For the past several years, the economy has severely impacted conference revenues and bottom lines for meeting planners. To complicate things, the hotel market has shifted back to being a seller's market, further impacting the bottom line. As a result of, planners must ensure their venue contracts yield favorable cost savings and terms while limiting their financial risk and exposure.
At IT Exchange Group, we assist planners with hotel negotiations and writing contracts that limit financial risk and exposure while aiming for favorable terms. Following, we've crafted a checklist to assist in the entirety of the hotel contract and negotiation process.
Meeting Dates
- Does it include set-up and tear-down dates and times?
- Does it include a schedule of conference events and locations?
- Does it include pre- and post-conference meetings and events?
Parties
- Does it include the hotel management company, as well as the hotel?
Hotel Management
- If there is a change in the hotel brand or management, or sale of the property, do you have the option to renegotiate or cancel the contract?
Room Rates
- Is the room rate correct?
- Does it include a reduced staff rate?
- Does it state that during your meeting your room rate will be the lowest published room rate available to the public, including rates available over the internet and through travel agents?
- If a lower sleeping room rate is published, will the hotel offer this rate to your conference attendees
- Does it state what happens to the room rate after the cut-off date?
Room Block and Attrition
- Does it provide an adequate room block?
- Does your room block include shoulder nights?
- Does it include an acceptable room reservation method?
- Does it include an acceptable cut-off date to match your group's trends
- Will the hotel honor the room rate after the cut-off date for a select number of late registering VIP's
- Does it include a provision that defines the room types, condition and the ability to renegotiate the contract if the condition or dynamics of the room types change from the date of the site inspection to the time of the conference
- What percentage of the room block are you committing to sell?
- How is the penalty calculated? Is the penalty based on lost revenue or lost profit
- If the hotel refuses to accept reservations from conference attendees after the cut-off date, is the attrition penalty automatically void
- If the hotel is able to resell some of your unused room block, will you be given credit against any attrition penalties
- Does the contract permit a means to cross-reference your attendee list against the master rooming list to ensure all sleeping rooms generated from your group are captured?