AEG guides Hawaii Convention Center to its most successful year yet.
As part of the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s “Meet Hawaii” meetings, conventions and incentive (MCI) team, AEG Facilities, manager of the Hawaii Convention Center for more than a year now, has launched lead exchanges and targeted fam trips to optimize usage of the HCC. The result is increased bookings and more international visitors.
According to Vickie Omura, vice president of sales and marketing for Meet Hawaii, in 2014 HCC hosted 182 events, surpassing its targeted goal of 150 for the year, welcoming 320,680 attendees, 30 percent more than its goal of 246,260.
Attendees spent more than $501 million during their visits that included an HCC component within the program generating more than $48 million in tax revenue to the state. In 2013, 278,115 visitors were welcomed, resulting in $373 million in visitor spending and $35 million in tax revenue to the state.
When comparing convention centers around North America, the Meet Hawaii team relies heavily on TAP data (Trends, Analysis and Projections), which is provided by a private company based out of Kansas that collects information from more than 60 cities across the U.S. The company produces a report based on three years of history that is updated on a monthly basis and projects eight years into the future.
“Compared to other cities that compete on conventions, such as Anaheim, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco, that data shows that HCC is at 130 percent of its historical pace over the next eight years compared to the competitive set at 95 percent,” Omura said.
Impact Strategies
One of the first things the AEG Facilities team did after assuming management of the Hawaii Convention Center was to activate their team in Australia and Kuala Lumpur, AEG Ogden, to launch a lead exchange program.
“They culled their client data base to determine which groups would be viable candidates to come to Hawaii,” said Brad Gessner, senior vice president and general manager, Los Angeles Convention Center, AEG Facilities. “We feel that in addition to associations and corporate groups from North America, there is a vast untapped potential from Oceana. We are just getting started and have already hosted a familiarization trip.”
Omura stresses that anytime they can get planners to experience the Hawaiian Islands firsthand, their chances of earning their business increases.
So fams are a good investment for us,” Omura said. “For the right clients, we help cover their airfare, hotel, and ground transportation as well as coordinate a customized itinerary of sites, meetings, tours, and activities that showcase Hawaii’s meetings capabilities.”
In fact, Meet Hawaii recently hosted a successful Asia Mega Fam with key customers from these destinations, and will continue to seek additional fam opportunities from these areas in their ongoing effort to market Hawaii to the MCI customer throughout Asia and Oceania.
“We look to tailor our fams to a specific market segment or industry, which allows us to create an experience that speaks to our clients’ goals and to the focus of their meetings,” Omura said. In addition, we have found that busy executive directors and meeting planners cannot always travel on a designated fam date, so for the right business we will host individual site visits allowing clients flexibility to come at a time that’s most convenient for them.”
While the Hawaii MCI team has always conducted fams, they continue to be a key initiative for them. They are always looking for ways to make them better, more effective.
“We’ve found that sometimes it’s helpful to take a step back and really consider what it is that will have a lasting impact on our customer,” Omura said. “We strive to make these visits meaningful and relevant each and every time as there may not be another opportunity to share our destination with a particular client. Personalization is key.”
As part of the management of the Hawaii Convention Center, AEG Facilities has also created a new position of “director of meetings and conferences” whose primary responsibility is to work with hundreds of AEG’s corporate sponsors and advertisers to utilize the Hawaii Convention Center or other AEG Facilities-managed venues around the world. The primary focus is on Hawaii at this point.
“We also made some changes with the organizational structure of our sales and marketing department, adding industry veterans, like Vickie Omura as vice president of sales and marketing and Grant Hickman as regional director of accounts for the Midwest, which has already reaped positive results,” Gessner said.
Relationship Building Activities
To enhance the Hawaii Convention Center’s success, AEG recognizes the vital important of having strong relationships with hotels within the region.
There are more than 30,000 hotel rooms with a wide range of amenities and price points on Oahu—with 6,000 committable rooms available within a one-mile radius of the Hawaii Convention Center.
With six islands featuring six unique experiences, attendees have a great excuse to come early or stay late and take advantage of all the activities and attractions that Hawaii has to offer.
“We work collectively with our hotels partners, who all realize we must sell the destination first, before selling individual hotels,” Gessner said.
Of course, establishing such strong bonds and interest in the Hawaiian region is vital. That’s why familiarization trips further key to HCC’s success.
“We also make our venues and events we produce around the world available to our Meet Hawaii teams to host current and potential clients,” Gessner said. “Whether it’s hosting a show manager at the Grammy Awards in the Staples Center, or at a concert at the O2 in London, we make our assets available to the sales teams.”
Indeed as Teri Orton, general manager, Hawaii Convention Center explained, partnering with their sister AEG facilities provides Meet Hawaii with other avenues to explore other potential opportunities that were not available to them previously.
“While there is definitely a camaraderie between convention centers in general, the partnership shared with our AEG facilities is unique,” Orton said. “We work together as a team versus against each other, so it isn’t unusual for us to participate in joint customer events where we network and make introductions of customers we feel have potential to meet at sister facilities.”
Funding for all Meet Hawaii sales initiatives comes from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, a state agency responsible for enhancing tourism in Hawaii. Their funding comes from Transient Accommodations Taxes or TAT.
Gessner believes the relationship between the hotels in Hawaii and their “Meet Hawaii” sales team is as good as any he’s seen in his 37 years of management.
“And I do attribute much of this to having professionals with a long track record of success in Hawaii like Teri and Vicky, in addition to the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau leadership, like Karen Hughes and John Monahan,” Gessner said. “The Hawaii Tourism Authority’s leadership also has hotel industry leaders from Hawaii in David Uchiyama and Brian Lynx who round out an all-star team that is highly respected by the hotel community in the islands.”
Because of AEG’s efforts thus far, Gessner feels they are already tracking toward a “Best Year Ever” designation, as they are booking more citywide conventions, corporate groups and special events.
Interviewed for this article: Brad Gessner (213) 765-4600; Teri Orton (808) 943-3046; Vickie Omura (808) 943-3046