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Luncheon Program
Date: April 21, 2009 Topic:Channel Marketing & Connectivity Location: Wilshire Grand Hotel Panel Discussion Date: May 27, 2009 Topic: TBA Location: Renaissance Hollywood Hotel 
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Channel Marketing IDS/GDS,
Inventory Management, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Wilshire Grand Hotel 
HSMAI is excited to bring more value to your membership again for April with a "revenue and marketing targeted" event that focuses on the major impact the economy is having on the hospitality industry and how we can more than survive, how we can even take advantage of it! Specifically, using technology that allows us to save and trim our operating expenses while driving optimum revenue through new technology and our partnership marketing efforts. This topical event could not be timelier!
Janelle Cram
Hilton Prince Kuhio Honolulu Pete Sanchez Hollywood Heights Hotel Jennifer Ochs Sheraton Universal Hotel  Sam Sahrai,
VP How did you hear about HSMAI? Why did you join HSMAI? Job duties: Other organization I'm involved in: Hobbies and/or Special Interests Tell us about your immediate family: Awards: Other comments: 
FEATURED ARTICLE  Meeting and Event Planners Cite Customer Service, Financial Value as Deciding Factors for Bookings in 2009More than 85 percent of meeting planners attending the Ninth Annual Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International’s (HSMAI) Affordable Meetings® Mid-America Conference & Exposition at Chicago's Navy Pier, April 1-2, 2009, stated that customer service is the deciding factor in the current economy when selecting an event location. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend ECONOMIC INSIGHTS  Travel Leaders Meet with President Obama, Discuss Industry's Ability to Strengthen Economy 16 March 2009 | On march 11, Travel industry leaders met with President Obama to discuss the unique role that travel can play in strengthening the American economy. The meeting focused on two critical areas: the need to welcome more international visitors and the business community's concerns about the dramatic nationwide downturn in meetings and events. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend hotels.com Announces Hotel Price Index Findings 24 March 2009 | The average price of a hotel room around the world fell by 12 percent last year, according to the latest hotels.com Hotel Price Index(TM). This fall in prices paid was driven by price drops across every continent. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Congress ‘Hypocrisy’ on Trips Angers Hotel Executives | bloomberg.com24 March 2009 | The U.S. Senate last month passed a measure limiting “luxury” spending for corporate travel by recipients of federal bailout funds. Two weeks later, about two dozen senators of both parties left town for political meetings on the Florida coast. View Article | Send to a Friend [MULTIMEDIA] PKF Says Worsening Economy Extends U.S. Lodging Recovery Timeline 18 March 2009 | PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) today announced that, according to its March 2009 edition of Hotel Horizons(SM), the current decline in the U.S. lodging industry will be deeper and last longer than the company had previously predicted. RevPAR is now expected to drop 13.7 percent in 2009, and a quarter-over-quarter gain in sales is not anticipated until the first quarter of 2011. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend STR reports U.S. hotel Pipeline for February 200916 March 2009 | The U.S. hotel development pipeline includes 5,390 hotels with 575,202 rooms, according to the February STR/TWR/Dodge Construction Pipeline Report released this week. This represents a 2.5-percent decrease in rooms from the development pipeline in January and an 11.4-percent drop from the development pipeline in February 2008. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend STR Global posts February 2009 results for the Americas27 March 2009 | The Americas region reported declines in all three key performance metrics when reported in U.S. dollars for February 2009, according to data compiled by STR and STR Global. Occupancy for the region dropped 10.0 percent to 53.7 percent; average daily rate dropped 9.1 percent to US$102.07; and revenue per available room dropped 18.2 percent to US$54.80. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend STR Global posts February 2009 results for Europe 27 March 2009 | The European hotel industry reported mixed year-over-year results when reported in U.S. dollars, euros and British pounds for February 2009, according to data compiled by STR Global. Figures for occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room ranged from double-digit losses to single-digit gains, depending on the market and the currency used for comparison. