move for the CLC, which was streamlined last November in a vote by the council to reduce its board from an unwieldy 26 members to a more manageable nine, four of whom--the American Society of Association Executives, Meeting Professionals International, Professional Convention Management Association and Society of Incentive Travel Executives--are permanent.


New Clubs Will Cater To Small Meetings

Taking the concept of executive office suites to a new level, the Executive Office Club, a commercial real estate company in Washington, D.C., announced the March 25 opening of a facility with meeting space for entrepreneurs and small companies that will serve as a prototype for others across the country. The 2,500-square-foot facility, called Business Service Mall, is designed to service meetings on a walk-in basis, said president Mark Wiatrowski.

Executive Office Club intends to open a nationwide network of 50 such malls in major metropolitan areas and suburban destinations over the next five years. Next year, the company will open facilities in Northern Virginia, Chicago, New York and Boston. The Washington club, located at 1025 Connecticut Ave., has three conference rooms, the largest of which seats 25. Each is equipped with Intel videoconferencing equipment, personal computers loaded with Pagemaker, Microsoft Office and other software, high-speed Internet access, office equipment and special services on a long- or short-term basis, such as accounting and public relations work.


Puerto Rico Targets Hispanic Community

The Puerto Rico Convention Bureau plans to launch a campaign aimed at attracting dollars from Hispanics living in the United States, in the latest of several marketing strategies adopted to bring in corporate meetings and transient travel business. Targeting the top 500 businesses and leading associations, the bureau will dedicate a sales manager to the effort and launch a direct mail campaign. It also will start an "ambassadors' program" for one-on-one meetings with key executives responsible for bringing business to the island, including CVB personnel and corporate buyers.


Austin CVB Improves Website

The Austin Convention & Visitor's Bureau has updated its Website to be more interactive, in recognition of the growing popularity of the Internet. The number of Internet users has jumped 34 percent, 50 percent of whom plan trips on line, according to consulting firm IntelliQuest.

The site, reached at www.austintexas.org, is still a work in progress. When completed, it will offer an extensive list of convention and hotel facilities, transportation services, calendar of events, tour itineraries, and leisure activities, and will have hypertext links to individual vendors serving the Austin market, said Gwen Spain, the CVB's director of advertising and public relations. "We're going to begin the linking process with the calendar events," Spain said. "Eventually, properties, airlines and other vendors will also be affiliated with our site so that planners can issue RFP documents or similar online requests for information."


Spas Add Services

Recognizing that the usual amenities can't compete with the interest in wellness and alternative medicine prevalent among their guests, the spa properties of Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide are offering an array of alternative techniques for fitness and stress reduction. Services at the nine properties (located throughout the United States and in the Philippines) include reiki, the ancient art of balancing body and mind energy; reflexology, progressive muscle relaxation techniques; micronized marine algae body and face wraps, for improved circulation and toning; detoxification techniques and computerized facial skin analysis. For information, call 800-323-7500.