What were they thinking? That's the most-obvious question that comes to mind when you read the embarrassing story about the Orlando hotel that booked a youth soccer group and an adult swingers convention on the same weekend. The property, a Crowne Plaza near the Orlando airport, has been getting some nasty national press coverage over the scandal since the story broke yesterday in the local newspaper and then appeared in news outlets across the country.
The 350-room property is big enough to have a sophisticated group booking system that can be easily overseen by the sales director and the hotel GM. Yet the property isn't a mega-hotel that's so big that this type of gaffe could fall through the cracks. No one is talking yet about how the incident happened, but the situation should be a good lesson to all hotels that book group business: Oil and water, or put another way, soccer balls and adult sex toys don't mix.
The GM, or director of sales, or preferably both, should always know what groups are on the books at their hotel and have the sense to evaluate their compatibility.