WorldRes.com
was late in the game booking a booth for the World Travel Market in
London this month. Therefore, to catch the attention of delegates,
a U.K.-based WorldRes marketer hatched the idea of positioning 10
out-of-work actors in front of the WTM venue, Earls Court, carrying
and waving banners as if protesting some outrage.
In fact, they were urging arriving delegates to visit the
WorldRes stand, and the banners each carried one of three slogans:
"The res revolution is here." "Join the res revolution." "Are you
ready?"
On
day two, the group was warned by Reed Travel Exhibitions that if
the "demonstration" did not stop in 15 minutes, the owners of Earls
Court would call the police.
Thinking this a bit silly, the WorldRes folks ignored the
warning until the phone rang 15 minutes later and the caller said
the owners really would summon the police. So, World-Res called in
its actors and itself called the local bobbies, seeking advice.
The police said the "demonstration" was OK provided it was on
public property and did not interfere with any person's ability to
get to where he wanted to go.
So, the next morning, the actors were back at it but located
just slightly farther forward of Earls Court, on the public
sidewalk.
And a few other exhibitors were a bit chagrined they had not
thought of staging their own "demonstrations."
Hang-ups 'n' hangovers
We have been hearing about rooms still available Dec. 30 and 31
at some of Florida's most upscale hotels, and the reason has
nothing to do with sticker shock.
At New York receptions staged by the Boca Raton Resort &
Club and the Breakers of Palm Beach, officials related the concerns
of corporate executives and independent business owners who fear
the worst -- that is, being out of town when the Y2K bug bites.
At the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami Beach, too, some rooms are
still available, but a spokeswoman noted that quite a few guests
reserved space well into the first week of January, figuring that
any problems with the air traffic control system will have been
resolved by then.
Meanwhile, although the champagne corks are still firmly in
place, we're starting to see January "millennium hangover" packages
being offered at resorts in places like Cancun.
Won'cha marry me Bill?
Here's a tale we thought group-tour organizers and meeting
planners, especially, might enjoy.
Some weeks back, the newsweeklies and other outlets picked up on
a survey by a Santa Clara County, Calif., newspaper that showed
Silicon Valley to have the highest per capita concentration of
un-contiguous, un-united males in the contiguous United States.
Soon, according to a Reuters report, a guy named Richard Gosse
picked up on it, too. He's the founder of an outfit called American
Singles, based in Beverly Hills, Calif. (and, more to the point, at
www.americansingles.com).
So he organized a convention-bash in the heart of the heart of
the territory, Palo Alto, for the weekend of Nov. 13, and hundreds
of putatively eligible women from as far away as England showed up
-- about three for every guy.
Did most of the single techies opt to stay at home, building
virtual romances on their superdriven machines? No, it was the
weekend of the Comdex convention in Las Vegas, the computer
industry's biggest annual show. (Gates was there.)
You'd think Gosse would've learned. Last year, American Singles
mounted its annual 'do on an autumn Saturday in Anchorage, Alaska,
where putatively eligible men are not only men but plentiful, and
the event had a turnout similar to that in Palo Alto. It was
opening day of hunting season.