Trying out a live blog during ICCC's Round Table Discussion on Small Market Facilities. Gregg McManners, CFE from Monona Terrace Convention Center is leading the discussion.
Bed tax exemption for internet companies started off a lively discussion on the effects of pending legislation that would not require companies such as Expedia and Priceline to pay bed tax on the actual costs of the hotel room sold. Gregg surveyed the audience and about 75% of the room receives bed tax as a funding mechanism. The concern is that these companies are receiving hotel room rates that are not being taxed. Along with dropping hotel occupancy, this is a major concern in the room.
Dan Concepcion, Monterrey Convention Center, has lost about 33% of his bookings over the past year. Matt Hollander at Mass Mutual Center is seeing his bookings increase slightly but the size of conferences/events is shrinking especially in the food and beverage area.
Gregg has been changing his contracts to reflect the changing economic times specifically in the areas of cancellation clauses and deposits. Cancellation time frames have increased both on rental and F&B and he is now requiring deposits and having groups pay 100% in advance.
Bringing food and beverage in-house was a question posed to the crowd. Two VenuWorks facilities recently took F&B operations in-house...Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick made the change in July 2009. Board members, John Givvens and Barbara Johnson told the group it was the best decision they ever made...quality and bottom line are better. Pricing didn't change at the time the contract changed but bottom line improved. RiverCenter in Davenport, IA just made the change on September 1.
Kevin Molloy, Lancaster County Convention Center, did a survey a few years ago and found that many convention centers under 250,000 square feet did run their own F&B in house yet many of the larger convention centers do have 3rd party vendors. He also indicated that when you brought in F&B, there were a whole lot of HR issues that go with the additional staff.
Pat Rice from Boise Centre (they made the switch to in-house F&B in 1997) made the argument that with a good plan, HR issues shouldn't be a problem and being non-union does help. In the room, less than a handful of audience members were union houses.
Pat Rice and George Langdon from Boise Centre switched to in-house F&B in 1997 and haven’t looked back. Michael Ross, Pasadena Convention Center, felt that making the change may be beneficial if you do it right and take all factors into consideration...insurance, liquor license, employees and your current F&B agreement.
Are your bookings coming in later? The overall feeling of the room was yes...bookings are coming in later. In some markets, it was government and in others it was in corporate. In some markets, State Associations are booking within 1-2 years instead of 3-5 years. A general concensus of the room was that groups are holding onto contracts and negotiating bits and pieces to keep an active hold so in fact are holding the date hostage without any guarantee.
Very few in the room have other exclusive contracts though a few have A/V, telecom, and power.
How many in the room charge for internet service? Not many are selling it...it's on the list but some give it away. Gregg says that you may need to look at figuring out how to make a deal with companies that can provide 3g or 4g service and perhaps you should consider selling your data service to one company and then allow them to re-sell so you get your money up front. I am not sure if I am explaining this right so I will ask Gregg to post something about telecommunications contracts on VenueNet...because this is way over my head!
How many in the room are overseeing or direct control over CVB? A few are...most are not. More in the room have relationships with the CVB directing marketing activities. This would be another good topic for discussion.
The final topic dealt with energy consumption and controlling costs. Kevin is in a building that is a year old and his utility costs are higher than anticipated. Matt suggested making sure that all building automation was hooked up correctly and performing per specs. Pat also commented on looking to see if the local utility company gives credit for upgrades.
Although this didn't really turn out to be a live blog, it will at least be posted within the hour of the roundtable.
To all those that attended the session, please consider adding your own comments and expanding on these notes. Thanks.