A meeting planner in Washington, D.C., sees a loose bolt on her exhibit panel. She picks up a wrench to fix it and a union laborer standing nearby sees her and reports a grievance to his supervisor. A florist in San Francisco attempts to carry centerpieces up a hotel loading dock and a Teamster stops him. The meeting planner who hired the florist must pay union laborers to perform this service.

While these scenarios may seem far-fetched, they are based on actual experiences faced by planners holding events in cities with unionized labor. While union regulations vary from city to city, an understanding of the venue’s guidelines will allow you to budget and reduce your organization’s liability to union grievances.

Before contracting a hotel or convention center, ask if it utilizes a union labor force and specifically which departments are in the union. While banquet servers and bellmen may be under a union contact, conference services managers and administrators might be non-union. If the venue does employ union laborers, inquire as to whether the union contracts are expiring or up for negotiation. Labor disputes could cause a disruption in services, a strike and public demonstrations outside the venue, all of which can affect your meeting.

Your salesperson might downplay any union negotiations to make a sale or not know the full extent of disputes, especially if the salesperson is located in another state. It is best to perform further research outside the venue’s report. The official hotel guide of the Hotel Workers Union, Unite Here, provides a list of hotels that are at risk of dispute or on strike. You should also perform an Internet search on the property. Search with the venue’s name followed by the words “labor dispute boycott strike” or “picket lines protests union” to learn of any existing or pending labor disputes. You can also call the local branch of the Hotel Workers Union and ask if they are currently engaged in any labor disputes in hotels in your chosen city. Unite Here provides a list of branches per city at unitehere.org/about/locals.php.

Include a union clause in your contract to further protect your organization, even if you find that union contracts are not up for negotiation and no disputes are pending. Most force majeure clauses include strikes and labor disputes. However, it is wise to add language that allows you to cancel the agreement and receive a refund of all deposits should a dispute or strike occur within two weeks prior to the start of your event or at any time during your event.

Consider also adding a clause that requires the hotel to notify your group within 10 days after it becomes aware of any labor disputes involving the hotel and its employees. The clause should include notification of the expiration of a negotiated labor contact or the filing of an unfair labor practice charge by a union, which often leads to a dispute.

Once your contract is in place, it’s time to research the union’s regulations and uncover any additional fees that may be imposed. If you are using the venue’s exclusive service providers, they are fully aware of the regulations and will work with the local unions to ensure compliance. If you are using an outside production company, for example, make sure it has worked in the city previously and has an understanding of the guidelines.

Increased fees often come into play when your event requires union labor for longer than an eight-hour period, on holidays or weekends. Check with the venue to see what staffing guidelines are in place and how you might alter your schedule to reduce fees. For example, union servers might be restricted to three hours for a breakfast or lunch shift and four hours for a dinner shift, including setup and teardown time. If you request that the linens are placed on the tables 1.5 hours before your dinner begins so your florist can bring the centerpieces, you’ll have only 2.5 hours to set up, serve and tear down your dinner and chances are you will go into overtime. In this case, see if the florist can deliver the centerpieces at the same time the venue is setting up the overall tables.

If your program requires dedicated staff, taking them away from their regular schedule, you may incur additional fees as well. For example, if you require dedicated room service staff for your VIP executives, which means the servers would not garner gratuities from other guests, a hotel might then require a flat “attendant” fee to compensate for the lost income.

Always ask hotels if the unions will agree to negotiate fees for certain services. For example, hotels charge a certain amount per item for room deliveries, an amount that goes to the bellman as a gratuity. If you place an envelope on top of a box, that can count as two items. Try to negotiate a bundled fee based on the overall amount of deliveries. If you have a multi-year contract with the hotel or your program is generating a significant amount of revenue for the property, the hotel might be more willing to waive the fees for your group and pay the union staff out of its own budget.

By carefully researching the property’s union guidelines and strengthening the contractual language against disputes, you can successfully manage an event at any union facility.

Monica Compton, CMP, is a writer and event marketing consultant with Pinnacle Productions Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga. She has 20 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

The first step to building your block is determining your peak night, or the greatest number of rooms needed on a single night. Start by using the total number of attendees from the previous year and add or subtract a percentage based on the current agenda and registrations. Most attendees arrive one or two days in advance. To determine these “shoulder nights,” it’s important to look at your history from past years and your attendee demographics, especially taking note of international travelers. If you have attendees traveling from Europe, for example, they might arrive early in the morning, which would require reserving a room the night before. Attendees from Asia might arrive two days in advance of the meeting to adjust to the local time zone. Attendees driving to the meeting might arrive the first day of the program and not require a room the night before.

