The Achilles heel of Chicago is the labor situation. We need drastic action," says Ben Wold, vice president of the Chicago-based National Marine Manufacturers Association and a member of Friends of McCormick Place, a group of 25 of the center's...
Occupancy rates are up. Room rates are up. Clearly, the seller's market continues. As a result, meeting planners can't negotiate the same deals they used to. Instead, hotels are imposing early departure charges, tough cancellation provisions, and...
Woody King has formed his own company, Destination Management & Marketing, Ltd., based in Columbus, Ohio. A 30-year veteran of the hospitality and convention industry, King most recently served as vice president of the Greater Columbus...
Times are flush for trade shows: From 1989 to 1997, expositions have shown a heady increase in square footage, attendance, and number of exhibitors, according to Tradeshow Week's 1997 Data Book. Moreover, trade shows are expected to grow at a...
Jim Durbin has been named national sales manager at Bally's Las Vegas, responsible for the association market in the southeast and Washington, D.C. He joins from the Luxor Hotel & Casino, also in Las Vegas, where as a member of the sales team...
Hotel owners are putting pressure on hotels to produce more profits in this period of very high demand. But incredibly, many hotels have systems in place that make it difficult for groups to fill their blocks. Look at what some of these practices...
While writers such as Jonathan Yardley (in a recent Washington Post column) lament the passing of "cities real and gritty," people like Elizabeth Jackson, the president of the International Downtown Association, Washington D.C., champion the new...
The International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus in Washington, D.C., has appointed Edward Nielsen president and CEO. Nielsen joins from the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, where he had served as executive vice...
In Cambridge, Mass., the 210-room University Park Hotel at MIT topped out in September. The property, which is set to open next summer, offers the Executive Conference Center on its third floor, complete with a business center and 15,500 square...