March 2005

A MONTHLY DIGEST TO INFORM AND ENLIGHTEN MEETING PLANNERS

At the edge of Old Montreal, the W is an impressive deluxe hotel that will seduce refined travellers from all over the globe.

IN THIS ISSUE Meeting space glut

5

Book review

6

American loses pillows

7

Ascending in sales

8

Creativity

10

Datebook

11

Attitude Hotel News

12-13 16, 17, 19

Canadians lack focus March 2005 Edition

18 VOL. 3 ISSUE 2

The W Hotel... as in Wow!

BY NATHALIE CARON AND ANNE BIARRITZ

T

he latest offering from the Starwood Hotel chain, the W Hotel opened its doors in Montreal on November 16, 2004.

Located in the old Bank of Canada building and adjacent to the new Caisse de d茅p么t tower, it wants to become the trendiest hotel in town where one can see local and international celebrities as well as its own eclectic clientele. We had our first W experience during a cocktail party

organized by the sales department followed by a visit of the premises. Several model rooms and suites were open for our visit.

An exceptional site With 152 rooms including 22 urban suites, 6 Wow suites and 3 Extreme Wow suites, we discovered a new concept: upon setting foot in the elevator, the vocabulary lesson begins. The W hotel is not a boutique hotel, it is totally a style hotel.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

NOTES

FROM THE EDITOR

Education is tops M

y recent trip to the MPI conference in San Diego illuminated a basic, undeniable truth: you can never have enough education. If there was a constant theme at the PECNA, it was that education is the foundation to a long and successful career as a planner. Indeed, a lifelong training plan should not only be desirable but necessary.

When you make an investment in training, you not only increase your productivity but also your value to your company and the marketplace. In most cases, your employer will be happy to pay for the training courses as it will help you professionally, and by extension the company as well.

However, if this is not the case , if your employer does not want to pay for the training, it may be time to look for a new employer who will provide you with what you need to succeed.

If we don’t move forward, we fall behind in a world that seems different every passing year, therefore we must advance or we will be passed over by the sea of change.

Our goal at The Planner is also education-based: we try to provide articles that will inform and help you increase your productivity. And we will donate profits generated by the publication towards courses that will empower you to be all that you can be in this challenging field.

As always, we appreciate any comments and suggestions you send our way.

Mobile technology pays off In 2004, Research in Motion of Waterloo, Ontario asked for an independent survey by Ipsos Reid on the ROI (return on investment) relative to the Blackberry. It was demonstrated that the average user was able to convert 54 minutes of dead time to productive minutes each day.

Assuming a work week of five days, 50 weeks per year, that recovered time was equivalent to about 196 hours annually (about 5 work weeks) increasing the productivity of work teams by 29 per cent according to information gathered on the international productivity of workers.

On the web: www.blackberry.com ••• Other stuff: If you would like to be a monthly correspondent for The Planner providing 150-200 words a month for the Industry News section, please e-mail us at: info@theplanner.ca.

Need to change your address?

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Next issue: April, 2005 Email us at:

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info@theplanner.ca What would you like to read about?

Please e-mail me at: lgervais@theplanner.ca

Published by: 2105 rue de la Montagne, suite 100 • Montreal, Quebec • H3G 1Z8 Telephone: (514) 849-6841 ext. 333 • Fax: (514) 284-2282 We welcome your comments: info@theplanner.ca

Our Mission and Goal Our mission is to inform and enlighten meeting planners. Each edition will have no more than 30 to 35 per cent advertising (all of which will be informative) with the rest of the publication dedicated to articles to help meeting planners in their day-to-day activities. Our goal is to give out the accumulated profit as educational grants to planners.

Editor: Leo Gervais Assistant Editor: Nathalie Caron Proofreaders: Maya Kramer, Keith Motton Translator: Dominique Lamarche Administration: Patrick Galvin, Julie Boisvert Sales: James Paulson, Camille Lay Contributors: Mike Auctor, Anne Biarritz, Thomas Chalmers, Sharon Danley, Peter De Jager, Brent Finnamore, Harriet Wezena The Planner is a monthly publication distributed to 11,000 professional meeting planners and growing.

Another 1,000 copies are distributed to individuals working in the service industry.

Poste-publication No. 40934013

MARCH 2005

The W: A place that evokes all the senses CONTINUED

FROM PAGE

1

Here, we don’t talk about rooms in categories like superior or deluxe, but instead in terms like “Wonderful”, “Spectacular”, “Mega”, “Urban Suite”, “Wow Suite” and “”Extreme Wow Suite”.

The doors open to a corridor with very subdued lighting to recreate the impression of the aisles in a cinema, reinforced by the decor elements on the walls. The room numbers were indicated by a blue light, shining through an oval metallic plaque with the room number punched in it.

Then the show starts: Act One is when you enter the room, where the tones are neutral: black, white and gray but with a hint of electric blue to bring the decor to life. In certain rooms, a window “painting” gives you a view of the bathroom when you take your first steps in the room. The first people who walked in believed it was a painting or an alcove with decorative elements until the moment when the last visitors came in and saw the first people in the bathroom. According to the room, the bed is either large or very large, and a large black chair, made exclusively for the W Hotel in Montreal by a Quebec designer, offers relaxation close to the bed.

The shape of the chair varies according to the room. And surprise! The bathroom is revealed when the blue curtain is pulled back: sink, bath and shower are in full view to the guests.

In all the rooms and suites, the bathrooms definitely hold your attention. A shower in blue glass overhangs the living room with a view of the city in one suite, a built-in bath raises the floor by a few feet a few steps from the bed in another, so there’s lots of variety to seduce any visitor.

Some suites provide a balcony allowing a small reception to be held outside during the warmer months. Another offers plasma-screen televisions. The cost for a stay at this hotel is more than at most other similar establishments in Montreal.

An exceptional site for events Situated between Old Montreal and Downtown, this hotel is the apex of chic urban style, a hot commodity these days. The new, trendy location of Square Victoria is praised for its impressive modern furniture.

Service is a priority, and benefits guests around the clock.

The building is of contemporary design with lots of space.

MARCH 2005

Done in a cutting-edge style, with sophisticated materials (such as rich woods, stone, glass, subtle textiles, fur, etc.) and has a decor rich in fluorescent colours that play between light and shadow, colours that mix with natural ones predominated by red and brown, so the lines, however sobering, bring back a sensation of undeniable comfort.

With attention to the smallest details, the W offers an impressive location for the business world. In effect, Le Branché is a multipurpose room open 24/7. Located on the mezzanine of the hotel, this sumptuous 3,000 sq. ft. location offers six meeting rooms dedicated to corporate activities. It is equipped with the latest technology and outfitted to make any event held there exceptional.

Satisfied planners who will use the space will awaken their senses: their sight, captivated by the delicate furniture, practical and well organized; the smell, stimulated by different natural floral perfumes and diverse spices dispersed in the rooms; and finally, the taste is tantalized by an amazing personalized banquet service for breaks, breakfasts or organized lunches.

In another part of this unique universe, the bar-lounges are easily accessible from the living room. A large staircase brings you to Plateau, an airy space punctuated by a long bar and mini-salons that permit comfortable receptions. Audio-visual systems can be brought in to provide an unusual dimension.

