Smart Meetings

It’s hard not to leave Vegas with a smile these days. Fifteen years ago, if you didn’t make out like a bandit at either the craps table or the all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet, there wasn’t a whole lot to celebrate. Last month, however, during an ideal three-day press trip at the all-new Palazzo, I saw every indicator that Las Vegas has perfected the art of pleasing JUST ABOUT EVERYONE.

Touring the Palazzo and adjacent Venetian’s meeting space and guest suites, and observing several large events in progress, it made me want to toss off my editor hat and put on an attendee name badge. For one, the meeting space (including the massive attached Sands Expo Center) is as close as you can get to the rooms, the restaurants and the casino, unlike many major meetings resorts. Secondly, the staff sets the bar for professionalism and friendliness—in Vegas, everything is turned up a notch energy-wise, and it’s reassuring to planners to know they’re working with people who can still shine under pressure.

Once the meeting is over, however, the sheer number of things to do and places to eat at these two properties is enough that you never need to go outside (which is good, because I’m coming back twice in August).

We had breakfast at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon, in an elegantly appointed private dining room. Later, dinner in a private section of the Palazzo’s pool deck showed us that floral arrangements in Vegas have to be as cutting edge and mind-blowing as everything else. The food was excellent, too. And lunch the next day at The Venetian’s David Burke was a tantalizing exhibit of both culinary exploration and plating design. My favorite was the cheesecake lollipop tree—don’t ask, you need to see it for yourself. In fact, with the number of celebrity chef restaurants here, it’s like a microcosmic dining tour of San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, without any of the traffic.

As far as entertainment goes, The Venetian and Palazzo are going at it from two extremes. We saw an excellent performance of the weird and hilarious Blue Man Group, which is a refreshing reminder of the human potential. And, though I missed it, I hear the group loved the Jersey Boys, a fun-lovin’ musical about Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons.

I have to admit, it was pretty tough to board my plane, knowing everyone I spent the last few days with was getting ready for an incredible night out at the Venetian’s TAO Nightclub, arguably one of the best nightclubs in the world. I’ve been there several times before, and you always feel like you are at the best party in the desert. It’s also one of the favorites for planners, as the nightclub can be rented out for private functions Sunday–Wednesday.

Wow, it’s only been a few days, but I can’t wait to get back to Vegas.

 

Meetings have been under siege for some time now and no area has felt the aftermath of this attack more than Las Vegas. To take the pulse of Entertainment Capital of the World, we caught up with Michael Massari, vice president of meeting sales and operations of Las Vegas Meetings by Harrah’s Entertainment. He works with one of the biggest brands in Vegas, a company that manages in Bally’s, Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Imperial Palace, Paris and Rio in addition to 41 properties around the world.


   Michael Massari

Q: Have you seen solidarity among hoteliers in Vegas to rally around the meetings and conventions business?
A: I have been in this business since I was 15 years old, and this is a very fragmented business, full of small and large businesses. I am very proud of how this industry came together around this whole topic both in Las Vegas and across the country. USTA and Roger Dow have done a fantastic job, and so has MPI. I am proud to be a part of this industry.

Q: Have you assisted any of your clients with a strategic meetings management program?
A: We always spend a lot of time with our customers on this topic. The way we believe that we are in business is by understanding the needs and objectives of our customers. We ask them what their objectives are for a certain meeting. We help by having a product offering across the country and multiple offerings in town. But the heavy lifting is done on their own.

Q: How have you been marketing your properties differently than in the past?
A: I think at this point in this environment we got lucky. We had this huge merger in 2005, and that caused us to rethink how we manage the business. [We now offer] one contract, one manager for all properties [in Vegas] and a citywide F&B minimum. You can really have this varied Las Vegas experience through all seven properties. We went into this downturn with a really solid set of unique offerings and value to meeting planners. We know what we are good at, and we know that the customers like those things…we are just doing those things better.

Q: What strengths do you think your set of properties offer in this business climate that others don’t?
A: There is no other place that you can have a continental breakfast at Bally’s, lunch at Paris and an evening reception at the Flamingo. You can even host an event at PURE nightclub as part of our alternative venue program and count part of the spend toward your food and beverage minimum. They want [variety] in Philadelphia and San Diego, and particularly in Las Vegas. That’s what the attendees want, and it sets us apart. It makes it easier for customers to plan meetings and manage their spend with regards to the meetings management goal.

