Dec 26: VOLUNTOURISM…A NEW TREND?

You may have read in the USAToday newspaper, among others, about the return of tourists to post-Katrina New Orleans. It appears that the majority of visitors returning are business people and convention goers.

A portion of these visitors are taking the time to give back to the New Orleans community they’re visiting – either through dollar donations or by physical contributions --helping plant trees in parks, rebuilding homes and clinics, picking up trash, etc. The New Orleans CVB has coined the word “voluntourism” to describe these actions.

We’ve heard about college students doing similar charitable acts on their vacations. Even high school students are being required to have a certain number of community service hours to qualify for graduation.

Now we know South Florida is not in the same category of need as New Orleans, but every community has people and places that could benefit from charitable giving of some sort. Unfortunately, we too have homeless people and poor people and needy residents.

Think about it. Just having a list of suggestions of places where your meetings/convention attendees could volunteer while in town, should you be asked, would be a step in the right direction. Why not take a proactive stance and make our community a place of “voluntourism” too?

Dec 17: HSMAI Expands to West Coast of Florida

In an effort to extend its reach, networking, and educational opportunities, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is proud to announce the newly expanded South Florida chapter.

HSMAI South Florida, now covering Palm Beach to Miami to the Naples/Marco Island area, is the leading source for sales and marketing information, knowledge, business development, and networking for professionals in tourism, travel, and hospitality – and is one of the largest chapters nationwide, with more than 240 members.

Monthly hospitality programming includes travel internet marketing, revenue management, hotel sales and marketing, and other educational topics relevant to South Florida industry professionals.

For membership and event information, visit www.HsmaiSouthFlorida.org

Dec 13: REACHING THE PRE AND POST CRUISE VACATIONER

You probably know already that the Cruise Lines International Association, Inc., better known as CLIA, has relocated their office headquarters from New York to Fort Lauderdale. For more information on this organization, check out their website at www.cruising.org or stop by their offices at 910 SE 17th Street, Suite 400.

To tap into the cruise traveler market, the GFLCVB has been publicizing the advantages of the Greater Fort Lauderdale area to cruise goers to extend their vacations before and after they are at Port Everglades. As there are some three million passengers moving through the world’s third busiest port, it’s a natural for our local hoteliers to try to get a piece of this audience.

A recent press release for Fort Lauderdale outlined three main areas pre-cruise:
1) “Cruise Couture” by visiting shopping venues from Galleria to Sawgrass;
2)”Delicious Dining” at our unique Floribbean cuisine and waterfront restaurants; and
3) Learning by taking lessons in dance or scuba diving to enhance one’s cruise options.
For the post-cruise experience in our area, they’ve highlighted:
1) “Sun and Sand” – relaxing on our beaches;
2) Golfing at our numerous courses;
3)”Ante up and double down” at our casinos and tracks;
4) Spas – taking an extra day of pampering before heading home.

We’d love to hear what you’ve done to reach this cruise market.

Dec 11: Broward County 2007 Sports Hall of Fame

A top sports journalist, a wrestling official, a football great, a basketball star, a major league hall of fame baseball coach, and a world-class swimmer are this year’s inductees into the Broward County Sports Hall of Fame presented by the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB Sports Development Office. These six honorees will be inducted on December 11, 2007at the Broward County Convention Center. The level of commitment these six new members have shown for their respective sports and the recognition they have brought to the County is the reason they are being inducted into the Broward County Sports Hall of Fame.

You may never have heard of them, but every one of them has a special story -- every one of them set a standard of excellence and affected our community in some positive way. The 2007 inductees are: Fred Turner (Coral Springs) who spent 25 years as a sports editor including a tenure at the Sun-Sentinel; Rick Tucci (Pembroke Pines) is the current President of the USA Wrestling Officials Association; Errict Rhett (Pembroke Pines) spent 7 years with the NFL and was the first player in NCAA history to rush over 4100 yards and catch 150 passes; Greg Samuel is a record winning basketball head coach at Hallandale High and is currently teaching and coaching at Flanagan High School; Earl Weaver (Pembroke Pines) spent his entire major league baseball managerial career with the Orioles. He was inducted into the Baseball hall of Fame in 1996; June Krauser (Fort Lauderdale) is a multi-record holder masters swimmer.

