Black Meetings and Tourism

Black Meetings & Tourism June/July 2009 : www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com of thousands running to the unemploy- ment office. Orlando has had well over 100 events canceled the first three months of 2009 costing the local economy 26 million and 146,000 room nights. If you combine the cancellations with reduced attendance the losses industry-wide are staggering. And here's the rub for meeting plan- ners. One would think with reduced demand for hotel space combined with more inventory coming online, meeting planners would be in a great bargaining position, aka the "buyers market." While that pendulum has definitely swung in their favor, now they must do more with less as their budgets have been slashed, some as much as 30 per- cent. Kelli Bland, president of A Moments Notice Events says organizations are going as far as taking the meeting plan- ner function in-house and dele- gating responsibilities to individuals with no experience to save a few bucks. With that as our backdrop, lets look at ways meeting planners might save in a tight market and still put on a world-class event. Lets start with room rates. In the old days, pre-2008, hoteliers were reluctant to negotiate on room rates. Bland says over the past six to eight months she's noticed a far friendlier atmosphere between the hotelier and the meeting planner in negotiations as business has fallen off sharply. Everything is on the table for negoti- ation from room rates to those annoying ancillary fees that drive your clients and participants crazy. You know the ones I'm talking about – resort fees, Internet usage fees, charges to restock the mini- bar, gym and pool access fees, parking charges, water in the room; need I go on? Many organizations negotiated room blocks for 2009 gatherings prior to the economic meltdown. With attendance figures drastically reduced in some cases those guaranteed minimums in terms of room nights are now out the window. Will the hoteliers renegotiate? Charlotte Haymore, president of the Travel Professionals of Color (TPOC) was faced with just that for their annual conference in Buffalo, NY. With attendance down, she knew she had to renegotiate the group's room block commitments. Initially, her host hotel made life a little difficult, but eventually acquiesced to a more reasonable set of room numbers. While attendance was down somewhat, she was able to main- tain all her previous food and beverage commitments, which in turn guaranteed she would get her meeting space for free. TPOC's 2010 conference presents a different set of challenges according to Haymore. TPOC will be held in The Bahamas and she readi- ly admitted at first the negotiations with the hotelier were tough. Eventually, the two sides c a m e t o g e t h e r and settled on an all- inclusive deal of reduced room rates, resort fees and taxes. In highly sough-after destinations such as The Bahamas, negotiations take on a different dynamic. But in the end Haymore says she's happy with the deal that includes free meeting space provided they meet food and beverage minimums. TPOC has already received a significant member commitments for The Bahamas so Haymore is not antic- ipating a problem meeting her mini- mums. To offset the cost of those highly sought after destinations, many meeting planners are turning to second-tier mar- kets. Places like St. Louis and Columbus, OH have all the same ameni- ties as their big-city counterparts at a fraction of the cost. Bland says, when she first proposed the second-tier mar- kets to some of her clients they resisted, but once they did a cost and benefit analysis the second-tiers make sense. To negotiate the best possible deal regardless of location you must come armed with knowledge – a comprehen- sive history of all previous events held by your client or group. You can bet sup- pliers are going to either ask for the information or find out on their own. Knowing your meeting and event histo- ry allows for a better negotiation. If you've submitted an RFP, it allows for a better comparison between competing offers and you won't be pushed into room block commitments larger than your particular group needs. But history is more than room block commitments. You need information such as how much the group spends in total on things like food and beverage, hotels, restaurants, bars, golf, spa, gift shops, Internet usage – a big deal in this day an age as we attempt to stay in touch with our offices and families back home. These figures give suppliers an idea of how much your business is worth. If your group spends very little in these ancillary areas, you can bet they will drive a harder bargain. In the old days some suppliers simply came up with an excuse to refuse your business in the hopes a better deal might come along. I will readily admit collecting some of this data can be difficult as some people would be reluctant to reveal their per- sonal spending habits, but there are ways around this such as pre-arranging golf outings or spa visits. You can tell by the number of registrants what the group spends and possibly negotiate dis- count rates for these services as well. Rosa McArthur, president of Meeting Planners Plus is an independ- ent planner with a strong corporate clientele. McArthur emphasizes strong negotiations and establishing win-win 37

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