Websites like Starcite will play an important role as a group channel for some time to come. And so will some of the software solutions that support them in improving sales management.
StarCite is a leader in this market and offers on demand global meeting solutions that help hotels market, get and manage leads and book more revenue. StarCite’s Marketing Programs help suppliers gain a competitive edge showcasing their properties against thousands of others. Once you get the leads, StarCite’s innovative Response technologies help respond fast and track the progress of leads. www.starcite.com
Some other event websites include
www.worldmeetings.com
www.conventionplanit.com
www.sitevisit.com
When it comes to meetings and events, and supporting sales operations effeciency, here are two leading players - one is PASSKEY which is big in the US but not widely used in the European markets - they are a provider of web-based applications that automate the group housing management and reservation processing for the meetings and convention industry. www.passkey.com
And when it involves saving double entry for group booking and reservations teams, then a major player is MEETINGBROKER (part of Newmarket International). It is a web-based information service that distributes and manages leads from multiple business channels (example: starcite, company websites). MeetingBroker receives requests for proposals (RFPs) sent by meeting planners and provides a suite of online tools to more quickly assign, respond to, and analyze these leads. It allows the leads to be created directly in the sales and catering system used by hotels provided they are interfaced or if they use Delphi Sales & Catering.
www.meetingbroker.com
4) MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS
Everyone appreciates the importance of measurement and most do. But it is usually a smaller number that analyses the information in a uniform manner and takes actions to improve….
With the vast quantities of information that is available in any organisation, it has become increasingly harder to look at the figures that matter. As a minimum, the measurement mechanisms to be in place should include :
Number of group leads received
Source of leads – internal v’s external, types of organisations, geography
Average sizes of group and core requirements
Types of events
Lead time from enquiry to actualisation
Group status and inventory management
Tracking lost business reasons
Analysing business refused
Spotting opportunities – annual events of companies etc
To sum up, improved group conversion depends on the people, the processes in place (and user buy-in), the optimal use of technology, a continuous cycle of measurement, analysis & adapting to changes in the market place (based on the measurement and analysis) along with ongoing sales management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
A recent survey conducted by HSSO in association with Nexus World Services found that over half of respondents do not use any technology at all to assist in planning trade shows, while 47% believe that their existing systems do not assist them in managing tradeshows and events.
The survey is part of a series designed to understand sales challenges better and to optimise sales management in the hotel industry. It focused on sales and tradeshow/event management and questioned over 30 top hotel groups about how they organised tradeshow participation and measured their performance. With a number of important industry events like Confex London, ITB Berlin, Imex Frankfurt and ATM Dubai happening in the early part of the year, the survey was carried out in February/March.
Survey participants were all active sales and operational persons at different levels of the hotel industry. More than half of respondents were directly involved in organising attendance at the ITB Berlin and a large percentage of their work involved co-ordinating with other team members within the company.
Some of the key aspects on tradeshow management that emerged include:
- 47% find it a time consuming exercise with 7% rating it as very difficult
- 53% say that it takes over 20 hours to organise a show like the ITB
- 57% do not use any technology to assist in planning such a show
- 47% of those surveyed believe that existing systems are not be able to assist in management of tradeshows and events
- All companies track effectiveness through a combination of the number of leads generated (80%), the number of visitors at the stand (66.67%), the number of new contacts made (66.67%) and actual conversion of leads into sales (73.33%).
With a minimum of twenty hours dedicated to organising a single tradeshow (albeit a large one like the ITB), the number of total hours sales teams spend organising shows and events are multiplied many times over. And with sales persons expected to sell more and administer less, optimal sales management processes combined with the right technology tools, will have a dramatic impact on the productivity of the sales force.
More details on the survey are available and free to download at
http://www.hospitalitysalessolutions.co.uk/MEDIA_ARTICLES.html
3 - CONVERTING GROUP ENQUIRIES
Here are some important aspects when it comes to converting those leads….
A clear definition of the various stages of the group booking process is critical to both managing the correct inventory as well as optimising your group sales.
Communication links between the source of booking and hotel will be of paramount importance.
Efficient processes and standardised ways of working are key to ensure smooth communication at all levels.
Flexibility and adaptability by the Conference & Banqueting teams at hotel in packaging services
A highly effective and fast follow-up process
Accessibility to key contacts at hotel for bookers
Understanding the needs of the client (including ROI)
Having looked at ROI for events to understand the customer perspective, it makes equal sense to focus on the four key areas that make a big impact for hotels. A comparison of actual conversion to the number of leads generated will usually give you an inkling of how much there is to do and improve….
These four factors seem rather obvious, but each of them have a direct impact on generating new leads as well as in conversion.
