Issues and Trends

What's Hot Now in F&B Thursday, February 1, 2007 9:00 AM One of the most influential food and beverage trends is driven by attendees, who are more sophisticated in food matters than they used to be. They seek a dining experience for even the smallest catered function. They are more demanding and exacting, more educated and knowledgeable about food. To keep attendees happy, planners must follow the latest foods. New trends seem to start on either coast,

Shifting Skies Thursday, February 1, 2007 9:00 AM The skies were not friendly to travelers in 2006, and while they won't be much kinder in 2007, there are some positive developments afoot for passengers. Coming off a year of airline bankruptcies, domestic routes being slashed, and airfares skyrocketing between 10 percent to 18 percent, 2007 could be viewed as an improvement on a couple of fronts. First, seating capacity is expected to inch higher,

Going Downstream Thursday, February 1, 2007 9:00 AM As president of a company that manages a variety of association meetings, Gregg Talley knows firsthand how the ice-cold-to-red-hot hotel market has turned the SMERF (Social Military Educational Religious Fraternal) meetings industry upside-down in just a few short years. A few years ago, you could get first-tier cities at decent rates and decent dates, says Talley, founder of Talley Management Group,