According to recent research from PKF Hospitality Research, Atlanta, and Torto Wheaton Research, Boston, hotel room rates are not just on the way up, they're skyrocketing. While average daily rates slipped 6.4 percent from 2000 to 2003, the top 50...
2004 WAS A STRONG YEAR for insurance and financial services meetings, according to the results of our biennial reader survey of ICPA planners. The average yearly incentive program budget grew to just over $3 million, up more than $1 million from...
At a December breakfast meeting in Beijing's Peninsula Palace Hotel with representatives from American and Asian travel and meetings press, Simon Cooper, President and COO of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. LLC, announced several new initiatives for...
IN ONE OF the most emotional moments of ICPA's 2004 Annual Meeting, Colin Hanlon, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Maui, accepted a check from ICPA in the amount of $32,000 that was raised by a silent auction. Auction items...
I'll never forget snorkeling among the Hawaiian green sea turtles right off the beach at the Fairmont Orchid. The turtles — called honu in Hawaiian — also crawl ashore to a protected area at the resort for serious afternoon sunning. Their home...
Every day there's something new on MeetingsNet.com, The Meetings Group Web site. Check out the latest on what's happening in the world of meetings, hospitality, and business travel from Web editor and master blogger Sue Pelletier on Face2Face. And...
Education and networking with industry peers were top priorities for the 151 meeting planners and 317 hospitality partners who attended the 2004 ICPA Annual Meeting at the fabulous Grand Wailea Resort and Spa in Maui, Hawaii, November 14 to 18...
Recent research of 55 member companies from the Business Travel Coalition, based in Radnor, Pa., found that 52 percent of respondents plan to increase their incentive budgets in 2005, with the average increase estimated at 8.9 percent. The average...
The 2004 ICPA Annual Meeting was recently held on the beautiful island of Maui, and if you missed it, you missed a lot. Fortunately I was there and I took plenty of notes. Here then, are my recollections of paradise...
