The Rise of the Retreat (Motivation Strategies Magazine)

Originally published in 2006

By Bob Andelman

There are generally common views of retreats.

They’re either a waste of time and money or an invaluable corporate planning tool. Like many trends, the view on retreats tends to rise and fall on an individual company’s finances.

Today, with the national economy holding steady, a recent EIBTM Trends and Market Share report noted a rise in retreats as a trend to watch. The question is, why?

“The EIBTM Industry Trends and Market Share Report has shown a rise in retreats because companies and associations have realized the effectiveness of taking their executives/directors out of the normal working environment for a few days to discuss strategy, future planning and visioning for their organization,” says Rob Davidson, who was in charge of the report. He is also a senior lecturer in business travel and tourism at the University of Westminster in England. “Retreats have been recognized as the best way of focusing on relationship building, team building and brainstorming in an intensive but relaxing manner.”

Bruce Withrow, founder of Toronto-based Meeting Facilitators International, says it’s all about profitable growth.

“The days of performance improvement through cost cutting and restructuring are gone,” Withrow says. “You just can’t shrink your way to greatness. At the same time, senior management teams are facing significant demands on their time and are working longer and harder than ever. Faced with endless demands on their time, it is hard for a senior management team to spend any significant amount of time together as a group planning for the future. Because of this, the management team needs to schedule a block of time where it can work together as a team on the future of the company. This time is the corporate retreat.”

A retreat can be made motivational by cramming as much as possible into the shortest period of time. The right site is vital - one that helps reach the objectives of the retreat: an escape from day-to-day reality into an attractive, calm and inspirational setting. Or one that offers opportunity for exciting and dynamic activities. It depends on the specific goals of the retreat.

For the last six years, Jim Polinsky has been general manager of the Minnesuing Acres executive retreat lodge and meeting center. He says, without equivocation, that there has been a discernible up-tick in the lodge’s business post 9-11.

“Our business is up approximately 20 percent,” according to Polinsky. “We thinks it’s because of the quality of the retreat and sales we’re doing, but there’s also more demand. And the economy – a better economy positively impacts my business.”

The one sure thing about the retreat market is that if your company is looking at eliminating expenses, a retreat to some remote, exotic locale might be the first line cut in a tight budget if its purpose can be accomplished in the office. Team-building activities such as corporate cookery, physical challenges and dogsled racing – all available at Minnesuing, for example – get swept under the rug in a financial pinch.


Polinsky says that, nonetheless, there are things you just can’t get done with daily interruptions such as email, phone calls, office walk-ins, family demands and other things that can get in the way of long-range thinking and critical planning and decision-making.

“When we’re selling our retreat, one of the things that’s great about Minnesuing is exclusivity,” he says. “We do one group at a time. It’s not just about teambuilding but also for building relationships and trust. You have the exclusivity of the lodge and the flexibility of changing your schedule. Having your whole team isolated is a plus. They don’t go to the office or have the distraction of the cell phone or laptop.”

(Minnesuing does have high speed wireless Internet access and even as remote as it is, there are now cell towers to relay mobile phone signals.)

Another plus to getting away from the office is that if you’re having sensitive conversations, a lodge retreat with a controlled guest list means not having to worry about who is listening that shouldn’t.

And if the retreat brings together disparate company or association leaders from across North America or the globe that otherwise would only connect via telephone or email, for two days of intensity, they have the place to themselves.

The nature of a retreat tends to gear it more toward remote locations. The drawback of that is it often means a long drive through unpopulated areas to get there.

“Most of our business comes out of Minneapolis,” Polinsky says. “It’s a two-hour and 45-minute drive from there to here. For a high level executive, they think they could hop in a plane and go to Scottsdale in less time. They’re not used to getting in a car and driving. That’s our biggest challenge.”

One solution might be to put everyone on a bus and drive up together, making it a good time to de-stress, watch a movie and bond more socially.

How can a planner put together a retreat that best meets so many goals?

“There are two different but related groups supporting a retreat,” Withrow says, “meeting planners and meeting facilitators. The planners can ensure flawless logistics that eliminate possible distractions to the management team. They can help select good locations and make sure that the room set-up is conducive to an effective retreat. They can ensure that leisure activities are available and that meal plans fit in with the work day of the group and they can get the team there and back again with a little travel fatigue as possible. Finally they can work with the meeting facilitator as an ally to help them with the planning of the meals, the room layout, the schedule and the agenda. If the company is not planning to use a facilitator they may want to suggest the use of a facilitator. What the facilitator will do is help the company articulate the goals of the retreat and develop a proposal that describes a process that the facilitator will lead to help the company achieve these goals. This frees all of the management team to participate in the retreat and lets a neutral party control the interactions and keep the group on track.”

Regardless of skill it is difficult for someone to be both the facilitator and a participant in the retreat. Without a facilitator in the room the team will lose out in terms of the quality of the participation, or the effectiveness of the facilitation. Finally, the facilitator will take responsibility for documenting the results of the meeting and creating a meeting report summarizing all that was accomplished.

Polinsky offers this additional retreat productivity tip: “I always suggest groups eat later, at 7 or 8 p.m.,” he says. “It’s not like Vegas where there are other entertainment options. It lets you take advantage of daylight better.”

Sidebar: The Goals of the Retreat


Bruce Withrow, founder of Toronto-based Meeting Facilitators International, says that while the goals of a retreat may vary from organization to organization, the fundamental objective is to align the thinking of the team after a process of rigorous discussion and debate.

“Success is probably the best motivator of all,” he says. “A successful retreat is highly motivational. But what makes a successful retreat? That depends on what you set out to accomplish. For many companies, what they want to accomplish is to get some clarity as to what they want to look like in the future and to develop plans for how they are going to accomplish this. We call this a ‘Vision of Success,’ and an action plan. Many companies also want to figure out how they are going to profitably grow, and are willing to do the hard work of evaluating their competitive position, their strengths, their weaknesses, and other related activities like examining who their most attractive customers are, and understanding why they win business when they win and lose business when they lose. What these companies get motivated by is coming up with a strategy that they are convinced is going to help them win.”

The following are common issues around which Withrow says organizations taking a retreat typically want to get alignment:

• What will we look like in X years if we have been successful?

• What barriers are getting in the way of success and how are we going to overcome them?

• How can we profitably grow?

• What is happening in the environment, politically, economically, socially, and technologically that is going to effect our future success?

• What are our real strengths? What are our weaknesses that we want to address?

• Why do we win business when we win, and lose when we lose?

• Who are our most attractive customers and why?

• What does the competitive landscape look like?

• What does the competitive ladder look like?

• Where are we on the ladder and how can we move up the ladder?

• What might the competition do that will hurt us?

RCMA Planners Report (SMERF Magazine)

Originally published in 2005

By Bob Andelman

Meeting planners have enjoyed a buyers' market for the past few years, but the pendulum now seems to be swinging back in the directions of hotels and conference centers, much to the chagrin of professionals gathered for the Religious Conference Management Association’s 33rd annual RCMA World Conference and Exposition held in St. Louis in January.

“The market is tightening up a bit,” says Jim Cullumber. His events are usually for 75 or fewer attendees. “For small meetings such as those I plan, hotels are trying to squeeze us into and around their larger meetings. We typically can get into the city we want, but it is more challenging to get the right property that meets our specific needs. I often have to look just a little harder.”

In the late ‘90s, hotels were eager for Cullumber’s business – as much as two years out – but he says that interest ended around 2001 “and at this point, there doesn't seem to be a return to that trend.”

If there is good news to be found, Cullumber says it’s that prices are at least holding steady, which makes his budgeting a lot more reliable.

“Hotel rates for my meetings have stayed pretty stable,” Cullumber says, “climbing only one to two percent a year. Because we are a church-based institution, I've got to keep a ceiling on our room rates, but I have greater flexibility in food and beverage and other expenses so hopefully the hotel and I can enjoy a win-win relationship.”


So far, rising hotel prices haven't impacted his event planning too much.

“I've found that when I'm honest and upfront with the hotels, if they truly are interested in our business and have the availability, we can compromise successfully,” he says.

Minister Dorothy Chaney is program director for Beyond the Sacred Page in Miami Shores, Florida. She and her partner, Marlella Gantt, have planned meetings for the past eight years for Women with a Call International, including one major meeting a year and four smaller meetings in various cities during the year. Women come from all over the country and as far away as Suriname and West Africa each year for the group’s major conference.

Chaney finds that many dates she is interested in booking are being reserved much farther out then in years past, and that even if a hotel has meeting space available, sometimes their sleeping rooms are not available.

“My biggest meeting is in August and in the major cities I often find myself going with the second dates or not using the property the group would like to have,” she says. “This group never books more than 10 months out, but with the changing climate we will have to look at making a change in when the final decisions are made on the cities and hotels.”

Some hotels have urged Women With a Call International to change its pattern, but that isn’t happening.

“This group is set, in terms of holding its board meeting in December and its major meeting the first week in August,” Chaney says. “If the president can’t get the hotels she wants, she’ll move the meeting to another city.”

Like Cullumber, Chaney finds some satisfaction in holding the line on rates. And in some cases, she finds herself actually getting more value for the same rates.

“Value for dollar is very important to churches,” according to Chaney. If a rate is higher than our group usually pays, I look for the value and what perks the group will receive and enjoy for paying the higher price. Attendance was down at the December board meeting and I will make sure (in the future) that there is at least a meal served at one function.”

A tighter overall budget has caused Women With a Call International to reign in its former largesse for visiting speakers and seminar leaders.

“The group meets for five days,” Chaney says. “In the past, it paid for guest expenses for the full five days. Now we only pay for the night before they speak and the day of their presentation. If a speaker stays over past that, she is responsible for her own room charges.”

How RCMA Does It (SMERF Magazine)

Originally published in 2005

By Bob Andelman

Here’s a friendly tip for first-time attendees at a Religious Conference Management Association World Conference & Exposition:

Don’t cuss.

And if you represent a CVB seeking the annual RCMA event for your city, here’s another valuable tip:

Don’t hope to impress the group’s executive director of the last 23 years, Dr. DeWayne Woodring, with entertainment that involves dancers shedding their clothes.

“The first time I visited one city, I went on a site inspection at a theme park,” Woodring recalls. “The climax of the day was an ice show. My host slid further and further down in her seat next to me the longer the show went on. When it was over, she looked at me and said, ‘I never looked at that show before through the eyes of a religious meeting planner.’ And I said, ‘You’re right – that opening number was nothing but a striptease!”

Of all the many religious conferences planned annually in the United States, none is bigger than RCMA’s show, which lands at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center from January 31-February 3, 2006. It might not seem like the largest, with RCMA’s membership of 3,351. But each of those men and women plans one or more annual conferences themselves – representing 1,000 denominations in all – so a city making a great impression on the RCMA congregation will likely reap repeat business for years to come.