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend STR Global posts February 2009 results for Asia/Pacific region 27 March 2009 | Hotels in the Asia/Pacific region recorded double-digit decreases when reported in U.S. dollars for all three key performance metrics for February 2009, according to data compiled by STR Global. The Asia/Pacific region’s occupancy dropped 12.1 percent to 59.0 percent; average daily rate declined 21.0 percent to US$114.82; and revenue per available room fell 30.5 percent to US$67.70. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Americans' Leisure Travel Intentions Trend Slightly Upward | travelhorizons survey shows16 March 2009 | According to the February travelhorizons(TM) survey, the U.S. Traveler Sentiment Index(TM) rose to 90.2 in February 2009 from 78.2 in October 2008 due to an increase in the perceived "affordability of travel." The Index is a derivative of six separate statistical measures that have been tracked since March 2007, at which time the Index was pegged at 100. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Hotel Company CEO Pay by the Numbers | By Keith Kefgen and Becca Ickowicz19 March 2009 | CEO pay continues to be a highly scrutinized topic, especially in today's economic environment. We argue that when compensation programming is done correctly, a CEO's pay should be based on performance relative to his or her peers. On November 17, 2008, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, announced that Goldman executives were giving up their bonuses. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Beleaguered hotel industry dreams of sunnier times ahead | ft.com16 March 2009 | Arne Sorenson is cheerful, and for good reason. Marriott International's finance director has just been promoted to president and chief operating officer. And at a conference in Berlin last week, he was predicting a bright future for the big players in the stricken hotel industry. View Article | Send to a Friend WTTC Results Show No Time For Rhetoric13 March 2009 | The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) today revealed the results of its 2009 Economic Impact Research at its annual ITB Berlin press conference in the presence of industry leaders from different sectors of Travel & Tourism - high-level government representatives, and its research partner Oxford Economics. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend FEATURED COLUMN  Sensible Marketing in Tough Times | By Cindy Estis GreenWhat is the best way to manage this period, conserving limited resources when revenue is scarce, while retaining a position to take advantage of the rebound when it occurs? These 10 points may expand thinking beyond cost cutting into a broader array of options. Costs should not be cut in absolute terms without a clearly documented plan for the revenue side of the equation. Some segments are great candidates for investment. Marketing in a downturn should be laser surgery, not wholesale amputation. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend HOTEL HIGHLIGHTS & OPENINGS Arne Sorenson | Marriott's Family Guy | washingtonpost.com16 March 2009 | Eleven years ago, Arne Sorenson received a mysterious phone call from Bill Marriott. It was a Saturday morning. Could he come over to the house? Sorenson was a rising young executive at Marriott International, but the situation was perplexing. "We had just bought a house on the Eastern Shore," Sorenson said the other day. "My wife said, 'I hope he's not going to fire you.' " Sorenson was not dismissed. View Article | Send to a Friend W Hotels Worldwide Unveils Renovation of Iconic W New York-Times Square 23 March 2009 | W Hotels Worldwide, the hotel category buster and industry innovator, today announced the completion of a full guestroom renovation of the iconic W New York-Times Square. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Tiny hotel room may fit shrunken travel budgets | associated press23 March 2009 | A New York hotel with luxury sheets and state-of-the-art audio for less than $100 a night? All you have to sacrifice is a bit of privacy and a little — well, a lot — of space. Moving beyond budget accommodations to an idea that borrows from a ship's berth or a train's sleeper car, developers are gambling that in tough times travelers looking for a little pampering at lower prices will embrace micro-hotels. View Article | Send to a Friend Andaz | Check out the new check-in style | latimes.com23 March 2009 | What? No front desk? Has check-in become obsolete? No, hotel experts say, but the ritual is certainly changing. Faur never stood in line, never waited for a clerk to retype her reservation information and never was ignored so the clerk could answer the phone. Andaz, a new, hip hotel brand from Hyatt, has no lobby telephones or agents behind imposing counters. View Article | Send to a Friend A Philadelphia hotel room for a buck | philly.com23 March 2009 | As Center City hoteliers struggle to attract warm bodies to fill their accommodations, the Alexander Inn is luring guests by pricing a few of its rooms at $1 a night. The promotion, which started March 10, even has a name: "the Guest Stimulus Plan." "It's just been amazing," innkeeper John Cochie said of the response. View Article | Send to a Friend Travel Q&A: Choice Hotels CEO Stephen Joyce | usatoday.com18 March 2009 | Stephen Joyce joined Choice Hotels International in May 2008 as president and soon became CEO of the company best known for Comfort Inn, Clarion and other budget chains. Joyce didn't have to move far to join his Silver Spring, Md.