THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of December 13, 2002
President Bob Witt opened the meeting with 160 members present. Membership is 521 with 4 invitees and 17 on the waiting list.
Announcements: Mr. Witt in his opening remarks thanked Charlie Morris and Joe Sweet for their contribution toward the success of the Christmas luncheon. Ken DeGroot introduced new members Rip Munger, Bill Gilbreath, and another Jim Cole. Dick DePatie announced that Elly King was in Waveny. He also announced the deaths of Jake Keever, Jack Gillespie, and Paul Guth. Ted Zimmerman said that the New Canaan Library is looking for a volunteer to manage their book sale. Jim Cole announced that the New Canaan fire department is looking for a public relations officer. Vance Ward announced that there will be a new member orientation meeting at 8:45 a.m. before the next meeting on 1/17. Bob Witt announced that the elevator fund for the YMCA is picking up steam; let's keep it going.
Activities: Bowling and racquetball are comatose. 4Fs will start again next month; exactly where is a mystery. Bridge and paddle continue to thrive.
Couth: 1/30 is the N.Y. Philharmonic, 2/20 The Museum of Moving Image, 3/12 Mama Mia, and April will be solidified at the next meeting.
Resident Humorist: Vice President Bob Shafter presented John Berg with a very appropriate gift from Disney World, a Norwegian dishtowel. John accepted gracefully and then told us a story about a young boy with a cursing problem who became an eternal optimist at Christmas time.
Speaker: Vice President Jack Murray introduced Paul McManus, president and chief executive officer of "The Leading Hotels of the World." This is a marketing organization representing 400 luxury hotels around the world. It is headquartered in New York and has eighteen offices worldwide. Since Mr. McManus has taken over, he has been active in forming alliances with other luxury travel-related companies such as Crystal Cruises, the Relais chain of hotels, and Abercrombie and Kent. He has also started a new venture of "Small Leading Hotels of the World," which is now up to eighty members. Mr. McManus is also trying to change the geographical mix of the group, which currently is 45% in Europe. The most important key to the expensive hotel business is value. People will pay the price if they feel that they are getting their money's worth. Since 9/11 business has been extremely difficult, but the "Leading Hotel" group has fought cutting prices as much of their competition has done. Instead, they are meeting the challenge by offering incentives such as extra nights, or upgrade to suites. In summing up his business philosophy, Paul used the letter P. You have to have the right product, be in the right places, have the right pricing, and have the ability to promote the product. That's easy to accomplish when the customer you are going after is in the $75,000-$5,000,000 personal income category. Perhaps that is why he was happy to speak to us and give us all those nice umbrellas.
Eric Musa, Secretary