Looking Forward to the Fall

As the most surreal summer of our lives comes to a close, MPIGNY remains focused on how we can make a positive impact on the New York City hospitality community. COVID-19 continues to affect all of us in various ways, but we are beginning to see signs of a turnaround. A few key hotels in the city have announced reopening dates, and our friends at NYC & Company recently created an excellent tool for hospitality professionals to reference as they look ahead to planning future events. All In NYC: The Roadmap for Tourism's Reimagining and Recovery truly captures the message that we are all in this together. We are a resilient group of hospitality professionals living in the most resilient city in the world. Now, more than ever, there is legitimate value in being affiliated with trade associations such as MPIGNY and the valuable network of industry colleagues it provides. I encourage each of you to consider deepening your involvement with our chapter as you think about what role you might play in helping our industry recover while, simultaneously, becoming a more valuable asset to your respective company or organization. Sharing your talents by serving on a committee is the easiest way to get more involved. To learn more, please visit the MPIGNY website. 

The value of strong relationships is more important than ever as we all navigate these same uncharted waters. With that in mind, please be sure to register for our next education event, "The Amazing Race - Navigating Through Contracts with Your Partners," taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 15. This event was borne out of a focus group that MPIGNY conducted this past spring with a consortium of senior-level meeting planners/department heads who regularly conduct business in New York City. Some participants shared that they were eager to understand the hotel's position when it comes to renegotiating contracts or discussing next steps. Understanding this need for clarity in planner/supplier communications, MPIGNY set out to create our first education event of the 2020-2021 year to cover this exact topic. We are extremely fortunate to have an incredible panel of industry leaders joining us for this event. They will impart valuable strategies for renegotiating canceled programs or re-bookings, offer a deeper understanding of how relationships can impact decision-making and provide a context of the hotel's perspective throughout the renegotiation process.

During these difficult times MPIGNY has maintained our focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Did you know that there are currently 18,000 homeless school-age children in New York City that rely on shelters as a temporary home? Operation Backpack® is a community service organization that provides backpacks and age-appropriate school supplies to children living in homeless and domestic violence shelters throughout the five boroughs. In support of their fundraising efforts, MPIGNY has set a goal of $1,000 toward this campaign. We are very close to achieving that goal, but we still need your help. The deadline to donate is Friday, Sept. 18. If you are able to do so, please join us.  

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Finally, it is with deep regret that I inform all of you that we have made the difficult decision to postpone the MPIGNY Kalahari Resorts Golf Outing that was scheduled to take place on Thursday, Oct. 1. As it stands right now, the maximum capacity for any event taking place indoors or outdoors in Nassau County is just 50 people. We were cautiously optimistic that this would change at some point this summer, but, sadly, that was not the case. We will reach out directly to those of you who have already registered to discuss a refund or applying those funds to our 2021 Golf Outing.  

Best,

Patrick Colomer
President
MPI Greater New York Chapter