THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505060321
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Ford Motor Co.'s decision to hold its annual stockholders meeting at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott and Convention Center tells Stephen Brinn one thing: Norfolk has arrived.
``Having a Fortune 500 company's meeting is a coup for any hotel,'' said Brinn, the hotel's resident manager. ``It's a great opportunity for us and the city.''
Brinn and others associated with Norfolk should be excited. By hosting the country's most profitable company, they bask in a national spotlight. About 500 people ranging from Ford board members, who head other well-known corporate behemoths, to major media like The Wall Street Journal, will be attending the affair this week. The meeting will enhance Norfolk's reputation and pack a publicity wallop that is greater than 10 smaller conventions combined.
``At this particular meeting, many shareholders are successful business people and represent other concerns from around the country,'' said Susan Bak, acting director of the Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau. ``We would get the public relations from their coming to this destination.''
Norfolk now has leverage to lure other corporate giants, officials say.
``We can tell the world: We're good enough for Ford, we're good enough for your meeting,'' Mayor Paul D. Fraim said.
It reinforces the belief that led to the development of the $52 million Waterside Marriott and the adjoining city-owned conference center, built in November 1991.
Skeptics worried that the hotel would not be able to command rates of at least $90 a night in a town where travelers were used to paying about $55.
That concern was unfounded.
The hotel became profitable in 1994 and subsequently paid the city $378,000 in rent, plus interest, for its first four years of operation.
City officials did not expect the Marriott to begin paying rent until its sixth year of operation, the projected year of profitability. Its deferred payments began about a year and a half earlier than expected, said deputy city manager Darlene Burcham.
Success with the Marriott and convention center has enabled the city to market its Waterside Connection package, which uses space in the Omni Waterside Hotel too. The number of guest rooms increased to 5,341 in the city - including 1,486 downtown - when the 405-room Marriott was built. Downtown meeting space increased 26 percent to 170,993 square feet with the addition of the convention center and the hotel.
As a result, Norfolk has attracted events like the Southeastern Theater Conference this March, which brought Woody Harrelson, who played ``Woody'' on the TV series ``Cheers.'' Dominion Resources Inc., the parent company of Virginia Power, held its annual shareholders meeting in Norfolk last month.
Another big meeting, the Inc. 500 conference of the fastest-growing small businesses in the country, will be held in Norfolk May 15.
Norfolk's lack of hotel and meeting facilities in the 1980s had hampered its ability to attract top names to town.
Since the Marriott and the conference center came on line, Norfolk has been able to bid for 86 percent of all the convention business in the country, according to the Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Statistics bear that out.
Revenue generated by convention and meeting business has risen 60 percent since 1991. Convention and meeting delegates spent $48.3 million last year on hotel rooms and other expenses related to their stay, the convention and visitors bureau estimates.
Room nights, another standard used by the hotel and tourism industries to gauge progress, rose to 93,437 in 1994, the bureau reports. That's up from 82,333 room nights in 1993.
``It really does send a message about the different types of meetings we've been able to attract,'' said Bak. ``The types of meetings are generally driven by facilities. Now that we have the upscale convention center and amenities in that (Waterside) package, we can attract that type of meeting.''
She estimates the economic impact of Ford's annual meeting, for example, to be around $64,000.
Norfolk has hosted primarily military reunions and religious conventions in the past. Though those are still important, the meeting mix has moved toward more professional - and thus big-spending - conventions and corporate meetings in the past five years, said Amy Jonak of the Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau.
``The city, the area and the hotel are ideal for meetings,'' said the Marriott's Brinn. ``It takes a while to get that reputation and word out. It's been an ongoing process.''
As the big Ford meeting nears, city officials see a ``can't miss'' opportunity for the city to shine before some of Corporate America's most elite.
``Hopefully, they're going to do like a lot of people and say, `Hey, this is a pretty neat city,' '' said City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. `` `It's not just a pin on the map.' '' MEMO: Staff writer Dave Mayfield contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
The Norfolk Waterside Marriott and Convention Center will host the
annual shareholders meeting of Ford Motor Co. this week.
Graphic
GAUGING CONVENTIONS
SOURCE: Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB