NOLA makes COMMON Spring Conference a double edged sword -- MIDRANGE-L

Commons change of dates for their Spring conference is a double edged sword.Computer Associates, as has decided the rates for facilities and lodgings are out of reach.

* Computer group walks over Jazzfest room rates *
2003 CA World convention moving to Anaheim, Calif.
06/27/01
By Rebecca Mowbray
Business writer/The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Computer Associates International Inc. has canceled its giant April 2003
convention in New Orleans because it had trouble getting hotel rooms at the
rates that it wanted during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival,
tourism industry leaders said Tuesday.The annual software-users group
meeting, CA World, has been one of the city's most important conventions,
bringing as many as 25,000 high-tech industry people to New Orleans during
the slow summer months when the city is gasping for business.But in recent
years, the Islandia, N.Y., computer software manufacturer has wanted to move
its convention off the July calendar. In doing so, it has come into conflict
with the ever-growing demand for rooms during Jazzfest and the spring
convention high season at a time when the ailing computer industry is not
flush with cash.Jazzfest had record attendance this year, and local hotels
are reluctant to give discounts to large conventions during a time when they
can easily fetch top room rates.The No. 3 computer software manufacturer
canceled the convention arrangements it had made in October and forfeited its
$30,000 deposit in a pair of June 14 letters to the New Orleans Metropolitan
Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.The
letter to Ed McNeill, executive vice-president of the convention bureau,
blames members of the hotel industry for the cancellation."As you know, Ed,
the process of contracting the hotels for 2003 has been a very painful
process," the letter from Alida Montes, vice president of corporate events
and travel at Computer Associates, reads. "I want to thank you for supporting
us as you did in getting our concerns addressed with the hotel community.
Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an amicable agreement with many of the
hotels."Though the letter promises that Computer Associates will continue
working with the convention bureau in the future, New Orleans may have lost
for good the convention it hosted five times. The company is scheduled to
meet in Orlando, Fla., in July, and in 2002, 2005 and 2006. Anaheim, Calif.,
snapped up the Computer Associates convention for 2003 and 2004.Montes and
other Computer Associates executives declined to return repeated phone calls
seeking comment.Beverly Gianna, vice president of public affairs at the
convention bureau, said that the circumstances of the cancellation were
specific to this year and the cancellation did not mean that New Orleans has
lost CA World for good. In the meantime, the convention bureau's sales force
is busy trying to sell the April 25 to May 1, 2003, dates to new groups."It
simply means they go back and try to book those dates," Gianna said. "Those
are primo times."The hotel industry says that CA World is a convention that
requires lots of rooms, meeting space and special care. But it hopes that
Computer Associates, whose last meeting was estimated to have a $26 million
impact on the city, according to the convention bureau, will return to New
Orleans."We regret losing any business, especially a valued client such as
Computer Associates, but it's always difficult during a Jazzfest period to
accommodate the extensive needs of such a major client. While we regret that
we won't have them in April of 2003, we feel that our relationship is such
with Computer Associates that we'll host them again at a future date," said
Bill Langkopp, executive vice president of the Greater New Orleans
Hotel-Motel Association. The hotel industry should have no trouble selling
the rooms, he added.Other members of the hotel industry say that Computer
Associates has gotten increasingly price sensitive because CA World is a
meeting for companies and individuals who use Computer Associates software,
which means they're paying their own way.As the fortunes of the computer
industry have fallen, so has attendance: Only 12,000 people are expected at
the July meeting in Orlando, according to the Orlando/Orange County
Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc.Meanwhile, hotel rates for hosting CA World
in New Orleans have risen as the company has sought prime convention dates in
competition with the ever-popular Jazzfest. When the company held its meeting
opposite Jazzfest in 1998, CA World attendees probably paid $165 to $185 a
room, a major hotel operator said. For 2003, conventioneers could probably
expect to pay $230 to $270 for a room during Jazzfest."Their objective is to
get as many people as they can. To do that, they want lower rates," said Gary
Froeba, general manager and area director of operations at the Wyndham New
Orleans Canal Place and chairman of the convention bureau board. "There was a
conflict because of Jazzfest."With such high demand for rooms during the
spring convention season and Jazzfest, if the company wants to move CA World
to prime time, many hotel operators say it's reasonable that they should
expect to pay the going rates."We're disappointed to lose them, but the dates
are too good. Those dates are great dates," said Tommy Morel, area director
of sales and marketing for Starwood Hotels, which owns the Sheraton.The
cancellation of the CA World conventions is a rare crack in the unity of the
tourism industry, pitting big convention business against one of the city's
most cherished and noted homegrown events, Jazzfest.Privately, hotel
operators say it's a waste that CA World and Jazzfest are competing for
rooms, and they wish that one of them would move to a summer date.But Louis
Edwards, associate producer of marketing, sponsorship and promotions for
Festival Productions, said Jazzfest is staying exactly where it's always
been."We like our dates very much. The end of April, beginning of May -- it's
springtime tradition. People look forward to the rites of spring," Edwards
said.. . . . . .

Rebecca Mowbray can be reached at rmowbray@timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3417.

Glenn
________________________
Glenn Ericson,
Phoenix Consulting LLC , New York , NY USA
Ph.(718)898 9805 Fx .(718)446 1150
mailto:Glenn-Ericson@att.net
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