Prevue September-October 2016 - 52

IRF/Prevue Study Talk to any planner or hotel sales person and they will tell you that the meetings industry is a relationship business. We teamed up with the Incentive Research Foundation to put that statement to the test with the first-ever survey asking both sides the same questions about how they work together. Conducted this past July, our research is based on the responses of 160 meeting planners and 126 hotels, ensuring a 95 percent confidence rate in the results and a +/- 8 percent confidence interval. 1. Introducing: The PlannerHotel Relationship Collaborative The good news is that overall, meeting planners and hoteliers feel a sense of commitment and collaboration when working together, slightly more so on the hotelier side. The level of teamwork and commitment meeting planners feel also varies according to role-e.g., national sales manager vs. property sales leader vs. conference services manager. When it comes to the relationships between planners and their CSMs and hotel sales person there is some work to be done. Only 19 percent of planners described their relationship with their CSM as one of "total commitment and trust," and 6 percent described their relationship with their hotel salesperson in the same way. Significant differences were also found in the perception of the planner-hotelier relationship itself- whether each viewed the other to be "business friends" or business as usual. As it turns out, hoteliers are more likely to view planner customers as business friends, while planners when referring to their property salesperson and CSMs used that description infrequently. In fact, 15 percent of planners described their relationship with their hotel sales people (and global/national sales reps) as "transactional only." Supportive Business friendship Total commitment/ trust Transactional only Hotels Planners' Relationship with Property Sales Leaders Planners' Relationship with Conference Service Managers Planners' Relationship with National & Global Sales Leaders 2. Where Each Side Brings the Most Value WHAT PLANNERS SAY ABOUT HOTELS ● Flawless execution ● Helping us overcome issues with location or layout ● Timely RFP response ● Providing fantastic ideas ● Helping us prioritize the budget ● Providing strong vision/ objectives 52 | prevuemeetings.com WHAT HOTELS SAY ABOUT PLANNERS ● Providing strong vision/ objectives ● Timely RFP response ● Helping us prioritize the budget ● Flawless execution ● Helping us overcome issues with location or layout ● Providing fantastic ideas It's clear from the survey results that hotels look to their meeting planner partners for strategic direction, while planners expect flawless execution from their hoteliers. Many planner respondents would like to see hotel counterparts expand their roles beyond logistics, educate themselves and their staffs on the program and become stronger partners. She said: "They are putting so much pressure on sales people to book business. As a result, they are making too many mistakes, taking too long to get answers and not engaging in our goals. They're not even asking about them." He said: "I need to be more cognizant of clients needs and vision for their event-to try to see it from their perspective." http://www.prevuemeetings.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue September-October 2016