-based employer, having worked at Marriott for 25 years just a few miles away. View Article | Send to a Friend BUSINESS/MEETINGS Recession hurts meeting revenue, properties bite back | hotelworldnetwork.com18 March 2009 | Hotel, motel and resort operators know the trend all too well: The economy dips and meetings and conventions revenue begins to drop. But there is hope for the future, and to fully understand the opportunities, here’s a snapshot of the current realities. Attendance at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas—the largest tradeshow in the country—dipped 23 percent compared to last year’s showing. View Article | Send to a Friend Transient Hotel Rate Drop Undermining Group Rates | btnonline.com17 March 2009 | The premium between transient and group hotel rates is shrinking or, in certain markets, vanishing completely, according to industry analysts, which could mean steep drops in group rates on the horizon but also could present difficulties to meeting buyers needing to fill room blocks for already scheduled events. View Article | Send to a Friend BTN's 2009 Corporate Travel Index: Domestic Business Travel Pricing Growth Slows | btnonline.com16 March 2009 | New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco and Chicago are the most expensive U.S. cities in which to travel to conduct business, according to Business Travel News' examination of the daily costs to stay in a hotel, eat three meals and rent a car in 100 business travel destinations in the United States. Hotel, rental car and dining costs registered only modest increases when compared with BTN's 2008 Corporate Travel Index. View Article | Send to a Friend BTN 2009 U.S. Hotel Chain Survey: Wyndham Tops New Upscale/Select Service Tier 17 March 2009 | Wyndham Hotels and Resorts this year for the first time received top honors in BTN's U.S. Hotel Chain Survey, just beating out a strong bloc of Hilton family properties as buyers' highest-rated brand in the upscale/select-service tier. The brand edged out Hilton Garden Inn by two-hundredths of a point, boosted by top scores for arranging individual travel and its facilities for non-resort meetings. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend INTERNATIONAL The Downturn: China's hoteliers look domestic | By Damien Little | hotelnewsnow.com24 March 2009 | As the world turns to China for a way out of the economic downturn, hoteliers in China also are looking at, well… China. China’s hoteliers see the domestic market as its best opportunity to help boost occupancy in tough times. View Article | Send to a Friend Grand Hyatt Doha Opens in Vibrant Qatari Capital 23 March 2009 | Hyatt Hotels & Resorts announced today the opening of View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Denizen's Coming Out Party | hotelsmag.com19 March 2009 | On the morning of March 10, Hilton Hotels Corp. first launched its new lifestyle brand, Denizen, at a press conference during the Berlin hotel investment conference. Later that evening, the brand came to life in an old electrical plant decorated with overtones of the 1960s and 1970s. View Article | Send to a Friend Hyatt Hotels & Resorts Opens First Property in Tajikistan 19 March 2009 | Hyatt Hotels & Resorts announced today the opening of the 202-room Hyatt Regency Dushanbe, its first hotel in Tajikistan. The only hotel in the city bearing an international brand, Hyatt Regency Dushanbe raises the bar for the local hospitality industry, and will serve as a symbol of growth and renewal for the community by providing promising careers and world-class hospitality and amenities. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Images of the Beatles-themed Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool18 March 2009 | Visitors to Liverpool, birthplace of the Beatles, can rest their heads in the Lennon or McCartney suites at the Fab Four-themed Hard Days Night Hotel which opened 1st February 2008. More than 45 years after John, Paul, George and Ringo emerged from Liverpool's tiny, sweaty clubs to conquer the world, the Beatles industry is key to this battered-but-proud city's attempt to transform itself from fading commercial hub to thriving cultural hotbed. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Dusit International launches the first Dusit Princess hotel outside Thailand18 March 2009 | Extending its influence in Dubai, Dusit International proudly announces that the company has entered into an agreement with the Sharaf Group, a business house in the U.A.E encompassing businesses in diverse fields of shipping, industrial, electronics, retail, logistics, information technology and the travel and tourism business; for a Dusit Princess hotel in City Centre Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend European hotel executives beset by bankruptcy fears | DLA Piper Reports13 March 2009 | A survey of 261 European hotel executives has revealed a worse-than-expected outlook for the hospitality industry with 79 percent of respondents predicting hotel chain bankruptcies in the next twelve months. Four in ten hotel executives anticipate that more than five chains will go into administration in the next year. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend FEATURED DOWNLOAD  BTN 2009 U.S. Hotel Chain SurveyTravel buyers for the third year in a row rated Marriott International’s high-end JW Marriott brand the top of its tier, part of an overall strong performance for both Marriott and Hilton Hotels Corp. in the 2009 U.S. Hotel Chain Survey. In a year when hotels have seen a return to a buyer’s market and buyers are facing pressure to extract more value and savings from their hotel programs, top brands across all tiers saw a bump in their satisfaction ratings among the 380 buyers who assisted BTN with its research. Marriott’s upper upscale and luxury brands dominated, while Hilton’s brands made a strong showing in every tier, taking most of the top positions in the upscale tier and the top of the midprice tier. Buyers also for the first time gave top marks to Wyndham, while Four Seasons maintained its high satisfaction ratings in the deluxe tier.
TRAVEL INTERNET MARKETING FOCUS Mastering Internet Marketing in 2009: Results of the 3rd Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing | By the HeBS Team13 March 2009 | In the tough year that 2009 is turning out to be for hoteliers, it is crucial to know where every marketing dollar is being spent. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Kayak.com Launches World's Largest Hotel Information Site 24 March 2009 | Kayak.com today announces the launch of TravelPost.com, the most comprehensive hotel information site on the Web. TravelPost.com presents hotel reviews, content and rates on more than 140,000 hotels from over 200 travel sites in one easy-to-use display. For the first time, consumers can visit one website for all the information needed to make an informed decision on their hotel booking. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Morgans Hotel Group Unveils Bold New Website 20 March 2009 | Morgans Hotel Group Co. today announced the launch of a new, fully integrated and optimized website. The new morganshotelgroup.com site offers consumers a more immersive experience, streamlining the booking process through the use of the first full-screen booking calendar and the use of rich lifestyle photography as well as providing a varied dynamic user experience based on browser, device, or user-type. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend U.S. Travel Association Debuts Online Voting For Innovator of the Year Awards19 March 2009 | The U.S. Travel Association has announced the start of online voting for its Innovator of the Year Awards, which will be presented at the Association’s eCommerce and distribution conference, TravelCom’09, March 31-April 2 in Atlanta. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend On Average, U.S. Adults Read Eight Reviews Prior to Booking a Hotel 17 March 2009 | Think you know all you need to about the hotel you just booked? If you did so without reading online reviews, you might want to think twice about your choice. hotels.com(R), a leading provider of lodging worldwide, notes that as travelers shop more carefully they are taking opinions of recent travelers into greater consideration. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend How many good decision makers have you fired lately? | By (JJ) Jitendra Jain 9 March 2009 | The art and science of decision making…the quality of our decisions, the role of intuition, the results we achieve and the rewards we enjoy (or perhaps penalties we endure). The ability to make good decisions is key to the survival and success of any good manager, director or CEO in today’s fast-paced, cut-throat business environment. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend With a Limited Budget and a Growing Number of Channels, Where Should You be Spending Your Money Online in 2009? | eyefortravel24 March 2009 | Marketing budgets are tight – and under scrutiny like never before. Which means that right now, it’s all about prioritizing the opportunities that can show a clear revenue benefit. So how do you rethink your marketing to ensure every dollar you spend online delivers value for money? And how do you balance the latest marketing trends, with traditional, proven channels? View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend How to Increase Website Traffic and Online Revenue Through Facebook24 March 2009 | Facebook is one of the top social networking sites, quickly gaining on Myspace in terms of total users and traffic. Facebook presents a unique marketing opportunity for businesses through the creation of Facebook Business Pages. As more people explore social media, social networking sites have become some of the key online sources they use to learn more about products, organizations, artists and world events. