Over the three-day conference, a line-up of 40 hotel executives, industry experts and futurists provided more than 330 delegates from over 40 countries with a series of powerful predictions and ideas designed to help them stay at the cutting edge of marketing, and gear their operations to the demands of the one-to-one environment. 

Referring to the underlying social, economic and political trends impacting the market and shaping tomorrow's consumer, futurist Dr. Marvin Cetron, president of Forecasting International, anticipated that most economies, including those currently in crisis, would eventually right themselves and that the travel industry would consequently remain buoyant. 

According to Cetron, the single most powerful business trend will continue to be consolidation.  "The big will get bigger, the small will prosper by providing high levels of service in niche markets and the medium-sized, lacking either advantage, will be squeezed out or absorbed by competitors," he said.  Time will become the world's most precious commodity, leading to shorter vacations spread throughout the year. 

Grahame Senior, chief executive of Senior King Ltd. and president of the Independent Network of Agencies, also addressed key socio-economic factors for hospitality businesses, singling out the fragmentation of families and the emergence of a new generation of 'middle-aged' buyers known as the 'limbo generation'.  The marketing revolution, said Senior, is advancing in two directions: while marketing techniques are becoming increasingly 'one-to-one', focusing on direct communication with the customer, brands continue to be 'one-to-everyone'.  "The future for serviced accommodation and hospitality products within the leisure and business travel markets lies in accurate one-to-one marketing beneath an effective brand umbrella," he said. 

The benefits of a strong brand were highlighted by Eric Pfeffer, IH&RA president and chairman and CEO of Cendant Hotel Division, who said the fact that less than 25% of hotels outside the US and Europe are branded is indicative of the expansion opportunities available for branded hotel groups.  "The atmosphere for international expansion is ripe as countries embrace free market technologies, the economic centre of gravity shifts from developed to developing countries, technology improves communications and borders open to trade, investment and technology transfers," he said. 

Danai Wansom, senior vice-president of marketing and sales for Hong Kong-based Century Hotels & Resorts stressed the importance of branding in creating customer loyalty, and forecast that mergers, buyouts and take-overs in the hotel industry will continue as established brands increase market share.  Successful companies will migrate from an asset focus to a customer focus, said Wansom. 

Dr. Chekitan Dev, associate professor of strategic marketing at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, identified a set of new marketing paradigms for the next millennium.  Presenting the findings of the IH&RA Think-Tank on Marketing which took place prior to the Congress, he predicted that "companies no longer want to be market-driven but market drivers.  They want to make the rules, not follow them, and provide value-added propositions rather than unique selling propositions."  Consumers' desire for solutions rather than products will lead to the re-focusing of messages and a search for new ways for delivering solutions, he said. 

New and evolving channels for distributing the hospitality product were addressed at a number of Congress sessions.  According to Dan Connolly of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are still very much in the running despite the growing array of distribution options available to the travel industry.  "They are well placed to generate new revenues, reduce costs and overheads and drive customer, employee and shareholder satisfaction," he said. 

GDS's have been monitoring projections for growth in on-line hotel bookings, expected to reach nearly 17 million trips and total more than 2.8 billion dollars by the year 2001, according to Forrester Research. In response to the changes in the distribution process, said Connolly, GDS's are reshaping themselves by bypassing airline GDS's, reducing the role of travel agents and the commissions paid, taking advantage of emerging smart agents and capitalising on the rising popularity and capabilities of the Internet, complete with multimedia, voice capabilities and push technology.  More change is yet to come, he predicted, as technology graduates on to inter-networked environments, with an increase in do-it-yourself bookings and voice-interactive commands. 

The Congress took place from 22-26 October 1998.  Next year's IH&RA Congress will convene in Durban, South Africa, from 17-21 October 1999.