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August 30, 2004

Conference call | Business groups are an increasingly attractive clientele for the state's hotels and resorts

By Taylor Smith
In 1872, Kathryn Weare's great-grandparents opened the Cliff House Hotel in Ogunquit. During the hotel's early years, guests typically stayed at the resort for the entire summer season. The main building ˆ— a wood-frame structure with no insulation ˆ— was topped by a large water tank fed by a nearby artesian spring. On Saturday evenings, guests would queue up with towels to take their weekly baths drawn with water from the rooftop tank. But times have changed for Weare, the fourth-generation owner of what is now known as the Cliff House Resort and Spa. Compared to her greatest challenges these days, finding enough bath water isn't even on her radar screen. "It's a different world now," says Weare.

Indeed, the Cliff House Resort and Spa has morphed into a sprawling, 70-acre cluster of buildings stacked along the edge of Bald Head Cliff. Since 1990, Weare has spent roughly $25 million to expand the resort's facilities, including a full-service spa built in 2002 on the footprint of the original hotel that pampers guests with Maine wild rose body wraps and stone massages with heated rocks collected from the nearby cliffs. But with the Cliff House's newest construction project, a 4,500-square-foot conference facility with a state-of-the-art amphitheater slated to open Sept. 1, Weare is catering to the clientele that makes up a big slice of the resort's guests: businesspeople. "We're creating a three-legged stool with leisure, business and spa [guests]," she says. "That's important in any business."

Weare's efforts to diversify the Cliff House's business aren't unique in the increasingly complex hospitality industry, where short stays and high guest turnover have become the norm. The challenge for businesses like hotels and resorts: Find enough travelers to keep rooms filled on a consistent basis. And, if possible, find ways to squeeze more revenue from each head that hits the pillow. For many hotels and resorts, that's meant embracing the business meeting market, where corporations, associations and industries spend an estimated $100 billion a year in North America to hold gatherings. The meetings ˆ— CEO summits or industry awards, political conventions or sales conferences ˆ— can range from two people to more than 20,000.

Tapping into the national meetings market, however, can be tough for hotels and resorts in a state that many meeting planners view as too far off the beaten path. While the Cliff House is just 70 miles from Boston, it might as well be a world away for groups looking for easy access from a major airport. What's more, larger cities such as Boston and New York City boast the kind of infrastructure that can handle large-scale gatherings like the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. "Maine's great for small groups or retreats, but it doesn't lend itself to groups that are planning large business meetings," says Ann Godi, president and owner of Atlanta, Ga.-based event management firm Benchmarc360.

Reinvesting pays dividends
But while large, high-profile events attract a lot of attention both inside and outside the industry, Wes Harrington, president of the New England chapter of Meeting Professionals International, notes that the vast majority of business meetings are on the smaller end of the spectrum. That's good news for places like the Cliff House, where the average group numbers about 100 people. The trick for hotels and resorts hoping to capture a piece of Maine's meetings market, however, is to provide a wide array of amenities and features that will attract a range of corporate clients. While some meeting planners look for a boardroom-like atmosphere with wireless Internet capabilities, others search for a top-ranked golf course and videoconferencing capabilities. "It's like a jigsaw puzzle," says Weare. "To make it work, you've got to put the right pieces in the right spot."

Weare has been building the Cliff House's business clientele steadily since the 1980s, when she realized that corporate clients presented a unique opportunity to both extend her resort's season and pad midweek sales. She found that business meetings often were scheduled during the "shoulder" season in late spring and early fall, when lodging rates were cheaper and the Cliff House was less crowded, making it more able to handle a business meeting crowd. The demand placed on hotels and resorts hosting business meetings can be heavy, from reserving big blocks of rooms on short notice to closing a dining room or other space for an organized function. Michael Lynch, the director of sales and marketing at the Cliff House, even recalls working with local merchants and sailing vessels in Ogunquit to organize a scavenger hunt for a group from Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific.

Last year, roughly 40% of the Cliff House's overall revenues came from corporate clients. Lynch says that figure represents a healthy mix of leisure and corporate business that the resort would like to maintain. But to do so, the Cliff House has had to reinvent itself to keep pace with the fickle needs ˆ— and increasingly global reach ˆ— of the business community. "When a group decides to come to Maine for a meeting, we're competing with places like Paris or Hawaii, and that's upped our customers' expectations," explains Weare. "A place like the Cliff House has to reinvest in itself."

