Panel: Industry is Strong Could Be Even Stronger
-- Tradeshow Week, 9/28/2007 10:11:00 AM
Panel: Industy is Strong Could Be Even Stronger
For its monthly meeting, the Las Vegas Hospitality Assn. produced a State of the Industry session featuring seven panelists from various sectors of the meetings and events business. The session, sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority and the Bellagio, where it was held, drew a crowd of 200 local industry members, anxious to hear how they’re doing.
The verdict? Great… but there’s always room for improvement.
Panel moderator Chris Meyer, LVCVA vice president of convention center sales, by his own admission, lobbed a few softballs to get panelists warmed up. They touted their companies’ green initiatives and talked about how easy and profitable it is to produce meetings and events in Las Vegas.
Kerry Gumas, president and CEO of Questex Media, said, “Everybody here gets what it is to do business here and bends over backward to respond to the customer. … The next level is to think about the global playing field. How do we really set Las Vegas up to capture the lead position globally in meetings and events?”
Jeff Sacks, vice president of Experient, used a sports image to make his point about how Las Vegas should handle its role as top dog. Both Barry Bonds and Carl Ripken Jr. are baseball champions, he said. “Which one do you want to be? I don’t want to talk to Barry Bonds, ever. I want to be around Cal Ripken all the time.”
Over the course of an hour, the panelists tackled hotel mergers and how they’ve affected the contract negotiation process; facilities’ search for new revenue streams as traditional services disappear; suppliers taking on a more strategic, consultative role, rather than just providing services; corporate social responsibility; and other issues.
From the audience, Alan Waxler, president of the Alan Waxler Group, asked, “What can we do better?” In response, panelists talked about needed improvements to the city’s transportation infrastructure and how locals should help outsiders understand the specifics of doing business in Las Vegas.
“Some bugaboos are getting baggage and getting out of the airport,” said Tim McKenna, senior manager of strategic procurement for Carlson Marketing Worldwide. “If you could do anything to speed up that process, it’d be greatly appreciated.”
LVHA President Jennifer Herring, director of sales at the Grand Hyatt at the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino, was pleased with the panel, which the association hadn’t produced since 2005, when it drew approximately 150 attendees.
“We had really great feedback,” Herring said. “We had about 75 people responding on the questionnaire saying we need to continue doing it. It is a lot of work, and a little expensive, but the LVCVA does a lot to support it.”
In an industry anticipating U.S. spending to surpass $40 billion this year, it only makes sense that a pet tradeshow would expand its borders. Back for its third year at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, SuperZoo took place Sept. 18-20, drawing more than 8,200 buyers and spanning 103,000 net square feet.
Collocated with the Garden Market Expo, SuperZoo featured approximately 600 exhibitors representing a range of products and services, from pet toys, accessories, food and treats to doggie couture. There was some four-legged presence at the event, with dogs used as live displays for grooming and clothing. At one side of the showfloor, an ongoing grooming competition attracted a number of spectators.
Unlike its competitors, H. & H. Backer’s Pet Industry Trade Shows and Global Pet Expo, SuperZoo is geared toward the independent pet retailer. The show is produced and managed by the World Wide Pet Industry Assn., the country’s oldest pet-related trade association, formed in 1951. Although the WWPIA has hosted an industry tradeshow for 57 years, SuperZoo has only been its brand since 2000.
Despite the activity at the show, many exhibitors commented that traffic was lighter than expected. Still, they were pleased by the quality of buyers and said they would return next year.
“We got everything we could have expected out of the show,” said Bob Stalick, president and general manager of ChillyBuddy Solar Protective Garments for dogs. “We met exactly the people we wanted to meet. We will absolutely return next year.”
In its second year, SuperZoo University expanded its educational seminars to include retail management, merchandising, and store design, as well as information and strategies for operating a successful pet-related business.
