About:

Why: Evans has organized technology and health care events during his career, and he wanted to create a better way to connect planners with speakers. “Many events, especially those with small staff or volunteer program committees, are understaffed—and they are often overwhelmed by the information and choices for public speakers in today’s marketplace,” says Evans.

How It Works: Planners can perform standard speaker searches or publish open calls for speakers based on event openings. Speakerfile’s technology platform aims to match the speakers and their specialties with events that might work best for them.

Find Out More: speakerfile.com, @speakerfile

Nearly 3 million Americans have celiac disease, a disorder that hinders the digestion of gluten. Last year, restaurants and retailers sold more than $8 million in gluten-free products. Hotel chains like Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and Omni Hotels and Resorts, and properties such as the Hotel Palomar San Francisco and Hotel Monaco in Portland, Ore., have recognized the importance of offering gluten-free foods for travelers and meeting attendees. “The meetings industry revolves around food,” says Tracy Stuckrath, CSEP, founder of Thrive! Meetings and Events. “It’s the essence of what we do—we’re hosts, bringing people together to foster relationships, collaborate, nourish new ideas and instill knowledge. And, with that comes feeding them well and safely, no matter how many types of meals you’re providing.”

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report found that more than $25 billion was spent on food and beverage at corporate meetings in the U.S. in 2009. With 45 percent of attendees reporting they have special dietary needs, it’s important to know your audience and ensure those needs are met, says Stuckrath. Fairmont’s Mariano Stellner, corporate director of food and beverage, agrees. “Someone with diabetes, for example, or someone who has to eat gluten-free, should not have to indicate his special dietetic needs,” he points out. “As an industry, we should be ready for them.”

Fairmont’s Lifestyle Cuisine Plus Menu caters to guests with gluten allergies and other medical and dietary preferences. There are vegan dishes, raw food options, macrobiotic recipes, and heart-healthy and diabetes-friendly choices at each property. Instead of using a corporate menu, each chef was trained by San Francisco-based nutritionist Katya Baxter in developing meals for different dietary needs.

At The Fairmont San Francisco, Chef Foster has a hit with raw food devotees: a spinach leaf wrap filled with shredded Savoy cabbage, mango, carrot, cilantro and basil leaves, and topped with an almond butter dressing. At The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, diabetics can enjoy poached local wild king salmon in a Northwest chowder. Foraged huckleberries are mixed in a special berry crème brûlée for gluten-free diners.

While some planners might find it difficult to create special menus for attendees with dietary needs, it is well worth the extra effort. According to a survey done by Stuckrath, 50 percent of people invited to a conference do not attend because of dietary restrictions. The same number don’t return to an event because their needs weren’t met. “They are embarrassed, feel asking for a special meal is impolite, do not want to be a burden, or have low expectations of our abilities to meet their needs,” says Stuckrath. “People with dietary needs deserve to eat the same quality of food that everyone else is served.”

Tracy Stuckrath Explains 
The planner and F&B expert answers your questions.

Are planners required to accommodate attendees’ food needs?
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, which was signed into law in 2008, provides protection for those with special dietary needs. Not only were eating and learning added to the list of major life activities that must be accommodated, but the immune and digestive systems were added to the list of bodily functions, too. “This means that your food allergic and attendees with medically diagnosed diseases—diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, celiac disease—who need to eat a specific way for health reasons, are now covered by the ADAAA,” says Stuckrath. “Therefore, we must provide safe, quality meals that meet their needs.”

How can a planner effectively meet attendee requests?
Attendees must not be afraid to communicate their dietary needs. But they must respect the host organization by informing them in advance and accurately. Meeting planners need to ask about dietary needs during the registration process, relay the information to their culinary partners as far in advance as possible, and work with them on the process in which these attendees will be served. Other suggestions include:
• Provide cards to the attendees that they can give to servers at their meal functions.
• Provide identical cards for the culinary teams to tag the meals as they are made.
• Ensure the needs are included on all BEOs, including those for off-site events.
• Ask the culinary team to provide a list of what they will be serving the guests with dietary needs.
• Ask about the process the culinary and serving teams will be using to serve the meals.
• If the group is small, introduce each of them to the banquet captain and/or the chef. A personal connection is key.

What’s your travel forecast for the coming year?
Technology keeps getting better and better, creating easier ways to book rooms. As everyone gets more mobile, small group and individual bookings are last minute. There’s been a real surge in speed with handheld devices and tablets, and we expect it to grow dramatically as prices go down, especially on tablets, and more people use them.

How is the economy changing booking patterns?
There will be continuous and various types of promotions by hotels to convince visitors to book in advance, which allows hotels to be more efficient and plan rates. You’ll see more incentives to make consumers change their behavior. There will be more rate differentiation between those who book and pay in advance, which will include the ability to make changes, and another for last-minute bookings, which won’t include any refunds on cancellation. Rates will also encourage travelers to stay longer.

