Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

I Love Comments

The Orlando Sentinal has had it out for the Orlando CVB for a while. This week, they managed to uncover the terms of long-time CEO Bill Peeper's retirement package...which included a $750,000 payout.

No laws were broken. Bill was smart enough to negotiate a life-insurance-based package in the '90s. And, after 15 years, there was a large sum of money in the account. Good for him. And, good for the Bureau, as it insured that Bill wouldn't take his talents elsewhere.

As with most stories that revolve around CVB CEO compensation, it sounds so much worse than it is. But this one comment from Dan made me laugh:

"Enough with the class warfare, Sentinel. We get that you're jealous that journalists don't earn as much as one of the nation's leading tourism executives. Maybe you should have chosen a different major."

Love it.

Meetings in 2009, Part Deux

No sooner than we posted the results from Sue Pelletier's survey of Meeting Planners than Smith Travel Research releases their take on the current and future state of Meetings and Conventions.

The full story is here...but for those of us too time impoverished to read it, Convention Hotel Occupancy is off 3.4% YTD while ADR is up 2.4%. Hardest hit YTD is Maui with Las Vegas close behind. Interestingly, San Francisco is seeing increased occupancy and ADR in the meetings space.

Smith believes Convention Hotel ADR will suffer in 2009, as will occupancy levels. Silver lining:

"This downturn may prove to be an opportunity for smaller-market convention hotels to lure business away from the major players by focusing on reduced travel expenditures for a business or meeting planner.  Convention planners will be more sensitive to price in the current economic situation and sales staff in smaller markets can pitch their price advantage."

How Meeting Planners are Feeling about 2009

Everywhere I go, DMOs are asking me what I'm hearing everywhere else. "How's '09 looking out there?" they nervously ask. And I give 'em my anecdotal take. Obviously, I'd like to give them something more to go on than just my take. And, now, we have it.

MeetingsNet's Sue Pelletier recently asked her Association Meeting Planner readers to chime in on what they're seeing as the economy melts down. Most of it ain't purty...but there are some optomistic indicators as well.

Among the positive notes to start your Monday: "Not everyone is expecting the worst, though. Some are expecting the economic crisis may actually have a positive affect on their meetings because of the 'importance of staying on top of changes, and staying in the consumer top of mind,' as one respondent says."

The full post is here and there will be a follow-up story in the December issue of Association Meetings.

Blast from My Past

Totally in my own zone as I stepped out of the hotel elevator yesterday in Chicago's North Shore. In front of me were three girls in purple. Kenyon College purple.

"Whoa...Kenyon," I blurted. They turned, smiled and asked, "You know Kenyon?" We were, after all, hundreds of miles from Gambier OH...and Kenyon is not exactly a household world. Except in the world of Swimming, where the men's team has won 29 consecutive Division III National Championships. The women's team has won 22 of the last 25 National Championships.

And when they turned, I saw their team t-shirts. Swimmers... in town for this weekend's TYR Invitational at Northwestern.

"I was recruited to swim at Kenyon," I said. They gave me that fishy look and probably thought it was a pretty cheesey attempt at a pick-up line. "In fact," I continued, "I was your team's first coach, when it was still a club sport before it built enough cred for the College to establish it as a Varsity sport."

Now they knew I was bullshitting them. Until I said, "yea, I coached the team after I quit the men's squad and before Coach Steen took over." Their eyes finally registered recognition, as Jim is still the coach; the rock god of all swim coaches. One of them said that she was sure one of her teammates' mother had been on that first squad, but she didn't know her maiden name.

They smiled broadly. I wished them well. It was one of those totally surreal moments that happen every once in a while on the road.

And remind me why I love this gig.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

Or, where there's a will there's a way.

My buddy Jim Garrett at the Chicago Southland CVB has been hounding Department of Transportation officials for years to erect signs directing motorists to area businesses on I-80/94. They don't want to because their fear of competition for their Oasis. And that's just wrong.

But Jim's rejection letter stack is 6 inches tall.

So he's buying his way in...to the tune of $70,000. Co-funded by his industry partners, the signs that resemble those blue logo signs will be going up any day now.

