Humbled by expansion, Strip hotels covet small groups

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

The big hotels in town, bracing for the opening of more than 30,000 rooms in coming years, are paying new respect to a line of customers that has been largely falling through the cracks: dental technicians, payroll managers, World War II pilots and other small groups that gather in Las Vegas.

That's why people such as Sherry Parks are no longer getting the bum's rush when doing business on the Strip.

From her office in Dana Point, Calif., Parks finds places across the country to host gatherings of business groups and trade organizations. Las Vegas is always a popular choice among her customers, but sometimes her events are puny by Vegas standards - 200 people here, 800 people there. Hardly the stuff of the Consumer Electronics Show, the MAGIC apparel convention or the National Association of Broadcasters, each of which attracts 100,000 people or more.

Strip hotels try to provide Parks' clients with small blocks of rooms as best they can. But with the big corporate conventions and trade shows, and the millions of individual tourists, Parks says she struggles to get salespeople to call her back.

That seems like odd treatment of event planners, given that almost half of Las Vegas' convention and meetings delegates come in groups of 500 or fewer, filling in the midweek gaps and the off-season weekends.

But that's mostly how business has been done locally: Hotels historically book larger events first and delay committing to smaller events as long as possible. And it speaks to a sense of Strip arrogance because the top convention destinations haven't needed to work too hard to get business.

But now Las Vegas is being nice to Parks. Real nice.

And it might be because, in a few years, the Strip will have nearly a dozen new resorts to fill, and Las Vegas, which for decades has been fending off concerns that it has overbuilt, doesn't want to face that consequence after the next round of construction.

Parks says hotels - looking to develop long-term loyalties - have begun to compete for her business, with some luxury properties offering more competitive bids than larger, midtier hotels. And the lethargic salespeople? They're now getting back to her, pronto. "And that's super unusual," she says.

Parks' observations are echoed by event planners across the country, each noticing the same trend.

"They're more vocal now about marketing to smaller groups," said Tim McKenna, a senior manager for Carlson Marketing Worldwide in Minneapolis. "And they're more like the rest of the hotel industry, in terms of getting back to people within 24 hours."

Michael Gasta, a former sales executive on the Strip, started his small meetings consulting practice, America's Guest, five years ago after hearing complaints from customers.

"Sometimes I'd get calls from meeting planners saying they were getting a response from properties but weren't happy with the sales. The group wanted shows, dinners, this and that, and the salesperson, who was probably straight out of college, said, 'We have this date at this rate for this many rooms. Take it or leave it.'

"Hotels now realize this is where the money is, and they're trying to get as much as they can on their books," Gasta said. "Everyone knows we've got 30,000 new rooms to fill over the next few years."

Filling huge hotels is no easy thing, which might be one reason the small groups feel they struggle to get the sales office's attention.

Hotels typically book choice dates with the big trade and corporate groups years in advance. But Las Vegas properties also keep rooms available for high rollers and, in some cases, travel companies that reserve rooms in bulk at wholesale prices. Factor in, too, the individual tourist, and finding blocks of rooms at certain times for small groups, sometimes on just a few months' notice, can be dicey.

"It's not necessarily that hotels don't want the (smaller) business," said Michael Uhl, a regional vice president for Helms Briscoe, a company that finds accommodations for corporate gatherings.

The art of booking smaller groups "has been a process of discovery for the hotels," said Chris Meyer, vice president of convention sales for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "There's a resurgence in this segment because they realize they can increase their occupancy by a couple of percentage points just by layering in short-term business more quickly."

That process has become easier because hotels have better - trained sales staffs and have even beefed up their sales forces more recently to target business customers, Meyer said.

Smaller groups of business travelers like Las Vegas for the same reason big groups do - easy access to a range of amenities and entertainment, and competitive fares on direct flights. The newest resorts and even the latest addition to the Las Vegas Convention Center were designed with flexible walls that can accommodate groups of fewer than 500 people, which make up an estimated 80 percent of events held in Las Vegas.

"You can't be in business today and not have your business meeting route through Las Vegas at some point," said Jerry McGee, president of Ambassadors LLC, a meeting planning agency in Newport Beach, Calif.

For hotels, smaller business groups - one of the most difficult customer segments to forecast - have become an integral part of their business strategy, McGee said.

Parks, who most recently booked a group of 60 telecommunications managers for a meeting in Las Vegas, says it's nice just getting a return phone call with a contract. Sometimes she even receives a customer service survey.

"I don't think a Vegas hotel has done that in 30 years," she said. "This is a happy time for meeting planners."