In a year of economic turmoil, at least one hospitality company came up smelling like a rose. HelmsBriscoe, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based site selection company, sent $70 million more meeting business to its hotel partners in 2002 than it did in 2001, according to Roger Helms, president and CEO.
In an annual speech in December to many of his 447 associates (40 of whom are located outside the United States), and an equal number of hoteliers and other industry suppliers, Helms articulated his vision for his company: to be the No. 1 group room procurement company in the world. The 11th annual HelmsBriscoe Business Conference, which was held at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., attracted nearly 1,000 attendees.
Helms and partner Bill Briscoe created the model for third-party site selection companies more than 10 years ago to help planners find dates, rates, and space for hotel-based meetings. HB associates set up their own offices, find and cater to meeting planning clients, book and negotiate contracts at hotels, and collect a 10 percent commission from the hotel. Meeting management and logistics are fee-based to the client. Those clients, mostly corporate but also from associations, nonprofits, and the government, are repeat bookers. And all of the major hotel chains have partnerships with HB.
Says David Scypinski, senior vice president, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, “HelmsBriscoe's business for Starwood has definitely increased in 2002. It's not just a matter of companies outsourcing more of their site selection, but of hotels, like us, being more accepting.”
Michael Uhl, senior vice president of sales and marketing for ParkPlace Entertainment, which manages five hotels in Las Vegas, says HelmsBriscoe nearly doubled its production at his hotels in 2002. “In a bad economy, outsourcing site selection is a viable option for many companies. And as long as HelmsBriscoe brings us new business, we're happy.”
Helms says his company is as much a lifestyle as anything else, because associates, who work for themselves, can decide how much time they want to put into their jobs. Because the company was started by salesmen, “we understand the importance of relationships.” Mohegan Sun, a 1,200-room resort, hosted the ABC and thinks of HB as an extension of its sales force. “Two of our three largest meetings in 2002 were booked by HB,” says Jon Arneson, senior vice president, Mohegan Sun.