Two top corporate hospitality and sports management experts said Beijing’s new airport functioned well Monday as thousands of customers and others left the Olympic city after the Closing Ceremony on Sunday night.

Keith Bruce, president of SportsMark, which was moving about 3,500 clients and their customers Monday, reported smooth going, but also a sizable number of guests who decided to extend their stays through Tuesday to enjoy a quieter, less crowded trip to the Great Wall or Summer Palace.

Wayne Eldevik, Olympic services chief for Maritz Inc., was moving about 450 people out of town, and as of late Monday (Beijing time) had heard of no problems.
Both longtime Olympic pros, Bruce and Eldevik gave the Beijing organizers relatively high marks.

“Out in front of the curtains, it was strong, if not very strong,” Eldevik said of the Games’ presentation. “Behind the scenes, behind the curtains, as you know, there were challenges.”

Eldevik said most of the issues involved a lack of information, poor communications and a certain inability of BOCOG staffers to make on-time decisions. The major issue early on was access to the Olympic Green and a controversy over imbedding Opening Ceremony tickets with the names of the holders.

Overall, Eldevik offered a 7.5 grade on a 10-point scale, adding, “If I was giving a report card, I’d give a ‘B’,” he said.

Among Maritz’s clients are GE/NBC, Bank of China and Aggreko.

Bruce, with clients such as Bank of America, Visa, Hilton, Manulife, Adidas, Coke and Chevron, gave a similar behind-the-scenes grade of 8 on a scale of 10. He said he and his staff remained frustrated throughout the Games by the lack of sponsors’ access to entrance gates and the Olympic Green.

“It was just as bad on Day 16 as Day 2,” Bruce said. “Organizationally, they missed it there.”

He said on many occasions, sponsors’ guests waited up to 40 minutes to get through the so-called “mag-and-bag” metal detector security stations.

But, Bruce said, for the Closing Ceremony, BOCOG’s operations improved; SportsMark staffers were allowed into the Bird’s Nest area after days of confusion and more signage was allowed to direct guests to and from the event.

It’s Bruce’s conclusion that the Olympics “will leave an indelible mark” on Beijing as a city to host major international sports and exhibition events.

“They will be able to use this as the ultimate business case,” he said, “a true litmus test.”
As for client satisfaction among corporate sponsors, Bruce said preliminary measurements are revealing “exceptional satisfaction.”