First Meeting in New Orleans Since Katrina
Creative Events with a Bonus
Fun with Digital Imaging
Update on Gulf Coast Member Hotels
Poll: What Is Your Biggest F & B Challenge?
Around the Industry
Krisam & GEP News

BBC is a partner of GEP and Royal Sonesta Hotel is a member of the Krisam Group.

Creative Events with a Benefit Bonus

Staging an event that gives guests a good time is always a meeting planner’s goal. But if that event also does good for the community, what a wonderful bonus. Some meeting planners recently shared their “most creative event” and many included a community service element.

With corporate misbehavior so much in the news lately, it is good to hear of companies who are aiding others while still holding rewarding and entertaining events for their own constituencies. Such events are also wise and can be the source for favorable publicity. For inspiration, here is a wrap-up of some creative events, several of which had a winning charitable aspect to them.

Create Instant Fun with Digital Images

When you get home from a really good vacation, what’s the first thing you look forward to? Next to seeing your cat or dog, chances are it’s seeing prints of photos from your trip. Digital or film, they are a way of saving the good times, keeping the memories fresh, and sharing your adventures with family and friends.

When it comes to meetings and incentives, it is just as true: people love to see and share photos of themselves having a good time. Digital technology makes it easy for you to provide long-lasting memories for your participants. They’ll love it. And you’ll have a tool that encourages repeat attendance and inspires others to want to be there the next time. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand points in making current and future events a success. Here are some novel ideas for using digital imaging.

Update on Gulf Coast Member Hotels

Jim Schultenover, president of the Krisam Group, has talked with Krisam member hotels in the Gulf Coast region and provides an overview of openings, capacities, and services. Read the New Orleans progress report (and increasingly good news).

Question of the Month: What is Your Biggest F & B Challenge?

For meeting attendees, dining and drinking are two of the main pleasures of convening. For meeting planners, they are a major responsibility with infinite choices. Let us know which aspects of F&B are the most challenging for you and we’ll see if we can find some good advice to help. Take our poll and we'll report the results next month.

Last month's poll results: The Gulf Coast offers so many attractive meeting sites that quite a scramble was on to move meetings that had been scheduled there for this fall and winter. We asked Insider readers what they would have done if they were due to meet in New Orleans. Apparently even canceling is better than postponing a meeting, as you’ll see from the results below:

If I had a meeting scheduled in New Orleans, I would have...

• 62% Found a new meeting site.
• 16% Moved to a previously designated back-up site.
• 9% I honestly don’t know.
• 7% Cancelled the meeting.
• 7% Polled the attendees.
• 0% Postponed for later in New Orleans

Around the Industry

• Ultimate Experiences Need an especially unique and difficult-to-arrange reward? Take a look at Bluefish Concierge. The company says of itself “We...excel at arranging outrageous, one-of-a-kind experiences available nowhere else. We have sent clients in a submarine to see the remains of the Titanic, provided exclusive access to the Grammys and New York Fashion Week and arranged fighter jet flights over Moscow.” Learn more about incredible Bluefish experiences that are available for a price.
• American Airlines Offers Lifetime Membership Through December 31, 2005 American Airlines is offering a Lifetime Admirals Club membership for $5,500 ($2,500 for seniors). The membership is good for more than 40 locations around the world and can be given as a gift. Learn more about American Airlines lifetime membership.
• "B4UDIE" The Alaska Travel Industry Association is actually using B4UDIE in a new promotion that encourages you to visit Alaska before you die. There’s even a website which connects you to information about Alaska's wonders.
• ".travel" Domain Names Now Available The designation ".travel" is a new Internet top level domain (TLD) exclusively for businesses, organizations and individuals in the travel industry. The first .travel domains were set to go live on October 3.The Travel Partnership Corporation (TTPC), a Washington D.C. non-profit, has been formed to promote dot travel; and, to recommend policies and practices concerning the eligibility to register domain names in the .travel TLD. Open to all bona fide travel and tourism associations, TTPC is a consortium of travel industry bodies representing a broad cross-section of the industry. Find out how the ".travel" domain works.
• MPI Issues Paper Focusing on Supplier Partnerships In its most recent position paper, MPI’s Global Corporate Circle of Excellence (PDF format) gives meeting planners advice on working with procurement departments and achieving cost reductions and efficiencies by consolidating their expenditures with a short list of approved vendors. The paper addresses planners fears as well as providing help on establishing partnerships.
• International Travel to US Increases The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that 3.3 million international visitors traveled to the United States in June 2005, an increase of 8 percent over June 2004. Arrivals were also up almost 8 percent for the first half of 2005 compared to 2004. Double-digit growth in June arrivals was noted from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Arrivals from Eastern Europe continue to be strong, up 16 percent for the first half of 2005.
• U.S. outbound Travel Sets Record The U.S. Department of Commerce reported new records for U.S. outbound travel in 2004. Last year, 61.8 million U.S. travelers went abroad, surpassing the previous record of 61.3 million set in 2000. Spending by U.S. travelers abroad also established a new record in 2004 at $89.3 billion, a 14 percent increase from 2003. The top five U.S. destinations for U.S. travelers were Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The average length of trip outside the United States was 16.2 nights.

Krisam & GEP News