No More Memories Made In Memphis
After 102 years of holding their annual Holy Convocation in Memphis. The saints have decided to leave for what is supposed to be a better deal. The 2010 convocation will be held in the city of St. Louis Mo.,the city on the bluff. I think this is a decision both parties,Memphis and the COGIC will regret. When you bring 35 million dollars to a city's economy annually, you should expect some perks. I can't say I blame them, they should. On the other hand you can't expect vendors and hotels not to get in on the yearly fest. Some people in the service industry plan their budget around this time of year.
Members of COGIC must know that their new found accommodations are only temporary. If they hold their convention in the same place for one or two years at the most, the respective city will adjust and become equally expensive or worse.. This indicates a lack of resourcefulness or laziness on the part of the organization. T0 many of the saints, Memphis should be like a second home. In 100 years they should have developed some community ties and business relationships that can't be so easily severed. With Memphis being the headquarters of such a large organization, they shouldn't just be able to so easily just pick up and leave. Someone said Memphis was like the COGIC's Jerusalem. Those calling the shots don't feel that way. They are leaving their homeland like gypsies?
The city's nose isn't completely clean in this matter either. Not so much the city itself, but the businesses and workers. Those people speaking on behalf of the city, aren't in charge of the peoples minds and pockets. They can't force the workers to smile or the saints to tip them. It's not something the Mayor and City Councilman control. Many of those same people complaining about them now will have changed their story by 2011. You don't miss your water until your well runs dry. When you read the history of the COGIC, a lot of it was made here. If nothing changes. There will be no more memories made in Memphis.
posted by Common at
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COGIC's 'saints' go marching out — for bigger digs in St. Louis
Loss shows Memphis far behind in space race
By Lindsay Melvin (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Memphis lost its biggest money-making convention this week without even having an opportunity to fight for it.
Ending more than a century of the Church of God In Christ making the journey to Memphis for its annual Holy Convocation, its members, also known as "saints," voted Tuesday to move their annual event to St. Louis.
The event, which draws up to 50,000 people and generated more than $35 million for Memphis last year, will relocate to the Gateway City in 2010.
No one from COGIC contacted the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau to tell them of the switch or to ask for a better offer.
But even if CVB officials were asked for a counter-offer, there isn't much more Memphis could give them, said CVB president and CEO Kevin Kane.
"Short of flying people to Memphis and giving away hotel rooms for free," he said, there's nothing left to entice them with.
Without enough convention space or hotel rooms to compete with other cities, Memphis had little chance of keeping COGIC.
Making St. Louis more enticing for the annual gathering were discounts on hotel rates, convention facilities very close to the hotels and convention space large enough to house various activities in one facility rather than multiple buildings.
The denomination's leadership presented the option of moving the Holy Convocation after years of making attempts to negotiate better arrangements for its members, COGIC officials said.
"We have been offered a better package that is more cost-effective for the membership of our church," said Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake in a prepared statement.
But Memphis also provided the members "a tremendous deal," Kane said. "Half of the delegates don't even know what we do."
And Kane said the CVB did much, including footing the bill for COGIC's use of the convention center, shuttling visitors to and from hotels, working out hotel discounts and even printing welcome banners.
A contract with St. Louis has not yet been finalized, said Donna Andrews, St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission spokeswoman.
Nevertheless, she said, "It's definitely a shot in the arm as far as an economic boost."
Memphis is the world headquarters for the 6.5-million-member denomination. But rumors have been circulating for years that COGIC would move the Holy Convocation.
Despite Memphis and Shelby County having a record year with conventions up 10-15 percent from last year, it's becoming more difficult to compete with other cities, Kane said.
Every city in America has empty hotel rooms right now, and many are writing out checks in the millions to fill them, he said.
"It's a dog-eat-dog environment," Kane said.
And the Bluff City is not a top contender, he said.
In Shelby County, there are only five hotels with 300 rooms or more.
Memphis is the 18th-largest city in the country, but the size of its convention center is not even among the top 50, Kane said.
Compared with Shelby County's 21,000 hotel rooms, St. Louis has 38,000 rooms. And while Memphis Cook Convention Center is 300,000-square-feet big, the St. Louis center has 502,000 square feet.
"St. Louis is in a very good position because of the package we offer," Andrews said.
Meanwhile, several miles away, Nashville is breaking ground on a convention center more than double the size of the Memphis facility.
"That gives you an idea of what we have to compete against on a daily basis," Kane said.
Hoteliers weigh in on COGIC’s moveMemphis Business Journal
As Church of God in Christ prepares to move its convocation to St. Louis in 2010, Memphis hotels and the Memphis Convention and Visitors’ Bureau have already begun preparing for life after the biggest and longest running annual convention in the city.
While the loss of COGIC means millions of dollars in lost revenue for Memphis, CVB officials are exploring the possibility of multiple conventions filling what has historically been a popular space on the calendar.
The city has turned down a lot of business that was looking to come to Memphis during COGIC’s convocation, said Wayne Tabor, general manager of the Holiday Inn Select Downtown. With over a year to plan for 2010, filling those dates is a huge opportunity for the city.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll replace the business,” Tabor said. “It may not have the impact on the entire city, but by 2012 and beyond, we’ll have something that has as big an impact as COGIC.”
Bob Mercer, general manager of the Memphis Hilton, said the timing of the move is the worst part of it.
“I think it’s bad for the city to lose any convention, but especially this one because it’s their headquarters and they’ve never met anyplace else,” Mercer said. “Who knows what’s going to happen in the economy for 2010, but if it stays the same or gets worse, I’d think we’d want COGIC in town.”
COGIC’s deal with St. Louis is reportedly tentative for 2011, meaning there’s a possibility it could try to return to Memphis that year. But if the dates are gone, that may be a long shot.
Convention business is booked two to five years in advance. While the city would probably welcome COGIC back if the dates were available, the deal the organization currently has would almost certainly have to change.
Local hotels paid COGIC commissions of between 10 percent-15 percent per room sold per night. Paying commissions to large groups isn’t unheard of, but the number is usually between $2-$5 per room per night.
Tabor said that cost is typically paid to travel agents or to offset costs incurred by host companies or organizations, but COGIC hasn’t historically used travel agents.
“That commission is one of the larger ones we pay for events,” Tabor said. “They negotiate that in the contract.”
Craig Smith, director of sales for The Peabody Hotel, said The Peabody also went as far as offering discounts of up to 20 percent on room rates, as well as two complimentary suites and two suites discounted at up to 50 percent.
Local hotel consultant Chuck Pinkowski said COGIC often didn’t adhere to normal hotel rules of supply and demand.
“When supply is different, you’re going to have to pay a higher cost, but they wanted the lower rate during peak times,” Pinkowski said. “Their argument was they created the peak time.”
In addition to deals on rooms, COGIC also received a favorable rate on the Cook Convention Center, public transportation and extra police coverage. That cost was easily in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Pinkowski said.
“If you look at all of the things they were demanding of the city, they probably got that from St. Louis, but they’re desperate for business Downtown,” he said.
Tabor said St. Louis may have offered a good deal for COGIC, but he isn’t sure it’s comparable to what was offered in Memphis.
“They bid this out every three years and I think they just wanted to leave,” Tabor said. “Losing business does hurt, but the world isn’t coming to an end because COGIC’s gone.”
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