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The weekly newsletter for everyone interested in barter--the world's most versatile business tool! |
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February 26, 2002 Airline Adopt Hard Line Business Strategy Despite a soft market that would normally create a buyers market, the airlines are adopting a new "hard line" focus that's far different than their past actions. This new attitude is a far cry from the airlines philosophy of a decade ago when they competed fiercely for corporate accounts. The mentality today is to avoid fare wars. Bottomline: the airlines are no longer freely floating excessively attractive corporate deals. Instead, yield management, rational thinking and careful use of data have supplanted the relationship-oriented approach. In fact, the airlines are canceling many smaller and under-performing accounts, as well. Barter Could Play Greater Role On the other side of the coin, corporate clients are retrenching. Fed up with perceived price gouging--business travelers paying top dollar versus the leisure travelers--corporations are opting for other alternatives such as web-conferencing, video-conferencing, and other emerging technologies that can reduce their business trips. Also, lower-fare carriers like Southwest Airlines have expanded considerably since the last business downturn a decade ago, which provide added pressure on the majors to keep prices in line. What will all of
this mean for the barter industry? New opportunities to work out agreements
wherein both the airlines and corporate clients can justify working
at their marginal costs, through the barter middlemen. Vegas Booming Again, But Nationwide Occupancy Down Occupancy levels at Las Vegas hotels are back to near-normal levels and "business as usual" is predicted for most of 2002 and beyond. The hotels are very aggressive on pricing and the contractual terms for meeting planners are inflexible...it's back to the Las Vegas pre Sept. 11. However hotel occupancy
in the U.S. has declined to 60.3% nationally, 3.4 percentage points
fewer than 2000 and the lowest since 1971, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It's expected to be a very slow year for hotel development. As a result,
the environment is excellent for the barter industry which continues
to bring on new clients. Charity Funding Workshop Scheduled Barter companies wanting to explore the non-profit possibilities of charity work, can get a much better idea of what's possible by attending a 3-day workshop sponsored by the Foundation Marketing Institute. All trade currencies
are accepted, and 100% payable, for the workshop. Clients can attend
as well, with payment done through the exchange. Scheduled for May
16-18 in Bradenton, Florida, more information can be obtained by
calling 386-409-7009. Here And There. . .
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