Table of Eight – November 2007 Meeting

It’s been awhile since I last visited the FIU campus in North Miami, so it was quite a treat to make the trek to their School of Hospitality and Tourism Management for our Chapter’s November luncheon meeting. Our New Orleans themed meal was planned, prepared and served by the students as a management training session. They received grades for their efforts and we got the benefit of a delicious repast. The tables were decorated and at every place setting was a colorful menu. Our meal included jalapeno corn bread followed by chicken sausage gumbo; a choice of two entrees: crawfish etouffee or cumin-roasted pork tenderloin; and dessert of bread pudding with bourbon sauce. It was interesting to hear where the students were from and a little bit about the program.

Meanwhile, my “table of eight” had some wonderful conversations. Nice to meet Rita Wells (Laffing Matterz), Heidi Richards (Eden Florist), and Hana Phillips (Rodeway Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport). Rita not only markets Laffing Matterz but also performs at this unique venue as well. We learned that some of their “grassroots” marketing uses radio, the Sun-Sentinel Showtime section, brochures with discount coupons distributed to the hotels, as well as by attendance at HSMAI meetings. Who knew that almost 175 people can fit comfortably on site? What a great place for our group business. Heidi Richards, “Chief Goddess” (don’t you just love her title!), Eden Florist and Gift Baskets, is really a one-man band. In addition to her marketing efforts on behalf of Eden she also writes several online newsletters and is active in numerous organizations. A great sales technique that she’s happy to share: she tries to go to a different meeting each week. She checks out the newspaper’s Monday business section and finds an event each week that she’s never been to before; being a “unique” business among the attendees means a lot more new contacts. What a great idea! Hana Phillips told us about the renovations at the Rodeway Inn on State Rd 84 which will include a brand new restaurant and a night club. The full service hotel will have its “official” grand opening in the near future. Hana was born in Israel, lived in England, and speaks a number of languages. She tells a fascinating story about her entrée into the hotel industry and about wearing hats (the “proper” attire to attend functions in England.) It was great, too, to have Steve Berman at our table. You may know of Steve from his previous tenure with Southern Audio Visual. Steve is now the Director of Sales and Marketing with Welcome Florida. Belated warm congrats Steve on your “new” job! We heard about his full service destination management company which seems to do almost everything from “A to Z”. Very interesting! Rounding out our table was Susan Stern (Hampton Inn) who heads up Community Service for our HSMAI chapter. In addition to hearing about her fantastic upcoming cruise through the Panama Canal (hope it was great Susan!), we got some more info on the Community Service Christmas Party happening on Wednesday, December 19th and benefiting the Broward Outreach Center. Gifts are still needed.

Well, this is getting a bit wordy, and I haven’t even begun to tell you about the thought-provoking seminar presented by FIU Professor Chikitan S. Dev. Some forty of us stayed after the luncheon for this educational portion. The topic was Hospitality Marketing Trends. The Professor outlined his “Top 9 List” of things that will affect the ways we do business in the next several years. I took copious notes – some great ideas to use and a lot of trends on which to begin working. But if you missed it, or wish to review the key points of the seminar, it is viewable on line, courtesy of Dan Strong and Media 17 at www.media17com/hsmai

Dec 3: Where have all the Gideons gone?

A recent story by ABC-TV and several other articles online have indicated that more luxury class hotels are no longer putting Bibles in their guest rooms.

A few weeks ago I stayed at a Holiday Inn on the west coast of Florida where there was a Gideon bible in each of the bedside table drawers. Both of these two bibles were opened to a particular page in Psalms. I wasn’t sure which of the passages was to be read as it wasn’t marked. (Was the maid or a previous guest trying to send me a message? I was actually looking for the telephone directory.)

I first heard about Gideon bibles in that old Beatles tune “Rocky Raccoon”.
The lyrics went something like: “Rocky raccoon he fell back in his room only to find Gideon’s bible. Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt...to help with good Rocky’s revival ...”

When years later I was heading up the local hotel association, I learned more about the Gideons. As you probably know, Gideons International is an evangelical Christian organization dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible. They concentrate on distributing to five primary areas including hotels and motels. Providing bibles to any hoteliers who request them is done without charge. Of course, a small donation to the organization was most appreciated to cover some of the cost, but is not required.

Supposedly the national hotel association has surveyed its members and according to one of the online articles, luxury hotels are now less likely to have bibles in their guest rooms while “economy” hotels are more likely to include them. So South Florida are we following this national trend? Do your hotel rooms still contain a Gideon bible?