You can determine the percentage of shoulder nights needed based on the peak-night number. First, determine the percentage of shoulder-night rooms you needed last year. For example, if on the peak night, you used 100 rooms and shoulder nights required 50 rooms, the percent for shoulder rooms was 50 percent. Use this percentage to determine this year’s needed rooms. Multiply this year’s projected peak-night number by last year’s shoulder percentage. This gives you a percentage of how many rooms you need to reserve on each shoulder night.

Next, determine if you should contract these rooms with the hotel based on peak night or cumulative pickup. If you have a one-day event with a number of local attendees who do not require rooms, guaranteeing rooms on the peak night would be best. This way you are not responsible for shoulder nights that might not be picked up. Most meetings, though, work better with a cumulative pickup, which means if you don’t make your peak-night number, each and every room on shoulder nights count toward your guarantee. Cumulative pickup is usually best for multiple-day meetings where attendees are extending their stays. If your hotel is located in a resort area and the arrival or departure dates are near a weekend, attendees are more likely to add nights before or after the meeting dates.

Now that you have your room-night pattern, determine the types of rooms needed each night: kings, doubles, staff rooms, suites and government-rated rooms. Start with the room type most of the attendees use—standard king rooms, for example—and back out the rest of the room types from this number. Since suites are usually assigned to VIPs such as keynote speakers, you are less likely to need extended shoulder nights for these rooms. This is also the case for government-rated rooms that are restricted to the dates of the conference.

After your block is built, it’s negotiation time. Most hotels want to negotiate an attrition percentage, or the number of rooms they are willing to allow you to release without penalty. The attrition rate is contingent on many factors: time of year, history of your pickup from previous years, whether this is the host hotel and if there are other overflow hotels contracted, and the hotel’s current occupancy. Most hotels are willing to offer an 80 percent attrition rate. Deduct 20 percent from your total room nights contracted and determine if you can realistically fill this number of rooms.

It’s important to factor in a no-show rate when determining your attrition liability. Again, look at your attendee demographics and the previous year’s pickup. Do you have many international attendees who could be affected by flight delays? Have you awarded complimentary rooms to sponsors or customers where financial responsibility is solely your burden? Once you’ve figured out your no-show percentage, add that number to your attrition percentage. For example, if you determine that you have a 5 percent no-show rate, you must now fill 85 percent of your block to meet attrition.

It’s also important that all revenue received from a room booking counts toward your attrition commitment, regardless if someone slept in the room or not. Make sure your contract states that attrition is calculated on “revenue” rooms not “utilized” rooms. If a guest doesn’t show up, the room is not utilized, but you are still being charged one night’s room rate. This revenue should count toward your overall revenue commitment. Any deposits, pre-payments or early departure fees collected should also count toward this revenue.

Make sure your contract includes an “all reservations considered” clause. This allows any room that can be attributed to your block to count towards your overall pickup, regardless of the reservation’s origin. Attendees who book outside the block and reserve their rooms on travel sites such as Expedia and hotels.com would not book at the hotel if it weren’t for your meeting. These rooms should then count toward your block. At the conclusion of your meeting, provide the hotel with your final attendee list and ask them to perform a room audit, cross-checking the names with all reservations in its system. Any names matching your list will be added to your block.

Negotiating an extended cut-off date is also important if your delegates are late to register. Most hotels ask you to submit your final rooming list 30 days in advance of the start of your meeting. After that date, they release the rooms to the general public. Negotiating down to 21 days in advance gives you a little more than a week extra to get your room reservations in.

If you have allocated shoulder nights for extended stays, ask the hotel to honor your group rates for a minimum of three days before and three days after the start and end dates of your meeting. Chances are they will honor the rate past this; it helps if you are a repeat client, have a multi-year contract or a strong history of filling your block.

There are a myriad of additional concessions that help you reduce costs, from complimentary room nights to suite upgrades to a discounted staff room rate. While you probably want to ask for as many concessions as possible, determine which are most important to your program. If you have a significant number of VIPs, upgrades to club level and complimentary amenities might be most important. If your meeting requires extensive audiovisual equipment, negotiate a discount with the in-house provider.

If your agenda is filled with food and beverage functions, ask for a discount after a minimum revenue is met. Get creative. Many hotels own vehicles or work with a transportation supplier and will extend complimentary airport transfers for your staff and VIPs. If the property is expansive, request the use of golf carts to get around the meeting space. If your program has large exhibits and substantial shipments, request a discount on handling fees.

Building your block and negotiating concessions is much easier with detailed records from year to year. Track your group’s history and save pick-up reports. The more proof you can offer as to your block’s performance, the more likely the hotel will offer discounted rates and minimal attrition commitments.

