Dr. Lalia Rach at '09 Mtn Tvl Symposium

Dr. Lalia Rach is divisional dean and HVS International Chair at the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management at New York University. Her appearance/speaking fees are apparently $15K-$20K. But she absolutely knows her game. Her presentation today was head and shoulders above all others in terms of content, interaction, presentation and style. Much much better than the panel of Mike Shannon (KSL Partners) and Rob Katz (Vail Resorts CEO).

Some excerpts from her talk-

KEYSTONE — New consumer behavior emerging from the ashes of the worst recession in a century will require mountain resorts to change the way they reach out to customers, said Dr. Lalia Rach, speaking Wednesday morning during the Mountain Travel Symposium.
Rach, an expert on future trends, branding and marketing strategies, said consumer behavior has changed fundamentally in the past few months and that businesses need to recognize the changes and learn how to respond.

"People are demanding value and quality, and everything is negotiable," she said. Consumers are lookinfgto find bargains on luxury items. More importantly for the mountain travel industry, they also want bargain prices on their vacations, she said.

Changing aspirations
"What happened in the '80 and '90s is, we changed our aspirations. Ninety-five percent of the people who bought a flat-screen TVs bought it because they wanted it, not because they needed it.

According to Rach, establishing intimate, direct communication with customers could be one key to success. To do that, businesses must buy into the concept of tech-mobility, which means offering customers customized information in bite-size chunks.

Rach said version 2.0 of the web is all about mobility and blending social and professional communication a portable communication product. She said consumers increasingly want their information delivered to handheld devices, and businesses need to be on-board with a portable web site that's "visually dynamic, uncluttered and useful, with prominently placed contact information.
"You have to have a mobile web site within 18 months, because of Web 2.0," she said, referring to networking tools like Facebook and Twitter as electronic word-of-mouth.

Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz at 2009 Mountain Travel Symposium

pretty good talk he gave today. some excerpts from the article:

KEYSTONE — After enjoying several "fat years" between 2003 and 2007, it's time for the ski industry to give something back to consumers, Vail Resorts chief executive officer Rob Katz said Wednesday during a panel discussion at the Mountain Travel Symposium.

"Somebody asked me to please say something optimistic today," Katz said at the start of his presentation. "The only thing I can say that's optimistic is that this season is almost over," he said, only partly in jest.

"We've seen such huge declines, especially during some of the key weeks," Katz said, explaining some of the hits that have resulted in the company's stock price dropping along with the rest of the market this year.