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Keeping it SiMMPle logo

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                       Volume 24, Dec. 14, 2011
In this issue:
X is for eXplaining
SiMMPle Tips
Did you know...

Greetings!

Welcome to Keeping it SiMMPle, a bi-monthly newsletter aimed at making and keeping your Strategic Meetings Management Program Practical, Light, and Effective. For Meeting Managers and Procurement Specialists, this newsletter will assist you in finding practical solutions and provide advice on actionable steps to gain visibility and control of your organization's meeting spend.  For Suppliers, you will gain insights into the issues that your clients face, and how you can support their SMM programs. In addition, Keeping it SiMMPle will highlight key industry trends and identify tips that will make your job easier.


Each issue of Keeping it SiMMPle addresses a component of the A to Z of SMM from a Practical, Light & Effective perspective. In this issue W is for the Who, What, Where, Why and When of Strategic Meetings Management. 

The goal of this edition is to remind us that we should not assume that everyone understands our "secret" industry language. Daily, we use terminology that is second nature to us, such as ADR, SMM, and seasonality. We need to remember that when we interact with those outside of our normal sphere, we should explain the acronyms, phrases and business terms that we use frequently. Our counterparts in procurement, IT, security and legal all have terminologies that are unique to their professions. It took us a while to understand their terms, so we cannot expect them to immediately understand ours. Additionally, we need to explain why prices vary based on market conditions and how business is conducted differently in the meeting and event space. See below for a briefing on how to explain some of these issues:


 Variable market conditions that affect pricing: 

  • When we are in a "Buyer's Market", such as during the past few years, there is more hotel availability which results in more competition for your business resulting in lower Average Daily Rates (ADRs), more concessions and more favorable cancelation clauses. Conversely, in a "Seller's Market" there is less hotel availability which leads to limited options, higher rates, fewer concessions and less favorable contract terms.
  • Hoteliers look at the "seasonality" of group business when determining rates. For example, rates in Palm Springs, Scottsdale and Las Vegas, are usually lower in the summer (low season) because of the high temperatures, as opposed to the Peak or High Seasons of spring and fall, when temperatures are more appealing. Shoulder seasons are those that are in transition from high to low season.
  • There are also Arrival and Departure Patterns to consider. Hotels that have a lot of individual corporate business that fills the hotel during the week would rather have you arrive on a Thursday night and stay over the weekend, when they have low occupancy. This end of week arrival/departure pattern is preferred to having a group come in on a Monday night and departing on Thursday, which would displace a lot of their regular customers.
  • There are some buyers who assume that the transient rates contracted for the individual business travelers, should be the same rates that the hotels charge for group business. This is not usually the case because of the issues discussed above regarding seasonality, pattern and other market conditions

Business is conducted very differently for meetings & events than in almost all other areas of spend within an organization. RFPs (Requests for Proposals) are submitted and contracts signed by a myriad of people who are disbursed throughout the company. And these people have varying degrees of experience with meetings & events. For other areas of spend where employees don't have expertise, such as  items like office supplies, most corporations have developed a catalog of approved items so that the purchase process is controlled. Another example is in the individual or business travel space, most companies have a preferred hotel program that is rigorously enforced. Travelers are required to stay at specific hotels, use pre-approved rental car company, and travel in a certain class of service on the airplane based on the program specifics.

 

Not so with hotel purchases for meetings and events. Unless there is some type of SMM in place, which the majority of organizations do NOT have, there is rampant uncontrolled spend. The result of this uncontrolled spend are contracts that are poorly negotiated, limited visibility into the enterprise wide meetings spend and risk for the company in the form of unfavorable contract terms. The call to action here is that if your organization does not have some type of formal process for purchasing meetings and events, the time is now to put something in place in order to reduce risk, increase savings and improve efficiencies!

 

SiMMPle Tips:


Tip #1: Don't assume that those you work with inside of your company understand the nuances of the meeting and event industry. Before starting a conversation, ask if you can take timeout to explain some of the processes and define terminology.

 

Tip #2: If meeting rates are coming in much higher than a previous meeting at the same hotel, be sure to proactively share some of the reasons with your client (peak season vs. shoulder season, sellers market, or pattern implications).

       

Tip #3: If you are sending out a report or slide deck that you will not have the luxury of presenting in person, be sure that all acronyms and terminology unique to our industry are defined and explained in the beginning or in footnotes.    
Did you know... 

 

Betsy will be moderating a panel at the CBI East Coast Life Sciences Forum this Thursday December 15, titled Enhance the Request for Proposal (RFP) and Negotiating Process

 

A Deloitte study indicates that of the 1,000 business travelers surveyed in September almost 63 percent, said they expected their travel levels to remain steady, while 22 percent said they would be taking more trips in 2012. Only 15% said they would be taking fewer trips 

 

According to the "American Express Meetings & Events 2012 Meetings Forecast" 60% of the meetings suppliers surveyed expect the number of meetings planned to increase next year

 

Warm regards,  

 

 

Sincerely,
Betsy Bondurant, CMM, CTE
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Contact Information:
[email protected]
phone: 619.701.7709

 

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Bondurant Consulting provides the following services:  

  • Assessment of SMMP potential for your organization   
  • Development and implementation of SMMP for meeting & travel managers
  • Training programs for hotel companies and 3rd party meeting planning agencies which increase their understanding of Strategic Meetings Management, resulting in more successful engagements with clients who are involved with SMM 

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