ConventionPlanit.com Advisory Council Tackle the Tough Issues

Jan 16

Ashley ChalmersMember News, Tips for Meeting Planners advisory council, meeting experiences, meeting ideas, meeting planner feedback No Comments

Eight members of the ConventionPlanit.com Meeting Planner Advisory Council met recently at The Donovan House in Washington, DC to discuss current issues facing the meetings industry and how online search directories such as ConventionPlanit.com can help address them.

ConventionPlanit.com Staff and Advisory Council Members at the November Meeting

Some of the issues included:

• Demonstrating the Value of Meeting History – Providing a hotel with historical data from previous meetings is essential in negotiating room blocks, rates, and food and beverage costs.  “Everybody complains about not having the history of hotel room pickups and meeting attendance, but nobody does anything about it,” one planner said.  “Just once I want a hotel to come to me with this information – I always have to hunt it down myself.”  Other planners shared similar experiences, and their common wish is for hotels to be more proactive about providing this information.  As electronic information-sharing in common formats becomes more common, this should improve in the future.

• Unauthorized Third-Party Housing Companies Selling Non-Refundable Rooms – This is a lightning-rod issue for many planners, who often see their room blocks erode and subsequent attrition fees assessed as association members book rooms outside the block. These unauthorized companies often launch aggressive marketing campaigns to association members, making it sound like they are the official housing provider.  Attendees that book the rooms find they are non-refundable and sometimes cannot reach the companies by phone.  Meeting planners agreed that strong communications to prospective attendees warning them of these tactics is necessary, plus legal action against these companies if appropriate.

• “Resort Fees” – Resort fees that typically cover Internet access, spa use, and other amenities are increasingly common.  The problem is that government employees cannot usually be reimbursed for these fees when they attend a meeting, and planners noted that the fees are often non-negotiable.  Their wish is for hotels to better understand the effects of these fees and be more willing to negotiate them if needed.

• E-Blasted RFPs – Some companies e-blast RFPs out to numerous properties with little regard for qualifying them in advance.  This wastes the time of hotel salespeople as they respond to RFPs that don’t match what their properties offer.  It leads to complacency that can cause them to not respond to viable RFPs that could bring them business.  ConventionPlanit.com pre-qualifies properties to ensure that only those that are a strong potential match receive the RFPs, dramatically increasing the success rate for hotel proposals.

• Hotel Proposals Lacking Necessary Information – When planners send out RFPs, they need all the information requested in order to do an apples-to-apples comparison of prospective properties.  The planners agreed that hotels are not doing themselves any favors by not providing complete information – it forces them to follow up and spend extra time getting information that should have been provided in the first place.  When RFPs are submitted through ConventionPlanit.com, incoming proposals are checked to make sure they are complete to save planners the hassle of chasing down information.

“This discussion was extremely valuable for both the planners and our staff,” said ConventionPlanit.com Principal and Co-Founder Katherine Markham, CHME.  “We found that much of what we are already doing helps to address many of these concerns, and it helps spark ideas for new solutions we can launch in the future.”

We are always looking for fresh faces to contribute to our council!  If you are an avid user of ConventionPlanit.com and would like information about joining the Meeting Planner Advisory Council, please contact Katherine Markham, CHME at katherinem@conventionplanit.com.

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