“Each year, sites bid because they realize that our members are responsible for planning over 16,000 annual meetings and conventions which annually attract more than 14.2 million participants. This is big business!” Woodring says. “And based on past experience, the cities that have hosted our conference find that many of our attendees book there in future years. One city, Charlotte, attracted more than 50 religious events as a result of hosting our conference. This is the strength of the religious market. It does not go down. It just keeps going and going no matter what the economy affair or world affairs.”

In recent years, RCMA’s late January/early February conference has been lured to warm weather climes (Tampa), cold (Pittsburgh) and everything in between (St. Louis, Charlotte). In 2007, the group heads for Louisville; the following year, Orlando.


The selection of a venue is one of the key elements to the success of any event. RCMA’s selection process is governed by an elected board of directors, all of whom have meeting planning experience. “One of the responsibilities of this board is to select sites for RCMA Conferences and World Expositions,” Woodring says. “The board takes this task seriously. It realizes the venue plays a definite role in accomplishing the goals and objectives of the conference, as well providing the necessary goods and services for attendees. We draw on their ability and experience in making site selections.”

RCMA spells out its entire process in writing over six detailed pages and rigorously sticks with its process. “We want to know the daily flights into the city, the number of flights and on what airlines? We ask detailed questions on the size of ballrooms. And every breakout room has to be listed as length and distance so we don’t go into something that is a bowling alley.”

The bidding for future sites begins approximately three-and-a-half years ahead of each annual conference when a notice is placed in RCM Magazine (http://rcm.meetingsnet.com/) that bids are being received from convention bureaus. And even though a single huge hotel may be large enough to host the event, RCMA insists that the whole community be involved in the process. “Our members want to experience the host community to the full extent,” Woodring says. “Therefore, we only accept bids from the convention and visitors bureau.”

CVBs err when they assume RCMA’s process is anything but a strict guideline.

In the case of one city that applied to host the conference, the airlift into the city was not adequate and the hotels the CVB proposed using were spread out all over the city. Not only that, they weren’t deluxe hotels; they weren’t even quality hotels. “And in that city,” Woodring says, “the meeting rooms were at one end of the city and the ballrooms and general session would have been at the other end. We would have been busing back and forth the whole time.”


RCMA’s bid specs call for, without equivocation, approximately 1,200 rooms in full-service hotels near the convention center. “And we don’t allow more than four hotels in the room block,” Woodring adds.

The association provides exacting details of the services and facilities it requires; nothing is left to chance.

“The process is straightforward and all bidders are on a level playing field,” Woodring says. “They have the specs; they know they must satisfy those specs in order to bid.”

Woodring—who does not vote – is responsible for reviewing each proposal and its data, then he discusses the bid with the applying CVB. Together, they perfect the proposal and it is sent to each member of the RCMA board two weeks prior to next annual conference.

“Just yesterday, I sent back a contract,” Woodring says. “They were moving the cutoff on room reservations by two weeks. I said, ‘Oh, no! We have our cutoff. Your bid specified a specific date of cutoff and we’re holding you to it!’”

According to Woodring, the RCMA board prefers spreading out its conference across the country from year to year. “If it’s held in Tampa, the board probably would not want to go to Orlando the following year. We had Tampa, then Charlotte, Pittsburgh and St. Louis in 2005.”

The board meets on a Monday night before the conference opens to consider final bids for the event three years hence. In San Jose, for example, the association will consider bids for the year 2009. A bureau will have the opportunity to make a 10-minute presentation at that time.

“After the presentations, the board discusses each bid in detail. Sometimes they go on and on… in great length,” Woodring says, laughing. “I remember some years ago, I could tell from the discussion it was coming down to two cities. One was larger; the other was smaller. The discussion went back and forth. What finally sold everybody was when one board member said, ‘Folks, if we choose the larger city, we could be one of five or more conventions going on at the same time. Whereas if we pick the smaller, we could have the whole place to ourselves!’ That ended discussion. The secret balloting was done and it went to the smaller city.”

An average of four or five cities bids on each annual conference, although some years have attracted as many as 10 suitors. But as the organization grows in numbers – membership is up a whopping 1,851 percent since 1982 – the number of sites that can accommodate RCMA is shrinking.

“The first time I came to RCMA in 1977,” Woodring recalls, “we met in one room on the top floor of a Holiday Inn in Baltimore across from the civic center. The exhibits were two tables in a hallway with brochures. There were no breakout rooms because we wouldn’t have enough people for discussion! Now we take over tens of thousands of square feet, we need a ballroom for seating 1,400, and a dozen breakout rooms.”

Another big change in the association since Woodring took charge in 1982 is its budget.

“When I was elected to this position,” he says, “the treasurer said, ‘You have $1,200 to operate the next 12 months and put on the next conference. Even in ‘82, that was not much money. We set up the association office in my wife’s clothes closet. I put a desk and a telephone line in there.”

Today, the national economy is less of a factor on religious conferences than on other associations. In fact, in hard times, attendance usually increases. And a number of RCMA attendees pay their own way as part of their contribution to their church or religious organization.

“The key issue facing the religious meeting planner is that the times are changing,” Woodring says. “The corporate world is returning to the fold and is increasing its expenditures for meetings and events that went down after September 11. The hotels and convention centers will forget us now; they’re going after the corporate market, which makes it more difficult and costly for the religious market. We see this in cycles. When times are difficult, the corporate world withdraws money from its meetings budget. But the religious market goes on and on and on. So when sales people look around for business, they suddenly get religion and go after our market. The religious market helps fill distressed parts of the year. We traditionally meet off-season, so we’re a good opportunity for hotels and convention centers to fill those rooms. Churches, synagogues and temples continue to hold meeting. In times that are most bleak, religious meetings attract their greatest numbers because it’s then that people seek spiritual nourishment and support.”

H. Roy Kaplan: A Balm Against Bigotry (Maddux Business Report)

Originally published in 2004

By Bob Andelman

Today, H. Roy Kaplan might just be the most admired, most principled man in all of Tampa Bay. As executive director of the National Conference for Community and Justice-Tampa Bay Region, he has long been the balm many public and private organizations applied when the wounds of bigotry, prejudice or discrimination infected their clients or employees.

But 15 years ago, when he first took the job, Kaplan was a wreck by the side of the road, desperately in need of a tow truck that could carry him away from the organization’s troubles – and his own.
• • •
The Kaplans moved to Tampa in 1986. Both were academics; Mary joined the University of South Florida as a member of the faculty for the school of Aging Studies; Roy was a sociology professor with 20 years of experience at State University of New York (Buffalo) and then at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, where he commuted 120 miles each way to work several times a week before catching on two years later as a visiting associate at the University of Tampa. But UT wasn’t a good fit and Kaplan sought something better.

He heard that Leslie Stein, then corporate counsel at GTE (now Verizon, from which she recently retired) was heading the search for a new executive director for what was then called the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Kaplan didn’t know anything about the organization’s operation or mission, although he did remember its infectious jingle from TV commercials in the 1960s:

Don’t be a schmo, Joe

Get in the know, Joe

Religion and race

Just don’t count in this place…

“Can you give me a shot?” he asked Stein.

It’s hard to imagine what Kaplan was thinking. Certainly, he felt tremendous pressure to earn more income. But a career college professor running a charitable organization that relies on the largess of corporate donations? He was an academician, pure and simple. He didn’t even wear a jacket and tie to the job interview – he couldn’t. He didn’t own one.

Kaplan gave Stein a copy of his book, American Minorities and Economic Opportunity (Peacock Publishers, 1977). There was something about the befuddled professor she liked and she invited him back for a second interview with the rest of the search committee. Just that was amazing: he survived a pool of 160 initial applicants.

This time, he arrived on time – still sans jacket and tie – and encountered another job candidate in the waiting area. The man was agitated, chain-smoking one cigarette after another.

“Have you seen the office?” he asked Kaplan.

“No,” Kaplan said.

“You won’t believe it!” the other man said between long drags.

What was the big deal about the office? Kaplan wondered. How bad could it be in the opulent Tampa City Center? Maybe it was too nice!

When it was Kaplan’s turn to face the committee, someone asked, “Are you a good fundraiser?”

“Well,” he said, “I have written grant applications. I believe that if you have good programs, the money will follow.”

He got the job.

But the celebration was short-lived.

It turned out that the NCCJ office was one room, sans air conditioning, in a building on Marion Street across from the First United Methodist Church and the St. Paul AME Church. From his window, he could see one of the churches handing out sandwiches to homeless people. They, in turn, ate the meat and threw the bread to the pigeons.


Kaplan’s starting pay was $28,000; the entire budget of the Tampa Bay chapter of NCCJ, founded in 1947, was a mere $70,000 in 1988. He inherited an organization (www.nccjtampabay.org) that was already in the hole for thousands of dollars. That first year, despite driving 30,000 miles on NCCJ business, he didn’t claim any expenses; they couldn’t be reimbursed, anyway. He didn’t take any vacation time for the first couple years.

He discovered that he reported to not one but two boards of directors. One was in Hillsborough County, one in Pinellas. The first time he called a board meeting in Hillsborough County, he, Stein and one other person were the only directors that showed up.

“I went back to my office and started checking up on the ‘board,’” he recalls. “Two members were deceased! The rest didn’t care or weren’t cultivated.”

The results in Pinellas weren’t any more encouraging.

As if all this wasn’t enough pressure, shortly before he was hired, Kaplan was diagnosed with clinical depression. “I lost 14 pounds,” he says. “I got nervous. I couldn’t eat. It’s not pleasant. I joined an over-30 baseball team. I’m a catcher, but they put me in the outfield. It was a disaster. I was frantic. A psychiatrist put me on medication.”

In six months, Kaplan’s health improved. He got off the meds and never went back.

And the NCCJ got its act together, too.
• • •
Despite a complete lack of experience, personal problems and no sense of how far over his head he was getting himself, Roy Kaplan took a group on the verge of erasing itself from existence and transformed it into a Tampa Bay – and national – cultural powerhouse.

Today, the NCCJ has 12 employees, a budget of $1.1 million and “clients” including JPMorgan Chase, Capital One and Pinellas County Schools. Its home is on the grounds of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida in St. Petersburg (formerly Holy Cross Episcopal Church), which gives it a break on rent because it believes in the NCCJ’s mission. The once-dueling Hillsborough and Pinellas county NCCJ boards – to which Kaplan reported – joined operations in 1989.

The Tampa Bay chapter is now NCCJ’s 5th largest by revenue and largest by staff.

Until nearly the end of the 20th century, the identity of the organization remained primarily Christian and Jewish. But 10 years ago, the name was changed to the National Conference for Community and Justice in an effort to be more inclusive.