More eccentric but still attractive, the Wunderbar has a VIP corner, extended by seats and sofas. Overhanging the DJ station is an animated wall.

Finally, the Otto restaurant offers fine Italian fusion, with exquisite dishes, served in a room with trendy decor. The room can hold up to 150 people, and is interspersed by alcoves that hold up to 12 people for more intimate dining.

The design of the bars and restaurant are the result of a collaboration with celebrated world-renowned architect Miguel Cancio Martins.

The W is the ideal location to stay if you appreciate luxury and refinement during a business trip. It is equally valuable for meetings and special events, and it will quench the thirst of any planner thirsty for innovation.

For more information, contact Philippe Champagne, Director of Meetings and Banquets at (514) 395-3136 or Conrad Doucet, Director of Sales and Marketing, at (514) 395-3134.

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Industry Trends You can avoid Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and you should Chicago’s O’Hare Airport finished last among the nation’s 31 busiest airports for on-time departures and arrivals last year, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A record 305 flights through O’Hare arrived late, and only 735 departed on time. The previous year, O’Hare was next-tolast, just ahead of Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

Denver International Airport was first in on-time arrivals, with 83 percent of the flights arriving on schedule, while Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport was No.1 for on-time departures, at 87 percent.

O’Hare and Atlanta’s airport compete for the title of world’s busiest. Any congestion at O’Hare can swiftly affect air traffic nationwide.

In a move to reduce congestion, the Federal Aviation Administration reached an agreement with the major airlines in August to cut peak-hour arrivals, and the city is hoping for FAA approval of a $15 billion plan to add new runways and reconfigure others at O’Hare.

Nationwide, the 19 airlines that reported their on-time performance to the Transportation Department said 78 percent of flights arrived on time last year, down from 82 percent in 2003.

4

Maintaining altitude or climbing Business travel this year will match or exceed last year’s volume, according to a survey of 300 major North American travel managers commissioned by Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

More than 80 percent of the corporate and third-party travel managers polled said they expected their 2005 business travel spending to increase (34 percent) or stay the same (49 percent). The survey, which also polled 1,200 individual travelers, found that the top two pet peeves on flights were people who carry on bulky bags that should have been checked (32 percent cited this) and babies who cry (13 percent).

Managers thought the main problems would be long security lines (29 percent) and resentment that others were paying less on the same flight (19 percent). Travelers put those at 15 and 5 percent, respectively.

Rejuvenate yourself- A simple stretch can boost your energy for the rest of the day Long meetings wearing you down? The Ragdoll Pose, courtesy of Darrin Zeer (Office Yoga Chronicle Books, 2000), is a simple stretching exercise that will help you re-energize for the rest of the workday. Here’s how it works: • Take a deep breath.

• Lift your arms straight up and stretch • Exhale, bend your knees and drop your hands to the ground.

• Relax your head and shoulders and take deep full-body breaths.

• Let everything sag toward the ground while still bent over.

• Return to standing position by slowly walking hands up legs.

75 % SOURCE: NUCLEUS

RESEARCH

Percentage of all emails that were spam in 2004

There are only two things that bring happiness: faith and love.

Charles Nodier

MARCH 2005

Report: Cities have glut in space for meetings as attendance falls

A

merican cities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build convention halls at a feverish pace, even as the convention industry is contracting and attendance is falling, according to a new report by the Brookings Institution.

The report comes as more than three dozen American cities, including New York City, are seeking to expand their exhibit space or build new convention centers to capture new business, jobs and revenue, according to the New York Times. Last year, the New York State Legislature approved a $1.4 billion plan to add 575,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

According to the NY Times, the Brookings report raises questions about the wisdom of joining the convention hall space race.

“You’ve got cities around the country building new or expanded convention space at a very rapid rate in a market that is already glutted and oversupplied,” said Heywood Sanders, author of the Brookings report, “Space Available: The Realities of Convention Centers as Economic Developments Strategy.”

In an environment where every major center around the country is sharply discounting rental rates or giving away space and throwing in incentives, Sanders said, the likelihood of any succeeding is remarkably dim.

According to the Brookings report, the amount of exhibit space in the United States has jumped 51 percent since 1990, to 60.9 million square feet from 40.4 million. And today about 40 cities are planning to add a total of up to 7 million square feet of space.

Yet the report indicates that attendance at the nation’s 200 largest trade shows has been falling since it peaked in 1996 at 5.1 million.

Computer and technology shows, the glamour segment of the industry in the 1990s, as well as mainstays like the National Hardware Show, have suffered declines. Even with recent upturn, the report said attendance only reached 4.1 million in 2003.

“Almost every convention center in the country is operation at a loss, not even counting construction costs or debt,” the report states.

Vancouver gets branded for the 2010 Olympic Games

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ourism Vancouver recently unveiled a new brand identity to enhance the city’s marketing of the 2010 Olympic Games and expansion of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. The new Tourism Vancouver logo—a “V” formed by two exclamation points— accompanies a brand promise to “exceed

MARCH 2005

visitors’ expectations” and “deliver a superior value within a spectacular destination that is safe, exciting and welcoming” to all. “The new brand identity encompasses the promise that we’re making to visitors about how we want them to feel,” said Tourism Vancouver chair, Paul Tilbury.

FACTS ABOUT VANCOUVER • It is Canada’s largest port city • Some have called it a "city of neighbourhoods," each with its own distinctive character • Its climate is mild by Canadian standards, about the same as Seattle, Washington

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BOOK REVIEW

Use what you’ve got

BY HARRIET WEZENA

D

rawing from hilarious stories about growing up, Barbara Corcoran, a well-known figure New York City realtor and founder of The Corcoran Group, recounts how her mother’s unconventional lessons helped her build her billion-dollar company in her new book Use What You’ve Got. She starts her book chronologically, from the birth of the Corcoran real estate agency in 1978 with $1,000 borrowed from her boyfriend, to its sale. The chapters are organized around 24 life lessons she gleaned from her mother’s dinner-time advice over the years.

Some of the lessons imparted to here include: “If you don’t have big breasts, put ribbons on your pigtails”; “Offer the bigger piece and yours will taste even better”; “Put the sock in the sock draw6 er” and “You’ve got to bully the bully,” just to mention a few.

In chapter eight, she recounts how her mother got her dad to record their favourite songs on a reel-to-reel tape deck in order to lull all of them to their various rooms, which gave her mother time to prepare their lunches for the next day. Her mother’s lesson “If you want to be in two places at once, borrow a reel-toreel,” enables her to delegate some responsibilities to her assistant in her company. She says great leaders often have the conviction that no one can do the job as well as they can. “You have got to accept the imperfect copy in order to build a big business,” Barbara writes.

She offers a few tips for hiring: always choose people with the right attitude; make jobs for people — don’t squeeze them into jobs; and have confidence in your employees and let them know it.

Barbara says her mother’s insistence on “put the sock in the sock drawer” taught her how to be organized and effective in her own business. She introduced what she called the “check the box” system which allowed her to get an unprecedented amount of information

by Barbara Corcoran reluctant to innovate because you will be missing an opportunity to make a million bucks out of your hand. “You have a right to be there just as everyone else and play the game by your own rules,” she states.