Besides growing with the industry, this year’s show also sought to change with the times. The WWPIA integrated technological advances, such as online registration and free product marketing. Exhibitors had the opportunity to tape a 90-second infomercial for SuperZoo TV, a television feed that was broadcast both throughout the event and on WWPIA’s Web site. The show also expanded MySuperZoo, an online customized event planner for both exhibitors and attendees.
“We’re getting rid of arcane practices and moving into the future,” said Show Manager and WWPIA President Doug Poindexter.
A former pet store retailer, Poindexter has been in the industry since 1969. Having worked for the WWPIA since 1990, he has seen many changes over the years.
“There’s a new generation in the pet industry,” he said. “It’s more of a business than a hobby. It’s more professional and entrepreneurial now.”
He added that with the “humanization” of the family pet, the industry shows no sign of slowing down. As people become more educated about responsible pet ownership and increasingly consider pets members of the family, the market for products to enhance the comfort and well-being of animals will only expand.
That’s good news for SuperZoo, scheduled to return to Mandalay Bay through 2010.
– Lisa Plummer
Later Furniture Mart Upsets July Numbers
The blistering July heat was met by cold convention attendance numbers.
According to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Executive Summary, convention attendance in July was down 33.1 percent compared with July 2006. Consequently, the economic impact of conventions during the same period was down 28.3 percent.
Kevin Bagger, LVCVA director of Internet marketing and research, said poor convention results for June (when attendance was down 13.7 percent) and July should not be taken as a trend.
Looking at a month or a couple of months “means very little,” Bagger said, noting that last year’s July figures included the World Market Center’s summer Las Vegas Market. With an estimated 60,000 attendees, this summer’s market will be included in the August statistics. Bagger added that a Las Vegas Herbalife corporate meeting held in July last year (13,500 attendees) moved to an alternate site, Dallas, this year.
While convention numbers were down in July, overall Las Vegas visitor volume was flat (up 0.2 percent), and hotel occupancy levels remained above 90 percent for the month. Average daily room rates continued their double-digit gains, rising 13 percent.
Year-to-date, Las Vegas convention attendance was down 2.7 percent compared with 2006, and economic impact of conventions was down 2.4 percent.
Comparing the LVCVA summary to Tradeshow Week’s first- and second-quarter reports of tradeshow statistics – which included a 1.6-percent drop in attendance the first quarter and a 7.6-percent increase in the second quarter – Las Vegas is slightly behind the national curve, in terms of average overall attendance growth. Still, the city is far from relinquishing its position as national convention leader.
–Diane Taylor
Unions Authorize the “S” Word
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 are preparing for a possible strike. On Sept. 12, 99 percent of the approximately 8,000 union members who turned out for a meeting at Cashman Field voted to authorize the use of the settlement tool if necessary.
So far, the unions have reached favorable agreements with Harrah’s Entertainment, MGM Mirage, the Riviera Hotel & Casino and, most recently, the Stratosphere and Sahara. Negotiations are still underway with most of the 12 downtown properties, two industrial laundries and two remaining Strip properties, the Las Vegas Hilton and Tropicana. According to Culinary representative Maya Holmes, there are concerns about the Trop’.
“Their most recent proposal included taking away some of the core (contract) fundamentals … health benefits, pension and the guaranteed work week,” Holmes said. “They want the ability to have unlimited part-timers and to engage in subcontracting. … We’re very suspicious.”
According to Holmes, the resort wants to offer its own alternatives to Culinary’s health and pension plans, to which the union holds steadfastly and calls “some of the best benefits in the country.”
Holmes said many of the near-10,000 members currently working under extended contracts were “flooding in” to sign up for strike benefits at a mobile station downtown. An $80 million strike fund has been set aside to help pay strike and support benefits, as well as cover logistical costs for affected workers. The union is also helping to advise members on how to prepare financially in case of a strike.
Yet with negotiations seemingly moving forward at an acceptable pace, why use the “S” word at all?
