Chapter News
by Eileen White, Chapter Administrator
HSMAI, Greater Los Angeles Chapter
eileenw@hsmailax.org (323) 469-9304

Calling All Charities!
Our December Holiday Party is only a few months away and we are compiling a list of needy charities. If you know of a charity that needs holiday toy donations please email us the name of the organization and contact information. We will announce the recipient at our September luncheon. Thank you in advance for helping us spread the holiday cheer!

August 20th Discussion Panel Questions & Issues
by Emily Glarner, VP Programs & Education

Our panel of experts would love to hear questions and/or issues that you would like addressed at the August 20th Discussion Panel. Following is a sampling of questions submitted thus far:

"In light of companies that have presence on the web joining millions of others, how does a company get the first 5 positions?"

"How can visitors be tracked? How can we find out where they are from and how many visitors or hits the site gets per month? Can the new trends in hotel Internet marketing be discussed also."

If you would like to submit a question or issue for our panelists to address, click here to complete our online form. We look forward to your attendance. Thank you for your support!

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Industry News ~ Snapshot

Lodging Industry Has $14.2B Profit In 2002; First Half of 2003 Results Released
Full year 2002 U.S. industry profits were $14.2 billion, a 12 percent decline from $16.2 billion in 2001. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) decreased 2.4% in 2002 to $49.54, due primarily to a 1.5% average room rate decline. For the first half of 2003, occupancy dropped 1.5% to 58.3% vs. same period prior year; avg. room rate slipped 0.9% to %83.59 and RevPAR was down 2.5% to $48.70.
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Corporate Internet Booking Grows
By 2008, 29% of managed corporate bookings will be made on the Internet, up from 12% in 2003, according to a forecast by Jupiter Research. The company also projects that sales in the online managed market will triple in five years, from $8.5 billion this year to $26.4 billion in 2008. The Jupiter Research Forecast Report "Travel, 2003" cites two factors for that growth: the increased use of corporate online self-booking systems and the entry of the Big Three, Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz into the managed travel field.
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Chains Take Travelweb to Consumers
The nation's largest hotel companies joined forces a year ago to form Travelweb to try to take back control of online room sales from independent operations. Travelweb recently began selling hotel rooms to consumers through its Web site, www.travelweb.com. It had previously supplied rooms to other distributors but hadn't sold directly to consumers. The new effort by Travelweb - a privately held firm owned cooperatively by Hilton Hotels, Hyatt Corp., Marriott International, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Priceline.com and Pegasus Solutions Inc. - connects consumers to one of the participating hotel reservation systems.
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NBTA: Business Travel Tied To Economy
Business travel spending is down compared to last year but there is room for optimism, according to a study conducted by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA). As security concerns decrease, corporations' financial well-being remains the major factor determining how soon business travel will rebound to healthy levels. In the meantime, travel managers are implementing policies to control travel spending. In a survey of 204 travel managers conducted June 19-26, about 58% report some decrease in travel spend compared to the same time last year. However, about 31% of respondents indicated that their travel spending has increased. In addition, 40% of surveyed travel managers report that they expect to be using more hotel rooms for 2003 than 2002.
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Meeting Site Rating Service Created
A veteran trade show consultant has launched what is believed to be the first service for rating meeting venues. Meeting planners, exhibitors and attendees can rate suppliers at www.loudtalk.com. LoudTalk is starting with eight major meetings destinations - Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, New Orleans, Dallas, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Francisco - but plans to expand to other locales as demand grows. A wide variety of suppliers are rated, as are destinations and convention bureaus. Ratings are based on a appoint system of 1 to 7. Those viewing the ratings can see overall average scores and scores related to detailed questions, but cannot see reviewers' names, which are kept confidential. Categories are broken out by attendees, exhibitors and planners. LoudTalk charges a subscription fee of $19.95 monthly or $195 annually to access ratings in the planner-reviewer category. Ratings in the attendee-reviewer category are available for free. The system will accept only one review per review for each supplier.
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TIA: Travelers Want History & Culture
Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) and Smithsonian Magazine study shows continued and growing interest in travelers' desire to experience cultural, arts, historic and heritage activities. Study results, as reported in The Historic/Cultural Traveler, 2003 Edition, show that a remarkable 81 percent of US adults who traveled in the past year, or 118 million, are considered historic/cultural travelers.
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Cruise Passengers Up By 11% In 2003 Q1
Cruise lines carries 11% more passengers from US ports in the first quarter of 2003 than they did first quarter of 2002, according to the US Maritime Administration. Carnival and Royal Caribbean held the largest market share among the top 10 cruise lines, accounting for 32.7% and 26.4%, respectively, MARAD said. Miami and Fort Lauderdale were the departure ports for 49.2% of the total traffic. The western Caribbean was the most visited destination, welcoming 43% of the passengers.
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National Events & News

International Travel Awards Call For Entries
The HSMAI

   • St. Louis - Sept. 9, 2003 ~ Millennium Hotel
   • Boston - Sept. 30, 2003 ~ Sheraton Boston
   • Atlanta - Oct. 7, 2003 ~ Hyatt Regency
   • Chicago - Oct. 30, 2003 ~ Holiday Inn O'Hare
   • Minneapolis - Oct. 23, 2003 ~ Millennium Hotel
   • Dallas - Nov. 6, 2003 ~ Hotel InterContinental
   • Washington, DC - Nov. 25, 2003 ~ Hilton Washington & Towers
   • Anaheim - Dec. 11, 2003 ~ Paradise Pier

Contact: HSMAI Meetings Quest
c/o JTDunn Enterprises, 513 Commerce Drive, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774
(301) 249-4600, Email: meetingsquest@jtdunninc.com; www.meetingsquest.com

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Selling Tips Tweak Your Home Page for Instant Results by Kevin Nunley www.drnunley.com (888) 429-6203

The immortal words of The Clash, singing, 'Should I stay or should I go," are what run through a prospects mind every time they visit a new site--that is, unless your home page gives the right impression immediately.

To ensure that your home page is perfectly honed to receive visitors, here are a few simple tweaks you can make:

1. Loading Time - Never assume that most of your visitors will have a broadband Internet connection, or posses a download speed that can handle a home page with a large k size. Many of your visitors will still be on a 56k modem and won't even bother with your site if it takes more than 20 seconds to download. To ensure a speedy download, keep your home page design clean and simple. Make sure your images are compressed as this minimizes the download time.
2. A Taste of What's to Come - People come to your site hoping for a great deal, an unbeatable offer, so don't hide your best products or offers where visitors have to search for them. Showcase some of your best features on the home page so visitors will know right away what you have to offer.
3. Links - Links are the gateway to important destinations on your site. They make the navigation process quicker and easier for your visitors, so be sure to keep that area of the home page clean and simple.

Most visitors look to the top or the left side of the page for links, so don't try to be unique by putting them in some obscure area. You will just make it harder for your visitors to find them.

Use eye-catching icons near your links to draw the visitor's eye, but don't go overboard. Remember that simplicity is the key to easy navigation. You want to draw the visitor's attention but not annoy them with a jumble of graphics.

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Email Tip of the Month Find Email Addresses in Previous Email Correspondence by Heinz Tschabitscher www.email.about.com

If you are looking for somebody's email address, and you think you have exchanged email with them before, finding their address can be easy.

To find an email address in your archive of messages:

If you are not successful, try looking for only the first or the last name, for a nickname, or maybe even for something you remember talking about (some people don't use their name in the From: line and have creative addresses).

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