Growing up in a shared three-family house in New Jersey with her parents and nine brothers and sisters, she recounts humourous stories and events—with the help of Bruce Littlefield—that provide hilarious counterpoint to this informative tome.

Most importantly, irrespective of your occupation, Use What You’ve Got has a universal appeal that will work for anyone who wants to learn from the humble but bold steps that Barbara Corcoran took to create the Corcoran real estate empire, an organization that now brings in over $2 billion in annual revenue. Obviously she used what she’s got to the max.

☛

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from sales agents, independent conHE ARCH tractors and real estate agents.

She stresses the importance of ISSUE OF HE PRAH information to her business because it helped predict emerging markets, AGAZINE HAS AN and positioned her company as a reliable source of facts and figures as INTERESTING ARTICLE ON the Corcoran agency became a “veritable research center for the ARBARA ORCORAN S numbers-hungry New York Press.”

Like her mother who made her NEW CAREER AFTER and her brothers and sister “Go play outside” she applied this to her busiSHE SOLD HER COMPANY ness. According to her, “conducting business is usual business, but playing together creates extraordinary busiFor more information on the book, go to ness.” She explains that good feelings on www.chapters.ca, search by title or the playfield find their way into the office, author. break barriers, unite differences , and socialize people to find common ground Book: beyond the workplace.

She writes that when she started her Use What You’ve Got real estate business “I saw myself as the Author: ‘Queen of New York Real Estate’ “ and Barbara Corcoran with Bruce Littlefield it’s with such confidence and risk-taking Publisher: that she did business with real estate Portfolio (Penguin Putnam Inc) tycoon Donald Trump, fought him in Price on Chapters.ca: court, and won. She advises not to be $26.25 (Hardcover)

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MARCH 2005

First the food — Now no more pillows on American Airlines

P

erhaps this will soften the blow of American Airlines removing its pillows from most domestic flights last month: the blankets stay.

The Fort Worth-based carrier, owned

by AMR Corp., said recently that it would no longer offer pillows on most flights starting Feb 15, in a cost-cutting move expected to save another $370,000.

“Almost all of our domestic aircraft have adjustable headrests, and we’ll still provide blankets for lumbar support, which is what the pillows were used for by customers a lot of times,” said American spokesman, Tim Wagner.

American announced in November that it was removing pillows from its MD-80s, which saves time and money by enabling workers to clean cabins faster. Pillows will be absent from 737s, 757s and Airbus A300s on nearly all fights within the continental 49 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.

The Airline said, it won’t affect international flights to Europe, Asia and South America and pillows will be stationed on Hawaii and transcontinental flights as well.

The Airline received some initial resistance when it removed pillows from the MD-80s but complaints dropped dramatically after a few weeks, Mr. Wagner said.

PCMA Space Verification looks to become standard for the meetings industry T he Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) has partnered with MeetingMatrix International, Inc. to develop an internationally recognized event space management standard: PCMA Space Verification. This strategic alliance will provide meeting professionals with the most accurate, streamlined and efficient event space communication tool in the industry.

Through this new programme, MeetingMatrix provides both event planners and facilities with PCMA Space Verified room diagrams, ensuring that event setups which fit on paper will actually fit in the room. A facilities meeting space must first be “Certified” by a MeetingMatrix Installation Manager by physically measuring the area.

Measurements are guaranteed to be accurate within one-quarter of an inch.

“PCMA’s commitment to providing the hospitality industry with the best educational programs, standards, and tools is the true validation for PCMA Space Verification,” explained John Secord, Vice President, Sales and Operations for MeetingMatrix. “For the past decade the event planning community has benefited from PCMA’s verification programme and MeetingMatrix is excited to apply its 15 years of worldwide accepted practices to this incredible program.”

Courtesy Charm Character Calm Cuisine - Canadian

Hotels, convention centers, conference centers, and venues alike will be able to use the PCMA Space Verification programme to guarantee the accuracy of their event space. Meeting planners can access these diagrams via web download or CDs during the site selection process. Once MeetingMatrix has measured and “Certified” the space at a facility, the property can display the official “PCMA Space Verified by MeetingMatrix” seal on its marketing collateral, and web site. In addition, “PCMA Space Verified” plaque can be prominently displayed in each facility, and the official seal will be seen in all MeetingMatrix Certified Room Diagram files.

Professional meeting planners worldwide can receive a free version of the MeetingMatrix software and access to all PCMA Space Verified facilities. They can then communicate their exact event setup needs to the properties both through traditional floor plans and virtual walk-thus, experiencing the space in three-dimensional reality. Advanced room diagramming software allows planners to create to scale diagram setups with the use of simple pull-down menus and toolbars and experiment with different seating arrangements in every size and shape imaginable.

For additional information, please visit the PCMA Web sit at www.pcma.org.

Relais & Châteaux has set a worldwide standard for elegant hospitality defined by the five C’s. Now a select group within the family has added a sixth: Canadian.

Redefines life in the Country R.R. 33 Cambridge, Ontario N3H 4R8 519.740.2100 1.800.268.1898 www.langdonhall.ca

MARCH 2005

Langdon Hall offers escape into a world of gracious hospitality, elegant amenities and exemplary service. An excellent meeting and entertaining venue. For 2005 AAA/CAA has awarded Langdon Hall the coveted Five Diamond Award for dining.

LANGDON HALL IS ONE OF 13 R&C MEMBERS ACROSS CANADA W W W. R E L A I S C H AT E A U X . C O M

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Ascending in sales

BY BRENT FINNAMORE

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ake one hundred salespeople in any $10 million organization; Eighty of them are “Good”, earning $20-80,000. Sixteen of them are “great”, winning $90-200,000. Four of them are “Extraordinary”, raking in $1-2 million. The secret to ascending through the ranks from “Good” to “Great” to “Extraordinary” is what everyone wants to learn. In twelve years of psychology, sales training and performance coaching I’ve found there are six behaviors that allow salespeople to ascend to that coveted Top 4 position: Appeal to their emotions.

Good salespeople appeal to the prospect’s logic. Extraordinary salespeople appeal to their emotions - in five simple steps: 1. Get the prospect to tell you a story about a good buying decision they made for a similar or identical product or service to yours. 2. At the peak of their story, amplify their emotional state by saying, “good for you!” 3. When the story is done, condition their emotional state by saying “Wow that’s great!” and use a “OK” gesture with your fingers and thumbs. 4. Once you have asked and found out their needs, get them to picture the positive outcomes of working with you. As you describe the very same results they said they need, say, “Can you picture how that kind of result would help you? I mean Wow - that would be great!” and use the hand gesture. 5. Now they are back in their emotional buying state, positively associated to your product or service and you can close more readily.