- UNDERSTANDING GROUP CHANNELS BETTER
- RESPONDING TO GROUP ENQUIRIES BETTER
- CONVERTING GROUP ENQUIRIES BETTER & IMPROVING CONVERSION
- IMPROVED MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS
Having looked at understanding group channels better in the previous post, today, I am taking a look at responses to group enquiries.
2) RESPONDING TO GROUP ENQUIRIES BETTER
Speed – Different markets, different clients, different requirements but all require a speedy response. Do you always adhere to a standard response time? This will allow you to benchmark yourself, set the right expectations in the minds of the customers and if you have a particularly impressive response time use it as part of your marketing blurb.
Accuracy – In a highly demanding and fast moving market place, it is important to get the details right. Responding to an RFP accurately, saves time for both parties - there is nothing more annoying than to recieve a response with wrong dates as well as with poor spelling.
Presentation – A clear attractive format outlining the key details provides a visual impact as well as serves a functional purpose. Can your client get a quick overview of what you are proposing in a few seconds?
Consistency – A consistent format allows the end user to spot the information relevant to them
THE E-RFP
Currently about 15% of all meetings are sourced electronically, but trends indicate that this will increase substantially over the next years.
A large number of hotels whether part of a brand or otherwise have some sort of mechanism to address meeting requests electronically through their web site
However, both hoteliers and planners agree there are challenges due to inconsistent formats and its impersonal nature. It will be important to identify your E-RFP sources and have a clear process to address them effectively.
to be continued…
Influence from procurement departments particularly in big companies have increased over the last years – procurement being the more ‘in’ word for purchasing. While this brings about a lot of savings for the company, planning events becomes even more challenging as it allows less room for flexibility for the meeting planner. According to a C&IT survey in 2006, ‘’the power of purchasing officials clearly isn’t going to go away’’
So how does the procurement department of a big corporate company influence event organisation? The procurement department continually looks at ways of lowering costs and in many cases will advise Travel and Event Managers on which suppliers to use. Sometimes this leaves the event planner with limited choices and having to make some hard decisions.
But actual measurement of ROI remains a challenge with conflicting ideas on how to do it….and the frequency of such measurements vary as well.
So with ROI being a difficult one to measure and influence, I think that hoteliers will have to look closer at
- UNDERSTANDING GROUP CHANNELS BETTER
- RESPONDING TO GROUP ENQUIRIES BETTER
- CONVERTING GROUP ENQUIRIES BETTER & IMPROVING CONVERSION
- IMPROVED MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS
and address each of these areas to improve their own ROI in sales efforts for the groups segment.
Here is how each of these areas can help you optimise your sales efforts.
1) UNDERSTANDING GROUP CHANNELS
• Identify the channels where group enquiries originate – Regional Sales Offices, Agencies direct, DMC’s, Corporate web site
• Use a targeted approach for different channels
• Understand their specific needs & decision making process
• Identify their preferred methods of working, payment methods, lead times etc
to be continued….
As it happens, the entire hotel is not made of ice - but the Absolut bar is! One of the six ice bars around the world. Find out more at www.hotel27.dk
Great timing on the Event ROI reflections with Benchmark Hospitality International publishing its annual top ten meeting trends report. But there is no mention of the ROI from the customer perspective…
The top themes picked up by the report include
- going green and demonstrating green credentials
- interactive event sites
- speed/connectivity and technology
- healthy menu options
and how important is it for hoteliers to understand its impact?
• Companies, associations and other organisations spend an enormous amount of time and money on events. Some are aimed at customers and some at internal teams
• Most of the time they do not know if it is worth their money to spend these sums and measure what they get in return
So if a meeting planner is convinced that their ROI will be high in going ahead with an event, as a hotelier, you have a higher chance of converting that business. This in turn means that a hotel sales person will often need to find added value propositions to contribute to this process.
In the next few posts I will take a look at how far ROI measurement is being applied by the event industry.
According to MSNBC Travel Editor, Peter Greenberg, Westin Hotels has partnered with Philips and a group of sleep doctors to create a “concept room” aimed at aiding sleep deprivation and cutting jet-lag recovery time in half.
This hotel-room laboratory is currently being tested at the Westin Chicago River North, and is the first such partnership between Philips and a hotel company.
So what does the room have which is so different? My picks from a long list of innovative features listed in the MSNBC article (you can read more about it here)
- The concept room is equipped with Philips’ ActiViva lamps — revolutionary new blue-light lamps that provide high-quality lighting and directly affect the way people feel by supposedly making them feel more alert, awake and energized.
- a guided-meditation TV program walking you through into a sleep experience - wierd but who knows it may work
- the shower with a high-intensity light that its manufacturer claims will reset your body clock (and your circadian rhythms) by triggering the third receptor in the human eye. One button relaxes you. One is designed to rev you up.
- motion-activated “stumble lights” that automatically turn on when you get out of bed.
Worth looking out for the results………