Does this hold true for meeting space as well?
There’s no question that it applies to meeting space. Meetings and groups are booking short. There will be a push in terms of the negotiation process; rates will be different depending on length of stay and other factors.

What other changes do you expect?
The check-in process is changing due to technology. The front desk will disappear. The long lines when your group arrives at the same time will be eliminated. Consumers are getting used to doing more check-ins themselves. They are self-printing their airplane bordering passes; rental cars have self-check-in devices. There’s an app for room keys, allowing hotel guests to open their room using their phone; you’ll see this expanding, along with consumers selecting their rooms online. They’ll be able to head straight to their room as soon as they arrive. That’s great for travelers and produces cost savings for hotels. Hotels need to interface with entire systems and that is taking longer than in other areas of travels, but it’s on the way.

Do you see hotel rates going up overall?
The economy has been going sideways for an extended period of time. There will be a slow rise in demand [for hotel space] because not a lot is coming on the market. Rates are going up in bigger cities, but are expected to stay the same in second-tier cities and smaller markets. We’ll see increases in 2013, and we are telling travelers to book as far in advance as possible. Hotels won’t be slashing rates at the last minute. Planners, especially, should make plans earlier rather than later.

What’s in your crystal ball?
I see much more personalization. When someone books through the meeting planner’s software program, more preferences will be remembered and responses will be custom tailored to the individual. They’ll be offered rooms with what they want. This gives travelers more confidence that their travel provider knows them. They’re more comfortable working with them.

What about air travel?
The tremendous amount of consolidation means there’s less competition, which means rates will continue to go up. All rules have been tossed out the window. There are no more round-trip rates. Instead of system-wide rules, now it’s airline-to-airline delivering to capacity. Major airlines are becoming like discount carriers. There will be even more creativity in adding additional charges where they can. There are lots of other ways they haven’t gotten around to yet to maximize income. They’ll charge more for an aisle seat or a window seat. You’ll see more marketing…advertising on the backs of seats, on the airport shuttle buses, everywhere. Luxury-type airline travel in this country is a thing of the past. American Airlines going bankrupt means they can now compete and go head-to-head with Southwest, which has more routes as a result of its merger with AirTran. So fewer services, more fees, pricing skirmishes between online sites and airlines. Also, more packaging, which is more popular outside the U.S., with airfare, hotels and cars included in one price. Providers working with net rates can move a lot of product and hide bottom-line pricing.

What incentives are being offered to lure preferred customers?
What they’re doing with business travelers is splitting them up. They’re getting priority in lines, luggage off quicker, extra freebies. Some airlines may do premium seating, but you’ll no longer see the days of a higher percentage of staff to passengers. It’s a pay-for-what-you-get system, like the latest in the car industry—the toll device. It’s another way to charge you for extras.

What are your favorite travel resources?
Obviously, I use getaroom.com and I think kayak.com is a great site. Our big push now is on the vacation rental side for those who need a lot of accommodations. We’re adding things like condo hotels in New York City, as well as studios to three-bedroom apartments. We’re using more flash sales for lodging to excite consumers to take advantage of short-term offers. It’s a way for vendors to push aspirational products, and these opportunities lift the boat for the entire industry.

How does this apply to meeting planners?
If they have attendees who are arriving earlier or staying later, they need resources for them. We have commission-type programs for planners. We put them on a different URL to track bookings and the planner can earn extra inventory.

What frequent flyer advice do you have?
I rarely travel the same airline both ways. You can find better fares and convenient times by using different carriers. I make sure I am a premier member of all clubs, including car rental companies and all hotel groups. I love credit card programs. You get travel bonuses, double miles, triples miles, etc. It becomes a battle the consumer is winning.

What specific advice can you offer meeting planners?
Two things. One, make sure you have a little card in your wallet with your frequent numbers and credit card call-free numbers, so you can easily take it out and see them all—and always make sure you sign up for notifications by cell phone or text so you get important messages. Two, bring food and extra batteries.

What technology tool do you always travel with?
I always take my laptop and my Blackberry for email. I have a spare charger about the size of a credit card with three to four full charges for all my devices. Also, I have a Kindle, which I love especially when I’m with my wife and kids.

What else do you always pack?
An empty plastic bottle, which I fill up with water when I pass security. Who wants to pay $3 for a bottle of water? Two big bags of trail mix, a swimsuit and goggles, shorts and T-shirts and jogging shoes to exercise. The best way to see a city is to jog around.

What do you do to relax?
I work out always. That’s why I  bring my gym clothes.