Q: Have you seen business pick up lately or at least stay consistent? How is 2010 looking?
A: Things are not getting any worse, but they are still not good. The remainder of 2009 and 2010 just have some incredible values for customers to execute great meetings. As you look out beyond that, hurry up and book fast because spaces are starting to fill up. I think the light at the end of the tunnel is 2011.

Q: What things have you done to cut costs for your clients in this market?
A: We are so customer specific. We have had customers move from filet to chicken, we have had customers go from singles to doubles, and from A-list entertainment to B-list. The best thing we can do is to understand our customers’ needs and put packages together to meet those needs—that’s the God’s honest truth.

Q: In the past you have hosted FAM tours for meeting planners that included an educational component. Are you continuing this program?
A: We do those at least once a year. Those have been a huge hit for our customers. This last one we had 200 customers and 1,000 applications. So many of FAMs are boondoggles with a lot of spa and a lot of golf. We really want meeting planners to leave here thinking they have got a lot out of it, both personally and professionally, something to better their career with.

Last November we hosted one in all seven Las Vegas properties, and the next one will be this November. This year’s itinerary is top secret, but most attendees [last year] said they got a lot of value out of it and they were glad they came.


  Exterior of Paris Las Vegas.

Q: Do you use social media now? If so how?
A: I use LinkedIn, I am a big LinkedIn kind of guy. My family—we use Facebook for family stuff. LinkedIn is for business and Facebook for personal. It’s so hard to keep up with all the outlets; there are too many of them right now. I think one of them needs to win and then I will jump on it. Business-wise we are approaching this very cautiously. We are asking companies what is working and not working.

Q: What would our readers be surprised to know about you?
A: I love to be outdoors and be with my family. I have girls who are 5 and 7. I am a football fanatic—my favorite team is the Philadelphia Eagles. Growing up in the ‘70s in Philly, the sports were phenomenal.

Q: What’s your favorite off-Strip activity?
A: I like to golf, take the kids down to Lake Mead and do some fishing, and occasionally down to Red Rock Canyon for hiking. What’s neat about Las Vegas is there is a lot of golfing and hiking just 20 minutes off The Strip, and the weather’s good.

Maybe it’s the unstable financial climate or the utter boredom of hotel employees as they wait for people to walk through their doors and stay in their beds, but there’s been a whole lot of hotel suing going on. Maybe this is typical of the industry, but as someone who is fairly new to the business, it comes as kind of a shock. At Smart Meetings we have covered many a hospitality squabble: in March Dubai World sued MGM Mirage over Las Vegas’s CityCenter, in April Starwood Sued Hilton over Denizen, in May there was a Resort Rumble between the owners of Aviara resort in Carlsbad and The Four Seasons Hotels and Resort. While some of these and others have been settled, this month a very peculiar law suit came up on our radar—the suit over the name of a nightclub.

Wynn Resorts Holdings LLC followed suit with these hotel chains to bring their competition to court. The parent company of the posh pair of Las Vegas properties, Wynn and Encore, filed a suit on July 13 in a U.S. District Court against Atlanta-based, boutique hotel operator NYLO Hotels. The legal action was taken after NYLO “asserted rights to the trademark ‘XS’ and offered to let Wynn pay a licensing fee to use the name for the club at Encore,” according to a report from the Associated Press. Wynn maintains that they have spent time, resources and money to promote the XS, their restaurant, bar and nightclub and Wynn’s use of XS “doesn’t infringe of NYLO’s rights.” (And promote it they did. It’s very popular, I have waited in line!) NYLO has not commented on the suit and it’s 2 early 2 C how the XS suit will turn out.

Last week part of the Smart Meetings crew packed their bags and headed to Chicago for The Motivation Show. As we boarded our Southwest plane at SFO, I was excited for the few days that were to follow; after all, it was my first visit to Chicago and my first full-scale industry trade show.



My interview schedule was packed as I prepared to travel the West via the trade show floor at McCormick Place. While attendance at the event was down, according to reports from the show’s organizers, innovation and expansion were up. Many hotel groups and destinations are taking advantage of this year’s slowdown in business to expand, modernize and enhance their offerings. New RFP websites were launched, new hotels are opening and meetings and incentive offerings are being expanded. Research on the ROI of incentives and meetings were being discussed and taken seriously as presented by the Incentive Research Foundation (theirf.org) and other industry advocates.