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta. She has 20 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

Q. Why do I need to set up “sub-blocks”? Can’t I just put everyone on one block? Wouldn’t it be easier to manage?
A. By allocating sub (smaller) blocks, you can better manage your inventory. For example, staff rooms may be at a discounted rate. Members may get a hotel preference compared to non-members or exhibitors. By setting up smaller sub blocks, you can easily see where each of these groups are relative to pick up and you may add or re-allocate where some groups may not be performing and others are in need of additional rooms based on demand.

Q. Why is it important to integrate registration information to housing/reservation info?
A. Two main reasons. 1, When the systems are integrated, the common info (name, address, etc.) most often will pre-populate to the reservation system eliminating the need to re-type it. This makes it easier to make a reservation at the time of registration. 2, Statistically when the systems are integrated, in-block reservations increase by as much as 25 to 30 percent and the pick-up will happen earlier.

Q. How do you determine what concessions to request? For example, If you have 5,000 room nights, what should the hotel comp be?
A. There really are no standards. Some concessions appear to be great but in actuality may not be as good a value. This varies with the meeting, venue, demand during the meeting dates in your city/venue. The key to concessions is to identify what value items are important to the group. For example: Comp rooms at 1:50 as opposed to 1:40. Looks good on paper, but if you have 500 room nights, you gain 25 more room nights. Sounds like a lot, but 10 percent on F&B, AV or power may yield a higher dollar return.

Q. Will hotels let you put that clause in typically? I’ve had push back.
A. Hotel clauses need to be vetted thoroughly by your legal or a competent authority. Once accepted by a major chain property (Marriott, Hyatt, etc.), these become much easier to get accepted at other properties within their respective brands. The “My legal won’t accept this” can’t be used in most cases when it’s been accepted previously by another in the chain.

Q. How do you get hotels to do the audit? We work internationally and we put wording in the contract that they must do so, but we receive push back when we ask them to audit, thus missing out on revenue. They think the job is too big and they usually claim they don’t have the staffing to do so.
A. Get it in your contract. This is a common practice and we’ve never had a hotel push back when we state that there will be an audit post-event and that credit will be given to those identified. Don’t budge on this. There are processes in place at the hotel level to accommodate this need.

Q. How is using a housing partner different from using a hotel’s “Passkey”-type system?
A. It’s all about focus. Most hotels/CVBs that will provide housing do it as an accommodation, not as their primary focus. That having been said, you don’t often get the “Turbo charged” version. Not that the system is dialed back, with a housing provider, you get the experience, system capabilities knowledge and PRIMARY FOCUS on housing to maximize your goals and objectives.

Q. Are there any cut-off date trends?
A. The more time to fill your block, the better. And if you capture and can share history of late pickup, you’ll have a much better chance of getting a shorter window prior to your event. Optimally, 30 days is the hotel “standard” and two weeks is the preferred.

Q. What percentage books after the cut-off date?
A. Studies have shown as much as 30 percent. Integration with registration can reduce this percentage.

Q. What incentives have you seen that get more participants to stay in the group block?
A. Athletic events use a “stay-to-play” model, where a participant must stay in the block to play in the event. Others offer a monetary penalty if someone is not in the block, or some offer a discount on the program to their exhibitors if they prove they have stayed in the block.

Q. Is it necessary for housing systems to have their own app for mobile devices like iPhone or Android?
A. No, it is not required nor needed. The Passkey system recognizes a mobile device and directs the user to a web-based, mobile-device optimized website. They are still on the Internet but the size and format of the screen is better for mobile devices and takes up less memory.

I agree. However, in the faith-based and trade show arena, a drop of 25 percent or more of the attendees due to some unforeseen occurrence could have fatal implications for a sponsoring organization. Here are a few questions you need to answer to determine if you should consider cancellation and interruption insurance:

➤ Does your show/event generate a significant amount of your annual revenue?

➤ Would a sudden, last-minute and significant (5 percent or more) downturn in attendance substantially impact your organization’s financial status?

➤ Could your organization cancel an event and not be significantly affected by the loss of profit?

All of these questions relate to the financial viability of the sponsoring organization. For those unfamiliar with this type of coverage, it protects your revenue—not your profits.

Here’s an example, based on a very realistic scenario: You produce an annual event with 2,500 attendees. Each registrant will pay $500 for registration. Your event has a trade show component; 150 exhibitors each pay $2,500. And don’t forget your sponsors: Add another $500,000. Between all of the above, you’ll generate $2.125 million in revenue. Your profit will be based on the difference between what you spend to produce the show and your revenue—an estimated $1 million.