Weare's current construction project includes hallways built into the ledge of the resort's grounds connecting a cluster of its buildings, so all of the Cliff House's meeting facilities can be accessed without venturing outside (a fine attribute during a cold stretch in February). But perhaps the biggest draw for business meeting planners is the new conference facility tucked in next to the spa's lap pools and massage tables. The amphitheater, with a capacity of 151, features specialized chairs by North Berwick-based Hussey Seating wired with high-speed Internet at every seat and large flat-screen monitors mounted on the front wall for presentations or videoconferencing. Weare says a satellite truck even could be stationed in the resort's parking lot to beam presentations into or out of the amphitheater space.

The new facility cost more than $300 a square foot to construct, more than double the cost of the spa, according to Weare. But the expense appears to be paying off: Though the room is still under construction, Michael Lynch says it already has become a draw for meeting planners and business groups. "I've sold specific groups just because we have that room," he says.

The Cliff House is one of many Maine resorts working to improve its facilities in hopes of luring more of the lucrative meetings market. In 1999, the Samoset Resort in Rockport completed a major overhaul, adding a wing of deluxe suites to the main hotel and renovating its public spaces, health club and golf course. Connie Russell, the general manager at the Samoset, says the resort is strongly considering adding a spa facility in response to the increasing demand for such services. "When you're attracting business groups, it's the amenities that keep the attendees busy when events aren't going on," he says, adding that corporate clients make up roughly 60% of the resort's business.

Becoming a contender
Barbara Whitten, the president and CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Portland, applauds the renovations and improvements at places like the Cliff House and the Samoset. Such investments, she says, go a long way in convincing meeting planners that Maine can be a viable contender for their business. "It's a really wise investment to be making," she says. "We need to let people know that we're open for business."

Whitten's job gets complicated by the lack of data about the business meeting industry, especially regional statistics that would allow her to get a better handle on the local market. The industry is tough to track, says Wes Harrington, because it's so fragmented ˆ— from hoteliers and caterers to beverage suppliers and entertainers and beyond. Even more difficult, many smaller business meeting groups fly under the industry's radar, blending into the overall tourism industry.

But that lack of data hasn't stopped Whitten and Cindy Juskiewicz, the CVBGP's director of convention sales and marketing, from promoting Maine as a destination for business meetings. The pair travel to a dozen or more trade shows a year, often bringing along representatives from Maine hotels and resorts that are members of the bureau. In May, Juskiewicz organized a trip to New York City with a group of Maine-based hoteliers and meeting planners. The Maine in Manhattan event was held at the Thos. Moser furniture gallery on Madison Avenue, where 50 local meeting planners representing firms such as Citigroup, Time Inc. and Goldman Sachs sipped blueberry martinis with representatives from Maine destinations such as the Cliff House, the Sebasco Harbor Resort in Sebasco Estates and the Black Point Inn in Scarborough. "It was all schmoozing," says Juskiewicz. "It was all about making sure people had face-to-face time to explain what they could offer meeting planners and delegates."

That helped lay the groundwork for an event the CVBGP is planning in November called Maine Destination Day. The annual event at the Sable Oaks Marriott in South Portland will host roughly 200 local, regional and national meeting planners with educational seminars, receptions and a trade show. "It's to give them a good taste of what Maine can offer," says Juskiewicz.

Kathryn Weare thinks that actively marketing Maine as a meetings destination makes good business sense. "The state of Maine has to get serious about tourism because it's a big part of the state's [economy]," she says. "Maine can't rest on its quality of life. It's an asset, but it isn't everything."

Meeting place

The Cliff House
PO Box 2274, Ogunquit 03907
Meeting facilities: More than 13,700 sq. ft. of meeting space with two boardrooms. High-speed Internet access in all meeting facilities, including the new 151-person capacity amphitheater.
Accommodations: 194 rooms and suites
Phone: 361-1000
Web: www.cliffhousemaine.com

The Samoset Resort
220 Warrenton St., Rockport 04856
Meeting facilities: More than 21,000 sq. ft. of meeting space from ballrooms to boardrooms all with high-speed Internet access. Onsite services include audio-visual services, catering and event planning.
Accommodations: 178 rooms and suites
Phone: 594-2511
Web: www.samoset.com

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