Relationships:
Author: Carolyn Koenig
December 2007
Columns
Do we have time for them anymore?
According to Mark Twain, reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated. The same can be said about the death of planner-supplier relationships.
Make no mistake—relationships have changed over the past few years. It seems that, in today’s hurry-up world, technology has taken over, and the very reason why we got into the hospitality industry—because we like to work with people in a creative process—has gone by the wayside.
Or, has it?
We’re all busy sending impersonal RFPs, e-mailing, text messaging, and basing many of our meeting decisions on price and group fit, and people aren’t connecting at the same level as we have in the past. Trade show attendance is down, as no one has time to get out of the office and go personally to meet hotels at booths to choose new destinations (besides, we can Google them and see if we’d want to meet there!). Also, as one planner told Smart Meetings recently, “Turnover is so great at the hotels that if I book with one sales person, it is usually someone new by the time my group gets there.”
The new involvement of procurement in the meeting planning mix has also had an effect. In some organizations this department is responsible for site selection, perhaps with input by planners, perhaps not.
On the supplier side, hoteliers, too, are noting the erosion of relationships, reporting that many planners only want to converse via e-mail. In fact, one said to us recently, he never spoke on the phone with several planners prior to their meeting!
But this scenario is a slippery slope, and we may be missing many of the benefits that working closely with a hotel sales person brings. One benefit is continuity: These colleagues know a planner’s history and special needs, so the entire process is easier. “I follow sales people to new hotels when the relationship is strong,” says Lauren P. Ostrin, senior program manager with Impact, in New Jersey.
There is also a comfort level and peace of mind that comes from key planning relationships. Suppliers are more likely to actively listen to planners. The details are then handled correctly, and this makes the planners look good—it’s like an insurance policy.
“My relationships with suppliers are so important to what I do as an event planner,” says Marlene Blas, MTA, associate director, meetings and events for the California Western School of Law in San Diego. “A successful meeting requires a network of relationships, requiring all parties to work together in order to reach the meeting’s goals and objectives.”
Plus, says Rose Duff, travel director for Texas-based American Contractors Insurance Group, “I get so many creative ideas from my hotel sales contacts.” For example, she says, the spouses who attend her meetings are a discerning group, and she works hard to plan activities they will find interesting. She admired the flower arrangements at a hotel she was booking and mentioned it to her sales contact, who put together a flower-arranging demonstration, which was a huge success for her group and a program the hotel had never before offered.
Fairly new on the scene is the position of conference concierge, who helps with special arrangements once the group is in-house, and this can be a key relationship as well. In fact, it often bridges the gap when there’s been a change in sales personnel.
Relationships can also strengthen the negotiating power a planner has with a property—not only in the critical contract process, for example, where planners may negotiate that rooms booked through the Internet count toward their group number, but also in smaller details like the price of bottled water for breaks.
In talking to planners at various events over the past few months, however, we have discovered that many meeting professionals—time pressed as they are—are eager to develop and maintain relationships with their suppliers. Their success, and the success of their meetings, depends on a level of trust that can only be established with time and energy. And that means a personal connection.
“While e-mail and text messages are a convenient communication channel, certain discussions should be handled over the telephone or, if possible, in person,” Blas says. “Without the benefit of signals such as gestures, emphasis and intonation, it can be challenging to express emotion and tone over e-mail. I plan over 100 meetings and events each year, and while I don’t have the luxury of face-to-face meetings with all of my suppliers, I will set up a conference call with them.”
According to Steve Lowe, director of sales for Harrah’s/Harveys Lake Tahoe, “Information technology is great, but without the personal connection, the hotel sales team doesn’t sell, we’re just giving availability and rates.”
Communication is a two-way street, he says. “It’s no different than how other human beings relate to each other, whether they’re husband and wife, or parent and child. Communication is the responsibility of both parties: It’s my responsibility to communicate with you, and it’s your responsibility to communicate with me.”
For example, planners want a quick response to an RFP—an understandable necessity that needs to be honored by suppliers. By the same token, planners need to get back to the venues when they’ve got an RFP out and let them know the status. “We’re so well connected these days, there’s no reason why we can’t keep them informed. It’s just a quick e-mail,” says Ostrin. “In this business you follow up and follow through, to ensure good relations on both ends.”
Many hoteliers are now taking on the back-to-basics relationship challenge by stepping up their communication efforts, not only on the contracting and day-to-day planning of a particular meeting, but also by holding focus groups and other events to get planner input on subjects such as upcoming renovations, better ways to make meeting groups feel special and how to streamline the process. They’re reaching out and looking for that other hand to grasp—maybe it’s yours.
After all, in quintessential bumper-sticker wisdom, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
