In This Issue

Great year for hotels and DMCs
Two "Wow" factor London Hotels
New: From the field hotel report
One Year Index of destinations and features
What do you most want in the New Year?
Around the Industry
Krisam & GEP News

Great year for hotels and DMCs

The meetings and incentives industry is quite healthy based on the year-end results for Global Events Partners, the Krisam Group, and August Jackson.  All three companies experienced a great year in 2004 as an improved economy and distance from 9/11 brought double and triple digit increases.

The Krisam Group saw a 17% increase, while GEP reported an overall increase of 24%, but a whopping 210% for its international operations.  Only a year and a half old, August Jackson did so well in 2004 that it was able to open a new office in Chicago.

“Business has returned in a dramatic way, ” Chris White, chairman & CEO of GEP & Krisam, said. “As for Europe, ” he continued, “ the improved economy encouraged companies to resume international travel, after having pulled back for nearly two and a half years. ”

Two "Wow" factor London Hotels

When dealing with well-traveled business people, it’s a challenge to impress them with a hotel that will have them saying “Wow” as they cross the threshold.    Now that an improved economy has many planners returning to Europe for meetings and incentives, we thought you might like to review two jazzy hotels in England that are guaranteed to receive raves from your guests.

New Monthly Hotel Review: From the field

Also in this issue, we introduce a new monthly feature “From the field”.  Here you’ll find brief comments from site visits by Krisam sales representatives to boutique and unique hotels around the world.  Our first review is of the 5-Star Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, California.

One Year Index of destinations and features
 
This month mark’s the first anniversary of The Event Insider.  If you’ve joined us sometime during the year, you may find it useful to check out our Index of destination and how-to stories.  There may be a place we’ve covered that you are considering for a meeting right now.  Or there may be a question you have that’s been answered in a past feature story.  Even if you’ve been with us all along, it’s possible there’s a site or topic that interests you now, but didn’t back when we published it.  New Orleans.  Selecting speakers. Meet and Greet. Montreal.  The complete Insider Index, February 2004-January 2005 is now available.

Question of the Month: What do you want to learn more about? 

Meeting planners handle so many details they need to be expert on a wide variety of subjects.  Our goal with The Event Insider is to provide you with truly helpful information you can’t find easily in other sources.  With that in mind, we’d like you to tell us what you most want information on.  Take our poll and check the three topics of greatest interest to you.  If we have not included a subject of major importance to you, please tell us about it in an e-mail to newsletter@theeventinsider.com. We’d be happy to find an expert on it to interview and include in a future newsletter.

Please respond by March 9th and we'll include the results in the next newsletter.

Last month's poll results: What do you most want in the New Year? (pick only 2)

• Higher Salary  40%
• Bigger Budget  20%
• Less Interference  16%
• Bigger Staff  13%
• New Job  6%
• More Recognition  3%
• New Boss  0%

Around the Industry

• Paris on the Potomac.  Paris on the Potomac is a citywide celebration that honors the longstanding cultural ties between two world capitals: Washington, DC and Paris. From Valentine’s Day through Memorial Day 2005, more than 100 French-themed exhibits, performances, walking tours, lavish restaurant experiences and romantic hotel packages highlight Paris’s influence on the Washington scene. ParisOnThePotomac.org. 
• Business Travelers Complaints. People who carry on baggage that should have been checked was the number one complaint of business travelers in a survey commissioned by Carlson Wagonlit Travel.  Other top gripes were passengers who paid less for their tickets, crying babies, and people disturbing them when they wanted to work, sleep, or read.
• Helpful Travel Websites 
  These three websites from the U.S. government offer helpful information when traveling at home or abroad.
  • For tips on staying healthy abroad, check out this CDC site:  http://www.cdc.gov/travel/
  • For information on traveling with pets, go to this Agriculture Department site. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/pubs/petravel.html
  • For your rights when bumped from a flight and more, see this DOT site: www.dot.gov/airconsumer 
• Business Travel Improving.  A Travel Industry Association (TIA) and National Business Travel Association (NBTA) report says business-trip volume in the USA grew at least 4% last year, compared with 2003, following a 14% decline between 1998 and 2003. The survey shows that in 2003, domestic business travelers generated $153.2 billion, or nearly one-third of the domestic travel market.
• Vacation tops shorter workday. Sixty-one percent of respondents chose a longer vacation over a shorter working day in a new survey by Roper Reports for NOP World. This is up 11 percentage points over the 2000 survey.
• Amtrak station opens at Mitchell airport. Designed to lure air travelers from Chicago, an Amtrak station has opened at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.  Mitchell is the fourth U.S. airport with an Amtrak station, after Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Bob Hope Airport in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, Calif. Passengers who are boarding trains at the station can park for $5 a day in the depot's 300-space parking.

Krisam & GEP News
Updates on Krisam member properties & GEP partners. For more information on any of the partners below, contact your Krisam or GEP representative directly or email us today.

      New Krisam Hotels

• The Brown Palace, Denver, CO
• Millennium Biltmore, Los Angeles, CA
• Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, Park City, UT

 
Westin and Sheraton in Grand Bahama offer free reception to meeting planners.
Book your meeting by March 31, 2005 and hold it by Dec. 15, 2005 and you could qualify for a free reception in the Bahamas.  This special offer comes from the Westin and Shreaton at Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort, Grand Bahama. The specifics are a one-hour complimentary Grand Bahamian reception with tropical island beverages and chef's choice hors d’oeurves.
The offer requires a minimum of 50 rooms on peak night.  It is available on new bookings only and does not apply to tentative business. Food and beverage choices are selected by hotel. Void where prohibited by law. Not to be combined with other offers or promotions.
The most spectacular resort on Grand Bahama Island, Our Lucaya offers 90,000 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting and function space, 372 acres of tropical grounds, and countless activities. With modern, well-appointed facilities and the tropical paradise that is the Bahamas, Our Lucaya mixes business and pleasure like no other facility. Just 55 miles off the coast of Florida, The Westin and Sheraton at Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort are only minutes away by air.

Porthole Cruise magazine honors Micato Safaris.
Micato  Safaris has won the Porthole Cruise magazine’s  Best African Tour Operator award, as announced in the magazine’s January 2005 issue. Editor Bill Panoff cited Micato for providing the finest safari experience and continuously exceeding expectations.
In addition to working with individuals and groups, Micato is the appointed tour and safari outfitter for the following cruise lines: Silversea, Crystal, Cunard, Seabourn Radisson Seven Seas, P&O, Royal Caribbean, Orient, Holland America, and Princess.