All eyes in the U.S. have been on politics over the past week, but the happenings across the meetings and conventions industry haven’t slowed. Here are five stories you might have missed in the election haze.
Fly in the Ointment? In late March, American Express Global Business Travel announced an agreement to acquire CWT, the parent company of CWT Meetings & Events, subject to regulatory approvals. In early November, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority published its interim report on the proposed acquisition. Its assessment: the deal may result in a substantial lessening of competition in the U.K. business travel market.
The deal isn’t off, however. In a press release, Amex GBT said it will continue to work with the CMA to demonstrate the benefits of the transaction, and it expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2025. Amex Meetings & Events is a division of Amex GBT.
Northern Exposure. On November 5, voters in Fargo, N.D., approved a ballot measure to increase city’s lodging tax from 3 percent to 6 percent to fund a new convention center. According to this article in Inforum, the tax increase will be in place for 25 years and raise $3 million a year to help pay for the construction and operation of a $40 million convention center. Early estimates suggest the center will be between 75,000 square feet and 100,000 square feet with an attached 140- to 200-room hotel.
More Taxes. Hotel-occupancy taxes were on the ballot in a variety of U.S. cities and towns this election cycle. Here are three more that succeeded and two that didn’t:
In California, Menlo Park, raised its occupancy tax from 12 percent to 15.5 percent; Santa Rosa increased from 9 percent to 11 percent, and Santa Barbara County went from 12 percent to 14 percent. Voters in Ingham County, Mich., which includes Lansing, rejected a proposal to raise hotel taxes from 5 percent to 8 percent.
Sports-Market Score. Groups360 announced a big win for GroupSync, its online sourcing technology that shows real-time guest-room and event-space availability at hotels and allows instant booking for small groups without using an RFP.
NFHS, the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing-arts activities, has signed a three-year agreement that makes Groups360 the exclusive hotel-booking engine of NFHS high school administrators and travel organizers organizing hotel accommodations for academic and sports travel. NFHS reaches more than 19,800 high schools through its 50-member state associations and the District of Columbia.
Seasonal Solutions. Encore, the event production-services giant, has launched two new programs to help employees with financial stress from the convention industry’s seasonal swings. The company, which has 12,000 team members at 2,200 hotels and conference venues in 20 countries, is now offering an Overtime Savings Program, which makes it easier to bank overtime pay during busy times and draw on it when business is light. Encore also launched a Seasonal Leave of Absence Program, which allows employees to take time off during slower periods while retaining full benefits, accruing paid time off, and maintaining their tenure.
