Meetings Concierge

Is it important to have a separate banquet room away from the meeting room for meals? Or do you prefer meeting and dining in the same meeting room? There are so many things to consider before making the choices that work best for your group.

Why is it a valuable tip to avoid hand written contract changes?  Anyone should be able to pick up a contract and read it and understand the terms, without trying to figure out hand written notes on the agreement.  You may leave your job, or the hotel sales manager could be no longer working for the property by the time the meeting dates occur.

Even though a hotel tells you they have meeting space available for your group, there are several items you need to check to be sure the meeting room is ideal.  Find out the dimensions of the meeting room, the ceiling height, whether or not there are windows, and ideally a room with 4 solid walls vs sharing an airwall with another meeting.  T here is a lot to know before selecting a meeting room.  Ideal event space ensures happiness and comfort of your guests.

Hotels have all sorts of room types and this is referred to as Run of House (ROH). When reserving and contracting a room block for a meeting, find out what your options are to be sure your executives and guests get the best choices. Superior rooms are smaller; deluxe rooms are larger. Bed types range from 2 queen beds to 1 king bed. Views change from incredible to not as grand. Don't agree to ROH (run of house); rather, hand-pick exactly what you want for your group and makes sure it is spelled out in the contract.

Planning a meeting is like the game of telephone.  You tell someone something.  They tell the next person and the next person, etc., etc.  Things fall through the cracks or get miscommunicated.  A good meeting planner will always arrange a pre-conference meeting with the conference services manager and other department managers prior to your group's arrival to go over the agenda and make sure your plans are exactly what the hotel is going to provide you.  It's your opportunity to review guest rooms per night, start and end times of meetings and banquets, and menus.  After all, your goal is to make sure the hotel delivers the perfect plans you have made in advance for a successful meeting.

The meetings industry got crushed by the global pandemic & COVID-19.  There was very little warning to prepare for an entire trade to shut down abruptly.  Meeting planners constantly have to deal with changes yet no one could have imagined something like a worldwide health crisis that forced thousands of cancellations of meetings.  Find out about how to move forward again to bring people together for meetings, and how to be astute and aware and plan for the “what ifs”.

Add your own protective contract language to a hotel agreement before signing the agreement.  The first contract a hotel sends you won’t include essential clauses you need to add to the agreement.  In this podcast you’ll find out about the most important contract clauses to include in hotel agreements to save money and reduce risk, and add more value and concessions.

Before you set out to visit hotels, create a site inspection check list for each property you will visit.  In this podcast you will gain knowledge about what items to include on the checklist to make sure you think of absolutely everything you need to determine whether or not a hotel is right for your meeting or group.

It’s important to be prepared in advance for things that can go wrong when bringing a group of people together for a meeting.  In this podcast you will learn how to sufficiently prepare for unexpected circumstances and avoid crisis so that you and your organization are prepared to handle anything that can happen.

There are times when an organization has to cancel a meeting for a variety of reasons.  In this podcast you’ll find out how to negotiate the cancellation portion of a hotel contract to diminish costs as low as possible if you are faced with cancelling a meeting.

Hotels consider the revenue your meeting will generate before sending a proposal.  In this podcast you will become familiar with how hotels  determine the financial value or revenue your meeting will produce, and what you can do to communicate the worth of your meeting and get hotels to want your business.

Planning a meeting or an event takes so much time and there are a multitude of items to organize.  In this podcast you will learn how to put an agenda together detailing everything from arrival through departure in order to pull off a successful meeting.

The best advice is never sign a hotel contract without first visiting the property in person.  In this podcast you’ll discover why it’s invaluable to visit a hotel in person to be sure there are no unforeseen surprises upon arrival or throughout your meeting.  It’s impossible to discern location, neighborhood, ambience, & service from a website.