“We’re not a religious organization,” Kaplan says. “Because of increasing diversity, we changed the title. Groups felt left out.”
• • •
As he took charge of the NCCJ, Kaplan began molding the Tampa Bay chapter’s mission to his own strengths, aiming its message in particular at area youth through multicultural educational outreach programs such as “Youth As Resources,” “Youth Congress,” “Anytown” and “Partners for Peace.”

Fifteen years later, every high school in Pinellas has a committee of students, teachers, parents and a principal working on its own tailored, multicultural diversity program.


“One of Roy’s greatest pleasures is the youth programs that NCCJ manages,” says Teddy Pierre, president of the Pascall Company, a Tampa-based human resources consulting firm specializing in diversity recruitment. Pierre is on the board of NCCJ.

A year after launching the Pinellas schools program, Kaplan introduced the first “Anytown” program in Florida. This weeklong, residential, multicultural training program for teens ages 14 to 18 is an intensive, six-night/seven-day, all-expenses paid summer course. “After the first one, in 1991, I swore I’d never do another,” Kaplan says. “We had some pretty disturbed kids.”

Over time, it got easier. And while many local NCCJ chapters don’t offer them at all, the Tampa Bay chapter puts on more than any other in the U.S., training 400 students every year. The Juvenile Welfare Board and private foundations subsidize the $300,000 annual cost.
• • •
Among Roy Kaplan’s most profound beliefs is that race is a great debilitator of otherwise great people.

“He sees no color; he just sees people,” says Pierre. “At times, he will be almost boisterous in his convictions. He gets riled up to the point where we say, ‘It’s okay, Roy! Not everybody is on board yet, but they will be.’ His face gets a little red at those times. He doesn’t see why others don’t see it as quickly as he does. “Why don’t they see this as a priority?’ he says. ‘It’s as plain as day! Why don’t they see it?’”

Kaplan organized the Interfaith Leaders Roundtable as a means of provoking dialogue among area clergy. As quite the talker himself, he believes that dialoguing makes differences melt away.

“He has worked so hard to get religious groups together,” Pierre marvels. “You wonder, does this man have a life outside of NCCJ? There are times when he’s out in the community hosting dialogues three or four nights a week, talking about issues of importance to the community. That doesn’t get a lot of publicity. He does it because it’s the right thing to do.”

Jim Barrens, executive director of The Center for Catholic/Jewish Studies at St. Leo University, calls Kaplan “a real, amazing gift to our community. I always think of him as the ‘go-to’ guy. He’s the guy who – whenever there was an incident of bigotry or prejudice – everyone gravitated to. And that came from years and years of plowing the fields. So many times, things happen and communities all around went to Roy and got a response and help dealing with it.”

Jim Albright is the chairman of the NCCJ board of directors, although he is perhaps best known for the eight years he spent as CEO of Bayfront Medical Center (1987-95). During that same period, he also served his first stint on the NCCJ board, playing a part in the hiring of Roy Kaplan. Today he runs Albright and Associates, a St. Petersburg-based health care consulting firm.

“I’ve known Roy for a long time,” Albright says. “He is totally dedicated to a number of things. He is the type of person who, whatever he does, does tenaciously. He works hard toward the goal and he becomes a part of it. We have been fortunate to have him for 15 years because he’s totally dedicated to the mission of combating racism, bigotry and bias. And he has a very effective style that brings people along to dialogue and improve relationships. It’s a hard job.”

Recognition of Kaplan’s work is hardly limited to his own board, however.

The University of Tampa Center for Ethics gave one-time UT professor Kaplan its annual “Tampa Bay Ethics Award” in September 2004. In December 1998, he was one of 10 individuals nationwide recognized by the U.S. Department of Education with its “Education Heroes Award.” He has also appeared on “Today,” “Good Morning America,” “CBS Evening News,” “NBC Nightly News” and “Prime Time Live.”
• • •
So Roy Kaplan certainly sounds like a helluva guy, you’re saying to yourself. But what do he and the NCCJ have to do with business?

Everything, according to Crystal Coovert, vice president of community and public relations for JPMorgan Chase – the second-largest private sector employer in Hillsborough County.

The NCCJ puts on diversity programs for JPMorgan Chase – and several other bay area companies – focusing on multicultural initiatives in the workplace and community. These include JPMorgan Chase’s many internal networking groups including a gay, lesbian and trans-gendered group, an Asian group, an African-American group, working parents and a women’s interactive group.

JPMorgan Chase most recently brought NCCJ in for “diversity dialogues,” open forums on community issues such as diversity in the public school system. Employees use NCCJ as a vehicle for talking in groups about how they’re impacted by diversity not only at work but also in their private lives. Kaplan has also played a part in easing fears about JPMorgan Chase’s impending merger with Bank One.

It’s an ongoing relationship.

“We feel their organization has brought something into our organization that we didn’t have internally,” Coovert says. “We view it as another employee benefit.”

The JPMorgan Chase Foundation gives NCCJ a $10,000 annual grant and the company is a major sponsor of NCCJ’s annual “Walk As One” event with the City of Tampa.

In addition to providing corporate diversity training, NCCJ also sets up corporate diversity councils and helps businesses deal with conflict in the workplace. Other companies that have tapped it for guidance include Raymond James, Capital One, Verizon and St. Paul Insurance Co.

“We approach diversity in the business world as an ongoing education process,” Kaplan says. “We believe that there has to be commitment on the part of management to create opportunities for workers to interact and practice cultural sensitivity on a daily basis. We’re not in favor of coming in and doing a day of training and leaving. There’s no such thing as a vaccination against prejudice. It’s got to be part of a constant reinforcement of values.”

In schools, intolerance finds expression in the guise of fights and suspensions, Kaplan says. “In the workplace, you lose productivity and work days.”
• • •
By the time you read this, Roy Kaplan will have retired from NCCJ. But not to coach youth soccer, attend Star Trek conventions or listen to the Three Tenors, which are all interests of his.

No, he’s finally returning to his first love: education. And this time, instead of scratching and clawing his way in as a struggling 40-something associate professor, he’s re-entering academia as a prize catch for the University of South Florida. Kaplan was enticed to join the school’s Africana Studies Department as coordinator and developer of an ambitious interdisciplinary doctoral program on Diasporas and inequalities in health care. (Kaplan was previously an adjunct professor at USF, teaching courses on racism in America.)

Why retire now when he is clearly nearing the top of the mountain?

“It was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Kaplan says. “I turned 60 in March. I’m a grandpa now. I just published a new book (Failing Grades: How Schools Breed Frustration, Anger, And Violence, and How to Prevent It, Scarecrow Education), which is my journal of our work in the schools for the last 15 years. The opportunity presented itself to do more intellectual things at USF. Besides, it’s just time to move on, to move in different directions.”

Time is catching up with Kaplan; he can’t outrun it and he can’t outtalk it no matter how hard he tries. Everywhere he turns, it seems, Kaplan – who has two sons and a granddaughter – is reminded of how precious time is.

“This job is seven days a week and many nights. It will take as much energy as you want to put into it. Now, I enjoy the work or I wouldn’t be here. But I bought a boat two months ago and I’ve yet to use it!”

Growth of Mid-Price Hotel Properties in Manhattan (Business Travel News)

Originally published in 2006

By Bob Andelman

What happens when mid-price American lodging chains go to Manhattan?

For one thing, they redefine the term “mid-price.” And for another, they give long-suffering, price-sensitive corporate travelers an option that their full-service cousins can’t beat.

At a time when new full-service hotels in Manhattan are few and far between, there is a continuing trend of hotel companies opening mid-price properties, many of which do not have restaurants, room service or other traditional amenities that full-service hotels provide. Companies including Marriott, Hilton, Cendant and InterContinental have recently opened or announced plans to open limited service hotels in the near future. What they lack in amenities, they make up in price, convenience, brand familiarity to suburban-based travelers and, in many cases, free high-speed Internet access.

“We’re seeing a lot more limited service brands coming into the city and with multiple locations, such as Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Courtyard By Marriott,” says Kirk Reed, manager of the New York Hospitality and Leisure Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. “There are more limited service hotels in the New York City pipeline than there have been in years. It’s part of an indication of the expansion of the limited service upscale segment and midscale segment. Travelers are accustomed to staying at these hotels when they travel. They’re used to not having full business services and room service. And in Manhattan, room service is less an issue because restaurants are always nearby.”

Among the newly opened:

• Holiday Inn Express Midtown-Fifth Avenue, opened in October;

• Hilton Garden Inn Times Square, which was a conversion from a full service hotel, reopened in October;

• Hampton Inn Herald Square, opened in 2005;

• Hampton Inn Manhattan/Seaport – Financial District, opened in December.

• Residence Inn by Marriott – 357 suites West 39th Street & Avenue of the Americas, opened late 2005.

And those coming later in 2006:

• Courtyard By Marriott on East 92nd Street;

• Courtyard by Marriott Harlem;

• Hilton Garden Inn Tribeca;

• Holiday Inn Express Brooklyn;

• Holiday Inn Express, West 29th Street;

• Wingate Inn LaGuardia, Queens;

• Wingate Inn, West 35th Street;

• Four Points by Sheraton SoHo Village;

• Hampton Inn Battery Park;

• Hampton Inn SoHo.

“Hampton has been around over 20 years,” says Phil Cordell, senior vice president of brand management for Hampton Inns and Suites. “We’re a brand that always prides itself on listening to guest feedback, including where we’re located. For 10 years, New York City – Manhattan proper – has been on top of the list of where guests wanted to stay with Hampton but we didn’t have a location. How far can the brand stretch? We’re in downtown Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta. But many of our hotels are roadside and in tertiary markets. And we knew New York was a challenging market for development because of costs. It’s not as easy as saying today, ‘We want to be in New York City next year, let’s do it!’”


The first Hampton property in Manhattan opened two years ago; there are now three, with a couple more coming in the next 18 months.

The new mid-price hotels don’t need the big footprint that full-service hotels do, leading to some interesting locations and designs. In Chelsea, the new Hampton has 160 rooms, but there are only eight rooms to a floor. It’s the smallest site the brand has ever built on. And in Times Square, the new Holiday Inn Express likewise is squeezed in between two other buildings, 33 feet wide and 22 stories high. It has just five rooms per floor.

The mid-price brands have a lower per room labor cost than the full-service chains, “which is important in a city such as New York, which has high labor costs to begin with,” Reed says.

Brand loyalty is another driving factor. Business and leisure travelers around the country recognize that Hampton means free high-speed Internet access or that a Hilton Garden Inn means a free continental breakfast. And both typically offer new construction, an attraction in and of itself.

And while they might be used to paying $89 a night in St. Petersburg, Florida, for a mid-price brand, there is no sticker shock paying $199 a night in Manhattan, because “mid-price” is relative.

