Maritz Travel Company, St. Louis, recently announced plans to acquire Philadelphia-based McGettigan Partners, a meeting and incentive management firm. The terms of the acquisition were not available when AM went to press in late November. It is expected that the deal will provide McGettigan with additional resources and a more global reach. Maritz is expected to benefit from McGettigan's pharmaceutical, financial, and high-technology client base.

The International Association of Conference Centers established an emergency procedures task force immediately following the September 11 attacks. The task force will research members' existing emergency procedures related to health emergencies, natural disasters, facility emergencies, and deliberate disruptions/acts. It then will organize the best practices into an industry white paper, which IACC hopes to have available before the end of the year.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association's latest biannual lodging survey found that 78 percent of U.S. hotels contain meeting rooms, up from 70 percent in 1999. It also indicates that 90 percent of luxury and upscale hotels offer meeting rooms, compared to 79 percent for mid-price properties and 44 percent for economy hotels.

All existing and future Opryland hotels will be named after the parent Company, Nashville-based Gaylord Entertainment. The original Opryland Hotel in Nashville will be called Gaylord Opryland. The new hotel in Kissimmee, Fla., set to open in February, will be called Gaylord Palms. The hotel in Grapevine, Texas, scheduled to open in 2004, will be the Gaylord Opryland Texas.