Pa. Convention Center Lands First Big Event Under New Union Agreement
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Philadelphia has landed its first convention since the adoption of a new Customer Satisfaction Agreement affecting unions at the Convention Center.
Shortly after the new CSA went into effect, there was a trade show breakfast and a walking tour of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, according to Julie Coker, Senior VP of Convention Sales at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was show and tell about how the new agreement made some old complaints about difficult, expensive conditions, things of the past.
Now, the American Industrial Hygiene Association agreed to bring its 2018 convention here.
"Philadelphia is definitely the complete package and we have a great hotel package. We have a phenomenal Convention Center. We have arts and culture. We have great restaurants. We have tax-free shopping. Now we just need to execute on what we just recently implemented as the new Customer Satisfaction Agreement."
Coker says there may be some leaner years as word of Philly's convention customers first attitude gets out.
"2014, '15, '16 and some of '17 will be a struggle. When our reputation wasn't as good as it should be, we did lose some definite pieces of business."
And Coker says this is a group victory, "Kudos to the Convention Services team and again the unions that signed onto the new CSA that understood that the customers' voice was the most important."
The hygiene convention attracts about 6,000 attendees.