Loews Hotels is rolling out a customer satisfaction program for meetings planners that guarantees them the highest quality of service for their groups. To back that commitment, once a contract is signed, the meeting planner is given the direct phone number of Jack Adler, Loews' president and COO. The number can be used if the planner is any way dissatisfied with the group's experience at the Loews property. Apparently, no one at Loews expects the phone to ring. The firm has ranked at the top in customer satisfaction in several surveys. On the other hand, it could just take one botched coffee break or electrical short during a PowerPoint presentation to trigger that meeting planner's call to the top.
Travel agents packed a meeting room for a breakout session at Travel Weekly's LeisureWorld 2010 and Home Based Travel Agent Show and Conference last week, prompting an usher to drag more chairs into the room. Still, it was standing room only. At the head table sat the four panelists, all apparently in their 20s and 30s, decidedly younger than the audience. A passerby poked his head into the room, and TC heard the remark: "Ah, this must be the social media seminar!"
One feature of the two shows was the Geography Bowl, created and moderated by consultant Marc Mancini. It's a geography trivia game, and agent contestants are pretty impressive -- usually. Shortly after all the panelists introduced themselves, Mancini asked the agents to name what states their teammates were from. No one on either team could answer. Soon after, he noted that the designation "airport" was initially only given to cities with "city" in their name, and asked contestants to name the locale with the first airport. No one could answer, though they were sitting right in it: Atlantic City.
Forget improved ticket prices. It's getting pretty expensive for Royal Caribbean International executives to sail on Norwegian Cruise Line. Vicki Freed, Royal's senior sales veep, was back on an NCL ship for the first time in two years, with CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. agents (and TC) for a conference on the Norwegian Epic. During the cruise, she reprised the "Bowling for Co-op Dollars" challenge she started on the Norwegian Pearl during a Cruise Holidays confab in 2008. The latest round of bowling set Royal Caribbean back $10,000 in co-op dollars. Sounds like a strike to TC!