DecoContract Expects Unique Hotel Audience
August 6, 2002
by Eric Schneider and Jon Hendrix
Ghent, Belgium - Textirama management is confident it will draw a unique, largely untapped group of buyers to its DecoContract exhibition this September.
Textirama launched Deco Contract last year in order to cater to the fast-growing European contract hospitality fabric segment. While reviews of the show by exhibitors and visitors were lukewarm, Textirama labeled it a ''successful start,'' which is generally an accurate assessment, considering that more than half of last year''s exhibitors have returned. (Of course it has to be noted that the terrorist events of 9/11 hurt attendance significantly.) Textirama has spent the last year focusing DecoContract and expects to deliver a superior edition in 2002. Specifically, DecoContract has gotten to know its audience. It conducted a telephone survey of 5,000 hotels in Europe. It then went a step further by sending invitations to DecoContract to the owners of the hotels.
One result, according to Koenraad Beaufays, DecoContract project director, is that attendance will be higher than last year and many buyers will come to Brussels expressly to visit DecoContract. Last year, DecoContract''s attendance consisted largely of visitors to Decosit.
Beaufays also believes that its efforts will bring the right type of visitors to the exhibition - visitors who will eventually place orders themselves.
''Many of the product purchasing decisions are made by a local manager in a privately owned hotel,'' said Beaufays. ''We reached out to those people.
''Most of the European hotels are family-owned businesses held for several generations. DecoContract wants to reach specifiers of hotel projects and hotel management within the European Community.''
Additionally, DecoContract''s research revealed that nearly 85 percent of hotels in Europe are privately held and many contain no more than 100 rooms.
In another development for DecoContract, Textirama has hired architect Simone Michelli to create a theatre to serve as the venue for contract-oriented seminars. F&FI
Ghent, Belgium - Textirama management is confident it will draw a unique, largely untapped group of buyers to its DecoContract exhibition this September.
Textirama launched Deco Contract last year in order to cater to the fast-growing European contract hospitality fabric segment. While reviews of the show by exhibitors and visitors were lukewarm, Textirama labeled it a ''successful start,'' which is generally an accurate assessment, considering that more than half of last year''s exhibitors have returned. (Of course it has to be noted that the terrorist events of 9/11 hurt attendance significantly.) Textirama has spent the last year focusing DecoContract and expects to deliver a superior edition in 2002. Specifically, DecoContract has gotten to know its audience. It conducted a telephone survey of 5,000 hotels in Europe. It then went a step further by sending invitations to DecoContract to the owners of the hotels.
One result, according to Koenraad Beaufays, DecoContract project director, is that attendance will be higher than last year and many buyers will come to Brussels expressly to visit DecoContract. Last year, DecoContract''s attendance consisted largely of visitors to Decosit.
Beaufays also believes that its efforts will bring the right type of visitors to the exhibition - visitors who will eventually place orders themselves.
''Many of the product purchasing decisions are made by a local manager in a privately owned hotel,'' said Beaufays. ''We reached out to those people.
''Most of the European hotels are family-owned businesses held for several generations. DecoContract wants to reach specifiers of hotel projects and hotel management within the European Community.''
Additionally, DecoContract''s research revealed that nearly 85 percent of hotels in Europe are privately held and many contain no more than 100 rooms.
In another development for DecoContract, Textirama has hired architect Simone Michelli to create a theatre to serve as the venue for contract-oriented seminars. F&FI