70% increase in US room revenue for Corinthia

Corinthia Hotels have announced a 70 per cent increase in room revenues for 2006 from the US sector - with the Meeting, Incentives, Conference and Events (MICE) market leading the growth.

While statistical growth is an excellent barometer of Corinthia's outstanding record of attracting, expanding and retaining the MICE market, there is no better testimonial than the positive feedback of high-level planners about their Corinthia experience.

According to Stacy Davis of New York-based Carino Collection of Hotels and Resorts, which represent Corinthia's five-star hotels in the corporate sales and meetings markets: "It's easy for us to sell Corinthia to our meeting planner clients because we are confident that they will be handled by Events@Corinthia professionals at each property."

One of Carino's clients, Barry Zidel, president of Las Vegas-based Meeting Connections, Inc., who brought a group to the Corinthia Lisboa in Portugal in 2006, commented: "I cannot find the words and accolades which do the Corinthia Lisboa justice.

"I work all over the world with my clients, and have experienced just about everything, everywhere. The property, the staff, and the executives made this experience second to none! Having said that, all subsequent locations and staff are being measured by my clients and myself as the benchmark for conferences."

It comes as no surprise that Mr Zidel is now planning to bring this group to the Corinthia Towers Hotel in Prague this year.

Another meeting planner, Ludwig Krammer, director of Operations, Bucom International Inc., based in St Louis, Missouri, who arranged a meeting on behalf of Hoffmann LaRoche, Inc., at the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest, commented:

"I have had the pleasure of working in the hospitality business and the overall service industry for many years, given the wide range of hotels that I have experienced, there are just a handful that fall into a true superior category. The Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal is one of these hotels."

Following a recent meeting held at the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel in St Petersburg, Russia, Oleg Nesterov, Diagnostics Manager, Roche-Moscow Ltd, praised the perfect arrangements and management of their three-day forum held at the hotel.

"We were so impressed with the excellent skills and professionalism of the Corinthia staff," Mr Nesterov said, "there is no question that their great support was a major factor in the success of our event."

Shawn Pisani, Corinthia Hotels' director of Outbound Sales and Events@Corinthia, attributes this success to several factors: "We recognise that the American MICE market is very different from that in Europe, and have focused our Events@Corinthia programme to cater to the special needs of meeting planners in the US.

"From the beginning, Corinthia Hotels has promised to 'Hold the Quote' in US dollars at the beginning of our arrangements for groups staying in our properties. We also offer free Internet connections for groups originating from the US."

Corinthia Hotels, the five-star luxury hotel collection comprising the unique Events@Corinthia portfolio, are located in some of the hottest meeting/conference cities in Europe - Prague, Budapest, Lisbon, St Petersburg and Malta.

In tune with the Events@Corinthia motto, "Stress-free and Success-full", the Corinthia team is always looking for new ways to facilitate the meeting planners' work and offer the ultimate in resources.

With this objective in mind, Corinthia recently launched the new Events@Corinthia Web page (www.corinthiaevents.com), designed as a one-stop shop Website for meeting planners, making it easy to search by hotel, destination or date, and check for promotions and special offers available at all Corinthia hotels.

"The feedback we have received - and the increased bookings - has been extremely positive," Shawn noted. Another Corinthia-exclusive is the Events@Corinthia dedicated travelling assistant. Every group organiser and meeting planner is provided a dedicated 24/7 experienced Events@Corinthia staff person to assist with all the needs and requirements of the planner and his/her group.

Now, Corinthia has launched the Travelling Assistant Programme, which is available for organisers of groups totalling 300 or more room nights. The planner can have the same dedicated Events@Corinthia staff person who assisted them for their meeting in the first Corinthia hotel, travel to a second (or more) Corinthia location prior to their next meeting, where they brief the new Corinthia team on the special needs and requirements of that group.

Mr Pisani concluded: "We recognise that running an event is a major investment for any organisation, and it is in Corinthia's best business interest to ensure the total success of the event."