Resorts Prepare For The Future By Focusing On Mtgs. Biz
<B> Resorts Prepare For The Future By Focusing On Mtgs. Biz</B>
By Chris Davis
Despite an increased sense of optimism this month about the domestic economy, resort property managers still are warily eyeing the future and, in some cases, guarding against a downturn by expanding their meetings capabilities.
While most resort managers expressed confidence that there would not be a major economic slowdown, at least in the first half of 1999, they've learned from the early 1990s. In times of economic downturn, resort meetings often are one of the first line items to be cut from corporate budgets.
Many companies aren't comfortable holding such lavish meetings and incentive trips when profits are slowing or employees are being laid off, and often they are the first to be moved closer to home or to less expensive venues.
In the last downturn, "although meetings still were held, they weren't in resorts. Planners took a second or third choice," said Mark Hickey, vice president of operations for Englewood, Colo.-based Destinations Hotels & Resorts.
To shield themselves against such an eventuality recurring in 1999, many resort managers have spent the past few years upgrading their meetings facilities, hoping to attract a wider range of steady meetings business that would cushion the impact of a slowdown.
"These properties are diversifying so they're not as susceptible to the world economies as they have been in the past," said John Roth, president of Complete Meeting Concepts, an Orlando-based meetings management firm.
"I'm seeing them putting in larger meetings spaces--and even exhibit space--so as not to restrict themselves to the incentive and the high-end market, but to handle more traditional meetings," he said.
Leslie Bethel, group sales director at the Radisson Cable Beach Resort in Nassau, the Bahamas, cited the fact that the resort hasn't seen any meeting cancellations or decline in bookings for the next six months as evidence of a general lack of buyer trepidation.
"There is a real concern, though," Bethel said. "The United States and North America represent over 80 percent of our business. But we're certainly paying attention to what's going on in Asia and Latin America. Ultimately, any economic downturn will affect us because companies tend to be a little more conservative when it comes to booking an offshore location, even though it may not be as expensive in some cases."
The Radisson Cable Beach last year completed a $15 million renovation, including extensive meeting space upgrades, to take some of the sting out of any downturn. Still, "the last thing that we want to do is pound our chest and say we're impenetrable to the economy. Of course we aren't," Hickey said. "We are acutely aware of it and we watch it closely. "
But with positive economic signs becoming more prevalent over the last month, some in the industry suggest resorts may not have to feel the sting of a downturn at all. "If there is any sign of buyer trepidation, we have not seen it," said Dan Sullivan, sales director at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club in Naples, Fla. "Short term bookings are strong through March. We would see it otherwise, since we have some folks that want to spend their money by the end of the year, so they pre-pay for meetings held later on. We haven't seen any indications that people are not holding the meetings they tend to have.