Business Travel News - June 16, 2008 - (Page 3)

NEWS Hotel CEOs See Fewer Rate Hikes, More Discounts Ahead BY MICHAEL B. BAKER Hotel chief executives this month acknowledged tougher times for the next year and a half and an upcoming corporate hotel negotiating season that will be, from their perspective, more difficult in which to increase rates. The executives also ON THE RECORD We carry more passengers between Washington and New York than all the airlines combined and are looking to raise our share. AMTRAK SENIOR SALES DIR. CRAIG WHITE, PAGE 19 said the United States will comprise a shrinking proportion of their overall portfolio as their development focus moves decidedly eastward. Speaking on June 2 at the New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, Marriott International chairman and CEO J.W. Marriott Jr. said he is seeing softening in both corporate and leisure travel and that the company expects North American revenue per available room to increase year-over-year by about 2 percent in the second quarter of 2008. Marriott, who noted that business travel accounts for about 80 percent of his company’s revenue, said corporations are cutting back on travel, last-minute group bookings are slowing and the company is preparing for “a tough economic environment and some very difficult negotiations.” “We haven’t gotten into the pricing season with our big customers yet, but we expect them to push for be worse before it gets better.” In addition, hoteliers should exsome discounts,” Marriott said. “We haven’t seen much discounting yet, pect a slowdown in state and city and there will be some.” government travel, particularly from Barry Sternlicht, chairman and secondary and tertiary cities, said CEO of Starwood Capital Group, Lalia Rach, dean of NYU’s Preston said to expect the softening to con- Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, tinue for at least 18 months. Some Tourism and Sports Management. markets, such as Las “There is a credit crisis For on-demand Webcasts, at the city and state Vegas, already have see btnonline.com/Webcasts level,” she said. “When begun discounting, and hoteliers’ rate hikes in past years you look at these secondary cities in spite of occupancy declines leave and tertiary cities, city and state govthem in a precarious position. ernment makes up a huge part of “The U.S. consumer is stretched, their business.” Blackstone Group senior managand we’ve been waiting for him to collapse for quite some time. Busi- ing director Jonathan Gray, whose nesses will do what they’ve always firm acquired Hilton Hotels Corp. done in every cycle: tighten their last year (BTNonline, July 9, 2007), Continued on page 18 belts,” Sternlicht said. “It’s going to Travelport Taps Kuoni Exec NEWSMAKER CONTENTS June 16, 2008 Issue 659 Vol. 25, No. 8 2008 RESOURCE GUIDE Inside Track: Citi, TMCs test traveler-tracking tech . . . . 4 20 Profile: South African firm mines travel savings . . . . . . . 6 MTG.PRACTITIONERS BTN Research: Emergency medical assistance . . . . 10 RBC’s Jennifer DelaForum: Delta, Northwest deal doesn’t add up . . . . . . 12 Cruz leads sharing. Aviation: Dale Moss pilots OpenSkies’ launch . . . . 16 AVAILABLE ONLINE Lodging: NY legislation worries corp. housers . . . . 18 Business Travel Buyer’s Handbook Ground Transportation: Amtrak eyes discounts . . . . . . . 19 Meetings Today: Decentralized co. interacts . . . . . . 20 Executive Dashboard: Air, hotel demand slipping . . . . 22 BTNonline.com APRIL 14, 2008 see btnonline.com FIND DAILY NEWS UPDATES AND MORE AT WWW.BTNONLINE.COM BTN (USPS 0728-870, ISSN 8750-3670) is published monthly, except semi-monthly in March, May, July, September and October by Nielsen Business Media Inc.,770 Broadway,New York,NY 10003,tel.646-654-5000,and is distributed free of charge to qualified corporate travel buyers and travel agents specializing in business travel in the United States and Canada. 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Business Travel News is a trademark owned exclusively by Nielsen Business Media Inc.Copyright © 2008 by Nielsen Business Media Inc.Reproduction of this magazine,in whole or in part,is prohibited unless authorized by the publisher.Editorial and advertising offices:770 Broadway,New York,NY 10003.For address changes (please include mailing label), single copy sales ($10 per issue including shipping and handling, prepayment required), subscription information, and other customer service inquiries,write to Business Travel News,P.O.Box 1187,Skokie,IL 60076,or call 847-647-7987 outside the U.S. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to BTN, P.O. Box 1187, Skokie, IL 60076. Printed in the USA. Armin Meier, former CEO of Europe-based leisure travel firm Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd., this month assumed the position of Travelport GDS chief commercial officer, succeeding former CCO Kevin Mooney, who left the company in late April. Travelport said Meier joined the firm on a parttime basis on June 1, and would assume the fulltime CCO role in September, reporting to Gordon Wilson, president and CEO of Travelport’s global distribution system division. Travelport said Meier takes on “global responsibility for sales, marketing, segmentation and customer engagement for Travelport GDS.” In November, Meier’s predecessor Mooney was tasked with the CCO role after previously serving as CFO of Travelport’s acquired Worldspan entity. He was charged with leading the integration of the Worldspan and Galileo sales and marketing teams. The Travelport GDS business has sagged recently due to a slump in travel demand and the continued decrease in Worldspan bookings and revenues due to the loss of Expedia’s business, starting in 2005. Travelport said segments for its global distribution system businesses this year so far have decreased from 2007 (BTNonline, May 13). Travelport CEO Jeff Clarke during the company’s earnings call last month said the company is making further investments in its GDS sales force to bolster its approach to the market. “We’re investing in building out what we would call specialized sales forces to sell some of our data and software products. We’re adding some people to do a better job of calling on global customers. In our industry, we probably have not had a good enough of what I would call an enterprise sales force, going to large customers and doing more of a relationship-based sale.” —Jay Boehmer Business Travel News www.BTNonline.com Monday, June 16, 2008 3 http://btnonline.com/Webcasts http://BTNonline.com http://btnonline.com http://www.BTNonline.com http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - June 16, 2008

Business Travel News - June 16, 2008
Contents
Inside Track: Citi, TMCs Test Traveler-Tracking Tech
Profile: South African Firm Mines Travel Savings
BTN Research: Emergency Medical Assistance
Forum: Delta, Northwest Deal Doesn't Add Up
Aviation: Dale Moss Pilots OpenSkies' Launch
Lodging: NY Legislation Worries Corp. Housers
Ground Transportation: Amtrack Eyes Discounts
Meetings Today: Decentralized Co. Interacts
Executive Dashboard: Air, Hotel Demand Slipping

Business Travel News - June 16, 2008