Hotel Ezra Cornell '04 features discussion on hot industry challenges

Floyd Cardoz, right, noted chef of New York City's Tabla restaurant, makes last-minute preparations in Statler Hotel's main kitchen to a tuna tartare with jaggery hors d'oeuvre. Andrea Quach '07, hotel, left, was one of the servers working with Cardoz for the Tabla Cocktail event, April 3, during Hotel Ezra Cornell. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

By Linda Myers

School of Hotel Administration students played host to about 300 hospitality executives at the 79th annual Hotel Ezra Cornell, April 1-4. The students, who had been planning the details of the extravaganza for more than a year, transformed the Statler Hotel into their own venue for a weekend crammed with exciting food and beverage events, entertainment and a series of educational seminars on issues challenging the industry today.

The event, which offers Hotel School students an opportunity to showcase their skills, has shifted in recent years from a culinary showcase to an educational one, in keeping with the school's current business-related focus and the interests of the industry practitioners who take part.

On the afternoon of April 2 in Statler Auditorium, a panel of experts discussed how Internet sales of hotel rooms is reshaping the hotel industry, in "E-Distribution: A Problem or Solution." Panelists were Bruce Wolff, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Marriott International; Spencer Rascoff, vice president, Hotels, IAC Travel, a third-party provider of hotel and travel options; Jens Thraenhart, director of Internet strategy, Fairmont Hotels; and Cornell Hotel School visiting professor Bill Carroll.

All agreed that Internet room sales as well as third-party providers such as Expedia, Orbitz and hotels.com are here to stay, but that the common goal is to leverage the Internet so all parties can attract customers.

"Search engines are a powerful tool that affects consumer behavior, with measurable results," noted Wolff. "How can we use the medium more effectively," asked Thraenhart, noting that his firm has added toll-free numbers to its Web sites that allow operators to see what Web pages consumers are viewing when they call, with the end result of better service. "Our philosophy is it's all about the customer," said Rascoff. While he admitted that some third parties once demanded lower hotel room rates than some hotels could afford and remain profitable, in exchange for being listed on third-party sites, "we're not doing that anymore." And Carroll predicted two trends: greater demand for air-car-hotel packages and turf battles over business customers.

On the afternoon of April 3, in a presentation called "Food Service of Epic Portions," ARAMARK executives described the challenge of providing food for athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Speakers were Marc Bruno, vice president of ARAMARK International Group, Ira Cohn, president, ARAMARK International, developing markets, and Jen Safran '96, a Hotel School graduate who is lead designer on the Athens Olympic Village food-service project.

At the blackjack table, during Hotel Ezra Cornell's Charity Casino Night (benefiting Windows of Hope), April 2, in the Terrace at the Statler Hotel, Kate Hessenthaler '06, Hotel, deals to, clockwise, Mike Pleninger '63, Chuck Tomb, honorary Hotel Society member, and his wife, Karen Tomb. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

The company, which has provided food for athletes at 12 other Olympic events, expects to serve 75,000 meals a day this summer to 15,000 athletes and their entourages from 202 countries. The toughest challenges have been finding a quality local partnering firm, hiring and training enough skilled staff, and planning how to store and deliver food and drink to ARAMARKS's temporary cooking and dining facilities, which, when finished, will be the size of four football fields. Athletes are particularly challenging to feed because of their high caloric demand (for them "food is also fuel," noted Bruno).

One innovation: a nutritional kiosk in the dining hall where experts can advise athletes on whether their food choices will meet their dietary needs. The menu will offer over 1,200 foods to choose from, including specialties from the host country and the countries where the athletes are from. The budget, about $40 million, will pay for, among other things, 799,563 olives by the time the Olympics finishes at the end of August. ARAMARK has also contracted to feed the crew from NBC covering the Olympics. While aspects of the event managed by other groups are behind schedule, the food-service giant expects its customers to be well fed.