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M o n t r éa l c e n t r e - v i l l e

◆ 5 dynamic meeting rooms for 5 to 300 people

◆ In the heart of the action, close to public transportation, ample parking

◆ 180 rooms, special rates for conferences ◆ Unique ambiance and international style service ◆ Complete catering Isabelle Tremblay T: 514-866-6492 poste 894 F: 514-861-4089 sales@europahotelmtl.com www.europahotelmtl.com 1240 Drummond. Montréal, Qc H3G 1V7

WANT TO ADVERTISE IN THE PLANNER? CALL (514) 849-6841 EXT. 331

Seek out their wants. Bait the hook to suit the fish. 1. Ask: “What’s important to you in a…?”, which tells you their perceived needs and reveals their preferred language triggers. Then ask, “Why is that important?”, which tells you their reasons. 2. Play it back: “So what you’re saying is…” This step makes the prospect consciously aware of what they want and why, and also forms a subtle contract agreement. 3. Connect: “You just described my product…” Now you marry the needs they identified to the relevant benefits of your product or service.

Change their beliefs. Prospects resist buying your products because they hold a belief that prevents them from acting. A belief is an idea we no longer question or test. Question a belief enough times and you create doubt. If the prospect believes she can get better quality somewhere else you say, “What if I were to tell you that in fact there is no better quality available on the market today? That we are that higher quality provider you’ve been hearing about?” If the prospect says, “It’s too expensive,” you ask, “Compared to what?” or “Is it really?” or “Are you sure you’re comparing apples to apples?” Questions like these create momentary doubt in the prospect’s mind, opening them to consider your point.

Encourage immediate action. Do you know how to create a sense of urgency in your prospects? Instead of showing them only what they’ll gain by taking action now, show them what they’re losing every day they delay. Extraordinary salespeople know that some people are motivated to gain payoff, while others are more motivated to avoid loss. As you build your case, get them focused on the cost of not buying from you. The $500 they can save each month may not be as motivating as the $500 they’re losing each month they delay buying from you.

Never let them forget you. One of the biggest barriers that keeps good salespeople from ascending to the top is the OOSOOM effect (out of sight, out of mind). In working on trade missions to the United States, I observe many of them giving up after getting a No in the first meeting.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 MARCH 2005

Discover your purpose CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Extraordinary salespeople understand that No today isn’t forever - so they stay in touch. That doesn’t mean being in their face, it means being on their minds. Send them a local newspaper when visiting their hometown. Drop a note to them on Lord Baden-Powell’s birthday, wishing their son a great day at Boy Scouts. Give them a good-humored condolence call when their favourite team loses. Someday their current provider will drop out of the picture, and you want your face to be in their minds.

Discover your people-purpose.

Why are you here? What’s the purpose of your life?

Extraordinary salespeople not only find these questions important, they can answer immediately. Discover your own personal purpose and let it drive you to make a difference. To add value to other people’s lives; To help solve problems; To make people’s lives easier. Once you discover your own purpose, you will feel it pull you. You will instantly find everything you do in your sales cycle more rewarding, fulfilling and meaningful. There is simply no greater source of motivation.

The author: Brent Finnamore is an in-demand motivational speaker and human capacity coach delivering seminars and keynotes throughout Canada and the U.S. since 1993.

He is the President of Finnamore Weir Inc. and author of two books and an audio CD on personal development and performance improvement. To book Brent for your next event please, call 877-374-7325 or visit www.brentfinnamore.com.

Leadership in Project Management Project Management June 15 - 17, 2005 This seminar explores proven techniques to create effective project teams, meet critical deadlines and avoid cost overruns. Learn how to set realistic budgets and schedules in the project planning stage, and the importance of human relations and communications throughout the project life cycle. You will also benefit from the instructors’ diverse knowledge and personal experiences in managing projects within numerous industries. Conforms with the internationally recognized framework and terminology of the Project Management Institute and represents 21 PMI® professional development units.

Faculty of Management McGill University 1001 Sherbrooke Street West, 6th Floor Montreal, Quebec Canada H3A 1G5

MARCH 2005

T 1 514 398 3970 or 1 888 419 0707 F 1 514 398 7443 or 1 888 421 0303 E executive@mcgill.ca www.executive.mcgill.ca

Natural Vitamin E softgels

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ravelling frequently on long-haul flights increases the amount of background radiation you are exposed to.

At high altitude, the earth’s atmosphere is thinner and therefore offers less protection against radiation. According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Civil Aeromedical Institute, every 4.1 hours spent at 37,000ft, the amount of radiation an air traveler is exposed to is said to be equal to that of an x-ray.

Frequent fliers are therefore strongly advised to dose up on antioxidants, such as vitamin E, for two to three days after flying.

8 oz.

Quantity of water that a passenger should drink each hour while travelling on an airplane Source: www.flyana.com 9

Creativity resides in all of us and simply needs to be encouraged

BY PETER DE JAGER

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here isn’t an organization on the planet which couldn’t prosper from an increase in creative thought by both their employees and their clients. A customer who asks for a new product to solve a problem is offering you an entire new market. An employee who finds a new way of doing things might reduce your costs a hundredfold, or create a new industry. Creativity is an asset.

When beset by problems and challenges, all organizations seek innovative solutions. To this end, we search for strategies which might lead us to those new ideas. When we think of “Creativity” we usually think of words like “Spontaneous” and “Inspired”, not “Rote” or “Mechanistic”. The very notion that repeatable, mundane processes can deliver creativity is blasphemy.

What is the source of Creativity? If we believe the ability to create a new idea is a gift received at birth by a select few, then regardless of the techniques we might use to instill it within the masses, we are doomed to failure. For what can mere 10 mortals do, for those whom the Gods pass over?

On the other hand, if we believe that creativity resides in all of us, then the problem becomes one of encouraging, and releasing it, and not of instilling or teaching it.

It doesn’t take much effort to prove we’re all incredibly creative. All we need do is pay attention to what happens in the darkness of the night. Regardless of how uncreative you might consider yourself during the day, at night, when you relax and shut your eyes, your creativity blossoms into fantastic dreams.

Things you could never imagine in your waking moments carry you on wild adventures, making the best Spielberg movies pale in comparison.

Our challenge is to unlock that ‘ability to create’ in our waking hours. To channel our midnight dreams out into the daylight where they can do us greater benefit.

Creativity is doing that which hasn’t been done before. To ‘create’ is to produce the new, to bring into being for the first time a new idea, product or service.

Those definitions suggest part of the obstacle facing creativity. Doing something new requires courage. Courage to protect us from ridicule as people around the meeting table, scoff, laugh, or smile condescendingly when we offer a new idea for consideration.

It’s been pointed out before, it needs to be pointed out again, the surest way to kill a new idea is to laugh at it. It is difficult enough to drum up the courage to voice a new idea;

add laughter and ridicule to the challenge and soon, nobody dares to be creative.

Here’s a rote behaviour which is guaranteed (or your money back) to increase creativity in your organization is: Give all new ideas respect… even when at first glance, they don’t seem to deserve it.

While this almost trivial strategy, makes Creativity easier to voice, it still does little to generate new ideas. So… let’s go back to one of those definitions; Creativity is doing that which hasn’t been done before. Depending on how you look at this, this is either incredibly difficult, or an almost trivial exercise.

For most people it is the former. Their question is “How do we think of something that hasn’t been done before?”

Here’s a mechanistic response to that question which requires little thought, never mind any ‘Creative’ thinking.

Attribute Manipulation: Take your product/service and list every attribute it possesses – then manipulate that list of attributes. e.g. Product: Radio a) Delivers broadcast sound to the listener Why not capture sound as well?