“It’s much higher than those products typically can charge in smaller towns and suburban markets,” according to John Fox, senior vice president in charge of PKF Consulting’s New York office. “The fact a Hampton or Hilton Garden Inn can get such a high rate in New York makes those products viable. One of the reasons consumers are willing to pay is because the Hilton is $300 or more a night. And in 2005, it looks like New York City’s occupancy rate was 86 percent. To run that high, we had to be effectively sold out for 250 nights last year. While those Hampton travelers might not be happy about paying $175 to $200, comparatively speaking, it’s still a bargain. It’s not a Sheraton or Hilton, but it’s a new Hampton Inn! They’ve done a phenomenal job with all the little stuff.”

That’s Cordell’s view as well.

“Our challenge sometimes, as branders and marketers, is what price do consumers attach to our product?” he says. “But we know with Hampton that as long as there is value in price, the loyalty is there. That makes more sense in a place like New York. If you think about the big full price hotels there, you paid, even in bad times, $300, even $400 a night in season. Then you went to the hotel restaurant and paid $20 for continental breakfast, $1 for telephone calls and $10 for Internet access. When a Hampton comes into Manhattan, yes, you pay $180 per room. But we throw in a free breakfast, including a hot item. For two people, that could save $50. Then we throw in free local calls and a free Internet connection. If you compare that to full-service, you could be saving $100 or more with us.”

Won’t a mid-price operator like Hampton risk cutting into the corporate business traditionally done by its big brother, Hilton?

“I would probably be not telling the truth if I didn’t say, ‘A little bit,’” Cordell says. “We have the Waldorf, we have the Doubletrees. We may have taken a few guests from some of those, but they’re much more likely to have jumped out of the Hilton family. They might have been quoted $400 at the hotel and said, ‘No thanks,’ and jumped to mid-price Brand X. As our segment overall moves into Manhattan, it creates a mindset that, ‘Ooh, we have a choice that we didn’t have before.’”

The high occupancy in-town owes some credit to the overall flatness of the market; new units are coming online, but so far only in equal number to what’s been lost to higher real estate uses

“Residential prices in the city have risen significantly,” Reed says. “That has affected lodging in several ways. Some prime properties around Central Park, for example, have converted from hotel to condominium. The increased real estate prices have caused competition for sites. Corner and other prime locations have to compete with residential developments that are more profitable right now. There are a number of hotel developers that would love to build large, full-service in the city. But with residential prices averaging above $1,000 per square foot, it’s difficult for them to do it.”

As a result, hotel developers are pursuing smaller sites, mid-block locations and sites outside of the traditional core area of 42nd Street and north. New, mid-price hotel development is moving into areas such as Chelsea, the far West Side, downtown, and the outer boroughs, particularly Queens and Brooklyn.

How will the mid-price group affect the negotiating climate between corporate travel buyers and hotels?

“It will help to some extent with the availability of relatively lower rate hotel rooms,” Reed says. “’Relatively,’ because the new limited service hotels are still expected to have ADR above $200 on average. But with occupancy about 85 percent, there is rate pressure in the city. We expect for ‘06 that rates will increase 10 percent citywide after a three percent increase in ‘05. Because of high occupancy and a large number of sellout nights, there is still upwards pressure.”

Will the hotel chains – and corporate travelers – eventually regret the lower visibility, off-the-beaten track sites they’re being pushed into today?

“No,” Reed says. “The hotels are able to market themselves more effectively now because of Internet sites and being able to put photos and maps on the Web. Travelers coming to New York are accustomed to staying in smaller, lower service locations that might not be large prominent locations or in the traditional geographic areas.”

Another motivation driving the growth of the mid-price category: Manhattan needs hotel rooms like Mars needs women.

PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated flat growth in hotel room inventory for 2005 after Manhattan actually lost 1,220 rooms in ‘04; citywide the decline was 360 rooms.

“But in 2006,” Reed says, “there have been just over 2,000 new hotel rooms announced in terms of openings and no hotel closings announced yet. If the recent trend of conversions slows or stops, there will be more room availability in Manhattan and citywide.”

Holiday Inn Express, which entered the market in October, will be part of the coming room rush.

“There are plans to develop another Holiday Inn Express in Manhattan further down 29th Street,” says Verchele Wiggins Mills, vice president of brand management for Holiday Inn Express Hotels, which is a part of InterContinental Hotels Group. “There is also one in the pipeline for Brooklyn. Customer trends indicate that the majority of the growth is going to come from consumers that are more price conscious. In Manhattan, you’re utilizing the room to sleep, get breakfast and move on. It’s a viable strategy the developers have picked up on. And given our competitive situation, we’re where our competitors are. It’s a natural progression, wanting to be in urban markets so our loyal traveler has that option.”

Can there ever be too many brands and too many choices in the Big Apple?

“There haven’t been many developed in some time and there’s a need,” Fox says. “I was sitting at a hotel bar recently talking with someone about brand proliferation and segmenting. He pointed up and said, ‘Look up there. There are eight kinds of vodka! Trust me, there’s enough business to go around.’”

Genworth Financial Visits Australia (Motivational Strategies Magazine)

Originally published in 2005

By Bob Andelman

Despite his personal fascination with the country, Barry Wolpa had no intention of taking Genworth Financial’s top 100 “Diamond Producers” to Australia.

Takes too long to get there, it’s too far to go, too expensive, and Americans think it’s just like the United States with an accent. Talk about the opposite of motivation!

Besides, Wolpa’s M.O. as vice president of meetings and incentive trips for the long-term care insurance division of Genworth Financial (formerly GE Financial), a $10-billion Richmond, Virginia-based insurance and financial services company, goes beyond taking a bunch of success-driven business group leaders on a cushy trip to an exotic locale. He creates eye-opening, life-altering experiences that they could never arrange on their own. What could he possible find in Australia that would match his own lofty ambitions?

“If I can’t knock their socks off, creating something they can’t do on their own even if they’re really rich, I’m failing in my job,” Wolpa says. “Our top producer makes a half a million dollars. These people can buy a lot of things. And while our people compete, they like each other and enjoy traveling together. I have to knock their socks off; they work really hard to qualify.”

So how did he wind up taking more than 200 people to Sydney and Hayman Island in May 2004?

Australia was a place that intrigued Wolpa ever since he was invited on a six-person insurance meeting planner FAM tour. “It was the best put-together mini-incentive tour I’ve ever been on. They showed us all the things that could be done in Australia. Most Americans think it’s a country like ours – same age, same language – why go? But it’s actually quite amazing. Sydney is on the water in a way that they truly take advantage of it. I say Sydney is a combination of San Francisco, Hong Kong, Seattle and Vancouver. It really interested me.”

Still, Australia is expensive to visit from the States, so Wolpa kept putting it on the backburner. He’d need six days to do it, not the traditional five. And as great as Sydney is, one city just wouldn’t be enough for his winners. “I didn’t think Sydney by itself would be enough of an experience to travel that far. If I take people to Paris from the east coast it’s six hours; from the west coast it’s 11 hours. To go to Sydney from the west is 16 hours. From the east, add eight hours to that. When you look at a trip that long, if I’m not going to knock people’s socks off, I won’t do it.”

In all the travels he’d arranged in 15 years at Genworth, Wolpa never made them pack up and move before on a split trip. He was reluctant, knowing that it would add to the perception of an already expensive holiday.

Still, something kept pulling at him and he decided to do a site inspection. It was a given that Sydney knocked his socks off. But it wasn’t enough. If Sydney was the appetizer, he needed to add a main course and dessert all in one.

“Then I went to Hayman Island,” he says.

To get to Hayman Island, Wolpa flew two hours to Hamilton Island, where a vessel picked him up for a 45-minute champagne boat ride to the resort.

“The boat is quite luxurious,” according to Wolpa. “You don’t see a whole lot of civilization en route. Then you approach Hayman Island and it’s the most gorgeous, fabulous place on earth you’ve ever seen. There’s nothing on Hayman Island except the Hayman Island Resort. The swimming pool is famous. It’s huge, the largest in the southern hemisphere. People who have ground floor rooms can slide in right from their terrace. You can walk around the island in about an hour. With the exception of some islands in Tahiti, I’d never seen anything like this. I discovered Paradise; this is the ultimate South Sea island.


“I realize,” he continues, “that if I emphasized the best of Sydney and then Hayman Island, where I didn’t have to do much but evening events, I would have a successful trip. It was going to be a budget challenge, but I could do it.”

A major challenge. From the time Genworth committed to Australia until the Diamond Producers boarded their overseas aircraft, the US dollar slipped against the Australian dollar from 2:1 to 1.35:1. “It was a huge hit on a million-dollar budget,” Wolpa says.

It wasn’t the last obstacle. Wolpa assumed there were enough scheduled aircraft to move his people from Sydney to Harbor Island as a group. Late in the process, he learned there weren’t and he was forced to charter aircraft for the first time. Even then he had problems; the company promised two planes but only provided one, meaning two trips to get everyone transported.

The top 100 Genworth Financial career agents selling long term care insurance who met a minimum qualification of $200,000 in placed premium during the 2004 calendar sales year qualified for Wolpa’s Australia program. Their placed premiums are tracked weekly and published monthly in the weekly agent newsletter so everyone knows where they stand.

A “pizza box” introduction is sent to each agent’s home at the beginning of the year announcing the latest program. Wolpa says it goes home rather than to the office so that it is shared with the agent’s spouse/partner and family. It contains a brochure explaining the trip and qualification rules, a custom video about the destination, custom mouse pad with photos of the destination and a small promo item – for Australia, it was a clip-on Koala bear.

“Then we open a web site devoted to promoting the trip and encourage our agents to go to the site each month to read something new about the destination, answer a few easy questions and register for that month's promo gift,” Wolpa says. Gifts during the year ranged from things specific to Australia such as boomerangs, T-shirts with customized aboriginal art, and kangaroo theme gifts, to business related gifts that bore the official trip logo. “We generally had about 300 to 500 agents going to the website each month.”

In addition, Genworth has an incentives team that regularly tracks production and posts a "Trip Tracker" report on the company’s Digital Office site every other week.

The Diamond Producers Conference is a veteran, experienced group of travelers, many of whom tend to qualify year after year. Since 1990, they have visited French Polynesia twice (cruise ships); Nevis; Monte Carlo; Hawaii (Big Island); Santa Fe, NM; Florence; Venice; Paris; Costa Rica; Prague; Greece/Turkey (cruise); the Caribbean (cruise); and The Amalfi Coast (cruise).

“I don’t repeat,” Wolpa says. “The majority of the group, a good half of them, stays the same. I’ve done Italy three times in ten years but I would always go to a different place. After a certain point in time you start thinking, ‘Where can I go now?’ Our trips tend to be very upscale. When you’ve done Prague, Australia, London and Paris, where do you go? But it’s a big world out there.”

Producers and their spouses/partners aren’t the only people Wolpa must dazzle on each trip. The long term care insurance division’s senior sales leadership also attends the annual trip, including the president, senior vice president of Sales, six divisional sales VPs and a few others. “We believe that we need the senior sales leadership on the trip both to help host and to share in the celebration of our agents' success,” he says.


