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The recommendation was put forward by one of Millennium Hotels and Resorts’ valued Australian professional conference organisers, after the hotel group gathered them together for the working lunch. The question which prompted the discussion came from Millennium’s regional director of sales for Australia, Chris Phillips, when he asked what three things would make the PCOs’ lives easier in working with a hotel.

Mandy Bromilow of Happenings Australia said she believes there is a huge lack of understanding by hotel staff of what a PCO’s job is. She said PCOs need hotel staff to know the industry and know what a PCO’s role is. She said they also need to know how all the pieces of a conference fit together – for example product suppliers, theming companies, airlines, activities, restaurants etc.
“They need to understand and work with you rather than just say ‘this is what the contract says’. Guess what? I can read. I know what the contract says,” Ms Bromilow said.

To that end Rob Henshaw of Organisers Australia suggested a workplace exchange between Millennium hotel staff and professional conference organisers, so that each would understand the other’s job a bit better, a recommendation to be considered by the group.
Ms Bromilow continued saying separate hotel department budgets also made life difficult for her. She said what would help her is someone who could look at the whole budget and departments that communicated efficiently on the subject.

Meanwhile Mr Henshaw added that having a hotel general manager introduce him or herself to conference delegates during their stay was hugely important to his clients, while Jo Mahoney of Leading Edge Conferences said she wanted her clients to feel as important during the conference as what they were made to feel during the site inspection. When Mr Phillips asked how Millennium group, which has 31 Millennium, Copthorne and Kingsgate hotels around New Zealand, can improve in the NZ market, Mr Henshaw said the longevity of senior hotel staff members at some of the group’s properties gave it a good reputation.
“This is particularly important and in Rotorua several of the senior staff have been there quite a long time.”
Ms Bromilow agreed saying her company is taking its clients into serious destinations with serious capabilities. She said New Zealand’s can-do attitude combined with its laid-back atmosphere presented just the right mixture for holding a conference.
“It’s that country service compared to city service. You get to know the people and work with them. It’s the people that are important – not just bricks and mortar – and Rotorua and Queenstown have people that truly care.”
Mathew Lazarow of Impact Events agreed. He said it’s staff at a venue which make a big difference to the smooth running of a conference. However, while New Zealand’s reputation as a conference destination was solid, all the PCOs agreed that access to some parts often put clients off. For example flying from Sydney to Auckland to Rotorua was off-putting for Mr Henshaw’s association conferences.
“If you have to do a double hop it’s quite a negative,” he said.
“There’s a lot of choices and with associations they just want to get on (a plane) and get off.”
Ms Bromilow said New Zealand was competing with Malaysia because many of her clients see the chance to experience a totally difference culture in Malaysia. She said many of her clients perceived New Zealand as being too similar to Australia or too close. But Group Event Travel’s Julie Ford pointed out that while clients might have been to New Zealand as a tourist, it was up to the PCOs to show them all the other activities available other than skiing and bungy jumping, which destinations like Queenstown are well known for.

Convention and Incentives New Zealand’s Sharon Auld, who helped facilitate the lunch, said New Zealand is a totally different country in 2006 to what it used to be, with a host of venues, product suppliers and activities operators to choose from in each destination. She said Australia is by far the biggest visitor to New Zealand, both in leisure and business and that out of 880,000 people visiting New Zealand annually, 37,000 are there for conferences and incentives.

Mr Phillips finished the lunch saying he hoped to get the group together again in six months’ time with a view to showing the PCOs where Millennium had incorporated any of their recommendations.