<B> Meetings Beat</B>
<B>CO, NW Meld Meetings Offerings</B>
Though still without the benefit of immunity from federal antitrust laws, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines this month rolled out the first elements of their combined meeting program (<I>Meetings Today,</I> April 26). Planners now can sign contracts and book tickets through either airline for travel on both, and the combined volume will count toward productivity tickets good on either of the two partners.
<a name="2"><B>Inter-Continental Sets Global Meeting Standards</B>
Inter-Continental Hotels by June 1 will establish a worldwide set of minimum meeting standards, including guidelines for dedicated meeting spaces and conference contact staff. Said Bass vice president of North American sales and marketing Scott Boone, "The meetings market in Europe and Asia is not as intense or organized as in North America, so this is an opportunity to establish best practices worldwide."
Meanwhile, Inter-Con's Bass Hotels and Resorts sister company, Crowne Plaza, is offering planners a "hot phone" that keeps planners in contact with hotel staff and their own onsite staffers, as well as the outside world, from anywhere on the property.
<a name="3"><B>Advanced Travel Pursues Meeting Niche</B>
Advanced Travel Management of New York has started a new meeting planning division, Advanced Meeting Partners Corp. The affiliate will be headed by Murray Braver and Ann Ford, formerly of General Sessions, the Stevens Travel Management meetings management division. Advanced Travel hopes the division will build on the expertise and proprietary Conference Tracker software it developed for two of its customers, Putnam Investments and Deutsche Bank. The agency will pitch the meeting planning service to existing and potential corporate clients.
<a name="4"><B>Start-Up Carrier Assumes A Win-ing Stance</B>
Winair, the new airline serving four destinations from a hub in Long Beach, Calif., is offering groups and meetings a 5 percent discount on all fares, with no restrictions. Marketing director Jim Sullivan said the startup reached the decision to target the group market after a customer survey this winter showed 38 percent of its business was from corporate travelers--a much higher figure than the 10 or 15 percent its executives had expected. Winair now plans to establish the prerequisite corporate perk--a frequent flyer program-- and to expand its fleet and route structure.
<a name="5"><B>Review A Site, Win 100 Miles</B>
Hip-deep in the competition to see which meetings Web site can offer the most functionality, EventSource of Novato, Calif., is adding firsthand feedback on properties by meeting planners. Planners holding meetings at any of the hotels or other facilities in the site's database are being asked to rate them on a scale of one to five. Reviews then will be sorted by the type of event held and the planner's industry. To encourage planners to file their feedback, EventSource is offering 100 frequent flyer miles on any of seven airlines to the first 1,000 reviewers.
<a name="6"><B>Republicans To Fill Philly in 2000?</B>
The Republican National Convention could add as many as 12 points to host city Philadelphia's hotel occupancy rate in July 2000, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers lodging Web site, www.LodgingResearch.com. But Warren Marr, PwC's Philadelphia-based consultant, said that despite the influx of conventioneers and journalists, The City of Brotherly Love will have plenty of room for everyone. "Any major convention has a tendency to discourage other potential visitors who fear congestion, but Philadelphia has more than enough rooms to go around," he said.
<a name="7"><B>Fort Worth Convention Center To Grow</B>
Officials hope to begin a $60 million expansion of the Fort Worth Convention Center by February. The city hopes to raise the money through bonds, hotel bed tax revenues and possibly a car rental tax at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The two-year expansion project will add 200,000 square feet of contiguous meeting space and a 30,000-sq.-ft. ballroom.