Hilton Hotels Corp. has taken a small but significant step into uncharted territory for a hotel company: convention center management and marketing.
The hotelier has won the rights not only to manage two new hotels in the city of Branson, the live-entertainment music capital in Southwest Missouri, but also to operate and market Branson’s new 220,000-gross-square-foot convention center, to debut in 2007.
No hotel company in the United States operates and markets a full-fledged convention center. But the Branson project may not be the end of Hilton’s convention center activities.
“We have a lot of eyes in Beverly Hills (Hilton’s headquarters) watching us to see how we do on this,” said Tim Benolken, Hilton’s Chicago-based area vice president, who spearheaded the Branson initiative. “It may be a model for some markets that have not been able to find the right niche because the center and headquarters hotel have separate marketing and operating efforts.”
Added Mark Hartman, general manager of the Hiltons of Branson, “If we make this a success, and I certainly think we can, it could be the jumping off spot for going into other markets.”
In Branson, Benolken said, “We went in and proposed the synergies to make the project work in its totality. We would be the operator, marketer and seller of the convention center.”
Benolken said separately run hotels and convention centers often work at cross-purposes in fulfilling the meetings, expo and lodging needs of groups.
“Based on our experience in trying to synchronize efforts in other markets between our hotels and separately managed convention centers, it was not done well,” he said.
The convention center and Hiltons are part of the $420 million Branson Landing project, which also will include retail shops, restaurants, entertainment and condos.
The destination annually attracts 7.5 million visitors, with an 80 percent return rate. Hilton’s research indicates that groups would be willing to bring SMERF-type meetings if there were more upscale lodging and adequate meeting space.
Planners should appreciate the one-stop-shop for expo space and lodging needs. And the hotel world’s culture of customer service also may have strong appeal.
“Hotel AV departments are more responsive than the electrical guys at convention centers,” asserted Andrew Dudek, trade show manager with Telcordia Technologies in Piscataway, N.J. “And, if I also can do a deal for room blocks, meeting and expo space, F&B and all the other services, like printing and trucking, all with one person, it could be a winner.”
Hilton already manages convention center hotels in 33 markets. Its big facilities in Chicago and New York offer as much meeting space as many smaller convention centers.