First came restaurants, then retail stores. Now the pop-up trend has hit the travel market. In Geneva, airport officials created a mobile passenger terminal to deal with its heavy influx of travelers during the winter skiing season. The tent-style terminal, complete with check-in desks and self-serve kiosks, was built by an Austrian company with these scenarios in mind. “The terminal can be used not only to handle surges of passengers, but also to back up airports hit by natural disasters and when major sports events are held in a catchment area,” said the development company’s Managing Director Thomas Melcher. The pop-up terminal will stay up through the winter and will return later during expansion work.

What’s New in 2011

Benchmark Hospitality International, which operates 30 hotels, conference centers and resorts, released its annual list of meeting trends. Hoteliers are optimistic, projecting moderate growth and marginal increases in spending. Here are Benchmark’s 10 meeting trends anticipated for 2011:

1. Business travel is up, though travelers are still rate-conscious and value-focused.
2. Planners appreciate all-inclusive packages, but they still want to be able to customize them.
3. Occupancy is rising and hotel rates are staying consistent with last year’s rates.
4. More companies and organizations are booking meetings, though it’s still in shorter windows. Meetings are increasing in quantity, but not necessarily size.
5. LinkedIn and YouTube are leading the pack in social media, proving to be more beneficial than Facebook and Twitter.
6. When asked between being green or providing maximum cost savings, meeting planners still lean toward cutting costs.
7. Demand for teambuilding returns, and the focus is on clever ideas such as culinary events or setting up mock reality-TV programs.
8. Recreation and entertainment are creeping back into meetings. Interest in theme parties, comedians and think thanks is growing.
9. The big players are back. Insurance, financial, consulting, high tech, healthcare and education organizations are all planning more meetings this year.
10. To learn more about locations, destinations and individual properties, planners are pulling up a web browser to search websites and read online magazines.

Then & Now

Vegetable gardens | Green rooftops
Hotel linen reuse programs | Plug-in stations for electric cars
Individual butter and jelly packets | Bulk items
Comfort food | Creative food
Energy-efficient lighting | Improved air quality
Self-service check-in kiosks | RFID mobile check-in at hotels
Laptops | Tablets

Disney Dream

On Jan. 4, the Disney Dream, Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, arrived in its home port, Port Canaveral, Fla., after traveling almost 6,500 miles across the Atlantic from Bremerhaven, Germany. The massive ship welcomes passengers on its maiden voyage Jan. 26. The behemoth is scheduled to sail three-, four- and five-night cruises to the Bahamas and Disney’s private island Castaway Cay.

Disney Dream Stats

• Passenger capacity: 4,000
• Crew: 1,458
• Decks: 14
• Gross tonnage: 130,000
• Dimensions: 1,115 ft. long x 125 ft. wide
• Firsts: AquaDuck water coaster

Las Vegas’ CityCenter

Since its inception in the desert, Las Vegas has been a city in the limelight. The recent opening of The Cosmopolitan may have set new records for the biggest marketing budget and over-the-top opening celebration, but CityCenter towers over all as the largest privately funded construction project in the United States.

CityCenter Stats

• Complex size: 16,797,000 sq. ft.
• Site: 76 acres
• Total cost: Approx. $10 billion
• Hotels: 4, with 6,291 rooms
• ARIA Casino: 150,000 sq. ft.
• Retail and entertainment district: 500,000 sq. ft.
• Employees: 12,000
• Firsts: One of the largest public art collections in the country, valued at more than $40 million

Park Hyatt at Shanghai World Financial Center versus The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong

Currently, the world’s highest hotel is the Park Hyatt at the Shanghai World Financial Center. It has the highest occupied floor and the highest height to roof, two categories used to determine the title of “The World’s Tallest Building,” but it’s about to lose its status. The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong in the International Commerce Centre in Kowloon will take the top spot when it opens in March. That record might be short-lived, however. The Shanghai-based Jin Jiang International Hotels Group Company plans to build the 258-room Shanghai Tower J-Hotel, which will overtake the Ritz-Carlton because the hotel’s top floor will be higher than the building where the Ritz-Carlton is located. The newest competitor is not scheduled for completion until 2014, giving the Ritz-Carlton a brief window of fame.

Comparative Stats

• Park Hyatt: 79th to 93rd floors in 1,614-ft. building
• Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong: 102nd to 118th floors in 1,607-ft. building
• Shanghai Tower J-Hotel: 84th to 110th floor in 1,885-ft. building

• Largest global photographic assignment ever undertaken in the hotel industry
• More than 100,000 still images and virtual tours
• 650,000 rooms in more than 4,500 hotels (IHG is the world’s largest hotel group)
• Multimillion dollar contract
• 50 photographers
• Canon 5D mark II 21 megapixel camera systems, which can enlarge up to 40-foot billboard size