Never, never, never give up!

The Hubris of (some) Small Towns

Just picked up on a story in which a community has elected to pull out of its regional Destination Marketing Organization. Not exactly earth-shattering, as it seems to be happening more and more.

No, this one is just plain funny in its silliness.

Here's the quote from a City Councilman that cracked me up: "I just don't see how we're getting our money's worth." The amount of money that he's not seeing a return on is $28,000...as part of a $1.6 million DMO budget.

Hey Sparky...it's a pay-to-play world, dude. Invest a bit more and you might get a bit more.

But, more importantly, do you really think that you can print up 120,000 Visitor Guides and acquire 300,000 unique annual visitors to your website for $28,000?

Yeah...good luck with that.

Davis Street Fishmarket

My buddy Bill Baker and I ventured out on a snowy evening this week looking for fish...and found it at Davis Street Fishmarket in Schaumburg IL.

Simply sensational Blackened Mahi for me...and the Crispy Red Potatoes are just too decadent. Bill did the Mahi grilled...and maintained his membership in the clean plate club.

The decor is warm and appealing, with a great installation of lighted glass jellyfish above our heads.

The one disconnect from brand ambiance? The music piped in at levels way too loud for the crowd on a Sunday night. And the mix? Hey, I love Foghat as much as the next child of the 70s...but not for dinner and not next to Abba, Paul Simon and Tavares. Hell, my dog could've designed a better mix tape.

But, don't let that keep you from checking out this great eatery. Just wear earplugs.

OK...it's worse than I thought

It's one thing when American investors pull back from their destination development ambitions...but when Abu Dhabi takes a breather, you gotta just say "whoa."

For those that haven't been paying attention, Abu Dhabi has been aggressively recreating itself into the top tourism destination in the world with Indoor ski hills, luxury resorts, marinas, theme parks, underwater hotels and branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim.

While a spokesperson said they'll continue with the museums, Abu Dhabi apparently will reconsider the timing of other projects in the $28 billion plan.

Double whoa.

Branding Gone Bad

While we often riff about the difference between slogans and brand (and how you don't create a destination brand as much as you mine it), we usually don't point to communities that stumble. They usually are taking enough heat without us piling on.

But the stumble was so sensational in Abilene last week that we must.

Check out the story...but more importantly, check out the searing venom in the comments section.

Thinking about Destination Branding for your City? In the immortal words of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, "let's be careful out there."

2008 e-Marketing Insight Conference / Day Two

Day Two Highlights from the e-Marketing Insight Conference in Providence:

GoSeeTell's Martin Stoll shared his insight into the explosive growth of social media. Right off the top: you can't understand social media if you are not participating. Dive in. And don't delay. 70% of consumers are influenced by user generated content. 60% are involved in at least one social network. Social Media is crucial to the future of marketing because the consumer (faced with way too much clutter) is only listening to who they chose to.

Big take away: if you don't establish your destination in the social media sphere, you face the chance to be brandjacked...and someone else will occupy that space (just like URLs). Interestingly, not that he cares, but I have (in a sense) brandjacked the "other" Bill Geist with my various presences on social networks and this blog.

Don't fear reviews. 95% of the reviews on the GoSeeTell network are positive. Find those that are talking about you and engage them to be evangelists for you.

Being actively involved in social media gets you a seat at the table. Watching through the window gets you nothing.

Chris Adams (Miles Media) and David Kirschner (Omniture) released data from their new White Paper entitled "Monitor, Measure and Manage: Best Practices in Web Analytics for DMOS." They urged attendees to go past traditional web analytical tools and begin focusing on the steps that consumers to take to insure that your tactics are working. Page Views per Visit shows the level of engagement with your site. Monitor your most popular pages and top exit points to enhance your site. "Stickiness" was all the buzz in the '90s...and, with Web 2.0 tactics, it's baaaack.

Test several versions of your landing pages to reduce Bounce Rates. Track critical activity...like stuff that impacts intent to travel.

Unfortunately, I was presenting to DMMI on Travel Trends during Dave Serino's presentation. Check out his blog for his high points.