Nation's Music Capital Plays To The Corp. Business Beat

<H1>Nation's Music Capital Plays To The Corp. Business Beat</H1>By Frank Rosci

<B>R</B>ealizing the full wealth of opportunity in hosting corporate meetings, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau is aggressively targeting small and medium-sized groups.

"The way corporate meeting planners and convention bureaus work together has changed," said Anetha Grant, director of sales for the NCVB. "It used to be that a corporate planner bringing a 40- or 60-room meeting to town, for example, would automatically think the sales department of a convention bureau wouldn't be interested in the business simply because it wasn't a citywide meeting."

Nashville, however, is responding to a general upswing in small and medium-size group business.

Explained Edwin Griffin, executive vice president and CEO of Meetings Professional International: "There has definately been an increase in corporate meetings nationally due to a healthy economy, and the influx of products and services being introduced into the marketplace. In the years immediately ahead, the trend toward local and regional meetings will increase."

Responding to the demand, Grant said, "Our bureau is doing a much better job of soliciting the corporate planner and corporate meetings, and is also doing a better job of serving them because we now understand more completely just how profitable small meetings can be, with higher room rates and corporations, not individuals, footing the bill."

In turn, she said, planners are more aware of what kind of support a CVB can provide, and this is reflected in the growing number of planners contacting the the bureau for information and planning assistance.

In the past three years, Nashville has seen a steady increase in the number of corporate meetings, shown by a significant rise in room nights, Grant said.

Echoing this sentiment is Dean Hungate, a meeting planner at Deere and Company, the Moline, Ill.-based manufacturer of farm and home equipment, which recently has been booking more corporate meetings here. "Nashville is a good location for our dealers, many of whom are based in Tennessee and surrounding states," Hungate said.

While it's fashionable for experts to rank cities as first-, second- and third-tier destinations, Hungate said he is more interested in how a city's facilities match his group's meeting needs. "What Nashville offers is much more relevant, much more pleasing than what it's supposed to because of its so-called ranking," he said.

"It's very cost-competitive with other cities, offers a comfortable but not-too-large atmosphere with great attractions and restaurants, and above all, we have a tremendous working relationship with the convention bureau and hotel professionals there," he said.

To help forge a stronger working relationship with planners, the bureau employs a two-person sales team dedicated to corporate meetings. "Our sales team is trained to focus on the unique needs of a corporate meeting, such as the short-term booking requirements and need for quick turnaround, while always incorporating a planner's input directly into the planning process," Grant said.

A critical and timely development in the cityh's effort to increase corporate bookings is this week's hosting of Meeting Professionals International's annual Convention/Meeting Place '96, which is expected to attract 2,000 corporate planners.

"With our heightened awareness and interest in the corporate meetings market, it was extremely important to have those corporate planners here to showcase Nashville," Grant said. (MPI's 3,690 corporate meeting planners represent 52 percent of the organization's membership and account for $4 billion annually in corporate business.)

The city has changed dramatically over the past few years, sporting a more sophisticated air, with new entertainment venues, restaurants, trendy clubs and specialty shops opening downtown.

Nashville also offers 500 holes of golf, and is home to several tournaments on the mens' and ladies' professional tours.

Later this year, the Nashville Arena, with more than 43,000 square feet of exhibit space, will open.

Hotels across the city are riding the crest of a rising wave of interest in the city. "We are seeing burgeoning interest in Nashville, which as a meeting place for corporate meetings has been and remains a good value," said Irwin Fisher, regional vice president and director of marketing for the 338-room Loews Vanderbilt Plaza.

At Nashville's largest business property, the Opryland Hotel (which is hosting MPI), director of corporate meetings Tod Roadarmel reports healthy growth. "The hotel hosts a great many corporations-groups that come to Opryland for its convenience, meeting space and special services, such as Opryland Travel, a full-service travel agency on site," he said. The hotel's latest addition is the $175 million, 979-room Delta expansion (see sidebar), which makes Opryland, now with 2,879 guest rooms and 300,000 square feet of exhibition space, the largest hotel/convention center under one roof anywhere, and the seventh largest hotel in the United States.

Another leading hotel for corporate meetings is the 673-room Renaissance Nashville, which is connected to the Nashville Convention Center. "Corporate meetings, whether they include pharmaceutical rollouts or merchandise displays, account for 50 percent of our overall group business, which stands at 80 percent," said Greg Greenawalt, the hotel's director of sales.

Getting groups to Nashville on short notice shouldn't be much of a problem. American Airlines, which counts Nashville as one of its hubs, offers daily service. In addition, Southwest provides daily flights to the city.