Close to the start of your program, there is a health issue—say swine flu or SARS. Remember SARS? Your host city has a high number, or the highest number of documented cases. A renowned medical agency publicly recommends, “Don’t go there because there’s a chance you may get sick.” It isn’t an epidemic, but suddenly your attendance starts falling. You’ve already contracted and committed based on 2,500. Now it may be 1,700 or as low as 1,200. Your revenue projections now look like you may break even at best. If you had purchased an event cancellation/interruption policy, you can now get a good night’s sleep.

Here’s why: The insurance will protect your top-line revenue. You’ll be able to pay your bills, protect your income and remain financially intact. A claim of this magnitude will take a while to settle and requires an enormous amount of documentation and substantiation.

There’s a reason we don’t drive without insurance: risk. Ask yourself how much risk you’re willing to accept for your denomination, organization or company. The premium for this type of coverage is expensive. You have to plan for it, budget for it and apply for it each time you want it. It may not be best for everyone, but this is where you need to do your homework, assess your risk, discuss the upside and downside, and be prepared to live with your decision.

Industry associations—Meeting Professionals International, Professional Convention Management Association, etc.—have researched numerous providers and options and will serve as a great first step in determining which is best for you. So, take the time to make a well-informed decision.

Resort Fee
Resorts were the first property types to implement daily fees for services such as in-room coffee, bottled water, and access to the spa and fitness center. For rate-sensitive planners and attendees, these fees can come as a surprise, so it’s important to discuss resort fees during negotiations. Ideally, a hotel would agree to waive the fees or at least reduce the cost of such fees for groups. But the contract needs to include a specific provision regarding the resort fee, either that it has been waived or reduced to a certain dollar amount.

Many resorts also impose mandatory charges for bellman and housekeeping services. Again, the contract should include reference to any such charges and indicate whether they are mandatory or optional in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Walking
When a hotel is unable to provide an already reserved room it is always an unpleasant surprise. But in a resort setting, a walking situation can be disastrous. With little to no nearby options for alternate properties, a walk situation creates a significant problem. A planner, therefore, needs to include strong language in a contract regarding the possibility of a walk situation and address the hotel’s obligations if it occurs. Specifically, parties need to agree on what property or properties will provide rooms to walked guests and how those guests will get to and from the resort to the alternate property on an as-needed basis. The planner also should monitor the hotel room block and occupancy before a meeting to determine if a walk situation is likely. If so, the planner needs to negotiate with the hotel so another group is walked. If walking a group’s guests is inevitable, a planner should tell the hotel which attendees should be walked and contact those guests as soon as possible to inform them.

Walking does not always mean a hotel is oversold. It can mean that a hotel is “underdeparted,” or a previous group’s guests have not checked out as scheduled. Such extended stays are sometimes due to travel problems (weather issues in the person’s home city) or a postponed event (such as a golf tournament that gets rained out on the last day and is extended to the following day). In such situations, the meeting professional should remain in close contact with the resort to monitor the possibility of a walk situation so it can manage the process.

Facility/Services Assurances
One reason many groups use resort properties is the array of facilities and amenities offered. From conference centers to pools to golf courses to restaurants, attendees expect to have these options available. Sometimes, either due to financial or practical reasons such as construction or renovations, the facilities may not be available to the group. It is important to include reference in the resort contract as to the types of facilities and amenities available to the group at the time of contracting. Then, if any are not available during the meeting, a planner can challenge the situation and require the hotel provide alternate means of services and amenities or a discount.

Payment of Charges
While a group might be able to secure credit at the resort, most resorts seek prepayments. There is some flexibility in negotiating a reduction to a prepayment schedule, but it’s unlikely a group will be able to have prepayments waived altogether. Ideally, in order to ensure proper performance during the meeting, a planner should be able to retain a percentage of fees until after the meeting date.
Some resort contracts require the group to pay for charges incurred by an attendee and left unpaid. A planner who does not want to accept such financial responsibility should remove those provisions from the agreement.

Recreational Activities
Many resorts offer a variety of optional activities such as snorkeling, boat trips and wave runner rental, and it is important to address the liability concerns associated with such activities. Ideally, a person who chooses to participate in such activities understands the risks associated and signs a release and waiver of claims prior to participating. A release provides protection in the event the person is injured during the activity. If possible, the release and waiver also should include the group’s name so that the group has similar protection.

