Meeting News - March 23, 2009 - (Page 49)

Live from the Forum @ MeetingNews.com TOPIC: How Planners Want to Be Marketed To by CVBs I am trying to place a meeting, and this week was the deadline for response to the RFP. I had an interesting experience, as I received only four bids and 13 no-bid responses. I went through the CVB, and I have met my CVB sales contact to discuss the reason for this and try to get the hotels to reconsider bidding. I thought I would start a discussion whereby planners can share what they want from suppliers to improve the sales process suggestions on the best way to work with us. Only one of the 13 no-bid responders contacted me by e-mail (my preferred communication stated on my RFP), and none called to ask questions, even though I didn’t say “no calls” in my RFP. I pride myself on producing detailed RFPs, but I can’t believe I did such a good job that only one property contacted me. For the ﬁrst time ever, I was told my room-to-space ratio was out of balance. In four years of producing this meeting, I’ve never been told that. What that signaled to me was that perhaps they were misreading my RFP, for instance, thinking I needed separate breakfast and lunch space, although I clearly stated we will hold all meals in the exhibit hall. Or, maybe it was the number of small committee meetings, although they are scheduled back-to- Do you have a burning question to back to fit into one room throughout the day. ask your peers? Log on to the No one asked if my dates, MeetingNews Forum to get answers my pattern, or my meetingfast. meetingnews.com/forum space needs were flexible. Several hotels simply responded that they couldn’t bid—no reasons were given. So, bottom line to suppliers, unless planners explicitly state you can’t contact them on their RFPs, please reach out to make sure you completely understand their needs prior to submitting your proposals. In addition, this is an excellent opportunity to begin a personal relationship with the planner. I think we can all agree that our industry is very much relationship-based, so why not establish a relationship so you have an advantage over your competition? An additional beneﬁt of this relationship-ﬁrst approach to sales is that if your proposal isn’t necessarily the best one but I have a relationship with you and am interested in working with you, I might see if changes can be made to help you win the business. Paula J. Rigling, President Meeting Planning Professionals, Austin, TX Exactly—which is why I use CVBs. Paula J. Rigling Camille, you are right—it is the responsibility of the CVB to only send the RFP to those that meet your needs. Having said that, many just send out the RFP to all members. I’ve just sent an RFP to a CVB and, because I know the city, was very speciﬁc on whom the CVB should send it to. If I get the proposal back from others, well, needless to say, the CVB will hear from me! I generally like to go to hotels directly, but in this case, I didn’t have contact names and I knew the CVB did. Sandy Biback, CMP, CMM, Owner Imagination+Meeting Planners Inc., Toronto I have to agree with Bob. Every CVB is different, and some will only send to paying members, even if there are other good opportunities out there. I guess those of you that use CVBs should research how they work and not assume that they automatically understand your parameters unless they are speciﬁed. Diana Maccia, Regional Director HelmsBriscoe, Ocean Township, NJ Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I worked with a CVB that still sends RFPs to all members. Those I’ve dealt with in the last decade have made an effort to understand the speciﬁc needs of my meeting. My point was if a CVB is going to send to all members (and basically create more work for the planner), then it doesn’t make sense to use that CVB. I learned this lesson the hard way when I was new to the industry. Camille Paluscio Is your meeting a citywide? Why did you submit an RFP to so many hotels? I have heard this is a big turnoff for hotels, and they might not respond due to the number of hotels to which the RFP was sent. Now, if your meeting is a citywide, that is another story. But then, I would think the CVB would be more involved than just sending the RFP for you. Anne Carey, CMP, Chicago My meeting isn’t a citywide. I submitted my RFP to the CVB and asked for distribution to all hotels that are capable of hosting my meeting. Since CVBs know their hotel inventories, it saves me time looking up hotels. Paula J. Rigling When I ran a convention center, I routinely got RFPs from the CVB that I could not accommodate, since I had no hotel rooms within walking distance. I would be interested to see if the hotels queried really were able to accommodate your needs or if the CVB sent the RFP to all hotels in the class because its charter and membership structure required that it did so. Another phenomenon we have seen recently is what I refer to as the Yellow Pages approach to vendor selection: send an RFP to everyone who might possibly know someone who potentially could do the event. If the hotels are seeing this, they might be hesitant to spend time on a shotgun RFP. Bob Cherny, Sales, Paradise Show and Design, Orlando I see it as the CVB’s job to be selective and let me know which properties are appropriate for my meeting. If I have to second-guess the CVB, I might as well do the research myself and send the RFP directly to hotels. Camille Paluscio, CMP, Manager of Travel, Meetings, and Events Volkswagen Group of America, Detroit MEETING NEWS (ISSN 0145-630X, USPS No.356-010, March 23 2009, Vol. 33, No. 5 is published monthly by Nielsen Business Media, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003-9595, tel. 646-654-5000. Subscriptions are offered free of charge to individuals actively engaged in planning meetings or conventions in the U.S. and Canada. 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Meeting News - March 23, 2009 Contents What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com Meetings Mean Business As 'Meeting Matter' Marriott Unveils Promo Columbus, OH, Addresses Convention Hotel Issues People Making News Orlando Strives for Cost Transparency Is Biz-Class Air Travel Dead? Greenest Planner Awards Mid America Insider Report: Conference Centers Destination Insider: Mississippi Gulf Coast Las Vegas Destination Insider: Cleveland Ad Index Live from the Forum

Meeting News - March 23, 2009

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