McCormick Place.

Big news was revealed in the way of cruise meetings. Cruise experts Landry & Kling launched a comprehensive cruise meetings website called SeaSite. This portal offers pertinent information on planning meetings, detailed event spaces and capacities and up-to-the-minute information on cruise dates, locations and ships, as well as an RFP function. The site offers nearly three dozen cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line.


The SeaSite crew and their business partners.

Disney has also been taking advantage of this lull to expand and diversify. In fact, during a press conference held by George Aguel, SVP of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, the company brought Disney's Fairy Godmother of Construction, Ima Growin’, to showcase the good news in a way that is patently Disney. The company has also expanded their cruise offerings, adding an Alaska cruise to their itinerary in 2011. The Disney Wonder will depart out of Vancouver, B.C. during the summer months and sail to destinations like Juneau (as reported recently in headlines). Disney will also be opening a new resort on Oahu in 2011. The 21-acre oceanfront resort will feature 1,066 guest rooms and 63,000 sq. ft. of meeting space (for more information see our Oahu/Kauai destination feature in November). The Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. is also going through improvements that span from new private event venues to total expansions and renovations of on-site properties.


Ima Growin' at the Disney press conference.

We spoke with Eduardo Chaillo, director of the Strategic Business Unit, U.S. & Canada for the Mexico Tourism Board, and he reported that in Mexico, things are growing. Many smaller, colonial cities and large cities that are typically not meetings destinations have discovered the value of meetings and are making investments in the meetings infrastructure. “We are investing in education and a lot of our suppliers are going through certification programs. We are building up a very diversified supply in the meetings industry outside of the known destinations in places like Zacatecas that just opened a new convention center,” he says. The other big news in Mexico is that Cancun will be hosting MPI’s MeetDifferent in February. This show will solidify Cancun’s status as a meeting destination as well as Mexico as a whole. Cancun has 145 hotel properties and is opening a new airport runway, and have been offering no attrition costs to increase meetings booked according to Fernando Cervantes Mondragón, groups and conventions director for the Cancun CVB.


Trade show floor.

We talked about this year for Mexico and how it has taken a heavy hit. Chaillo responded, “The industry in Mexico is very united—as united as it has ever been. We are really sure that we will overcome this situation very quickly.” And cohesion is apparent on-site in Chicago as many regions in Mexico are represented all under one colorful roof. Now more than ever he reiterates that, “We are a lot more than a fun destination. We can provide a wonderful destination for a very professional meeting.” Voluntourism has also been a popular trend and he said Mexico is the perfect place. Imagine a country with a lot of needs and a demand for groups who will meet those needs he says. “We will be very fast in putting together a whole portfolio of opportunities to give something back to the communities.”


Magical men at the Wynn/ Encore booth: magician David Shimshi controlling a flying credit card and culinary miracle workers: Juan Urbieta and Paul Bartolotta, Ristorante di Mare, Wynn Las Vegas.

Overall, my first trade show went off without a hitch and I got a sense of the result of the new normal. Successful companies will survive the recession with smart investments and an eye on the future. The coming years may still be tight, but they also have a lot of great things in store.

So this is what $8.5 billion looks like! Over the past couple of years, I've seen the renderings, the photos, read the press releases, but until I actually arrived at CityCenter, I could not have imagined the dramatic scope of this project. The architecture is so striking, the details so measured, the décor so elegant that "Wow" is an understatement. It is truly a city within a city, with no need to venture anywhere outside its borders (the general idea, I'm sure). I'm staying at Vdara Hotel & Spa, opened earlier ths month along with the Mandarin Oriental. Today, Aria, the anchor hotel of CityCenter, opens with 4,004 guest rooms and the only casino (with an eco-friendly smoke filtration system, no less) in the project. It's hard to take your eyes from the two Veer towers—what an engineering/architectural feat!



Saw a preview of the new Viva Elvis show—fans will delight in the new Cirque, with shiver-inducing photos and music of The King. And, just imagine, the properties are all LEED certified. You're going to hear the phrase "Las Vegas Reinvents Itself" a lot the next few months, and in this case, it's not just journalistic—or PR—hype.