Crisis Planning
As with any meeting, it is incumbent that a planner prepare a crisis management plan for a resort meeting. The planner needs to find out if a doctor is available on-site or nearby to address medical emergencies. It is also important to know where the nearest hospital or clinic is located and how much time it takes to travel there. The plan should address safety and security issues because resorts often are located in remote areas with rooms spread throughout the complex. The meeting planner should work with the resort’s security team to ensure attendees are protected.

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While resorts can be a feast for both the mind and soul, they also can be a headache for meeting professionals. But with a little foresight and planning, planners can breeze through resort contracts and relax at the conclusion of a successful resort meeting. Read more about how resorts are catering to the faith-based market in “No Longer a Last Resort.”

Having a back-up plan is a necessity when coordinating air and ground transportation. Unless attendees are driving to a meeting or renting a car once they land, airport transfers are usually their first meeting experience. Air dictates ground, and ground gives the first impression. Understanding your attendee level and demographic is the first step in determining the most efficient, least expensive method of transportation. Does the group include your church’s pastor or executive staff? Are they mostly male members traveling with colleagues, or female members traveling alone?

If the attendees are important members of the congregation, consider hiring separate sedan cars on standby. If your event is an annual session hosted by the organization’s national headquarters, consider grouping members coming from the same city, state or chapter. Chartering a group flight can be less expensive in both airfare and ground transfers; a 55-passenger bus would be more economical than booking multiple 11-passenger shuttle vans.

However, it often is very challenging to arrange to fly a large number of people on the same airline, the same day, at the same time. If attendees are flying on different airlines yet landing during a similar time period, it is possible to group them on shuttles. Analyzing your flight manifest for potential groupings is crucial to cut down on cost. It’s equally as important to understand the airport’s terminal system and map out the distance between gates, concourses and baggage claim. If two delegates land in the international terminal, concourse E, and four land in domestic terminals, concourses A and B, it might not make sense to have all six attendees share a shuttle. Consider how long it takes to walk from gate to gate and how rapidly the airport’s transit system operates. Research airport information on the Internet by visiting the airport’s official website and by reading blogs and social media sites that provide traveler feedback. A group coordinator at the city’s convention and visitor bureau also might provide excellent information about travel time, both inside the airport and once attendees depart baggage claim.

Airport transfers are probably the most challenging to coordinate, not only because they are influenced by airline delays and slow baggage return, but also because attendees new to the city or airport might get lost trying to find their way to the main terminal. Attendees will walk by large directional signs and placards with their last name in big, bold letters, especially if they are reading email on their smartphones or are trying to read airport signage. It is important to provide concise directions from the gate to baggage claim in your pre-conference materials, and explain in detail who and what they are looking for once they reach baggage: Is it a meet-and-greet representative wearing a transportation company’s logoed shirt, or a sedan driver in a traditional suit? Be sure to include an emergency, off-hours phone number in case a flight is delayed or canceled. If you are using a travel agency to book group air, this company usually can provide an 800 number that is answered by a representative familiar with your group. If attendees are booking their own air, provide a meeting manager’s cell phone number or the number to the organization’s on-site office.

Once the delegates are safely to the hotel or meeting venue, make sure they are expertly shuttled to off-site functions. This coordination is a bit less challenging than airport transfers; generally, the entire group is meeting at the same location at the same time. However, if your conference uses multiple hotels, it’s important to time the shuttles so all delegates are arriving at approximately the same time. You can then start your meal functions and entertainment on schedule rather than waiting for a late bus to arrive. Translation: You save costs on multiple elements of the meeting and are not paying overtime charges to a demanding entertainer.

Monica Compton, CMP, is a writer and event-marketing consultant with Pinnacle Productions Inc., based in Atlanta. She has 19 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

1. Profile of your organization: Include size, scope (domestic/international) and website

2. Event description: Type of event or meeting, audience, field or industry, attendee demographics and expected attendance

3. Optimal dates, pattern and flexibility

4. Preferred location and property type: Single property, multiple hotel package, meeting space at or in conjunction with a convention center

5. Organizational contacts: Include contact person in case responders have questions.

6. Decision process: State clearly who, in what time frame, and what criteria will be used in the decision-making process; include decision date.

7. History: If not a first-year event, detail the past and future dates, cities and venues, dates and rates.

8. Guest room block: A day-by-day grid by room type with totals by date; list all suites, standard, club or concierge and staff room requirements

9. Rates: State your expected room rate or rate range.

10. Contract clauses: Include all items that your organization requires, e.g., complimentary site inspection rooms; VIP/airport transfers; sustainability practice compliance/participation; etc.

11. Overview of function space requirements: Attach or include a tentative agenda that indicates how the room will be used, what day and time, and any minimum requirements regarding size/square footage, 24- hour holds, ceiling height, power, load in access, rigging, etc.