In Sydney, Wolpa housed his guests at the Four Seasons, a short walk from the Opera House. “A Four Seasons always delivers,” he says. “I’ve never known them to miss. It’s great to take people to that luxury after a long trip.”

Given the first day to unwind from the long trip, Wolpa put on a black tie gala at Sydney Town Hall the second night complete with classic Rolls-Royces and Bentleys for transportation, red carpet arrivals, two heralding trumpeters and town criers, a five-course dinner, President’s Club awards for the top 10 producers and dancing until midnight.

The next two days featured optional tours around Sydney – including a spectacular dinner at The Rocks interrupted by planned (but unannounced) fireworks over the Sydney Opera House – before Wolpa packed his gang up for their ultimate reward: Hayman Island.

The first night at Hayman was supposed to feature a beach party, but high winds caused Wolpa to move the event to the resort pool. With the live band playing through the night and a mountainous seafood buffet, no one minded the change in venue.

Waking up for their first full day on the island, Diamond Producers were presented with options ranging from snorkeling and boating to flying to the Great Barrier Reef. In the evening, Wolpa arranged a dine-around featuring the resort’s four restaurants.

“I was saving up for my last night,” Wolpa says. “I knew I had to end on a huge bang, because the first group of people who arrived at Hayman Island had to leave first – at 1:30 in the morning. They had to take the boat from Hayman Island to Hamilton to the plane. If you’re going to put people on a plane at 1:30 a.m. with no sleep, you better give them the night of their life.”

He certainly tried.

“I wanted to create a rainforest event,” Wolpa says. “I found a back road – the resort’s service road – which was lined with beautiful trees and foliage and had a huge tree in the middle of the road just across from the resort’s formal gardens. I convinced them to let me use this as a venue, and we brought in a production team to totally transform the area into a rainforest fairy wonderland and created the event of a lifetime.”

During the day, visitor and resort employees travel this road to get to the island’s sports facilities, so Wolpa – working with Hannaford Special Events, Pan Pacific Incentives and the hotel team – had to transform it discretely over three days. All necessary supplies were brought in by barge. He also flew in entertainers and a tech crew from the mainland.

When the big night arrived, Wolpa asked everybody to dress in white because part of the decoration involved black light, which would turn everyone purple. Virtually everyone arrived in white, itself a triumph. Wolpa then added organza petal skirts for the women; men received either velvet tunics or capes and hats. Arriving under the tree, they discovered a nine-foot concert grand piano with candelabra supporting 100 lit candles. There were fountains; it was a festive cocktail party.

In the resort’s formal gardens, on either side, there are three-meter stone block walls. Wolpa’s crew literally built a matching wall at the other end, behind the fountain.

At a given moment, the pianist stopped playing and a spotlight appeared to the right of the fountains. A tenor on top of the wall started singing “Some Enchanted Evening.” As he sang, the fountain shot water way, way up. As it came back down, pyrotechnics behind the wall began exploding and the “stone” wall – Styrofoam, actually – started crumbling. They were pushed aside and child fairies (the costumed children of people who work on the island) danced around the fountains beckoning guests to come forward. As they did, another round of hidden lights revealed Fairyland.

“It was the most breathtaking thing I’d ever seen,” Wolpa says. “Giant flowers, fairy houses and mushrooms. And in that giant tree was Titania, Queen of the Fairies, on a swing, playing the flute. There were also acrobats and magicians. The place was utterly transformed. The desired effect was achieved: our people were rendered speechless.”

And the operators of Hayman Island now have a new event venue.

There are people at Genworth who say they work extra-hard to earn one of Wolpa’s extravaganzas. The money is nice, but once they go on one of these trips, they never want to miss one. That’s motivation.

“When I started here,” Wolpa says, “our CFO liked to tell people he was our cheap financial officer. That was his joke. I had to have a talk with him. I had to sell him on why incentive trips were worth all this money. The ultimate thing was, trips motivate. We do surveys. Do you want the money? Some say yes. But they also say they want the camaraderie. Some planners do cookie cutter incentive trips. I feel like I always have to reinvent the wheel. It has to be something they can’t give themselves no matter how much money they make.”

Genworth doesn’t formally measure ROI on its incentive trips, but it does send out a post-trip survey for which it received extremely positive results.

“As far as Australia was, as expensive, as challenging and as hard as it was for people to make that long trip –with all of that the trip was amazing and sensational,” Wolpa says. “We showcased what I thought was the best for an incentive group.”

Eatertainment (SMERF Magazine)

Originally published in 2006

By Bob Andelman

Looking for somewhere different to hold a SMERF meeting or event this year?

Ever thought about an “eatertainment” venue?

Eatertainment is the growing restaurant trend that combines eating with entertainment. You probably already know the names of the players in this industry, which includes the Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood, NASCAR Café, Harley-Davidson Café, GameWorks, and Dave and Busters. But have you ever considering hosting a meeting at one?

Steven Pelletier did.

He’s the company commander of the Arapahoe Army Recruiting Company in Denver, where he oversees a team of active duty army and reserve recruiters. Not long ago, he and his first sergeant wanted to congratulate their staff of more than 25 people on meeting their mission goal for the month and thought Dave and Busters would be a great place to do it.

“We had a great time,” Pelletier says. “They bent over backwards on a lot of rules. Me and my first sergeant were paying for the meals (out of pocket) so they worked with us. The general manager even gave us a bunch of game cards.”

Pelletier had been in the restaurant/game room with his children and could imagine kids of all ages enjoying the place – even if the visit started with a business bent.

“I knew they had training rooms and all the A/V equipment,” Pelletier says. “I wanted to get away from the office and relax even though it was a training meeting. They had the big screen on behind me. It was a good sound system. We showed some military videos to motivate the soldiers and recruiters.”

Places such as the Hard Rock Café, Dave and Buster’s, Planet Hollywood, NASCAR Café, GameWorks, and Harley-Davidson Café are known for their specialized motifs, classic menus, souvenirs and many for their food. Why not consider holding an event at one – or several?

Dave and Buster's bills itself as “the perfect location for SMERF meetings and events all in one facility,” according to the Dallas-based chain’s director of sales, Ty Watson. “We give them the opportunity to meet, network, play and build tremendous relationships all under one roof. We offer everything that a hotel can offer for the actual meeting itself, but then so much more in the way of team building exercises and the social aspect of what we can do after the meeting is complete. We also offer many chef crafted buffets that are competitive in pricing, if not lower than most conference centers.”

In Marietta, Georgia, visitors to His Hands Church combine worship with fun, leaving the subtlety to others. It says so right there on the denomination’s web site, www.hishandschurch.com: “The party starts every Sunday at 10am, Dave & Busters, Marietta.”

Dave and Buster’s is in 44 North American cities; if you’ve never been to one, it is the ultimate electronic game arcade, minus the gambling, plus a full menu. The typical location ideally can handle meetings for up to 200 or special events for up to 2,000.

As far as Watson is concerned, holding SMERF meetings at eatertainment venues is a largely undiscovered opportunity.

“I am pleasantly surprised at how strong our name brand recognition is,” he says, “but unfortunately the majority of the meetings community is unaware of what we can do for a meeting of up to 175 people. If you’re looking to training meetings or events at multiple locations, instead of picking up the phone multiple times, we match up well. When I look into our booking system, I can see all 47 locations and what they have on the books for any day.

"The largest advantage of holding a meeting at Dave and Buster's is the true interpersonal relationship building factor that our facilities provide,” Watson continues. “By offering an all-inclusive destination, attendees can experience a first-class meeting environment while networking and strengthening relationships within the organization through team building exercises and other competitive games. We specialize in customizing all-inclusive packages for meeting planners to include meeting rooms with state of the art A/V equipment, multiple buffet options, hundreds of drink combinations, team building exercises and all the fun you can imagine in the Million Dollar Midway. It is truly a more complete option than using the familiar hotel banquet space that spills out into an empty banquet foyer."

Each Hard Rock Cafe – and there are now 132 of them worldwide – is different. Some are stand-alone restaurants; some are part of a casino, whether in Las Vegas or Tampa; still others are part of a concert venue. Some can accommodate a group of 50; some 200. Many cafes and casinos have private rooms. “There are a number of different ways you can go about it,” says Kevin Kirby Kevin Kirby, senior director of sales for Orlando-based Hard Rock International.

At the 380-seat NASCAR Café in Myrtle Beach, SC, General Manager Leon Williams say his family-friendly theme restaurant is already popular with elementary and high school groups and he’d like to attract more SMERF business.

“We don’t yet get a lot of requests from religious or military groups; I don’t know why,” Williams says. “Maybe because they see NASCAR on TV and see one car with the Jack Daniels logo and the next is promoting Viagra. I was born and raised in the Baptist culture. I have a good relationship with God. This could be an undiscovered opportunity.”

In an area of the NASCAR Cafe called “The Garage,” Williams says he can accommodate a group of 30 If a group of 100 came in, he could give them a portion of the main room.

“If they’re going to require total privacy,” Williams says, “there would be a charge for the buyout. Otherwise, they’re just paying for the meal. If a bus of 50 pulled in, we would take them. I wouldn’t charge them for the space.”

The Harley-Davidson Cafe in Las Vegas features private and semi-private areas; the entire venue can be rented for an evening and can hold up to 1,400 guests for a SMERF reception or theme party.

“We offer a variety of banquet menus or we will custom-create a menu specifically tailored to the demographics of our clients,” says Kate Mazzarella-Minshall, director of sales and catering for the Harley-Davidson Cafe. “We are customer-service oriented, flexible and accommodating and we offer quality and consistency in our food at competitive pricing.”

Because these places are used to serving a lot of volume – in terms of people and food – they can often be booked on shorter notice than other types of venues. But not too short.

“A lot of people have waited to book their reservations, but we encourage them to do it further in advance,” Kirby says. “But a week or two weeks? We can do that. Hard Rock Café Times Square on a week’s notice, however, we might not be able to do. We don’t want them to have an unfavorable experience.”

Choosing an appropriate venue is always an issue for SMERF groups, of course. Hard Rock Café or Planet Hollywood might be considered too risqué for a religious group’s function; the same folks might be more at home among the games at Dave and Buster’s and GameWorks or the race cars at NASCAR Café, however.

“Rock ‘n’ roll can be deeply personal or something you do with a group of people,” Kirby says. “It appeals to so many people in so many different ways – people that you wouldn’t think of as headbangers or enjoying a certain music genre, will still surprise you by appreciating the memorabilia and experience. A Hard Rock really is a place for people of different classes of society and love of music to come together.”

There are a few things you can’t do at an eatertainment venue that you can do in a hotel or banquet hall, such as transforming the venue into something else. The genre relics on the wall stay; no exploding volcanoes will be built center stage, thank you.

