That's what International Conference Resorts' best customers experience at ICR's annual Arizona New Year's bash.
A few customers have been to every New Year's Eve party since 1976. So has Richard Joaquim, president of ICR and managing director of the Scottsdale Conference Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz.
"We discovered we could find out things about our business when we had this chance to talk to clients informally," Joaquim says. "They would tell us why they liked us, how we might improve, what we were missing."
Clients have also driven changes in the party, which is actually a three-day event. "In the beginning, our guests didn't know how to think about this event," Joaquim says. "They'd come as if it were a meeting." In fact, Joaquim compares the event to being hosted at a grand estate. "That doesn't happen anymore," he says.
The New Year's Eve party is here to stay--but it's taking a hiatus in 2000. A survey of major clients revealed that too many had other plans or didn't want to travel.