Why not deliver pictures as well?

Could it deliver smells?

Could it tell the listener the temperature?

Their Pulse rate? Blood Pressure?

Phone calls?

Text information about what they’re hearing?

Why not pre-recorded sounds? b) Receives radiowaves from radio stations Why not TV stations?

Satellite stations?

Why not Wi-Fi? Why not the Internet?

The surest way to kill a new idea is to laugh at it

If you notice a similarity between some of the ideas above, and products already on the market, then you could say the method doesn’t work… or it is proof it can generate different products…sometimes they just happen to have been implemented already.

Naturally, it takes some practice to think in ‘attributes’ of a product, but it’s not a difficult skill to acquire. Whether your results generate a useful new product, will depend on both luck and the number of new things you’ve managed to create.

••• © 2005 Peter de Jager - Peter is a speaker, writer and consultant on Management Issues relating to Change. Read more of his work at www.technobility.com or contact him at pdejager@technobility.com

MARCH 2005

Wanted!

Change Management Case Studies

DATEBOOK — Upcoming Events —

When it comes to Change Management, what works?

What fails? What's more difficult? And what do most of us do when it comes to large change projects?

APRIL 6-7

Enterprise columnist Peter de Jager and The Planner are collaborating on a large survey to answer some of these questions. Over the coming months we're going to collect somewhere between 20,000-25,000 Change Management case studies from all over the world. If you'd like to participate in this massive study, then visit: http://www.technobility.com/docs/sisyphus.htm

APRIL 10-12 Society of Independent Show Organizers CEO Summit, Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, Nev. Contact: SISO, (877) 937-7476; www.siso.org.

This survey will take 15-45 minutes to complete, depending on how much you're willing to contribute.

Your personal contact information will not be made available to anyone, for any reason.

If you have questions regarding this survey, please contact Peter at: pdejager@technobility.com

Just because you can put your boots in the oven don’t make ’em biscuits.

Old Southern saying

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11

It comes down to a matter of attitude Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of articles by the RBC.

E

verybody has social attitudes, and everybody is exposed to them in others. It is wise to be aware of them, for they can be dangerous things. We should keep a close eye on our attitudes lest they lead us to transgress against our fellows. And lest we abdicate our responsibility as thinking beings...

The introduction of the word “attitude” into American slang has piled confusion on top of confusion. To the “gangsta rap” performers who apparently started the trend, “having attitude” means having only one kind of attitude - the belligerent kind. The phrase has since been snapped up by hip advertising copywriters to describe any number of interesting conditions. In the process, “ attitude” has become one of those words from the land of Humpty Dumpty that means whatever its users want it to mean.

It was already confusing enough that there were two different classes of attitudes that are often mistakenly thought of as one - the personal and the social. The former contain an individual philosophy of life; the latter, a view of society. It is personal attitudes that make optimists and pessimists, idealist, and cynics, mavericks and conformists, high achievers and high school drop-outs. It is social attitudes that make liberals and conservatives, moderates and radicals, pros and antis, bigots and bleeding hearts.

In this essay we shall confine our comments to social atti12 tudes, which exert an immeasurable influence on human affairs, both positive and negative. For instance, the economic rise of the Japanese people from the wreckage of World War II has been attributed largely to their attitude towards working

In•no•va•tion The startling new “big idea” or business model that’s not just unique but also a dramatic leap from solutions that existed before.

hard together in the national interest. In contrast, recent events in Eastern Europe have shown the horrible things that can happen when ethnic and religious attitudes drive communities apart.

In countries such as Canada, attitudes underwrite the social contract that is the basis of a working democracy. Most of us behave decently in line with an attitude which decrees that the public good must ultimately be put before private impulses or desires. We abide by the laws of the land because they broadly correspond to our own “mindset.” We elect our governments on the basis of how closely their declared policies match the attitude of the majority.

But it is beyond the formal boundaries of the law that attitudes have their greatest effect, in the day-to-day relationships among people. They can make the difference between a place where people live together in harmony, peace and justice, and a place racked by ill-will, suspicion and tension, if not actual strife.

In our personal lives, we all carry a package of social attitudes into the world around us. At the same time, the attitudes of others may weigh heavily on our own affairs. Some people, for instance, may refuse to play by the established rules, or try to impose their values or enthusiasms on us against our wishes. Others may discriminate against us, or discriminate against third parties and try to make us do so as well.

Even in an apparently enlightened society such as Canada's, all too many of our fellow residents are subjected to harm because others have attitudinal objections to some feature of their identities. This could be their colour, religion, sex, disabilities, or something else that is equally inconsequential to the worth of a human being.

It might be argued that such overt discrimination could only come from a person who has passed the point of holding an attitude and moved on to bare-faced prejudice. Still, the seeds of any prejudice are to be found in common attitudes.

Moreover, people are likely to lull themselves into believing that their prejudices are really only attitudes. The words have different connotations; a prejudice is often—though not always —reprehensible. An attitude? Well, doesn't that sound innocuous and benign?

❖❖❖

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

MARCH 2005

Attitudes: whole systems of thinking CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

The collective beliefs that make up attitudes are often sheer mythology In this regard we should all be aware that “there is nothing respecting which a man may be so long unconscious, as of the extent and strength of his prejudices,” to quote the Scottish jurist and editor Lord Francis Jeffrey. The reason for this phenomenon is that seemingly mild attitudes may serve as a mask for strong prejudices, even in one's own mind.

But then, nothing about attitudes is as it seems, beginning with our fundamental conception of them. Our own attitudes seem to us to be logical points of view based on knowledge, experience, insight, and ideas. We would, of course, concede that not all attitudes are so purely rational. Being human, we would say that anyone else might hold unreasonable attitudes, but never ourselves or those who agree in detail with us.

In fact, however, whether an attitude is your own or your worst enemy's, it is likely to be equally irrational. A group of Scandinavian and American psychologists said as much a few years ago when they developed a working definition of this confusing word. An attitude, they pronounced, is “a persistent, emotional readiness to think about and behave toward people, institutions, social conditions and so on, in a particular manner.” Note the sequence of this scientific choice of language: first we have an “ emotional readiness” to proceed one way or another; only then do we proceed.

If questioned on how they go about forming their own points of view, most people in western cultures might argue that the psychologists have got the order backwards. They would say that people first think about a thing, then they develop their feelings about it. Whether they approve or disapprove of something - whether they “like” it or not - depends upon their considered opinion of it (or of her or him or them).

This view is consistent with the background of a people brought up to value intellectual independence. Having been conditioned to keep an open mind, we operate on the assumption that we arrive at our opinions by observing or discovering a body of facts and systematically placing them in logical order. We then check the facts and conclusions against independent criteria to make sure that we have got things rights.

We may indeed take such a dispassionate approach to questions in which we have not emotional stake, but when it comes to social attitudes, the impression that we have thought things out logically on the basis of verified facts is almost always a delusion. Psychological research shows that only a small proportion of the so-called information that goes into forming attitudes comes from personal observation or fact-gathering.