“The strike vote is a common negotiating tool used by many unions,” said William Werner, a professor of business and employment law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. “There are still some major issues to be worked out, but this scenario plays out about the same every time the Culinary contracts expire here. The strike vote will likely have no effect at all on the negotiations.”
According to Werner, an issue likely to be of concern for the union is the preservation of its zero-premium health care coverage. Werner said the union’s health and welfare trust is becoming unaffordable for the average employer, and could be a point of contention during future contract negotiations. In light of this, health care and pension alternatives such as those the Tropicana is offering could become more commonplace citywide.
Meanwhile, the unions remain focused on reaching settlements with the remaining properties and standing behind the strength of their strike vote.
“It shows we’re extremely serious,” said Holmes, “and that we’re willing to do what we need to do if we need to do it.
–Lisa Plummer
McCarran’s Getting Transport, Baggage Help
Show organizers and meeting planners love Las Vegas, but hate the complaints they get about the time required during peak hours to get from an airplane to a hotel or from a hotel to an airline.
Transportation officials say help is on the way in the form of expanded transportation and luggage services.
• Downtown-McCarran bullet bus. According to Allison Huntly, public information administrator for the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, within two years people will be able to ride to and from the airport on new state-of-the-art vehicles described as combination bus-bullet trains.
Fifty new 61-foot vehicles, going by the name “MAX” (Metropolitan Area Express), will carry approximately 120 passengers each. They will pick up and deliver passengers at 12 stations from downtown Las Vegas, through the Strip and on to McCarran Intl. Airport. MAX vehicles will use dedicated bus paths in downtown Las Vegas, then meld into street traffic on their way to the airport. Huntly said final MAX schedules are not yet determined, but rates will be in line with other forms of public transportation.
Ticket vending machines will provide off-board fare collection for MAX, eliminating interaction between driver and passengers. MAX vehicles will also open four doors simultaneously, reducing the time it takes to load and unload passengers.
The RTC expects the first phase of the project, in downtown Las Vegas, to be completed next year, with the Strip and airport services available a year later.
• More airlines on Bags To Go. An expansion of service with more immediate results is that of Bags To Go, which gives visitors leaving Las Vegas the opportunity to pay a fee ($20 for up to three bags), check baggage and retrieve boarding passes from three to 12 hours before flight time. Bags To Go kiosks are located at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, Luxor Las Vegas, the Las Vegas McCarran Rent-A-Car Center and the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Thus far, the service has only been available to return passengers on Southwest, United and Ted airlines. But the company has reported that, in early October, it will extend service to also include Delta. Two other airlines, Continental and Frontier, are expected to begin participation before the end of the year.
• Bigger baggage claim area at McCarran. McCarran is spending $12 million to upgrade eight of its baggage claim carousels to accommodate 18 percent more baggage.
Public Information Administrator Chris Jones said work was being done in phases to minimize disruption and is scheduled for completion in October 2008. The extra space needed for carousel expansion comes in part from the airport moving all car rental booths to the new McCarran Rent-A-Car Center.
–Diane Taylor
Set Your BlackBerrys
The weather is finally cooling off, but the calendar of local professional events is just starting to heat up.
• Oct. 3, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Four Seasons Hotel, member lunch (with guest speaker Lon Kruger, UNLV basketball coach), Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, http://www.lvchamber.com/calendar/index.htm
• Oct. 4, 6-8 p.m., Orleans Hotel & Casino, member mixer, Nevada Hotel & Lodging Assn., http://www.nvhotels.com/eventscalendar.asp
• Oct. 10, 6 p.m., location TBA, monthly meeting (with guest speaker Mayor Oscar Goodman), Convention Services Assn., http://www.csalv.org/meetings.html
• Oct. 17, time and location TBA, Spotlight Los Angeles, Professional Convention Management Assn. Southwest & Pacific Chapter http://www.pcma.org
• Oct. 25, 11:30 a.m., South Point Hotel & Casino, LVHA officer nominations and luncheon, Las Vegas Hospitality Assn., http://www.lvhospitality.org/
