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Now here’s a novel idea….a hotel group that actually researches its target market! Millennium Hotels & Resorts was looking at ways of making its properties more appealing to meeting and event planners so what did they do? They asked them for their feedback. (See feature "millennium seeks input".)

To the power outage in Auckland during the June 12 weather bomb, which left the city in a state of chaos. The atrocious weather caused an earth wire strung between power pylons in Otahuhu to snap and cut the supply of electricity for more than half the day, turning the city and South Auckland into a tangled mess of traffic jams and closed businesses. Telephone landlines were affected and mobile phone networks were overloaded, virtually isolating many of the affected. Thousands of workers were sent home but getting out of the city proved disastrous. It seems some serious questions need to be answered concerning the city’s reliance on the Otahuhu substation. We can only hope the Government and Transpower get to the bottom of the incident and ensure it never happens again.

To excellent organisation in Christchurch after a winter weather bomb which prevented many TRENZ exhibitors and buyers from getting to the city on time for the tradeshow in mid-June, could not stop it from continuing as scheduled and being a success.The massive snowstorm across Canterbury on June 12, the day before the tradeshow was due to start, shut Christchurch Airport while many roads into the city remained marginal for most of the day. Both Auckland and Wellington Airports were affected by heavy winds and rain however TRENZ delegates were given first priority on flights after identifying themselves to airline staff. By the next day though most delegates had arrived and organisers encouraged anyone who missed appointments that morning to make the most of the informal networking opportunities available. The show, New Zealand’s largest annual tourism exhibition, will be held in Rotorua next year.

We hear Reed Travel Exhibitions is charging an arm and a leg for exhibition space at its AIME exhibition, and is then charging a fair amount for attendance to the gala dinner on the evening of the first day. As one exhibitor told miceNZ.net why not lower the price or do what they do at Meetings and get exhibitors from different destinations to take hosted buyers out to a restaurant. This would certainly help keep the networking flowing.

The successful Gartner Winners Circle incentive held in Auckland recently for 650 high achievers can only be described as positive for the city and New Zealand as a whole (see case study - Gartner Winners Circle). This event will hopefully pave the way for future high-end incentives.