Competition among destinations to snare meetings and conventions business has never been more challenging. Cities are marketing themselves with new infrastructure and services for greater buyer appeal, but there are fewer hosting opportunities and lower attendance at events. As demand has diminished from what it was a few years ago there's greater availability. Today's marketplace is demanding that destinations use best marketing practice to even survive. In a recent study, meetings buyers - meeting planners - revealed what marketing techniques meetings sellers - destination marketing organizations and other hospitality members - should use to influence buying selections. READ MORE

The International Association of Conference Centers has proven to be an important part of the Millennium Broadway Hotel New York's success in one of America's most competitive meetings market. Dianne Pepe, director of group sales, tells us why. With meeting planners, corporations and association executives increasingly savvy about spending tight budgets on meetings, it's the strong value that an IACC-accredited conference center can offer that Dianne tells us is the key and the Millennium Broadway Hotel New York just happens to be the only accredited hotel and conference center in New York City. READ MORE

Omni Hotels & Resorts chief marketing officer and senior vice president of sales Tom Santora shares insights on the ever-expanding relationship between hoteliers and planners. As an hotelier with 25 years of experience, Santora's insights focus on culinary innovation, customization and tailored technology that meet the needs of clients for an overall attendee experience, reaching beyond the meeting room to make the difference for hotel conferences in 2013. READ MORE

This year's Super Bowl, Olympics and political conventions-all mega events in their own right, have put the spotlight on whether hotels in the host cities were ready to meet the technology needs of the onslaught of tens of thousands of "connected guests". While these events were a boon for those hotels that reaped the business, they also provided a much needed readiness test that hotels around the country can benefit from. Now is the time to assess and determine: Is your current wireless infrastructure sufficient to accommodate changing guest needs and perhaps, the next mega event? READ MORE

In 2011, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP found the meetings sector comprised of two parts: "one portion overlapping the travel and tourism sector and the remaining portion belonging to other sectors of the US economy. Of the $708B of direct tourism output into the U.S., $113 billion (16%) was the result of the meetings industry." So why aren't hotels capturing more of the meeting industry's total $263B impact in the US? In this article, I provide insight into the value that Green Meeting strategies offer, and explain how their implementation can extend traditional service packages and position your property in new markets. READ MORE

Given that we now live and work in the most complex society one could ever imagine, where predictability has become perhaps the first casualty of the new century, it is difficult to know precisely what is next. Based on emerging evidence, that some call trends, however, we can extrapolate some likely scenarios. I've picked five trends that I think will materially impact and perhaps alter the meeting planner and hotelier relationship once again. Here are my five key trends to watch. READ MORE

If someone could "bottle" a blueprint of what will happen in the next decade in the meetings, events and incentive travel industry and how hotels can get in on the action they would be an overnight industry star! What's coming down the road? What should the business focus on? How can you set your brand apart from competitors vying for the same clients? Though not quite an iron-clad fortune-telling tool, a new study called "The Power of 10" - commissioned by the IMEX Group, organizers of IMEX in Frankfurt and IMEX America, together with Fast Future Research, can offer some helpful and well-founded insights. READ MORE

There are varying degrees of maturity in Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) hotel contracting and inevitably, most hoteliers want to learn how to avoid the onerous contract negotiations in these environments. Even in a seller's market, the Buyer wants to be in the driver's seat of racing down the road of terms and conditions. When meeting/event contracting is integrated with transient travel contracting, the process penitentiary causes confinement for months with legal beagles shredding their opponent's side of the contract. When hoteliers understand the SMM Hotel Contracting Maturity Model© and how it affects their negotiation strategies, then the hotel can author terms that satisfy their clients and increase the chain's revenue. READ MORE

This article will analyze the extent to which green policy has had an impact on MICE bookings. It will go into further detail on the type of hotel conference center trends the two chosen member properties have seen for 2013, whether or not the current economic climate has affected the hotels' green policy investment and which markets are most receptive to green policy. READ MORE

The corporate meetings segment has become an increasingly perplexing market that still dictates the success or failure of many new and established hotels. Gone are the conference travel norms of yesteryear; today, this segment is made up of a diverse group of consumers who can no longer be defined as one homogenous population. In addition, the lines between business and leisure are becoming increasingly blurred, due to the current economic climate. Taking all this into consideration, hotels can no longer attract meeting planners with simple cookie-cutter products that are delivered in an uninspired format. READ MORE

The world's hotels play a key role in supporting the success of the group meetings industry. Without enough meeting and networking space in town and sufficient rooms for people to rest after a long day of business, large and small meetings would be unable to operate effectively. So what's ahead for 2013 and beyond for hotels that want to begin or expand their group meetings business? How can you, as an hotelier, increase your value proposition? As Germany is the #1 associations group meeting destination in Europe and #2 globally, I'd like to offer some trends we've seen here that are applicable for hotels of all shapes and sizes…all around the world. READ MORE

Conference and meeting space can play a very different role in the ecosystem of a hotel, depending on factors like its location, targeted audience, and other amenities. In the first article of this series, Eric M. Rahe, AIA, LEED AP, explained that regardless of the type of hotel, there is a shortage of conference and meeting space across the industry. An increased demand from corporate meeting planners for different sizes and kinds of space may indicate that its availability and flexibility will be increasingly important to hotels' operations and revenues. Michael Prifti, FAIA, Managing Principal at BLT Architects, will explore the role of meeting and conference space in different hotel types and how each can strategically maximize its value through design and planning. READ MORE