12. Food and beverage: List all functions that include F&B at the venue that you’ll be selecting, as well as any off-premise events. If you have preferences for buffets or shared space include these as well.

The Hotel Disclosure Form

Attach a form that can be easily filled in electronically by those responding to your RFP. Include:

1. General information: Management team contact information, ownership, last renovation date, scheduled renovation schedule, age of the property, web address

2. Location-related information: Distance from airports, train stations, costs of transfers, parking and shuttle transportation

3. Hotel amenities: Indoor/outdoor pool area, fitness center, tennis, golf, concierge lounge, business center, spa, etc. Don’t forget restaurants: hours, seating capacities, price range and a brief description of the fare.

4. Guest rooms and guest room amenities: Check in/out times, wireless/wired Internet, in-room safe, complimentary turndown, 24-hour room service, coffee maker, smoking rooms, etc.

5. Union status: Is this a unionized facility? If so, what departments? When is the next collective bargaining scheduled to take place?

6. Financial considerations: Current taxes on guest rooms, resort fees, early departure fees, costs for T1 Internet in meeting/trade show space, current general menu prices for standard types of meals, cocktails, coffee (by the gallon); tax and service charges on F&B. Is the service charge taxable/non-taxable?

7. Function space: What outdoor areas are available? Are the air walls soundproof? Note: Always secure a complete list of all meeting/function space with capacities and dimensions.

8. Banquet functions: What is the current overset? Request a set of banquet menus with current pricing.

9. Audiovisual: Current contact for in-house provider

Convention Center Disclosure

When your meeting needs include significant square footage for large general sessions and trade shows, or when the need for concurrent session space might not be available in a hotel, the use of a nearby convention center is most likely your next option. Like the hotel disclosure form, this information is specific to the convention center being proposed for the event. Most of the same information gathered above will apply here. Make sure any and all fees and charges are fully disclosed.

1. Proposed room block(s) and meeting space — This part of the form is where the venue details the following to you, the planner/buyer:

a. Headquarter hotel proposed room block

b. Propossed rate structure for all room types requested

c. Proposed function space and its location (hotel or convention center) by event as detailed in the RFP document

2. If you are flexible with your dates and/or arrival and departure pat-tern, add a “Date Option No. 2” page. Do the same for overflow or additional room blocks at adjacent venues where applicable.

3. Lastly, include a section for any competing venue to communicate the concessions/inducements they are willing to provide your group. Stipulate that any and all concessions listed on the response form are not date-specific and apply to all dates proposed unless otherwise specified.

The development of a comprehensive RFP template might seem like a daunting task. There are many moving parts. By taking the time to fully illustrate all of the details of your meeting or event, you are showing your potential provider you want their proposal to be complete and thorough.

Kevin R. Johnston, CMP, a 25-year meeting industry veteran, is the executive vice president of PlanSmart by Collinson Media and Events, a complete meeting services organization providing global venue procurement, audiovisual production and marketing expertise for events, trades shows and conferences worldwide.

Is all usage protected?

As an original work of authorship, the U.S. Copyright Act protects music just as it does photographs, books, software, plays, artwork and many other forms of creative work. The creator owns the work unless the person created it in the scope of their employment, in which case the employer owns the work, or if there is a written agreement that the work is a “work made for hire,” in which case the hiring company owns the work.

Copyright protection consists of a bundle of rights, including the right to reproduce, distribute and display the work, the right to prepare works derived from the original and the right to publicly perform the work. Each of these rights can be licensed separately. When a copyrighted work is used without the owner’s permission, the use constitutes copyright infringement unless the use falls within one of the exceptions discussed later in this column. It is important to understand the distinction.

How can we get permission to play it?

When it comes to public performances of copyrighted music, a logistical problem is created by virtue of the large amount of individuals and organizations that may want to perform copyrighted material and the limited resources of the author to negotiate with potential licensees. As a result, performing rights societies (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers or ASCAP, Broadcast Music Inc. or BMI, and SESAC Inc. or SESAC) license public performance rights on a nonexclusive basis for performers. They license the music for public performance, collect fees, and pursue those who don’t have a license or pay the appropriate fees. These performing rights societies offer organizations a blanket license agreement in which the group can pay one fee per year for all music played during the year at the organization’s conferences and events. This blanket coverage is the simplest way for a planner to deal with this issue.

Are there any exceptions?

Yes, the U.S. Copyright Act provides exceptions including music played in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly. Therefore, with regard to religious conferences, it is important to delineate between music played in the course of a religious service and music played at dinners, gatherings, etc. For non-religious services, a music license must be obtained. If you are in doubt, check with your attorney.

