June 1, 2003 - Myrtle Beach taxpayers could come to love Craig Smith's aggressiveness and 20-year background in the luxury hotel business. 

As the new sales and marketing director for the Radisson Plaza hotel, Smith is in charge of regularly filling the hotel's 402 rooms, essentially guarding city residents from having to pick up the tab for the city-financed, $48 million hotel. 

Smith, whose resume features such luxury properties as The Greenbrier resort in White Sulpher Springs, W.Va., landed the job after the Radisson's five-month search. It was left without a sales director just before its January opening when Michael Gerringer resigned because of health reasons. 

Myrtle Beach has changed quite a bit since a young Smith from Rochester, N.Y., vacationed here with his family. 

Smith said he is excited to see that growth because it gives more potential to the Radisson's hopes of carving a niche in the once nonexistent high-end market here. 

"It's a lot more grown up," Smith said last week, sitting in the Radisson's posh M Bar. 

"And I like the direction [the Radisson] was going." Smith oversees a five-person sales staff, including employees stationed in Columbia and Charlotte, N.C. 

He'll continue working with the Meridian Group in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to craft ads distinguishing the Radisson from the rest. The ads, which have started appearing, create an aura of an upscale destination -- or, as one ad puts it, "Myrtle Beach in stiletto heels." Smith plans to take that message to large markets such as Chicago and New York. 

Away from the office, Smith hits the golf courses and enjoys time with his family, which is about to grow with the August arrival of a second daughter. 

QUESTION: What strategies do you have in mind to lure group business? 

ANSWER: By virtue of what the hotel is, it's obviously something very different for Myrtle Beach. 

We need to expand our reach, target the Northeast corridor, places such as Chicago, [Washington,] D.C., Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Detroit. 

Myrtle Beach has so much more to offer than other secondary markets such as Louisville, Knoxville and Memphis. 

Q: Although the hotel's core business will be group business, will you target leisure visitors, and if so, how? 

A: Getting into more direct messaging, more of a call to action. Myrtle Beach obviously has done an outstanding job attracting the vacation traveler. A small percentage of that is looking for a high level of service. The Radisson can provide that. We have high-speed Internet access, services that appeal to more of a Ritz crowd. 

Q: What's the strategy amid the challenges the market faces with cutbacks in corporate travel and the struggling airlines? 

A: Overall, the market is looking for hotels to be more and more competitive, but not just with pricing. They are negotiating with terms, whether it be [complimentary] rooms, percentage off of rental space, food and beverage discounts. You have to become more aggressive in the way of negotiations. 

Q: What kind of business do you envision for this hotel? 

A: We need to [book] 65,000 rooms by the end of the fiscal year, which for us is the end of March. We've got about 40,000 booked rooms now. We need aggressive sales, direct sales. We also are filling in a travel schedule. 

And then there's the public relations piece. Myrtle Beach is throughout magazines I pick up. 

That is what it will take. It's becoming recognized as more of a primary destination. 

The beautiful convention center has been here for a while, but it never really had an anchor hotel supporting it. 

Q: The Radisson is the first property in Myrtle Beach to get the coveted AAA four-diamond rating, which represents high-quality service, architecture and amenities. How hard will it be to convince potential visitors that the Grand Strand, long known as an affordable vacation getaway, offers this? 

A: There are a lot of groups out there looking to break out of their rotation among the Orlandos, the typical cities. They are looking for something different. 

Myrtle Beach has entertainment, golf, the beaches -- how many convention cities can say that? We've got a lot of potential. I think groups have just started to understand it has some great potential. 

Q: More cities are considering or have started building hotels for their convention centers. Are you worried about that competition? 

A: Other cities are realizing it's kind of a two-fold opportunity to improve the incoming citywide business. It's all good for Myrtle Beach, which will start attracting the demand from groups that were less likely to consider Myrtle Beach as a destination because it didn't have an anchor hotel. 

We're in a good position. 

Q: You'd be in a better position if there were more flights at Myrtle Beach International Airport, wouldn't you? 

A: That's true. It could be better, but you could say that with any destination this size. It could be a lot worse. 

It's a question of which comes first, one follows the other. 

When we stimulate the demand, the airlines will follow suit. If the business is there for the airlines they will follow suit. 

CRAIG SMITH 

JOB: Sales and marketing director, Radisson Plaza hotel 

AGE: 42 

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in commercial recreation from the State University College at Brockport in New York 

FAMILY: Wife, Jennifer; daughter, Riley, 2; another daughter due in August 

HOBBIES: Golf, home improvement projects 

FIRST JOB: Busboy at a diner in Rochester, N.Y., while a teenager 

FAVORITE BOOK: "The Stand" by Stephen King 

FAVORITE MOVIE: "The Shawshank Redemption" 

MOST MEMORABLE VACATION: British Virgin Islands 

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(c) 2003, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.