This article in Fast Company outlines an interesting way to look at what just may constitute the city of the future: The aerotropolis, or cities built around airports. Fascinating! I wonder what effect this could have on meetings? Convention centers and hotels are included in the plans.

According to C/Net news, the giant E3 video game tradeshow may scale back in 2007, or maybe go away altogether. The reason? Exhibitors are looking for smaller, more targeted shows. I don’t know if this is an industry-specific thing or not, but I do remember something similar happening in the environmental tradeshow business, when some of the bigger shows were hemorrhaging exhibitors to either more targeted or more regional shows. This could be an anomoly, or it could be a sign of the times.

Anyway, the rumor also has it that the E3 organizers are radically revamping the show as well to offer more personalized experiences, which is probably a good move regardless.

Update: From a press release of the show’s organizers:

The new E3Expo will take shape over the next several months. As currently envisioned, it will still take place in Los Angeles, described
by ESA as a “great and supportive partner helping to build E3.” It will focus on press events and small meetings with media, retail,
development, and other key sectors. While there will be opportunities for game demonstrations, E3Expo 2007 will not feature the large trade show environment of previous years. (via Gizmodo

Update: Analysis of the top 10 reasons E3 has to change or die.

For your Monday motivation, check out this post on A Clear Eye. It’s about the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and how it pays to be wise. What a beautiful way to start the day—and improve your life.

Check out this post on Fast Company Now, where intrepid intern Tonya Garcia was sent out to determine if hotels were buying used furniture from other hotels through a company called Cooper Used Hotel Furniture. The company gave her a lead on a hotel it said it had sold furniture to, but they denied it. From her post:

In January 2005, he said, Cooper sold furniture to a Ramada on South Lake Shore Drive that originally belonged to a Chicago-area Hilton. He moved the furniture 40 blocks to its new home. Karchmer gave me the name and phone number of the general manager at the Ramada, Roy Patel, saying he would speak with me about the transaction.

I called Patel three times, but ultimately never heard back. Soon, I figured out why.

I heard back from Cendant’s Senior Director of Design and Development, Mike Bruce. Bruce is not directly responsible for decorating the rooms at Cendant-franchise properties. But he could tell me this: Cendant does not allow used furniture at its properties. The rule against used furniture, he said, is written into Cendant’s standards manual and there is a review process written into the franchise agreement that oversees improvements and upgrades. “Our franchisees don’t want to spend a lot of money, so it’s up to the brand to provide some sort of direction,” he said.

I don’t have a problem with used furniture, as long as it’s been used gently (i.e., the bed frame won’t collapse when I sit on it). It’s not like what’s in there hasn’t been used anyway, so I’m not sure what the problem with it might be.

Image from Hugh at Gaping Void

Anyone else feel like this today?

Then again, even mush can be beautiful sometimes. For example, check out Alex Dragulescu’s spam plants. According to CNET News:

For the last several years, the Romanian-born computer artist has applied techniques in computational modeling and information visualization to invent a new form of artistic expression. One of his more notable projects involved creating what he calls Spam Plants. He wrote algorithms that analyzed various text and data points of junk e-mail to produce “organic” images of plantlike structures that spontaneously grew based on incoming spam.

Like this one.

Some enterprising folks have put together a wiki site, The AirPower Wiki, to let people know about where to find power outlets in various airports. So, if you need to re-juice your laptop between flights, you’ll know where to go. And, because it’s a wiki, you can go in and add any outlets you find that aren’t already listed. Very cool.

Via BoingBoing.

In its continuing effort to rid itself of having a reputation for difficult labor unions, the Philadelphia Convention Center is mandating customer service training for its employees and union workers. I’m trying to imagine a forklift operator getting into role-playing, but it sounds like everyone participated once they realized they’d get gift certificates for local hotels and restaurants. Anyway, I think this is a great step for the center to take. It’s always the front-line folks who do most of the interaction with attendees, exhibitors, and meeting planners, but they so seldom get this type of training. From the article:

Union leaders who took part in the training endorsed what Guise and O’Donnell were doing.

“They made it very clear that in order to get people to come back, we need training,” said Pete Lyde, a member of laborers’ union Local 332, who took the training on Wednesday. “If people don’t come back and spend money in this building, we don’t eat, and we don’t feed our families.”

According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study, hotel guests are increasingly dissatisfied with rising costs and fees associated with their stay:

The study finds that the costs and fees factor has significantly increased in importance to hotel guests, becoming either the most or second-most-important influencer of overall satisfaction across all six segments. At the same time, satisfaction with this factor has also declined significantly across several brands.

We’re all feeling the pinch of rising travel costs and reduced business travel budgets. Bump that up against the strong seller’s market, and there’s bound to be a disconnect. Given that hotel revenues, expenses, and profits are continuing to rise, expect to see similar results in the 2007 survey.

Anyway, here are the hotels that ranked highest in their segments:

Luxury: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Upscale: Omni Hotels
Mid-Scale Full Service: Hilton Garden Inn
Mid-Scale Limited Service: Drury Inn & Suites
Economy/Budget: Microtel Inns & Suites
Extended Stay: Residence Inn

This morning we ran a version of this post in our e-newsletter, in which I talk about why I think banning smoking from guest rooms may not be the most hospitable of moves, and could be enough of an imposition to cause smoking attendees to book outside the block. You would not believe (or maybe you would) some of the responses I got. Like this one:

“Smokers just pollute the planet until they die, which should be soon. They shouldn’t be allowed to go to a hotel. They should just stay home.”

The more thoughtful responses addressed health concerns, but I’m sticking with: There must be some way to accommodate people who want to smoke in their rooms (not the public spaces, which hardly anyone outside of Las Vegas allows anymore anyway) without, as one person put it, having it be as ineffective as “a peeing section in a pool.” One person wrote about how she was so disgusted by being put in a smoking room that she went to another hotel for the night. Well, I see that as poor inventory management on the part of the hotel—if they reserved a nonsmoking room, they should be able to get one. What I don’t understand is why the reverse also shouldn’t be true.

No matter where they’re from in the meeting planning/hospitality world, so far, support for the ban is pretty strong. However, I did hear from several smokers who said that they would in fact book outside the block to avoid the inconvenience, so I maintain that this is something planners should at least take into consideration, whatever their personal habits and beliefs. As with anything else, the know-your-attendees rule still stands. And I believe that hotels should be hospitable toward all their guests, if at all possible. In this case, I maintain that it is possible. It just doesn’t appear to be worth the trouble.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

Update: When it comes to guest satisfaction, the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study finds that hotels that provide a smoke-free environment will get the edge. Which makes sense, and I’m sure was part of the reasoning behind Marriott’s recent decision to go smoke-free. If you’re playing to the odds, the 79 percent of nonsmokers in the U.S. trump the 21 percent who still light up.

I’ve been hearing all kinds of rumors about who’s on the short list for heading up Meeting Professionals International (and I get the feeling we should be hearing who gets picked fairly soon). In an ideal world, who would you like to see take over the top spot? Drop me an e-mail or leave a comment if you have any suggestions (you can do it anonymously if you like—just don’t fill in the identifying blanks).

Personally, I’m rooting for them to pick a woman this time to better reflect the MPI demographics. There must be some women in this industry who are both qualified and interested in taking it on.