Barbara Dunn is an attorney and partner with Howe & Hutton Ltd., a law firm which specializes in the representation of groups in the meetings, travel and hospitality industry. She is presenting several educational sessions at the 2010 Rejuvenate Marketplace. She can be contacted at bfd@howehutton.com.

By Monica Compton, CMP

We’ve all heard the term “meeting planner perks.” It can refer to the non-event industry’s view of a planner’s life: luxurious stays in posh settings, business class airline seats and hard-to-secure reservations at a celebrity chef’s restaurant. In reality we know that those perks, if ever received, are rarely used, turned over to VIPs or often wasted. After all, do event planners in a fast-paced industry with an expected 24-hour availability to their organizations’ needs really have time to take a vacation?

For those who do, complimentary hotel stays and airline upgrades seem to be a well-deserved reward for spending 12 hours on the trade-show floor, lifting heavy boxes and not having enough time to eat. While hotel loyalty programs were created more than 25 years ago for frequent travelers, the concept of tailoring a program to target meeting planners is at an all-time high. In a lumbering economy, hotels are looking to entice planners with complimentary hotel nights, discounts on group meals and credits to their meetings’ overall bills.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide customized its Starwood Preferred Guest program, the hotel group’s original rewards program for frequent travelers, and created a Starwood Preferred Planner program. Planners just don’t get points; they get Starpoints, implying a higher level of benefits for meeting planners over leisure or business travelers. The program is further expanded to offer Instant Meeting Awards, the ability to get up to a $1,500 credit on your group bill as long as you are a Starwood Preferred Planner with 15,000 Starpoints (and, of course, a signed hotel contract must be in place). But there’s a terms and conditions catch to get meeting planners to book with Starwood again. Starpoints earned for the group’s current meeting may not be redeemed toward that meeting. So if you haven’t reached 15,000 points, you’ll have to wait until your next meeting to earn the group bill credit.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the first company to introduce hotel points with its Priority Club Rewards for Holiday Inn in 1983, has also created a planner niche for its program. With the addition of one word to its title, the Priority Club Meeting Rewards becomes a program that awards planners for “qualified” meetings. Reading the fine print is also essential here. Planners must have a minimum of 10 rooms occupied in their block from a minimum of one night up to five consecutive nights depending on the brand in IHG’s portfolio of hotels. InterContinental and Crowne Plaza have an additional requirement that meeting-related food and beverage charges must be applied to the master bill.

IHG further adds the perk of giving planners different status levels depending on how many meetings they book. Similar to an airline’s status ranking, IHG bestows Gold Elite status to planners who host one qualified meeting in a calendar year and Platinum Elite status to those hosting two meetings per year. The benefits of status range from the gold level’s 10 percent bonus in points and priority check-in, ensuring your room and keys are ready upon arrival, to complimentary room upgrades and a 50 percent boost in bonus points at the platinum level.

Marriott’s Rewarding Events program also offers levels of elite status and allows planners to choose between hotel points and airline miles. For every $1 in total meeting charges, planners can earn three hotel points up to a maximum of 50,000 or 1 mile up to a maximum of 15,000.

Marriott’s limited-time Meetings Matter group promotion adds contract incentives and bonus points to its base
rewards program. For each meeting with at least 50 cumulative room nights booked and held by Dec. 31, 2010, a group will receive: 35 percent allowable attrition, one complimentary room night for every 35 paid rooms, and a 2 percent rebate off the master bill for each qualified meeting exceeding 100 cumulative room nights. This promotion also adds triple points for master bills paid with any Visa credit card up to a maximum of 150,000 total points.

Marriott, IHG and Starwood have all received Freddie Awards, honoring the best frequent traveler programs throughout the world for the last 20 years. Receiving an award by giving travelers rewards confirms the industry’s intense focus on points. But for meeting planners who are bound by industry guidelines and organizational policies, does redeeming points for personal gain step dangerously close to the edge of ethics?

Many of these points programs focus their advertising on the individual benefits rather than what the group receives. Marriott’s Rewarding Events section of its website sympathizes with planners that “times are tight, and budgets are tighter,” but it can be “business as usual for you,” urging planners to earn points toward free nights for “your ultimate getaway.” Starwood’s site tells planners that earning Starpoints will “bring you one step closer to your dream vacation.”

IHG ran a 2008 campaign for Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts that masked the individual benefits by calling its promotion the M.B.A. (Masters in Business Accommodations), designed to engage the traveler and educate them “in the personality of the brand and our latest promotional offerings.”

