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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Phone Blitz Sells Valley for Conventions

By CHRIS COATES Staff Reporter In the hospitality business, like any industry, it would seem that hoteliers would want to keep any and all competition at bay. Don’t tell that to Barrie M. Perks. “It’s a great time to all come together,” said Perks, director of marketing and sales for Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City. Perks was on hand June 5 for the second “Sell San Fernando Valley Phone Blitz,” a four-hour calling spree organized by LA Inc., the city’s tourism and visitors bureau, to promote the Valley as a place to hold conventions and meetings. For the event, LA Inc. turned a corner of the Sheraton Universal Hotel into a telethon-like call center and recruited 25 representatives from area hotels, destination management companies and Universal Studios Hollywood. Callers were provided a contact information list of national groups that might be looking to hold a convention sometime in the future. Then, the reps cold-called the dozens of businesses and pitched coming to L.A. and the Valley in particular. Katie Callahan-Giobbi, senior vice president of sales for LA Inc., said the idea is to sell the Valley while exposing hotels and other tourism-related businesses to fresh clients across the country. “It’s an all-out blast,” she said. “We want to help the hotels find more business. This is a great way to do that.” Participating hotels included the large and small, from the 110-room Holiday Inn Woodland Hills Warner Center to the 475-room Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City. Also taking part were LA Inc.’s national salespeople scattered in Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and New York. The contact information came from various databases LA Inc. keeps and monitors, said Junior Tauvaa, senior director of sales operation and market development for LA Inc. The phone numbers, which included everything from Midwestern fraternal organizations to big-name manufacturers, were printed on lead sheets and distributed evenly to participants. That could have presented some problems, especially since the hotels are competitors. But organizers said the groups worked together. For example, if a potential client came along with an event too large for one hotel space, they would offer it to a competing hotel to keep the business in the region. Perks, who brought in six pieces of business from last year’s calling spree, said the camaraderie is common in the hospitality business. “Typically these hotels to a certain degree are competitors,” he said. “But if we can drum up some business for the area, it will benefit everyone.” Most of the time, however, clients and hotels were matched up according to space. Callers were told to press the big selling points for the Valley: Easy access from Bob Hope Airport in Burbank; quick transportation to downtown and other areas thanks to the Orange and Red line; and lots of nearby attractions and television screenings. The pluses are all major coups for the Valley hotel and meeting scene, which has struggled to fashion itself into a stand-alone meeting and convention destination from Los Angeles International Airport and downtown L.A. Some have also criticized LA Inc. for not properly focusing on the Valley. But Perks said the phone blitz is one way LA Inc. is showing that it is committed to the Valley just like any other area of the city. “This is an ongoing dialogue,” he said. For the hoteliers, the blitz netted sizable results, said spokesman Chris Heywood. Representatives made 1,302 calls, which resulted in 192 requests for information and 41 leads. Each of those represents possible business, which could turn into hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. In the end, Carolyn Burtch, director of group sales for Warner Center Marriott Hotel, said that the calling spree helps possible customers realize that Los Angeles is more than just Hollywood and beaches. “It gives the clientele an awareness of the San Fernando Valley,” she said.

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