The Travel Industry Association
recently purchased the Res-Expo technology conference and will roll
it into the TravelCom conference, beginning with the 2007 confab,
April 4 to 6 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
The purchase and merger are negative developments.
For one thing, two
conferences, allowing disparate voices and taking different tacks,
is better than one.
Two conferences
foster the free flow of ideas. One conference means one agenda and
one organizational voice.
It may sound
simplistic, but I also like two daily newspapers in the same town
under different ownership and two corporations slugging it out in
the marketplace. Same principle.
The nonprofit TIA,
seeking to increase its clout and make some dough to benefit its
members through involvement in an electronic marketing and
distribution conference, bought TravelCom in 2005.
Until 2005,
TravelCom, which had been owned by JD Events and co-chaired by
Henry Harteveldt and Susan Black for several years, had some
sizzle.
Until its phase-out
with the TIA purchase, Res-Expo, produced in recent years by Vickie
Singers Travel Technology Source, ignited occasional sparks, as
well.
Res-Expo had never
practiced a pay-to-play model, where companies paid to sponsor the
conference, a reception or a brochure in exchange for a keynote
speech, panel moderator or panelist positions.
TravelCom through
2005 rejected the pay-to-play model, too. However, insiders and
industry observers said that changed in 2006 when TravelCom, under
TIA auspices, adopted a pay-to-play platform.
The TIA Web site
states the following about TravelCom 2007 sponsorships:
For the select few
organizations that become TravelCom partners, the benefits are
enormous in terms of access, visibility and exclusivity.
Participation results in an invaluable opportunity to secure a
prominent branding and interactive marketing position,
strategically placing official TravelCom partners in front of the
most powerful delegate audience in travel marketing and technology
today.
Jay Gray, the TIAs
general manager of TravelCom, vehemently denies that there is any
quid pro quo regarding sponsorships and speaking slots, though he
acknowledges that there is much overlap.
For example, Cendant
was TravelCom 2006s premier sponsor, and several Cendant officials
gave talks, including Randy Wagner, chief marketing officer of
Travel Distribution Services. Wagner discussed Orbitz TLC, a new
brand.
Other TIA events
clearly are pay-to-play. For example, the sponsor of the TIAs
Regional Forum Speaker Series is assured of an introduction by the
TIA CEO and an eight-minute presentation to all five of the
Regional Forum Speakers Series, according to the TIAs Web
site.
Gray points to the
general session speech by John Stow, Sabre Travel Networks
president, at TravelCom 2006 as evidence that TravelCom speaking
slots are not for sale because Sabre was not a TravelCom
sponsor.
Sabre, however, is a
Sustaining Member of the TIA. Plus, Vistrio, a joint venture
between Sabre and Equitec, was a TravelCom sponsor.
Stows speech was
titled Creating an Efficient Marketplace, which turned out to be a
Sabre commercial. It produced a lot of yawns and was an example of
the downhill slide of TravelCom under the TIA.
Many of the panel
sessions, including one about cruise line Web sites, featured
travel industry panelists mouthing advertisements for their own
companies.
To be fair, the TIA
is a venerable organization, and TravelCom 2006 had some value.
Some of the panels, including one featuring Wall Street analysts,
were great.
But the dumbing down
of technology and e-marketing conferences, and the trendy
introduction of pay-to-play, wont benefit the industry.
Gray pointed to some
benefits of consolidating TravelCom and Res-Expo, noting that TIA
members would save time that otherwise would have been spent away
from the office by attending one technology show instead of
two.
TravelCom 2007, Gray
said, can more efficiently provide the same diverse content the two
dueling conferences previously offered without competing for the
same target audience. But I, for one, will miss the
shootout.