Many of the cafes have gone through A/V upgrades and some have their own in-house A/V staffs, large projection screens TVs, PowerPoint and video hook-ups? And if they can’t do it, they typically have a local production partner that can.

Costs for an eatertainment venue will likely compare with conference centers.

“If it’s a meeting, it would probably be no different than what a venue rental would be,” Kirby says. “We would need staff, of course. In the case of the multi-venue, multi-city client, we had to be staffed in the morning – a time when we’re not usually open – and be able to deliver. And we don’t charge the same price in every café. There’s nothing we do that’s different than anybody else. If we don’t charge a venue fee, we’re looking at F&B minimums, no different than a hotel would do.”

And then, of course, there are the cool souvenirs.

“If a customer does a bulk buy, we have taken some of our shirts and put the name of company X or the name of their product launch on the sleeve,” Kirby says. “If the company’s not willing to offer something to attendees, we offer a gift-with-purchase strategy. We do try to incorporate the merchandise with the experience. We like to do a t-shirt, something they’d wear and be proud of and it would resonate for a while.”

So the Hard Rock Café merchandise store would likely be open even if the venue were rented out for a special event?

“The fact that I would have it fully stocked is coincidental,” Kirby says, laughing. “As much as we believe our food drives people back, it’s the service and the merchandise.”


Sidebar


Eatertainment Directory


NASCAR Cafe Corporate HQ


(865) 637-2324


Theme: Racing



Harley-Davidson Café - Las Vegas


(702) 740-455


Theme: Classic motorcycles



Planet Hollywood International Corporate HQ


(407) 903-5500


Theme: Movies, Hollywood



Dave and Busters, Inc. Corporate HQ


(214) 904-2241


Theme: Games



Hard Rock International Corporate HQ


(407) 445-7625


Theme: Rock ‘n’ roll



GameWorks Corporate HQ


(818) 254-4263


Theme: Games

Eatertainment (Motivational Strategies Magazine)

Originally published in 2005

By Bob Andelman

Even a 35-year-old venue with locations worldwide can still learn new tricks when it comes to hosting group business.

That’s what happened in February, when the Hard Rock Café chain hosted a 12-city, multi-venue video sales conference. The client imagined holding its event at the Hard Rock in a way that the restaurant chain itself hadn’t considered before.

“This company knew it could pick from the banquet menus we had,” says Kevin Kirby, senior director of sales for Hard Rock International in Orlando. “They had an A/V company that came in and did the hookups. It was a morning day part; we weren’t open to the general public. This company got its message out and didn’t incur the cost of flying everyone somewhere else.”

As obvious as it seems in retrospect, running a meeting or special event at multiple Hard Rocks – or any eatertainment venue, for that matter – was actually an “a-ha!” moment for the parent company.

“It was interesting to us and we’ve put the team to thinking about how we’d do this again in the future. It really worked quite well,” Kirby says.

In the case of the video sales conference, the client originally approached individual Hard Rocks in the cities it was interested in before corporate headquarters became involved as a unifying force. From there, everything fell into place, including a special limited brunch menu.

“Ironically, it gave them a unifying experience as best they could without being in the same city,” Kirby says. “And this wasn’t an over-the-top experience relative to high-end budgets, either.”

The Hard Rock, for one, has greatly evolved in the last decade.

“It’s been a revolution with what we do with hotels, casinos and live concert venues,” Kirby says. “We’ve reached out to groups and can offer a diversity of experiences they’re not used to from the Hard Rock Cafe they might remember from 15 years ago. A lot of the programs we’ve been implementing have more global scale and synergy with the cafes and how they’re positioned to the group marketplace. The seeds have been planted; it just needs to be communicated to the marketplace. If you want a unique experience and high energy, this is the place to go.”

Each Hard Rock – and there are now 132 of them worldwide – is different. Some are stand-alone restaurants; some are part of a casino, whether in Las Vegas or Tampa; still others are part of a concert venue. Some can accommodate a group of 50; some 200. Many cafes and casinos have private rooms. “There are a number of different ways you can go about it,” Kirby says.

Places such as the Hard Rock Café, Dave and Buster’s, Planet Hollywood, NASCAR Café, GameWorks, and Harley-Davidson Café are known for their specialized motifs, classic menus, souvenirs and many for their food. Why not consider holding an event at one – or several?

Dave and Buster's bills itself as “the perfect location for business meetings and events all in one facility,” according to the Dallas-based chain’s director of sales, Ty Watson. “We give them the opportunity to meet, network, play and build tremendous relationships all under one roof. We offer everything that a hotel can offer for the actual meeting itself, but then so much more in the way of team building exercises and the social aspect of what we can do after the meeting is complete. We also offer many chef crafted buffets that are competitive in pricing, if not lower than most conference centers.”

Dave and Buster’s is in 44 North American cities; if you’ve never been to one, it is the ultimate electronic game arcade, minus the gambling, plus a full menu. The typical location ideally can handle meetings for up to 200 or special events for up to 2,000.

"The largest advantage of holding a meeting at Dave and Buster's is the true interpersonal relationship building factor that our facilities provide,” Watson says. “By offering an all-inclusive destination, attendees can experience a first-class meeting environment while networking and strengthening relationships within the organization through team building exercises and other competitive games. We specialize in customizing all-inclusive packages for meeting planners to include meeting rooms with state of the art A/V equipment, multiple buffet options, hundreds of drink combinations, team building exercises and all the fun you can imagine in the Million Dollar Midway. It is truly a more complete option than using the familiar hotel banquet space that spills out into an empty banquet foyer."

The Harley-Davidson Cafe in Las Vegas features private and semi-private areas; the entire venue can be rented for an evening and can hold up to 1,400 guests for a corporate reception or theme party.

“We offer a variety of banquet menus or we will custom-create a menu specifically tailored to the demographics of our clients,” says Kate Mazzarella-Minshall, director of sales and catering for the Harley-Davidson Cafe. “We are customer-service oriented, flexible and accommodating and we offer quality and consistency in our food at competitive pricing.”

Because these places are used to serving a lot of volume – in terms of people and food – they can often be booked on shorter notice than other types of venues. But not too short.

“A lot of people have waited to book their reservations, but we encourage them to do it further in advance,” Kirby says. “But a week or two weeks? We can do that. Hard Rock Café Times Square on a week’s notice, however, we might not be able to do. We don’t want them to have an unfavorable experience.”

Choosing an appropriate venue is always an issue for corporate groups, of course. Hard Rock Café or Planet Hollywood might be considered too risqué for a group’s function; the same folks might be more at home among the games at Dave and Buster’s and GameWorks or the race cars at NASCAR Café, however.

“Rock ‘n’ roll can be deeply personal or something you do with a group of people,” Kirby says. “It appeals to so many people in so many different ways – people that you wouldn’t think of as headbangers or enjoying a certain music genre, will still surprise you by appreciating the memorabilia and experience. A Hard Rock really is a place for people of different classes of society and love of music to come together.”

There are a few things you can’t do at an eatertainment venue that you can do in a hotel or banquet hall, such as transforming the venue into something else. The genre relics on the wall stay; no exploding volcanoes will be built center stage, thank you.

Many of the cafes have gone through A/V upgrades and some have their own in-house A/V staffs, large projection screens TVs, PowerPoint and video hook-ups? And if they can’t do it, they typically have a local production partner that can.

Costs for an eatertainment venue will likely compare with conference centers.

“If it’s a meeting, it would probably be no different than what a venue rental would be,” Kirby says. “We would need staff, of course. In the case of the multi-venue, multi-city client, we had to be staffed in the morning – a time when we’re not usually open – and be able to deliver. And we don’t charge the same price in every café. There’s nothing we do that’s different than anybody else. If we don’t charge a venue fee, we’re looking at F&B minimums, no different than a hotel would do.”

And then, of course, there are the cool souvenirs.

“If a customer does a bulk buy, we have taken some of our shirts and put the name of company X or the name of their product launch on the sleeve,” Kirby says. “If the company’s not willing to offer something to attendees, we offer a gift-with-purchase strategy. We do try to incorporate the merchandise with the experience. We like to do a t-shirt, something they’d wear and be proud of and it would resonate for a while.”

So the Hard Rock Café merchandise store would likely be open even if the venue were rented out for a special event?

“The fact that I would have it fully stocked is coincidental,” Kirby says, laughing. “As much as we believe our food drives people back, it’s the service and the merchandise.”


Sidebar


Eatertainment Directory


NASCAR Cafe Corporate HQ


(865) 637-2324


Theme: Racing



Harley-Davidson Café - Las Vegas


(702) 740-455


Theme: Classic motorcycles



Planet Hollywood International Corporate HQ


(407) 903-5500


Theme: Movies, Hollywood



Dave and Busters, Inc. Corporate HQ


(214) 904-2241


Theme: Games



Hard Rock International Corporate HQ


(407) 445-7625


Theme: Rock ‘n’ roll



GameWorks Corporate HQ


(818) 254-4263


Theme: Games

Destination: Moscow/St. Petersburg (Incentives & Meetings International Magazine)

Originally published in 2005

By Bob Andelman

Hotels in Moscow and St. Petersburg are expanding in number and increasing in quality, led by the arrival this winter of Russia’s first Ritz-Carlton, in Moscow.

“In terms of business, Moscow belongs to one of the most dynamic destinations in the world,” says Sergey Logvinov, director of public relations for the new hotel. “The city – in fact, the entire region – has seen substantial growth over the last years and all business segments are affected. For an expanding international hotel company like The Ritz-Carlton, it is self-explanatory to go into those regions. We have to go where our guests are going and we have seen an increasing demand for Russia from our leisure guests, corporate travelers and groups.”

Putting the Ritz-Carlton banner in a new city is a destination’s stamp of approval in the minds of American and European corporate meetings and incentives planners, opening their minds to a city they might not have previously considered. With a large number of luxury hotel rooms in the city center and extensive function space (14,139 square feet of meeting space including a 7,000-square-foot ballroom), The Ritz-Carlton Moscow – just off Red Square, next to the Kremlin – will no doubt attract just that audience.

“We have received countless inquiries, especially from US travelers, through our different channels,” Logvinov says. “The US is the dominating nation when it comes to inquiries through our website. The booked business for 2007 emphasizes those expectations. We are currently working on creative programs and proposals for meeting planners in order to fulfill their expectations after opening in December 2006.”

Another upscale international lodging chain, Rezidor SAS, is expanding its entry in Russia with two new Radisson SAS hotels in Moscow (Radisson SAS Belorusskaya, 264 rooms, October 2007; Radisson SAS Riverside, 150 rooms, September 2007) and one in St. Petersburg. Rezidor already operates the 410-room Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya Hotel in Moscow and the 164-room Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in St. Petersburg. The company is negotiating to develop 16 more hotel properties in Russia.

