Cautious spending, rational indulgence, and even flower arranging were three key topics at the upbeat 13th Annual Krisam Group Insurance Advisory Board Conference (KRIAB) held May 12-15 at the Jumeirah Essex House, New York, hosted jointly by Jumeirah, Empire Force Events (DMC) New York, and Krisam.
The Jumeirah Essex is a Member of the Krisam Group, a membership organization representing independent and unique Member hotels and resorts worldwide.
Empire Force Events is a partner of Global Events Partners (GEP), Krisam’s sister organization, which is a leading partnership of over 65 destination management companies (DMCs) worldwide.
The exclusive three-day event brought together 21 industry professionals representing planners and hotels to discuss “Business in Post Recession Times” and how planners, hotels, and DMCs can work together to accomplish the goals of both their internal and external customers.
Jim Schultenover, president of Krisam & GEP; Laurel Rhoads McCarthy, director of sales for Krisam; and Dawn Barbeau, vice president of sales for GEP; moderated the conference, which is held in a new city each year with the local GEP DMC and a Krisam Group hotel serving as co-hosts.
Schultenover said, “I saw energy from the group that hadn’t been there in recent years and confirmation that the meetings industry is recovering, but with new norms. In some ways, the challenges of the last few years have strengthened the industry, bringing more respect for the value of meetings and incentives and, concurrently, for meeting and incentive professionals.”
The planner’s mood was positive, McCarthy said, with reports of more meetings and incentives and even starting to plan further out. However, she continued, planners are being asked to justify the value they are giving and receiving and so are asking for new documentation from hotels and other suppliers.
Key takeaways from the conference were:
- Planners are receiving more senior leadership support as awareness of the value and impact of meetings has increased. The profile of a meeting planner has been raised and they are involved with senior management more than ever before.
- Cost avoidance and cautious spending are terms being used to describe how planners are looking to add value yet not increase spending. They may consider a higher level hotel but scale back on gifts and production/staging spending, for example.
- Rational indulgence is a new phrase that refers to allowing some fun back into meetings without seeming flashy. Many ideas presented involved groups being interactive and less formal during banquets with such arrangements as family style dinners and communal tables.
- Hotels are seeing a bit of growth with the city of Miami topping the list. Rates are not back to where they were before the downturn, especially in second and third tier cities, but a 4-5% growth is expected in 2011. The demand for specific destinations is causing availability to decrease and rates to increase in certain areas.
Co-host Empire Force Events, A Global Events Partner, arranged an array of creative group activities:
- Empire Force set up a “flower market” in the private suite that was used for check-in at the Jumeirah Essex. Guests were invited to create their own personal arrangements from an array of flowers on display. With the help of a staff member, they selected the flowers and designed an arrangement that was then used for the duration of their stay in their rooms
- Guests dined at the Boat House in Central Park for lunch, then boarded a bus called “The Ride,” with stadium seating, for a tour of the city. At the various stops, Empire Force had staged professional entertainers who would perform for the group.
- Friday evening the guests enjoyed a progressive dinner, which started on a water taxi tour of the Statue of Liberty, and continued at a new restaurant called Maritime in New Jersey. The evening ended on the rooftop of the Hard Rock Café overlooking Times Square and the Krisam/Jumeirah/Empire Force logos on the NASDAQ billboard welcoming attendees.