Attitudes establish a predisposition to think and act a certain way by first establishing a set of beliefs that steer those thoughts and actions. Beliefs by definition need to be

objectively true, as long as they are true in the believer's mind.

In the formation of attitude, they are passed along within a group, and are subject to both embellishment and over-simplification in the process. Often they are sheer myths which celebrate a group's past glories and perpetuate its enmities.

There is an especially high mythological content in the attitudes of families and traditional closed communities. In the old days, the religious, social and political beliefs acquired in the family and homogeneous communities were more or less fixed for life. This is still the case in many parts of the world, but the coming of pluralism in western societies has meant that traditional attitudes may be altered or abandoned. Exposure to diverse cultural and intellectual influences has caused many otherwise dutiful sons and daughters to refuse to go along with the inhibitions and taboos of their native groups, particularly in affairs of the heart.

In places where the influence of the family and the traditional community has waned, the urge to adopt attitudes has found new outlets. Some of the strongest social attitudes in Canada, for instance, are regional, generating loyalties which transcend ethnic and other social differences. As people go through life, they adopt the attitudes of the groups they join: associations, labour unions, political parties, corporations and what-have-you.

When people talk about “corporate cultures” and “party 13 lines,” they are really talking about attitudes.

Our occupations may also affect they way we view the world; there are, broadly speaking, a set of farmers' attitudes, artists' attitudes, physicians' attitudes, and so on. The opinions that arise from these are no less sincere for supporting the practical self-interest of the group. We can also adhere to the attitudes of groups that are so amorphous that there is no formal membership in them. Still, belonging to a particular age group or income group can profoundly effect your approach to life.

“The race of men, while sheep in credulity, are wolves for conformity,” the biographer Carl Van Doren wrote. People have a natural desire to associate with one another. This instinct makes them reluctant to assert themselves for fear of being excluded from groups. Hence individuals may ignore known facts and suppress independent judgment when their groups are discussing questions or attitudinal thinking.

Experiments have demonstrated that group members will change their conclusions to avoid disagreeing with the majority even when they know that they are right.

But attitudes are more than just a matter of “like thinking alike.” They are really whole systems of thinking. They determine how individuals interpret all the information they receive. They act as the sentries of the consciousness, allowing impressions that support them to pass in, and rejecting or ignoring impressions that do not support them. This selection process can play some strange tricks on the mind.

Nothing about attitudes is as it seems

MARCH 2005

Reprinted with permission from the Royal Bank of Canada.

Visit their website: www.royalbank.com

FIVE-MINUTE LIFE COACH

BY THOMAS CHALMERS

B

ill Gates admits to using his often. You probably use yours more often than you think. I used mine recently in a funny sort of way.

I am referring to intuition: those hunches which lie just below conscious level. Intuition defies logic. Allow me to explain . . .

Last Sunday morning my wife went to church with our two eldest sons leaving me and our fifteen-month-old son home alone. As well as the prospect of some serious fun with our baby son, I was looking forward to the fact that a computer technician was calling to put the finishing touches to my system upgrade.

Yes. Everything was going swimmingly. And then the unthinkable happened.

Baby son decided to dirty his nappy with excruciating faces (expressions that is!).

14 It was time to open a window or two. But

as the odour began to permeate every room in the house it became apparent that the diaper would have to be dumped. Otherwise the computerrepairman would probably feign illness rather than walk over the threshold.

Settled then - the nasty nappy would need to be neutralized. At this point and quite unexpectedly I had a gut feeling – an intuitive insight. That no matter when I changed the nappy, the computer technician would call at exactly the wrong moment i.e. when I was up to my elbows in it!

I decided to hang off. Maybe he wouldn’t call. After all it was Sunday morning. He was already late. I waited another fifteen minutes, just to be sure.

No sign of him and yet my intuition had told me otherwise.

It had to be done. I checked the road outside. No cars. O.K., let’s do it junior. I collected the changing mat and bag and placed baby son in position. One more check for any vehicles. Nope. Baby shoes off then trousers and socks. I listened intently. No engines. Here goes then. I took a deep breath and ripped off the velcro nappy. Wow! Knock me down with a feather. You’d think I would be used to this by now!

As if by magic and with immaculate timing the computer supremo pulled up at the front door. Well how lucky can a doting dad be? I had known it. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. I just knew that the computer-guy would arrive at the worst possible moment. Another fine mess . . .

INTUITION AT PLAY Ever been to the supermarket and wondered which queue to join knowing intuitively that whichever one you do choose will be the slowest moving?

Ever arrived at a bank of ground floor elevators and wondered which one to go for knowing fine well that whatever one you choose will be the last one down?

This is intuition at play. It defies logic.

You know the outcome. There is no

rationale or reasoning. You have a hunch.

A gut feeling. An inkling. An insight.

Intuition is a powerful tool. So why not tap into it and turn it to your advantage?

Be aware of that small voice. That first thought. That knowingness which disregards logical analysis. That feeling of synchronicity, of effortlessness, of unexpected inspiration, insight or elation.

THE QUESTION METHOD Stop for a moment and write down a question: a question to which you have been searching for an answer. Now read it aloud, close your eyes and let the thought go as if you were posting a letter.

Allow it to simmer on your back burner.

Carry on with your life and allow the answer to come to you intuitively and perhaps when you least expect it.

Intuition travels to us through our eyes, our ears, our feelings, symbols, events and even the universe. And it is a useful exercise to identify those times when you are at your intuitive best.

Perhaps when you are facing a challenge or sitting in silence or taking a walk or inspired by music, people or events.

Intuition is like a muscle. It develops through regular use. And once you appreciate the value of using your intuition, it may, in certain circumstances, undermine your logic, without reason, and yet fast forward you to a higher plane, a deeper insight and ultimately, a better decision.

Tap into your intuitive positive self in the present moment and you will perhaps know whatever it is you need to know or find the answer to that elusive question.

Channel your intuition like an eternal spring. Use it to change your life. Use it to change your nappies . . . and smell the difference!

Look after yourself and nurture your intuition.

Website: www.idealife.co.uk •••

MARCH 2005

Vocal presence is important

BY SHARON DANLEY Ed. Note: This is the fourth part in a series on image.

Y

our external package is impeccable.

You have a commanding and open body language and use state of the art technological and presentation tools. Is your tone of voice and choice of vocabulary equally competent? 45% (almost half of your presentation) is relegated to the auditory channel - YOUR VOICE. Do you speak so you’re hardly heard.......or toin a fwaze like nutin ya ehva hoid.....or maybe your bravado blows ‘em back like a tornado......or prolly ya dop yer ens uv wrs.

This can be just as difficult to read as it is for an audience to understand a speaker that doesn’t command their voice or articulation.

SOME FACTS & TIPS Most people speak too quickly and don’t articulate - usually due to nerves.

Knowing your presentation or being clear about what you want to say, in any situation, will go a long way to addressing this issue. Do diaphragmatic, facial and vocal warm-ups prior to every rehearsal and presentation. Practice into a tape recorder. Most people don’t like the sound of their own voice at first practice till you get over the audio shock!

Note - you sound different when you hear your voice outside your head because of your internal resonating chambers. Solve the problem by practice, practice and more practice. You will accomplish two goals with one action - more confidence and a clear, robust and compelling voice.

