Meetings in Paradise

Aerial and bottom: South Seas Island Resort on Captiva offers state-of-the-art digital facilities. The tourism industry will forever remember October 2008 as a very bad time.

That’s when news broke that a group of AIG executives had taken a deluxe retreat at a resort in California. Congressmen lambasted them for indulging in massages and manicures just after Americans had paid to rescue the firm with billions of tax dollars. Within days, the phones at resorts all throughout Southwest Florida started ringing. Meetings and conferences were being cancelled.

Companies thought it prudent to cut back or simply pull the plug on travel plans that might be interpreted as ostentatious in an era of unemployment, wage cuts and foreclosures. Southwest Florida tourism was an innocent victim caught in the shrapnel of bailout politics.

The phenomenon is called the AIG Effect and Southwest Florida tourism workers wince when they speak of it. The numbers throughout the region for bookings of meetings and conventions, particularly of the business variety, are flat this season. Nevertheless, there are some indications that the market is poised for a rebound that could start by the end of this year.

Far left and above: The Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs can host groups up to 1,000. The winners in the current market are groups and businesses that still want and need to meet.

“The client is in the driver’s seat,” said Pamela Johnson, director of sales for the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau. The agency is offering incentives to groups travelling to Lee County by rebating 5 percent of their stay. The Naples Beach Hotel in Collier County offers a similar deal to its conference visitors. Rates are dropping and hotels have practically eliminated the practice of attritions, where they would charge clients for unused rooms. “There’s a lot of concessions being made to get the meetings on the books,” said Ms. Johnson. “Everything is up for grabs, and the clients know it.”

Expansion and contraction

Just prior to the recession and bailout problems, hoteliers throughout the area were renovating and expanding as business was booming. Just as their projects reached completion, the recession and those AIG “fat cats” reared their heads.

Recently, as Dave Walsh steered a golf cart down the main road through South Seas Island Resort on Captiva, on osprey perched in a dried pine tree. There was a yellowtail under his talon. The bird dug its beak into the fish, tugging and shaking its head back and forth to rip away the sushi. At the end of the drive, beyond the restaurants and an ice cream parlor, a man played with his two children in the “H2Whoa!” Pool, where South Seas recently installed two water slides. Past that area, two more pools overlooked a tranquil Pine Island Sound, where dolphins and manatees often surface to the delight of guests.

Top: The Naples Beach Hotel boasts 34,000 square feet of meeting space, as well as outdoor venues. Mr. Walsh’s strategy to make it through these times is simple: Maintain your quality, accentuate what you offer and don’t try to be everything to everyone. “We’re not a convention center — it’s not high-traffic events,” said the South Seas sales director. “We’re a retreat-style destination. People come here for the environment, to enjoy nature and not feel like they’re in a hotel,” he said.

Throughout the region, hotels and meeting facilities are toning down, cutting budget proposals and creating package deals. “Splashy, expensive dishes are out, while healthful, sustainable and practical meals are in,” read one headline on the Meetings and Convention Web site. The Frugal Planner’s Tip of the week on the industry site recommends replacing open bars with wine tastings.

COURTESY PHOTOS The meetings that are still coming to the area aren’t what they used to be. The tone of conferences has turned less playful.

“Meetings are much more meeting intensive these days,” said Joe Thompson with the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs. “The days of the half day of sessions and half day of recreation, that’s gone.” These days, companies are more often letting individuals pick up the tab of any extracurricular activities.

In Collier County, hotel bookings for meetings and conventions fell from 30.7 percent of all bookings in 2008 to just 19.6 percent in 2009.

A rendering of the $5 million renovation of the Naples Beach Hotel pool area. The renovations are expected to be unveiled next month. COURTESY PHOTO The depressing statistic came just as the Naples Beach Hotel finished the long, $18 million task of gutting and redoing every hotel room. It’s also about to unveil a $5 million renovation to its pool area.

“Those plans were already in the works. The stage was set so we went ahead,” said David Tyler, marketing director at the resort. “We’re looking toward the future.”

The story is similar in Charlotte County, where there is a concerted effort to transform downtown into an ideal destination for small- and medium-sized groups. Two new hotels, the Wyvern and the Four Points by Sheraton, opened last year. They’re both a three-minute walk away from the brand new Charlotte Harbour Event and Conference Center.

“A lot of times, hotels will say they’re walking distance from a venue, then you have to walk a few miles. Here, it all really is right outside the door,” said Shawn Doherty, who helps attract groups and sporting events to Charlotte County.

The 45,000-square-foot conference center and grounds more than doubles the amount of space that the old pre- Hurricane Charley center offered. The problem is, there aren’t that many meetings to go around right now.

“We’re waiting for the good things to happen,” said Wyvern operator John Perez. “It’s going to take some time. We’re sitting on a good location. It’s just bad times throughout the country.”

The bright side

Throughout the region, the consensus seems to be that the meetings and conferences market will return with an uptick starting toward the end of this year, then pick up throughout 2011 and 2012. There are a few promising signs. County visitors bureaus report that the number of requests for proposals they’re receiving from groups wanting to book for next season is on the rise. The Lee County VCB reports having 36 requests right now. That compares with just 22 requests last year at this time.

Associations and social groups haven’t curtailed their meetings the same way corporate groups have. Meeting Professionals International reports that 80 percent of U.S. meeting planners expect to keep their business in the U.S. compared with 61 percent a year ago. Meetings also tend to take place closer to home, which has local promoters focusing on attracting nearby clients.

During the past year, corporations, even those that did not receive bailout funds, learned to get work done without traveling or luxuriating. A lot of meetings have been replaced with Internet video conferences or simply cancelled.

“Technology has changed things. It’s really very easy now for people to meet electronically,” said Jack Wert, executive director of the visitors bureau in Collier County. Nevertheless, travel business experts are waiting for the AIG Effect to naturally wear off. They hope that as time passes there will be a softening of attitudes toward business travel that will lead to more bookings, and maybe even a few more massages and martinis. “At some point, in order to maintain relationships, you have to meet face-to-face,” said Mr. Wert. 