Eugene Bezel, director of business development for Moscow’s Hotel Baltschug Kempinski, says his city is a hotbed of activity these days.

“Moscow is the fastest developing city in Russia and it has grown into a true cosmopolitan metropolis where you may find anything you expect from an international capital yet with a true Russian flavor,” he says. “Now there is comprehensive and comfortable lodging from which to explore this great city. This includes but is not limited to new hotels of different star ratings, beautiful new venues, multifunctional attraction sites, and enormous wining and dining choices to meet the tastes of the most sophisticated travelers.”

That said, Bezel acknowledges there is room for improvement.

“Honestly speaking, Moscow still needs to develop and prepare itself for big scale conventions,” he says. “However, it is a perfect place for medium size meetings and incentives on any theme. There is hardly any other city in the world where you can find all of this.”

MICE experts in Russia recommend combining a trip with stays in both cities so as to combine Moscow’s political history with St. Petersburg’s cultural gems.

“The US MICE market is still developing in Moscow,” according to Hyatt Hotels’ Srdjan Milekovic. “The majority of incentive and business groups come from continental Europe, UK and Latin America.”

Milekovic says the benefits of holding a meeting or incentive event In Russia’s largest cities are significant, including the opportunity of organizing an interesting cultural program and combining two great historical cities, Moscow and St Petersburg, in one trip. However, he adds, such a journey is not without its challenges: lack of hotel accommodations, high prices from Monday to Thursday, and seasonality – the best time to travel is from May to October.

Peter Lorenez of Marriott International says there are opportunities for unique transportation-related incentives in Moscow ranging from troika rides (horse carriages) to MIG flights that can be arranged with the help of professional DMCs all year round.

“In the majority of cases,” Lorentz says, “hotels are left to their own devices to promote the destination and most individually organize their own FAM trips.”

Corporate meetings and incentives visitors to Moscow come from a variety of industries, including financial, banking, investment, insurance, pharmaceutical, oil & gas, governmental, and world heritage organizations.

World Trade Center Moscow is a regular member of the World Trade Center Association (WTCA), which encompasses about 300 WTCs in more than 85 countries of the world.

World Trade Center Moscow Congress Center is the largest conference center in Moscow. In 2004, a significant expansion in facilities took place. New meeting and conference facilities were launched, such as convenient function rooms for breakout sessions during big international congresses and conferences, and a new hall for V.I.P. events, featuring a round table layout. Now, WTC Moscow has 26 function halls, conference and meeting rooms, with the capacity ranging from 8 to 1200. The exhibition space totals 3000 square meters. And besides the usual state-of-the-art technology, in-house meeting equipment supports multi-lingual simultaneous interpretation systems.

Moscow was a finalist among cities competing for the 2012 Olympics. And even though it didn’t ultimately win the games, the city is going forward with many of the infrastructure improvements it promised for the Games.

Moscow is drawing attention from many quarters for the big changes occurring there. An Irish newspaper, the Belfast Telegraph, named the Russian capitol one of the worlds top “transformed cities” as recently as April 2006: “Everything seems larger than life in Moscow, Russia's born-again capital: Red Square, the Kremlin, St Basil's Cathedral, the GUM Department Store, the Seven Sisters (those Stalin-Gothic skyscrapers). Soviet Puritanism kept the raunchiness in check, but now it's back with a vengeance. The people's appetite for vodka, food, and partying is gigantic. If your last visit to the city was some time ago, prepare for a culture shock.”

Interest is growing in staging more meetings and incentives in Moscow, but among American planners, St. Petersburg may be the more popular destination thanks to its reputation as the cultural capitol of Russia.

• • •

For planners whose groups have already seen the big cities of Europe, Moscow and St. Petersburg are still largely unseen gems. And planning a trip, while rewarding upon its completion, is still a challenging enterprise. There are visa requirements, linguistic challenges and cold winters to overcome.

Well, maybe not that cold.

“The old clichés about Russia include it being cold, impoverished, and a terrorism target,” Bezel says. “The reality is that Russian winters are not as cold as pictured by Hollywood. And Moscow is one of the most posh cities in the world; being in Moscow is no more dangerous than being in New York.”

This may further disappoint some visitors to Moscow, but Elvira Tarasenko, regional sales manager for Rocco Forte Hotels, wants to end some other Western misconceptions about her city.

“Bears do not walk on the Red Square,” she says. “People do not drink vodka instead of tea, and our people are really friendly and civilized. You can feel much more secure in Moscow as compared to other European cities. There are no gangsters or mobs walking around everywhere.”

In St. Petersburg, a few lovely palaces were recently renovated and can now accommodate large groups for functions and events. Additionally, the historic Hotel Astoria and Angleterre Hotel were fully refurbished in 2002-03.

“St. Petersburg boasts the most fascinating cultural heritage,” says Philipp Broussovani, director of sales for Hotel Astoria and Angleterre Hotel, “including a number of recently renovated sites: churches, palaces, art galleries and parks which offer spectacular views and entertainment both in summer and in winter – an amazing blend of history and culture with modern business facilities and a well developed infrastructure.”

A variety of recognizable US corporations have held recent meetings in St. Petersburg, including JPMorganChase, Merrill Lynch and Ross Communications.

City delegations take part in international fairs and showcases to promote St. Petersburg. The "White Days" program focuses attention on St Petersburg as an unrivalled winter destination.




Fast Facts

Who to contact: Russian National Group, US Office, New York, (877) 221-7120, (646) 473-2233; Fax (646) 473-2205; info@rnto.org; 224 West 30th Street, Suite 701, New York, NY 10001

Language: “People over the age of 40 may not speak English at all, but the younger generation is largely fluent in English,” according to Elvira Tarasenko, regional sales manager for Rocco Forte Hotels in Moscow.

Air Service: Moscow has three international airports. Besides the better known Sheremetyevo-2 is Domodedovo and Vnukovo. The international airport in St. Petersburg is Pulkovo II.

Train Service: A recently introduce express train connects Moscow and St. Petersburg by rail in just four hours,

Currency: Ruble (Rub)

Credit Cards: Major international credit cards, including American Express, VISA and Diners Club are widely accepted. (ATMS are also available.)

Travelers Checks: Preferable to cash, visitors to Moscow would be wise to take hard currency for purchases.

Don’t Miss in Moscow: Moscow Kremlin; Great Kremlin Palace; Patriarch's Moscow; The Red Square and Kitai-Gorod Walk; Basil's Cathedral; City Sightseeing Tour; The Palace of the Romanov Boyars; Cathedral of Christ the Savior; Danilovsky and Donskoi Monasteries; Monasteries of Moscow; Kuskovo Estate; The Moscow Metro; KGB Museum; Kolomenskoye; Jewish Moscow; Pushkin Art Museum; Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery; Victory Park; Tretiakov Gallery; Lubyanka and Chistye Prudi; Icons and Orthodox Churches; Stalin’s Moscow; Sergiev Posad; New Jerusalem; Andrei Sakharov Museum; Cosmonauts' Museum; Abramtsevo; Ostafievo and Dubrovitsky; Gorky House Museum. Special meeting venues include Maly Manezh Forum Hall 9, and Pushkin Museum. Stalin’s bunkers and the KGB Museum – previously closed to the general public – are now open to tourists.

Don’t Miss in St. Petersburg: Hermitage Arts Museum; St. Isaac's Cathedral; Peter & Paul Fortress; The Fountains of Peterhof; Catherine's Palace at Tsarskoe Selo; The State Russian Museum; The Mariinsky Theatre. And if you liked exploring the waterways of Venice, there are 100 rivers and channels in St. Petersburg.

Travel Tip: Obtaining visas can take a long time, so plan far in advance. Many hotels provide visa support service, free of charge… While St. Petersburg is much safer and easier to access and travel for Westerners, be warned that the local subway doesn't have signage in English. The same is true of roads in Moscow.



Newswire

Courtyard by Marriott reached the 100,000-room milestone in December when the 218-room Courtyard by Marriott Moscow City Center opened within a 10-minute walk from the Kremlin. It is the first Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Russia and the fifth Marriott International-branded property in the city and seventh overall in Russia. For social events and small conferences, the Courtyard has four conference rooms offering a total of 300 square meters of space capable of accommodating up to 150 people. In addition, the hotel has a Grand Courtyard Atrium with 360 square meters of space for up to 400 persons… The Radisson SAS Hotel Belorusskaya, Moscow will be located a few minutes’ walk from the Belorusskaya railway station and Tverskaya Ulitsa; the main commercial street of Moscow. It is scheduled to open in October, 2007… The Radisson SAS Moscow Riverside Hotel & Resort, Moscow will be built on the banks of the Moskva River; the hotel will have 200 guestrooms, two restaurants, a bar, conference rooms, wellness centre and a spa, and will be marketed as a city resort and conference hotel. Construction will start this year and opening is scheduled for September 2007… The Moscow Times reports that work will soon begin on the $800 million redevelopment of the Rossiya Hotel site next to Red Square. The project being undertaken by the same companies redeveloping New Holland Island in St. Petersburg and building the Russia Tower in Moskva-City, intended to become the tallest in Europe… New hotels under development in Moscow include The Ritz Carlton, Grand Hyatt, and The Four Seasons… Moscow’s international airport Sheremetievo-2 is supposed to get a new modern terminal within three years… Delta launched a direct flight from Atlanta last year… Moscow City (similar to London City) is under development… The main stage of the Bolshoi Theatre is being renovated.

Destination: Malaysia (Incentives & Meetings International Magazine)

Originally published in 2005

By Bob Andelman

John George’s hands were tied by corporate preferences and governmental policy.

As he planned an incentive trip for the Asian/Pacific region division of a major American military contractor, the Gavel International account manager was going to bring the group of 80 to Florida for a fun week in the sun. But his winners lobbied to not fly so far. Originating themselves in Hong Kong, Australia, China and New Zealand, they wanted to stay in their own region.

When George considered his options – which did not include staying in country for any of the winners – he found they were few.

“We couldn’t go Thailand or Indonesia,” he says, “because our client’s corporate policy follows the same policy guidelines issued by the U.S. State Department for high level CEOs in regard to the ‘Don’t Travel To’ or ‘Use Caution’ list. Those countries are considered a terrorist-threatened area and we could not travel there. Malaysia, however, is not on the list.”

Malaysia, a tropical paradise with magnificent natural attractions such as the primeval rainforest, pristine white beaches, coral-fringed islands and spectacular caves, also offered a brand new Four Seasons Resort on the island of Langkawi, Kedah Darul Aman. That’s all it took to sell George. “When we found the Four Seasons there, we realized that this was a place we could go, to which none of our winners literally had been. The spa opened the day we arrived (May 8, 2005) and the hotel opened, officially, just a week or two earlier.”