One of the most overlooked skills that has the most impact is giving every vowel, consonant and diphthong (secondary sound in a vowel) its full, intended value! Practice this skill every time you talk throughout the day. Over-emphasize every word while you practice your speech or read out loud from the newspaper. You will find that your voice becomes lyrical and very pleasant for your audience to listen to. And the next time you hear yourself on audio or video tape you’ll have a rewarding experience.

Sing your way to a robust voice. Practice projecting your voice by singing to your favourite tunes. Sing in the shower, the car or any time any place. Deep breath into your diaphragm 10 times, 3 times a day every day - also in the shower or the car - its fun, easy and the side benefit in many health benefits is well documented.

MARCH 2005

Beware the dangers of up speak (sentence tag that is turned up like a question). Nothing does more to undermine your expertise than this habit, and that’s all it is. It’s usually coined as the “valley girl” sound. Avoid it at all cost, unless of course you are speaking to a group of teenage girls you need to influence.

MOST WOMEN’S VOICES ARE TOO SOFT Speaking from the diaphragm is the best way to achieve good projection and sustained sound. Do what Mom always said, stand up straight. Breathe deep into what might feel like the pit of your stomach, not the upper chest, as most people want to do. Keep your mouth and jaws relaxed and push from your abdominal area when you speak. Voilà, a commanding voice.

As men age their voices rise in tone - for women they drop.

Know what age groups are you presenting to and match their general pitch levels. In other words, if you are a senior femme addressing a young crowd, raise your pitch by half a tone. If you are a junior femme and presenting to senior management, then drop your pitch by 1/2 or full tone. You can change your vocal age by changing your pitch. Know your audience and adjust accordingly. It’s simply a matter of matching and leading.

Most people use less than 500 words in the English language One of the simplest ways to sound like the expert you are is to make a lifelong friend of your Thesaurus. When you express your ideas more clearly you increase your ability to inspire and influence significantly.

When you take advantage of your full range of vocal tools you greatly enhance your overall presentation, increase your sense of self-esteem and project an honest confidence that’s hard for your audience to resist. Seek out a competent vocal coach. Its well worth the investment in that 45 percent auditory aspect of your presentations—your voice!

The “Voice of Your Choice” comprehensive manual is available with fun exercises designed to work with hectic schedules. It’s a great gift for you or someone who needs to sharpen their vocal skills, bring confidence to their presentations and be outstanding — even as a beginner. Mention The Planner and save 20 per cent.

© 2003, Sharon Danley. Reprinted with kind permission from the author. Sharon is an educator, designer and consultant with 30 years experience in perspective, image, performance and voice mastery.

Visit her at www.presentation-management.com or e-mail her at: info@presentation-management.com

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Hotel News from around the world Hilton Fourth-quarter net income slips Hilton Hotels Corp. has announced fourth-quarter earnings fell as onetime items, such as impairment charges, offset a recovery in business and leisure travel, but the company still beat analysts’ estimates. Net income fell to US $65-million from US $67-million a year earlier. Revenue rose 7 percent to US $1.054 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose to US $267-million from US $239 million a year earlier. Analysts had expected revenue of US $993.3 million, and EBITDA of US $259.96 million. Revenue per available room, a key measure of health in the lodging industry, rose 8.3 percent as a strengthening economy put more travelers into hotel rooms.

Canadian Hotels look for banner year in 2005, lobby group says A hotel industry lobby group is predicting the best year for Canadian hotels since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

The Hotel Association of Canada expects an occupancy rate of 62 percent for the year with an average room rate of $120 per day. The RevPAR, a key industry performance measure, is projected to be $74.

The Association’s figures represent a 4.5 per cent increase year-over-year with occupancy rates well above the 59 percent 16 reached in 2003—the lowest rate since the early 1990s. SARS, mad cow disease, and the after-effects of 9/11 business all combined to make 2003 a dismal year. “It didn’t get much worse than that,” Tony Pollard, the association’s president, said recently. He added he is optimistic for 2005.

About 90 percent of survey respondents said they would look at acquiring assets this year, and hotel operators are expecting profitability to increase 5 percent this year and 9 percent next year. In 2004, losses were 27 percent or $2,700 a room, the study found.

In related news, Colliers International Hotels is predicting the increase in profitability will help turn around the 10-year low witnessed last year in transaction activity in the lodging

sector. Hotels are usually priced on the income they produce, so sellers have been wary to unload properties in the poor post-9/11 economic climate.

Their data shows investment activity nose-dived in 2004 to $339 million, down considerably from the high of $1.3 billion in 1998.

Colliers is also forecasting occupancy of 61 percent across Canada in 2004, up from 58.7 percent in 2003. Occupancy levels peaked in 1998 at 67 percent.

Note: All amounts in Canadian dollars.

Soaring Canadian dollar sending Canucks to southern hotels Americans used to take advantage of the soft Canadian dollar when it was worth just US 0.62 two years ago and stay in Canadian hotels. Those days are over.

With the loonie hovering around US 0.81, it’s Canadians who are flocking south to the United States to enjoy the fruits of a surging economy and dollar. Every 10 percent gain in the Canadian dollar against the U.S. currency translates into a 15percent increase in the number of Canadians traveling stateside, according to the Canadian Tourism Commission.

Knights of the round table, we give you….

Surcharge Mini-bar restocking. Meeting room set and reset fees.

Automatic tips. These are just some of the inventive (some would say dishonest) surcharges hotels are asking guests to pay in 2004.

After the boom of the 1990s, hotels were forced to abandon surcharges in the wake of the 9/11 recession. At the mini-bar, for instance, guests are increasingly being charged not just for consuming an item but also for its replacement. One meeting planner said two of the extra charges one of her clients paid recently was a mandatory maid gratuity of US $8 and bellhop charges for a group who mostly carried their own bags ($3 per person).

Spice Up your Corporate Event - Just Add Salt.

From the beginning of time lakes and rivers, harbours and oases have inspired writers, artists, scientists and explorers.

It’s no wonder that more meeting and special event planners are jumping ship -- from hotel rooms to vessels that float. It's ‘full steam ahead’ for team-building exercises, board of director meetings, product launches and educational seminars.

Call us to inspire your team - 2 to 7 day expeditions onboard the tallship cruise vessel Caledonia

www.cansailexp.com / 877.429.9463 / 902.429.1474 MARCH 2005

Hotel News from around the world Conrad no longer a weak cousin in the Hilton family Conrad is about to flex some muscle.

Hilton Hotels is planning to launch a major expansion of its little-known Conrad chain of luxury hotels. The goal is to put Conrad into direct competition with luxury rivals like Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton.

With only 17 hotels worldwide, Conrad lags behind the 59 Ritz-Carltons and 65 Four Seasons around the globe. Hilton, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., plans to bring the number of Conrads to 50, and new hotels are planned for Las Vegas, Tokyo, and Dubai (United Arab Emirates). Even investors in Libya are interested. To avoid the stratospheric cost and high risk of luxury hotels, Hilton doesn’t plan to own the new Conrads but will instead seek rich individuals or investment funds that want to own them. Hilton will run the hotels, and in some instances have a small investment in the property.