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend REVENUE MANAGEMENT FOCUS Yapta.com Launches First Hotel Price Tracking Service23 March 2009 | SEATTLE | Yapta.com, an online travel shopping service that monitors airline ticket pricing for travelers, today announced a new hotel price tracking services that for the first time will enable travelers to track and compare pricing on national and international hotel properties. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend [MULTIMEDIA] PhoCusWright's Carroll Rheem Comments on announcement of Expedia's "free nights and no fee flights" promotion13 March 2009 | On Wednesday, March 11, Expedia announced their "Free Nights and No Fee Flights" promotion, offering travelers their last night free on stays of three, four or five nights at over 700 participating hotels worldwide. As part of this promotion, Expedia is also waiving booking fees on all flights booked on or before May 31, 2009. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend HEDNA's Spring Meeting Explores How Mobile Technologies Are Changing Hotel Distribution16 March 2009 | The Spring Meeting of HEDNA, the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association, will explore how mobile technologies are changing the face of hotel distribution. The meeting will be held 28-30 April 2009 at the Novotel Budapest Congress & World Trade Center in Budapest, Hungary. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Grand Hotels NYC Selects IDeaS Revenue Management System for Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand Hotels18 March 2009 | IDeaS Revenue Optimization, the leading provider of View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend RESORT MARKETING FOCUS New downtown hotels test concept of Miami as Manhattan South | miamiherald.com23 March 2009 | Two new hotels in downtown Miami are targeting business travelers as an alternative to the Beach scene, but it could prove to be a tough market. Viceroy and its fellow upstart, Epic Miami, offer a white-collar take on the open-shirt ethos of South Beach's boutique hotels. They're targeting business travelers looking for the stylish setting of a boutique but within the more sedate environs of Miami's office district. View Article | Send to a Friend Time shares access new lines of credit | orlandosentinel.com21 March 2009 | The nation's time-share industry is starting to find ways around the credit freeze that has cut off its growth for more than the past six months. Two major time-share companies based in Orlando, the nation's time-share capital, recently managed to convert some of their customers' mortgages into cash. It's a hopeful sign for a struggling industry that is largely based in Central Florida, which generates 10 percent of all U.S. time-share sales. View Article | Send to a Friend Huatulco – Mexico’s Next Hot Spot? | By Jane Rogers | HVS2 March 2009 | Enticing beaches, tropical forests, and a laid-back atmosphere make Huatulco a paradise, but one where hotel occupancy has been only modest. Improvements to access by land, sea, and air aim to make it easier for tourists to arrive. Founded in 1985, Huatulco is one of the original Integrally Planned Resorts created by Mexico’s National Trust for Tourism Promotion (FONATUR). View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend HOTEL DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Trends and Best Practices in E-Mail Marketing | emarketer.com19 March 2009 | Interview with Bill Nussey, President and CEO, Silverpop. eMarketer: What is e-mail marketing’s greatest strength? Bill Nussey: What makes e-mail marketing unique is the ability to both broadcast and target individual personalized content at the same time. It’s also relatively inexpensive compared with other media. eMarketer: What is its greatest weakness? Mr. View Article | Send to a Friend Marketing to the Simplifier | By Janet Winters19 March 2009 | There is a new psychographic consumer segment appearing on the horizon. She has been dubbed "The Simplifier" and she is an important target for most hospitality marketers. Who is she, and what does she want? In her former life, as a boomer or yuppy, she was a voracious accumulator of "stuff". Stuff to wear, stuff to sit on, stuff to drive, stuff to play with and stuff for her kids to play with. Well, you get the picture. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend As change looms, HR managers must hunker down at home | By Patrick Mayock | hotelnewsnow.com24 March 2009 | U.S. President Barack Obama was elected based on a platform of whole-scale change. And while the scope of that promise has been siphoned through the economic crisis since he took office in January, the hotel industry likely won’t emerge from his four-year term unaffected. A case in point is the current backlash about corporate meetings. View Article | Send to a Friend SALES & MARKETING FACULTY Fred Malek and Trip Schneck to be honored as Hospitality Innovators of the Year by Cornell's Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship24 March 2009 | TIG Global leaders Fred Malek and Trip Schneck have been named winners of the Hospitality Innovator Award, presented annually by the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. The award recognizes entrepreneurs who have created and built distinctly successful ventures that provide extraordinary value in the hospitality field. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Dennis Melka Launches CNI's 'Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series’19 March 2009 | Dennis Melka of East Pacific Capital Pte Ltd, a venture capitalist based in Singapore, gave an inspiring lecture on 13th March which launched the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series at the Cornell Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (CNI). View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend New Educational Institute DVD Provides Insight Into Sales Tactics For Tough Economic Times 16 March 2009 | Every hotel is facing the same situation right now: figuring out how to bring in guests and turn a profit in the current distressing economic climate. The questions loom large: What are the best strategies? Do the old rules still apply? Do we try to succeed or just survive? View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend COLUMNS Hotel Reservations Sales Training Tips – Circa 2009 | By Doug Kennedy26 March 2009 | For veteran hoteliers who are experiencing our industry’s fourth economic down-turn in the last twenty years, it is interesting to see how consumers are reacting to the latest media-driven -fire sale- stories that -hotel discounts are there for the asking-. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Global Marketing: Does One Size Fit All? | By Brenda Fields26 March 2009 | The advancement of technology has made the world a smaller place. Movies, television, and the Internet have created a world which has fostered a better understanding of and access to different cultures. Teenagers in remote areas of the world dress and speak like teenagers in the most urban areas of the world based on their journeys thru the Internet. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Hotel Spas: Therapy for Tough Times | By Robert Mandelbaum and Gabrielle Lerner 21 March 2009 | With economic forecasts for employment and income declining, professional and personal travel budgets tightening, and consumer confidence sinking, the outlook for 2009 may seem dreary. During challenging times like these, the spa industry has the potential to be buoyant. However, it is not invincible. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Remember To Embrace the Essentials In Sales | Lessons from the Field | By Dr. John Hogan, CHE CHA MHS18 March 2009 | Revenue and net profits can often depend on how one of the most fundamental practices in sales- how incoming phone calls are handled. First impressions often start with the hotel operator at larger hotels or with front desk agents at smaller properties who must respond to a basic phone call or inquiry. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Is Your Company Earning Growth or Buying It? | By Steve Curtin 18 March 2009 | I attended a business luncheon in March where the focus of the discussion was the marketing of small to mid-sized companies. All of the usual suspects were mentioned: branding, advertising, public relations, social media, etc. Conspicuously absent in the marketing materials and presentation was any mention of a company’s most effective source of growth and advertising: a delighted customer. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Hotel Management and Marketing in a Recession | By Neil Salerno 16 March 2009 | Revenues are down, or flat at best, and you're now looking for ways to cut expenses. For some reason, this is where the minds of hoteliers turn from driving profit to basic survival. Having been there, I understand how difficult it is to operate a hotel in times like this. Making those decisions, what to cut, what to keep, is one of the hardest parts of your job. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend STR Global's Chappell: Discounts Lead To 'Doubling Up On The Pain' | hotelnewsnow.com12 March 2009 | BERLIN—Events themselves can certainly create harm, but it’s often the reaction to those events that are the most devastating, said James Chappell, managing director of STR Global during a general session at the International Hotel Investment Forum Tuesday. For a hotel industry mired by the effects of a global economic crisis, that reaction came in the form of discounting. View Article | Send to a Friend THE LATEST ENTRIES FROM TOP HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY BLOGS This Blog consolidator provides summaries of entries from Blogs by industry insiders and publications, including USA Today Hotel Hot Sheet, HotelChatter, Revenue Management Forum, and Tourism Internet Marketing. It will appear in each issue of the eConnect Industry Trends Update and is always accessible on the HSMAI Foundation's eConnect site. If you have a Blog to recommend for inclusion, please use the online form to do so or to provide feedback on this new feature.  