George didn’t know a lot about Malaysia, so finding a Four Seasons had a lot to do with his decision to recommend travel there. What he found made for a destination he heartily suggests to other planners.

“We did a cultural tour which included going up a mountain to an altitude of 3,000 feet in a cable car, overlooking the island,” he says. The incentive group’s week also included: a batik printmaking class; shopping for sarongs; golf; a nature hike; deep-sea fishing; a boat cruise and snorkeling; a mangrove river safari on the Tanjung Rhu River; and an eco-tour.

George says that he encountered no problems whatsoever with or on the trip. “We found very friendly people there, and the locale felt very safe. The Malaysian people and Four Seasons staff really extended themselves and did a fantastic job. And the resort had probably the nicest guest rooms I’ve ever stayed in and I’ve been doing this for 22 years.”

Would he take another group back to Malaysia?

“Absolutely,” George says. “It just takes the right group. If you’ve got a US-based company, it’s 26 hours to get there from Chicago. Most incentives will pay for four or five nights. And your airfare costs are significantly higher. But if somebody is looking for something unique and different, it would be a fabulous location if you have the money to spend.”

Malaysia is considered a long haul destination from the United States, and the extended travel time may pose as a challenge to many conference delegates. “However, it may also be seen as an opportunity to spend extra days, either pre- or post-event in the country as they sample the numerous and varied tourist attractions,” says Jonas A. Schuermann, general manager of the Mandarin Oriental at Kuala Lumpur City Centre. “The main benefit in organizing an event in Malaysia would be the costs involved. Costs are very competitive and meeting planners will experience value for money, with excellent facilities and services at very affordable rates.”

There is a lower cost of hosting events in the region, due to the lower cost of conducting business in this part of the world, making Asia a cost effective location, offering excellent value for international organizers. “With five-star hotel rooms at approximately $ 110 per night (USD) including breakfast in the Kuala Lumpur city center, the rates are at least 40 percent cheaper than those in neighboring capital cities,” according to Phang Wei Yin, a communications executive with the marketing and sales department of the new Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Malaysia is working hard to get its message out to more American meeting planners by advertising in major MICE publications, attending The Incentive Show in New York, The Motivation Show (ITME) in Chicago, and PRIME in Hawaii. It is also participating in activities organized by SITE, MPI, ASAE and HSMAI and offering MICE fan trips to Malaysia. Finally, Tourism Malaysia, in collaboration with Malaysia Airlines, has already hosted 50 meeting planners to showcase its meetings, exhibition and incentives facilities, products and services with a hope that they will consider bringing their clients and events to the country.

The country appears poised to enjoy increased business from the United States, according to Datin Normasila Musa, deputy director of the convention division at Tourism Malaysia. “Our top five markets are Singapore, Thailand, Japan, United States and Indonesia,” she says. “For the U.S. market, we see encouraging growth on the MICE sector. In 2004, we received 26,113 arrivals, an increase of 9.4 percent from 2003.“

Musa says that Malaysia is continuing its efforts to build business with the U.S. convention market. “The U.S. is considered an important … market for Malaysia, even though it is a long-haul market,” she says.

And, Normasila adds, “Tourism Malaysia is keen to attract more MICE visitors and has taken various proactive measures to promote Malaysia as a premier MICE destination. We have also embarked in a brand positioning, [promoting] Malaysia as a MICE destination under the tagline ‘Meet & Experience Malaysia — Truly Asia.’ The campaign is a partnership initiative between Tourism Malaysia and Malaysian MICE suppliers to offer a committed list of incentives to organizers planning meetings in Malaysia.” The organization has also hosted meeting planners at the Global Meet Malaysia program, held every year since 2002.

In 2007 another campaign – called “Make It Malaysia” – is being planned by Tourism Malaysia. It will be in conjunction with Malaysia’s celebration of 50 years of independence.

“Malaysia is a melting pot of cultures, offering a unique gamut of colorful festivals, fascinating sounds and irresistible culinary specialties derived from Malaysia’s proud heritage of the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other ethnic communities,” says Shaifol Bahrin, New York-based marketing manager for Tourism Malaysia’s North American MICE business.

One of the major new facilities in Malaysia is the new Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, which officially opened in June 2005. It is a world-class facility for international and regional association congresses, trade shows, exhibitions, meetings and conventions, strategically located in the Central Business District of Kuala Lumpur and structured within the icon Petronas Twin Towers.

The major meeting hotels and brands in Malaysia for US meetings and incentives include: Shangri-La Hotel & Resort; Sheraton; Four Seasons; Mandarin Oriental; Sutera Harbour Resort; Sunway Lagoon Resort; MINES Resort; Renaissance; Hilton; Le Meridien; JW Marriott; The Westin; The Regent; Nikko Hotel; Pan Pacific; and Palace of the Golden Horses.

While Malaysia is generally considered a safe and secured country for US business interests, it is often confused stateside with Indonesia.

“Malaysia is a cosmopolitan, multicultural with a multiracial society, a moderate Islamic country resting upon tolerant religious foundations,” Schuermann says. “English is also widely spoken by the community. Many planners tend to associate quality with cost. Malaysian prices are sometimes seen as too ‘cheap’ and are expected to not to be able to provide quality services. On the contrary, Malaysia has excellent products and facilities and planners will be amazed and clearly impressed with the successes of high-profile meetings.”

Recent attention to security has increased the foot patrols in the city centre areas with clearly identified tourist police units located on street corners. In addition to CCTV surveillance an additional 1,800 plain clothes and uniformed police officers are now deployed in central Kuala Lumpur bringing the total strength to almost 4,000 officers.

“In Malaysia,” says Henry Lee, director and general manager of Reliance Sightseeing, “you can organize and enjoy a MICE event in total safety and security in a Muslim country. Couple that with top notch logistic and infrastructure support, Malaysia is unsurpassed in this part of the world for MICE events from worldwide markets.”

There has been progress in the past decade for developing and modernizing both infrastructure and superstructure, including adequate and reliable facilities and services, supported by an efficient transportation system. There are world-class convention centers here either integrated with hotel facilities or that stand alone, offering various capabilities, being equipped with state-of-the-art technical and telecommunications facilities presenting the opportunity for impressive, effective events.

— Mark Chesnut contributed to this story.





Fast Facts


Contact: Tourism Malaysia


Los Angeles


818 West 7th Street, Suite 970


Los Angeles


California 90017


Tel: 213 689 9702


Email: mtpb.la@tourism.gov.my


Website: www.visitmalaysia.com



Tourism Malaysia


New York


120 East 56th Street


Suite 810


New York


NY 10022


Tel: 212 745 1114/5


Email: mtpb.ny@tourism.gov.my


Website: www.visitmalaysia.com



More useful web sites:

www.virtualmalaysia.com


Virtual Malaysia is a local travel magazine publication



www.kualalumpur.gov.my


Kuala Lumpur City Hall. The mayor has formed a tourism action council which promotes events and festivities in city.



www.malaysiangp.com.my


Formula One Grand Prix, Sepang



www.klccconventioncentre.com


Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre



www.klpac.com


Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre



www.matta.org.my


Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents.



Language: Bahasa Malaysia is the national language, although English is widely spoken. Other languages used are Mandarin (Chinese) and Tamil.


Air service: Malaysian Airlines


Time: GMT + 8 hours; US East Coast Standard Time +13 hours


Climate: Malaysia enjoys a tropical climate with plenty of sunshine throughout the year. Temperatures typically range from 70 to 90°F (22°C to 33°C) and cooler in the highlands. With the occurrence of the annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons, the average rate of annual rainfall is high: 100 inches (250cm). Much of the rainfall is concentrated in the late afternoons. Humidity is high throughout the year


What to Wear: Light and cool comfortable clothe in the day. A jacket is suitable for evening dining in air-conditioned restaurants.


Business Hours: Standard banking hours are:


Monday to Friday: 09:30 - 3:30


Saturdays: 09.30 - 11.30. (Closed on 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month)


Sunday and Public Holiday banks are closed.


Shops are generally open 10:00 - 10:00 on Monday to Sunday.


Electricity: 220 / 250 Volts / 50 cycles AC current / 3 pin British plug.


Getting Around: In Kuala Lumpur is pretty easy and you will have no problem of hailing a cab.


Exchange Rate: Pegged at US$1.00=RM3.80 on 02 September 1998


Update: On 13 August 2005, Malaysia un-pegged the Ringgit.


Currency: The Ringgit (RM) is the Malaysian currency. Money and travelers checks can be exchanged at banks and moneychangers. Major credit cards are accepted in hotels and department stores. Cash however, is required in the local markets.


Don’t Miss: PETRONAS Twin Towers is the landmark of Kuala Lumpur, and tourists can visit the Skybridge, located on the 41 and 42 floors of the towers for a magnificent bird’s eye view of the city.


Other attractions include a dazzling aray of shopping establishments as well as cultural, historical locations such as Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square), Central Market, China Town, KL Tower, National Museum and many other interesting locations. Exciting nightlife is presented by the long list of local and international theatre shows, performances and symphony orchestras, with a wide variety of entertainment including live bands, dinner shows and nights spots. Adventurous travelers they can visit East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, which is rich in tropical rainforests, national parks, caves and exotic wildlife. The country is also blessed with sandy beaches for those who love sun and sea sports such as scuba diving and snorkeling.


Malaysia’s Formula One Grand Prix has also proved to draw in visitors, and many multinational corporations have used the F1 as an incentive to motivate their associates interested in sports.




Malaysia Newswire

June 12th 2005 saw the opening of the new Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre opened on June 12, 2005. It sits on 7.3 acres of land adjacent to the 643-room Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the Petronas Twin Towers. The centre is within a 10-minute drive of 10,000 four- and five-star hotel rooms… The 335-room Impiana@KLCC Hotel opposite the convention centre will open in mid-November 2005 for business … The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre opened in May 2005 and offers a perfect setting for offsite themed dinners, cocktails, product launches, corporate functions, after dinner play and theatre performance. It is a partly restored 1930s old brick warehouse of the Malayan Railway located in a historic small town called Sentul. Located in the midst of parkland and lakes in Sentul Park, KLPac is located only 10 minutes from a railway station and 20 minutes by car from the city centre… Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia’s newest five-star hotel, is now open. The 306-room luxury property is only 15 minutes from the International Airport and enjoys a central city location in Kota Kinabalu. The majority of its guest rooms, the two prestigious Club Floors and the exclusive Le Royal Club Lounge have sweeping views of either the South China Sea or Mt Kinabalu. The 370 capacity ballroom offers state-of-the-art audio visual support in all three of its possible configurations. The hotel has five additional meeting rooms… Palace of the Golden Horses at MINES Resort City in Kuala Lumpur announced plans to add a second grand ballroom… The 207-room Hotel Maya Kuala Lumpur held a soft reopening on September 3… Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, has signed a management agreement with Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Sendirian Berhad to operate the 571-room Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, which will open in 2006.