“This gathering of three powerful denominations will be a major signal to all that the church will now take an even more proactive and aggressive role in addressing the critical problems that are hurting our communities nationwide,” organizers of the event said before the event took place.

The gathering marked the first time in more than 45 years that the denominations within the African-American community have met collectively. The event had an impact of more than $500,000 on the city.

“We were able to secure this meeting because of another major conference going on in our city at the same time,” says Twila Jones, sales manager at the Columbia Metropolitan CVB. “The Women’s Missionary Council CME Church is hosting their event in Columbia and so the organizers of The Great Gathering decided it would be a good idea to meet where the ladies are meeting. We’ve been very busy making sure the event organizers of both events were well taken care of and everything has been fantastic.”

“New Orleans has never before had this kind of representation at the top of all major national tourism and travel organizations,” says Steve Pettus, New Orleans CVB chair. “We are extremely proud of Stephen for successfully leading the revival of tourism in its most difficult time during Katrina and a national recession and now representing our destination on the international scene. His volunteer service on these three prominent boards will bring tremendous value to New Orleans’ tourism industry, now and future.”

Perry also sits on the boards of the U.S. Travel Association and Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), which recently named him its new board chair, effective this summer.

Snow and high winds caused the airline to stop operations at the Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey on Feb. 10 and Feb. 26, canceling hundreds of flights. According to FlightStats figures, Newark was hit the hardest on Feb. 26, canceling 389 flights, about 84 percent of its scheduled arrival service.

Continental operates about 2,500 flights a day in the U.S. and around the world. It has major hubs in Houston, Newark and Cleveland.

Southwest requires passengers to book a second seat if they are unable to lower both armrests or compromise any portion of adjacent seating. American and United use three tests: inability to fit into a single seat, put the armrests down or properly buckle the seatbelt with a seatbelt extender. Delta Air Lines doesn’t list its criteria but allows employees latitude in making decisions based on the safety of a flight and the best interests of the passenger.

The price for a second seat varies on airlines based on discounts, refunds and upgrades. But the most important factor influencing the cost of a second seat is availability and whether or not a flight is oversold.

According to TripAdvisor’s Second Annual Air Travel Survey of more than 3,200 U.S. respondents, “Seventy-four percent think passengers of size should be required to purchase tickets for two seats on flights. Twenty-one percent of travelers think that airlines will add passenger of size fees in 2010.”

The hotel’s leadership and department managers held two meetings a day one week prior to the event. John Jenkins, vice president and hotel manager at Gaylord National, offered housekeepers, catering staff and front-desk staff the chance to volunteer to stay onsite for three nights, and had 115 staffers take him up on it — the first time the hotel had ever done that. He also invited the landscaping crew, the cleaning crew and the marble-cleaning crew (the hotel has 75,000 square feet of marble) to stay over at the hotel to keep things running.

“What’s so great about this hotel is that it’s completely self-contained,” says Jenkins. “All the restaurants and retail shops were up and running during the storms, just humming along as the snow was coming down outside.”

In the end, the hotel waived all attrition and cancellation fees — which turned out to be unnecessary, and the client actually came in at 112 percent of the original room block because of all the early arrivals, and only lost 50 of the 367 attendees.

For more information on one of the Gaylord’s four properties visit GaylordHotels.com, which launched in February. The site provides information for meeting planners about resorts located in Nashville, Tenn., Kissimmee, Fla., National Harbor, Md., and Grapevine, Texas, as well as a suite of tools. The convention planners’ tool kit area features customizable attendance boosters, floor plan images and an instant quote request form for each property.

“This is an exciting day for our company and our industry,” says Bill Kilburg, chairman and CEO. “There is no other U.S.-based global site selection company whose executive team are real international players.”

With more than 4,000 clients and more than 19 years of experience, HPN Global has serviced corporations, associations, government and non-profit organizations with meetings ranging from 10 to 8,500 attendees.

The Colonnade Hotel in Boston, Mass., partnered with the Greater Boston CVB’s 2010 meetings package, which offers discounts on rail (Amtrak), air (via American Airlines) and around Boston (subway) to groups that book and hold meetings by Dec. 31, 2010. The Colonnade also adds accommodations, suite upgrades for every 25 rooms booked and complimentary wireless Internet. The hotel is within walking distance of the Hynes Convention Center.

The Verdanza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is offering a group package with a variety of perks. The hotel has 15,000 square feet of meeting space and full meeting services for events including complimentary meeting space and 15 percent VIP discount at Eighty 20 Bistro and Coladas Restaurant.

Marriott is offering a “Dream for the Cure” package through May 1, 2010. For every night guest’s stay at a participating Marriott Hotel & Resort, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotel or Marriott Select Hotels, the hotelier will donate $5 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The package also includes accommodations, $30 food and beverage hotel credit and complimentary parking for rates ranging from $129-$69.

Donations from Rosen Hotel Foundation

The tourism and hospitality community continues to support the Haiti relief effort almost two months later. The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, whose city is home to many Haitians and is closely linked to the country, declared February as “Miami Tourism Cares” month. All funds go to the American Red Cross. Additional phases are in the works for long-term relief.

Orlando’s Rosen Hotels and Resorts’ Harris Rosen Foundation has been involved with bringing charitable relief to Haiti since 2004. Their post-earthquake efforts include a $1 million goal, which they were halfway toward at the beginning of February, and a long-term housing project called Little Haiti Houses that will fund compact, hurricane and earthquake resistant homes for the country.

The MPI Southern California Chapter (MPISCC) is collecting shoes and donations for the Haiti earthquake victims at its Annual Educational Conference and Tradeshow, Friday, March 12 in L.A. Donations will be given to Soles 4 Souls, a non-profit organization that collects shoes from footwear company warehouses and individuals to distribute them to people in need around the world.

Faith-based groups continue to lead the way in providing relief. World Vision, a Christian organization based in Seattle, is the largest U.S.-based international relief and development organization and has led a huge effort in Haiti. This might not surprise many in the faith-based community familiar with such international organizations as World Vision, Compassion International, Samaritan’s Purse and Salvation Army. In his February 28 New York Times column Nicholas D. Kristof described a rise in international aid given by evangelicals in the last decade as well as possible misconceptions about liberal vs. evangelical giving.

“In Haiti, more than half of food distributions go through religious groups like World Vision that have indispensable networks on the ground. We mustn’t make Haitians the casualties in our cultural wars.

A root problem is a liberal snobbishness toward faith-based organizations. Those doing the sneering typically give away far less money than evangelicals. They’re also less likely to spend vacations volunteering at, say, a school or a clinic in Rwanda.

If secular liberals can give up some of their snootiness, and if evangelicals can retire some of their sanctimony, then we all might succeed together in making greater progress against common enemies of humanity, like illiteracy, human trafficking and maternal mortality.”

What is your take on Kristof’s comments? Read his entire column here.

Links:

Chile earthquake donation information

MiamiTourismCares.com

rosenhotels.com/haiti

Compassion International Haiti Update

Salvation Army

Samaritan’s Purse Haiti and Chile Relief