Are Blogs Losing Their Authority To The Statusphere?What follows is the unedited Director's Cut of my latest post on TechCrunch, "Are Blogs Losing Their Authority To The Statusphere?" My definition of Statusphere.SourceDepending on which numbers you source or believe, all reports agree that the blogo... posted on PR 2.0 | By Brian Solis  Dubai Occupancy Plunges…to 79%!A recent report by Jones Lang LaSalle showed occupancy rates in Dubai fell to 79 percent last year, the lowest since 2004, and a five-percent decline from 2007. The horrors! It’s certainly all relative, and I’m sure the spending and costs are just a... posted on The Front Desk Blog | LH Magazine  Never mind marketing this year, how are you marketing next year?Most of the time we get so caught up marketing and promoting upcoming events we forget about capturing the essence of what’s going on at the event. Consider: What can you capture during your event: audio, video, photos, stories? Who can capture medi... posted on Internet Marketing for Tourism | By Todd Lucier  Nassetta Parses The Luxury QuestionConspicuous consumption is out, but that should have little bearing on the fortunes of the luxury hotel sector. That's what Hilton Hotels Corp. CEO Chris Nassetta says in an interview with Financial Times. He says the consumer mind-set is fundamenta... posted on Musings & Miscellany (HOTELS Magazine) | By Adam Kirby  5 Ways to Attract Business Travelers to Your HotelNo doubt it’s a tough time for a hotel to attract business travelers, and the repertoire of required services continues to grow. The bottom line is, in this economy it just requires more work to achieve the same market share as in years past. Presum... posted on Hotel Marketing Strategies Blog  The credit crunch: an explanationVery useful video. No more words needed. Have a watch. The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo. posted on The McCluskey Blog | By James Allen  Accessible Tourism Books with Simon Darcy and Ivor AmbroseI am working on two Accessible Tourism Books with Simon Darcy and Ivor Ambrose. The European Network for Accessible Tourism. ENAT http://www.accessibletourism.org/ will effectively support these books as most of the authors are heavily involved in ... posted on Dimitrios Journeys | By Dimitrios Buhalis  Hotel Lawyer: Luxury hotel success story! (and philosophy). Ali Kasikci and Montage Beverly HillsBy Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com 6 March 2009 Hotel Lawyer with a wonderful luxury hotel success story We attended the gala opening party for Montage Beverly Hills in early December, and it was one of the best opening pa... posted on Hotel Law Blog | By Jim Butler All Blogs ECONNECT RSS FEEDS  Stay on top of what's happening in your city and the industry. As an HSMAI member, you can now customize your eConnect news and information to include daily
news from your choice of more than 40 city Business Journals. The HSMAI Foundation's eConnect research
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that are updated throughout the day from Business Journals as well as the top hospitality industry and
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HSMAI UPDATE
HSMAI Foundation Partners with PhoCusWright and Sustainable Travel to Release Results of New Study on Business Impact of Green Travel24 March 2009 | Travel industry professionals understand that green initiatives are good for the environment, but may find themselves wondering, especially in the current economic climate, is green good for business? View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend HSMAI To Present First-ever Resort Marketer Of The Year Award At Ninth Annual Resort Conference18 March 2009 | The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), along with presenting sponsor Fareed Zapala Koepke, has created a new award to honor individual leadership and achievement in the field of resort marketing. The inaugural HSMAI Resort Marketer of the Year Award will be announced at the Ninth Annual Resort Conference at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., May 3 – 5, 2009. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend Ninth Annual Resort Conference Focuses On Driving Revenue And Roi In Hard Economic Times11 March 2009 | MCLEAN, VA -- Resort industry executives will come together May 3 – 5, 2009 for the Ninth Annual Resort Conference at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. to discuss ways to maximize ROI in resort operations and marketing by connecting to the consumer. View Article | Print Article | Send to a Friend FEATURED EVENTS  HSMAI Hotel Sales Strategy ConferenceMaximizing Revenue and Resources in a Changing Economy 31 March 2009 Save the dated for the 3rd HSMAI Hotel Sales Strategy conference,. The conference, organized by HSMAI's Hotel Director of Sales & Marketing Special Interest Group, is designed to add even greater value for hotel sales staff attending HSMAI's Affordable Meetings Mid-America, which follows on April 1-2, 2009. Chicago, IL  HSMAI's Affordable Meetings Mid-America 2009 1 - 2 April 2009 HSMAI's Affordable Meetings® is a unique trade show and learning opportunity for meeting and event planners which takes place annually in three locations across the country.Chicago, IL HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings® West 200910 - 11 June 2009 HSMAI's Affordable Meetings® West is the ideal forum where planners, properties and suppliers come together to do business – attracting motivated planners from all sectors of the industry who attend looking for quality resources to enhance their meetings and events. San Jose, CA  HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference25 June 2009 Save the date for the Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference, which will be co-located with the annual HITEC show. Presented by HSMAI's Revenue Management and Travel Internet Marketing Advisory Boards, the conference will feature the latest trends in two of the most importance disciplines in sales and marketing today. Anaheim, CA All HSMAI EventsAll Upcoming Industry EventsFEATURED HSMAI UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS 
HSMAI University programs for 2009 are aligned with HSMAI's Special Interest Groups to offer specialized content
to support business needs in revenue management, Internet marketing, hotel director of sales & marketing and
resort marketing. Every aspect of the content and support material included in the HSMAI University program has
been specifically designed and developed for those involved in sales and marketing, including an inventory of
subject matter appropriate to individuals with responsibilities ranging from entry-level to advanced.HSMAI-U offers workshops and seminars in various cities, and "Webinars" incorporating 60-minute presentations conducted "live" via the web with audio conference linkage. Upcoming HSMAI University Programs:
HSMAI University Webinars are recorded and archived. To learn more and purchase archive copies, please click here. HSMAI's eConnect Industry Trends Update twice-monthly newsletter is an exclusive benefit of membership in HSMAI. It is a compilation of news briefs from around the media on the state of the hospitality, travel and tourism industry, with access to in-depth articles, columns, reports and multimedia on eConnect: a one-stop portal to global information and resources on hospitality sales and marketing topics provided by the HSMAI Foundation. Click on item headlines below to read the entire article. We welcome your comments and suggestions regarding this newsletter at info@hsmai.org, or use the online form.
With so much advertising coming at customers, most of them know plenty of places that can match your prices. It doesn't matter how low your price goes, somebody will offer it cheaper. All the better to look for ways to offer value-added service. When Joe came to fix my lawn sprinkler system, he walked around the yard and suggested plants that would grow well in our desert climate. The tire dealer down the street always completes the job faster than his competitors AND throws in a free liter of pop. The little-something-extra's mean a lot to customers. Many buy from you more for the extra thing you throw in than they do for the actual product you sell. Value-added service is an especially important part of selling products that are widely available. Maria sells household items through a network marketing program. No question, you can get most of what she sells far cheaper at Walmart, but Walmart doesn't come to your house and personally help you chose just the right products for your situation. Maria's sales depend almost entirely on her value-added service.
If you have been conditioned to react to your bank's site with entering your details and credentials, what better way is there to obtain these crucial data from you than showing you a page that looks and behaves exactly like your bank's — but sends the data elsewhere. The problem, of course, is getting you to see the page. Fortunately, there's email. In a legitimately looking email informing you about something legitimately urgent, I show you a seemingly legitimate and totally ordinary link to what you think is your bank's site but in fact is my own copy of it. Because they are done so well, these so-called phishing emails can be hard to spot if you look only superficially — which, of course, you don't. But even if you keep your eyes open, some additional protection won't hurt. Outlook, from 2003 SP2 onwards, contains some protection from phishing emails. If enabled, the links in identified phishing attempts don't work. Even if you half-drunk and half-asleep carelessly and recklessly click, you cannot. Enable Phishing Email Protection in Outlook To enable the phishing email protection built into Outlook:
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