One reason for the bold move: To give the 17 million members of HiltonHonors, the company’s customer-loyalty program a place where they can earn and spend points. Starwood does something similar with its Sheraton and Weston loyalists who can use their loyalty points with the posh St. Regis chain in places like Hawaii or Florence, Italy.

The luxury hotel business is in a boom, with some deluxe hotels reporting 85 percent occupancy rates and the term “pricing power”—travelers with rich expense accounts who don’t scrutinize the price of a room—is back in vogue.

The new Conrad strategy, which was approved at a Miami board meeting in late January, is also an attempt to correct a strategic error made in 1964 when Hilton spun off its international operations into what is now the separate publicly-traded Hilton Group in London.

Marriott reports gain of 12% in 4Q Boosted by higher rates at its hotels in New York and Boston, America’s largest hotel chain Marriott International Inc. said fourth quarter profit rose 12 percent.

Net income increased to US $189 million, up from US $169 million the previous year, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said in a recent statement. Revenue climbed up 9.6 percent to US $3.14 billion and the company raised its ADR 6.1 percent in North America as business and leisure travel increased. Marriott added 166 hotels to its system in 2004, bringing the total to 2,632 hotels and timeshare resorts.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

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MARCH 2005

Canadians lack focus Taylor: The problem isn’t how long they work, but the way they work

A

ccording to Harold Taylor, a time-management consultant, Canadians aren’t overworked—they simply lack focus.

For example, Canadian Secretary magazine once reported that clerical workers spent only about 55% of their working day actually working. The other 45% of their time on the job was spent looking busy, but not really accomplishing anything productive.

Through experience he found this to be true among many types of employees.

Disorganization and poor time-management practices can double the amount time it takes to get the important things done, says Taylor.

Among other elements, lack of goals, procrastination, selfinterruptions, perfectionism, shuffling papers, searching for things and inadequate planning are just a few of the reasons why people think they are working too hard, he explains.

When individuals claim they have to work longer hours to get things done, in many cases working overtime simply

18

extends their current inefficiency to cover longer periods of time, Taylor notes.

“In other words, the problem isn’t how long they work, but the way they work,” he emphasizes.

He cautions that, people will continue to appear overworked until they give time the respect it deserves. A Roper Starch Worldwide survey showed that most individuals, when asked to choose between time and money, would choose money. In fact 61 per cent of the Canadians interviewed chose money, while 32 per cent chose time. With so little respect for time, Taylor says, it’s no wonder they waste it.

According to him, if Canadians were more passionate about their jobs, prioritized their tasks, used a planner to schedule specific times for the major activities and focused on those activities as though they were watching a Stanley Cup final, they would accomplish a lot more in lot less time!

By way of illustration he points out, you don’t see hockey players wandering around the rink during a game, chatting with the crowd while taking their shift or signing autographs when they’re on the bench. They are focused on the goal: to put the puck in the other team’s net. They have a goal, a plan for achieving it and time frame in which to get it done. And they enjoy the process.

He leaves us with the question, “Should we do less?”

Tipping is not in China... or Cuba it would seem I

n an effort to defend the purity of socialism, the Cuban government has ordered tourism workers not to accept tips from foreigners, a move that threatens to slash earnings of employees whose work provides Cuba’s main source of hard currency.

According to a report from the Reuters news agency, some Cubans said the order is a throwback to Soviet-style control that existed before Cuba opened up to tourism and foreign investment in the early 1990s.

The new policy may also further undermine the quality of service at Cuban hotels, where tourists frequently complain about cockroaches and bland food and don’t return, said the head of a U.S.-Cuba trade group.

For two years, the the government of Fidel Castro has moved to restore central command over Cuba’s economy and curb the “corrupting” influence and creeping inequalities brought by foreign business, tourism and access to hard currency.

The Cuban government reluctantly legalized dollar possession in 1993 as it opened up the country of 11 million to tourism to keep afloat, after losing massive subsidies and aid when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Before then, Cubans used their dollar tips to ask foreigners to buy them consumer goods in “diplomatic shops” they were barred from entering.

More than two million tourists visited the Caribbean island in 2004.

MARCH 2005

Hotel News from around the world Wyndham selling 25 properties Wyndham International Inc. has agreed to sell 25 American hotels for U.S. $366million to an investment fund managed by Goldman Sachs and Co. and affiliates of Highgate Holdings.

Fifteen hotels will retain the Wyndham name including properties in Illinois, Texas and Ohio. The Dallas-based chain has sold 180 hotels in the past five years, raising $2.5 billion to repay debt and invest in managing and franchising properties on behalf of other owners. The sale of the 25 hotels will be completed in the first quarter the company said in a recent statement. For more info: www.wyndham.com

Starwood chain shows very healthy earnings Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has checked in with fourth-quarter earnings of $0.57 per share—$0.15 higher than for 2003. The better results reflect stronger-than-expected results in Starwood’s time-share division, as well as lower taxes and stronger revenues in the spa, online and catalogue segment. Analyst David Anders sees Starwood benefitting from improvements in its balance sheet, as well as expansion in EBITDA margins.

In related news, Robert F. Cotter, president and COO of Starwood Hotels Worldwide, announced Feb. 14 he will retire at the end of the year. Cotter, who joined Starwood in 1973 and is only 53, was named president of the company in November 2003, just two weeks after Barry S. Sternlich announced he was stepping down as chairman and CEO. Cotter has been COO since 2000. Starwood has not yet named his replacement. For more info: www.starwoodhotels.com

NYC’s Plaza Hotel to close on April 30 The Historic Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York will be closed on April 30 and transformed into fancy apartments, stores and a scaled-down hotel operation by fall 2006.

In conjunction with the closing of the 805-room luxury hotel, which has been host to royalty, millionaires, movie stars since Oct. 1, 1907, the hotel is offering $100 off of the total bill on a minimum two-night stay if you bring a story, picture, or a bill from a past Plaza stay.

The hotel, located next to Central Park, has changed hands many times over the years, from original owners like financier Bernard Bienecke, hotelier Fred Sterry and Harry S. Black to Conrad Hilton and Donald Trump. The first guests were Mr. And Mrs. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and several famous movies were shot on location there, including: Hitchcock’s North By Northwest (1959), Barefoot in the Park (1967) and Crocodile Dundee (1986).

Elad Properties bought the famous hotel last year from the Fairmont chain for US $675 million and plans to reopen late next year with about 150 hotel rooms, 200 condominiums and new retail space.

The Plaza’s most famous restaurants, including the Oak Room (now closed) will remain largely unchanged and will reopen in 2006, but they could have new names and menus. A huge ballroom will also survive.

The Plaza’s exterior was named a city landmark in 1969 and listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1986, but the interior never received landmark status, leaving Elad relatively free to complete its renovations.

The City Landmarks Commission will review Elad’s plans for the Plaza, but Commission Chairman Robert B. Tierney has been quoted as saying he believes Elad Properties understands the importance and history of the building.

On a sour note, 900 union members of The New York Hotel Trades Council Local 6 stand to lose their jobs when the hotel closes for renovations.

For more information:The Plaza 1-800-759-3000 or www.fairmont.com

MARCH 2005

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