Meeting planners: your ship is in

Two emerging trends in MICE: the growing popularity of both drive-ins and cruise meetings:
 

• A wide variety of cruise ships offering meeting space and group-friendly itineraries has never been greater. And a growing number of new ships have made cruising even more of a recent bargain for meeting planners.
 

• At the same time, vehicle recalls and fluctuating gas prices have not deterred the trend towards drive-in meetings.
 

Increases in drive-ins meetings are being reported throughout the industry.
 

Says Steve Schifley, director of sales and marketing for the Albany Marriott in New York:
 

"We’ve seen a five to 10 percent increase in that segment of the business. We are also seeing more drive-to business booking shorter term. We often get calls two months in advance of a meeting instead of a year out."
 

"It has been a trend for us for at least four or five years," said Joe Aldridge, president-elect for Syracuse, N.Y.-based United States Institute for Theatre Technology Inc. "We are trying to plan our meetings so that a larger number of our members can drive as opposed to having to fly.”
 

Why? Several reasons:
 

• Airlines have cut back on service.
 

• Airlines have also increased fees.
 

• The recent price of gasoline has gone down.
 

• With increased airline fares and fees, planners associate flying with “expensive” travel.
 

• Planners are increasingly under pressure to cut costs.
 

Cruising is another trend. Several reasons:
 

"When you look at the budget challenges facing meeting planners today, it’s the perfect time for people to consider cruising," said Josephine Kling, CEO of Seasite.com and co-founder of Miami-based Landry & Kling Cruise Event Services.
 

She said almost all planners can expect to save up to 40 percent by choosing a cruise over a hotel program.
 

"We can prove that in any category of ship relative to a hotel, you can save up to 30 to 40 percent by choosing a cruise over a hotel program."
 

"When you cut back on a hotel program, it’s really visible — attendees can see that there is no breakfast buffet. But with a cruise you don’t cut back on anything, you’re providing more,” she said.
 

If there is a downside to cruise incentives, it’s that the same perception issues associated with resort meetings can also apply to cruises, said Jerry Vaughn, president of Inspired Journeys, which has a cruise division.
 

“Incentive programs in general have been hard hit by perception concerns. If you’ve got a company laying off people while still doing incentive programs for their top people, it wrecks havoc within the company," he said.
 

By David Wilkening