Hotels get creative as economy lags - Phoenix Business Journal:

iwibacibem.wordpress.com
He says his team is charged with showing the dollar value as well as the experientiakl value of a stay at his resorrt to both business guests andmeeting planners, who can be a tougyh audience. “This is definitelgy a buyer’s market.” As part of that change in the the booking window for groups has shifted, hoteliers say. While plannerws still are booking some events a year in others are turning ona “The booking window has gotten incredibluy short — inside of 30 days,” Richarf says.
With that kind of short notice, hoteliers warn therse is some risk that the desiredd amenities or space will notbe “It’s a bit but we are trying to stay optimisticv and flexible,” says Newman. “Hoteliers are beinh challenged in managingtheir business,” says Kevin senior vice president of sales and marketing at the . “The bookin window is difficult. We know meeting planners are often not the ultimate decision so there’s a lot more ambiguity, a lot more of the By all accounts, 2009 is going to be a record-settingy year — and not in a good way. 6 percenr and room rates are going to decline abour4 percent,” says Freitag.
That woulfd be worse than the aftershock ofthe 9/11 terroristt attacks: Total U.S. hotel occupancy droppes by 5.6 percent in 2001. Valley hoteliers are looking on thebright side. “I think there’s a lot of pent-up demand, becausr a lot of these companies held back on their Richard says.