Hoteliers and tourism promoters must move on after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and get back to business, says the head of Canada’s Marriott hotel chain, who at the same time predicts damaging economic aftershocks lasting into next year.
Alain Piallat, senior vice-president of Marriott International’s western region and head of its Canadian division, told a group of tourism industry officials in Calgary that the hospitality industry needs to co-ordinate promotional efforts to spark a recovery in business and leisure travel.
“The people of the United States and the world are very resilient, and they will recover and go on with life,” Piallat said. “But it is also a situation that has affected business in a dramatic way.”
While Piallat estimated room revenues could fall up to 15 per cent in some areas, he added: “Trying to predict the future, trying to decide what kind of level of business were going to have . . . is an exercise in futility, yet we have to take action.”
The hotel chain has already launched a restructuring plan, including freezing executive increases and bonuses. Piallat said large-scale layoffs are not being contemplated, but noted that “those people who are unable to delicately balance this restructuring with the commitment to the customer are going to have some difficulty.”
The company is also forging ahead with a new “Come Out and Play” promotional campaign, which was initially shelved after the terrorist attacks. “We are now taking it back out. We’ve got to overcome this psychological factor,” added Piallat.
Revised Marriott room rates will now range from $69 per night in a basic services hotel to $129 for luxury accommodations.
Fairmont Hotels and Resorts has also just unveiled “Alberta Advantage” fall packages with rates ranging from $49 at the Palliser and Hotel MacDonald to $109 at the Banff Springs.
Marriott has 29 hotels in Canada, with plans to expand to 35 by the end of the year and up to 100 in another four years.
Piallat also urged companies involved in tourism to seriously review their pricing in light of faltering consumer confidence in travel and corporate budget cuts, and singled out Air Canada for “digging themselves a hole in the ground by being too aggressive in pricing, particularly at a time like this one.”
“Right now, demand is in the toilet,” he told reporters following the speech at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve got to make sure we are priced appropriately, in some cases aggressively, so it will actively drive business back.”
Joe Fardell, president and CEO of Tourism Calgary, said while some smaller meetings destined for Calgary have been cancelled, they’ve since been rebooked “In the long (term), we’re not seeing that much of an impact,” he added.
