Hotels With Ocean Views VA|"Hotels Lure Businesses With 'Fun' Meetings"

Source              :   cio-today.com
Category         :   Hotels With Ocean Views VA
By                   :    Nancy Trejos 
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Hotels With Ocean Views VA

Having a meeting at a hotel no longer means having to sit in a windowless, overly air-conditioned room and noshing on cold cuts sandwiched between stale bread. Hotels are finally starting to lure leisure travelers back as the economy improves, but they are still struggling to convince businesses that they should send groups of employees off-campus for face-to-face meetings. To do so, they're coming up with creative ways to make meetings easier, more comfortable and even more fun. Think lounge-like conference rooms, make-your-own trail mix stations and apps Relevant Products/Services that let you ask for a temperature change.

Patrick Scholes, managing director of gaming and lodging equity research at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, says that for a typical Marriott, Starwood, Hilton or Hyatt, group business represents 30% to 40% of overall revenues. "This segment of the business is still lagging," he says. The Global Business Travel Association says that group travel spending will grow 5.3% to $117.1 billion this year. But the total number of business travelers expected to go on trips for meetings, conventions and other group travel will fall 0.3% to 166 million people. "Meetings is a pretty big business for the hotel industry, and what we felt is that there really isn't a lot of differentiation in the industry, and there haven't been a lot of innovations in the last 50 years," says Peggy Roe, vice president of global operations for Marriott International.

Marriott Hotels and Resorts recently launched Workspring, a suite that consists of five studios to fit from three to 75 attendees. The suite has work spaces as well as common areas, many with natural light and access to the outdoors. The hotel also provides the latest in technology, wireless Relevant Products/Services access, office supplies and food and beverage. For even smaller groups, Marriott now has Workspace on Demand, which allows locals and guests to book online any space by the hour. The space can be a table in the lobby or a conference room. Roe says customers want the spaces "to feel more residential and less institutional." Westin Hotels, meanwhile, is rolling out its Tangent flexible meeting space to more than 40 hotels worldwide. 

Source : cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=032003NTN0YO