So when do rewards points move from an acceptable gift to a breach of ethical guidelines?  Joshua Grimes of Grimes Law Offices, a firm specializing in associations and the hospitality industry, says there is no industry standard on points; however, many companies have policies that employees and contractors must follow.

“Sometimes these policies require people earning points for business travel to credit them to the company account,” Grimes says. “Other times the [individual] may keep them.”

Sheila Evans, director of sales Southern region for Hilton Worldwide, has clients who create a “house account” for points. Similar to an escrow account at a bank, Hilton holds the rewards points for use as the group books meetings. This ensures that the points are going to the company and not the individual planner. “Some clients use their points in company giveaways or donate them to their favorite charity,” Evans says.

Grimes says that most hotels have a policy allowing the meeting sponsor to designate who gets the points, the only condition being that the points will be paid to only one person or entity. “This means that any recipient may be designated,” Grimes says. “However, ethics considerations may dictate that the points should go to the meeting sponsor unless that sponsor designates another recipient.”

Evans says that it must be stated clearly, prior to the signing of the hotel contract, who will receive the points. “This is usually decided by the meeting planner or the person booking the program,” Evans says.

Ethical considerations can be stretched further when a planner bases a destination or venue decision on the rewarding of points. Kyle Greer, program manager for the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF), books properties based on how they fit his organization’s needs, not by their points program.

“Our key concerns are location, meeting space and service level,” Greer says. “It is critical [that] we pull off high-caliber meetings and events, and we’ve yet to find that a point system helps in any way.”

Paulette Hopkins, president of The Hopkins Alliance, puts a clause in her contracts listing the designated representative who will receive the points. “But it has never been the decision-breaker [over another property],” Hopkins says.

While Grimes says there is no legally correct answer, under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley law, the points would have to go to the company or organization sponsoring the meeting. “Otherwise, there could be an implication that the planner chose a particular hotel because he or she was personally earning points — a suspect incentive because it doesn’t benefit the meeting sponsor,” Grimes says. “The best policy is for the planner to give the company the points, or to disclose to the company that the hotel is offering the points and seek approval from company officials to keep them.”

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta. She has 18 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

In addition to inconveniencing so many passengers, the recent airline flight cancellations had a significant impact on the meetings industry. We had a number of clients contact us to say that their meeting had been affected as a result. Some were unable to hold their meetings, as they could not get their attendees to the destination. Others arrived at their destination but found that no rooms were available because the previous group’s attendees had not been able to depart and stayed over as a result. In other instances, function space was not available because the previous group had extended or adjusted its meeting times. This brings up the burning question: What are the duties and rights of a group when a flight cancellation impacts a meeting? The short answer is: It depends on what the contract says, if anything, about transportation interruptions.

Provisioning Up

The group’s duties will be evaluated against the contract’s force majeure provision. A force majeure provision should be included in each and every contract signed in connection with a meeting. There are three components I focus on when reviewing the provision. First, I review the grocery list of items that could occur such as acts of God, weather, strikes, wars, threats or acts of terrorism, travel advisories or diseases. It is important to ensure that transportation interruptions or flight delays or cancellations are included on the list. It is also important to include a catch-all provision at the end of the list such as the following: “or any other cause beyond the parties’ control.”

The second and most critical component is the standard of impact. If any of the items on the list occur, what has to happen to performance in order to trigger the protections of this provision? Does performance have to be rendered impossible? Or illegal? Inadvisable? Commercially unreasonable? Depending on what requirement is included in the contract, the group may have a difficult time exercising its right to cancel the agreement without liability. Standards such as “inadvisable,” “commercially unreasonable” or “materially affected” make it easier to invoke protections for the group, especially with respect to flight cancellations. Another option is to specify a certain percentage of attendees who would be discouraged from attending the meeting. Based on surveys of passengers affected by flight cancellations, this option offers another way of establishing that the group has met the requirements of the provision.

The third and final component is defining what will happen if the group could cancel its contract without liability due to force majeure but chooses to perform the contract anyway. The provision should state that in such an event, the hotel will waive room and food and beverage attrition fees related to a smaller meeting and honor any lower room rates. For example, if the flight cancellations meant that only 50 percent of the group’s attendees could travel to the meeting, the force majeure provision may give the group the right to cancel the agreement without liability but the group can elect to hold the meeting and not be subject to attrition fees for a lower utilization of its room block.

Groups also may want to consider purchasing event cancellation insurance for their meetings. Typically, the following are considered “covered events” under the policy: adverse weather conditions, non-appearance of a principal speaker or entertainer, terrorism (but only to the extent the event meets the policy’s parameters in terms of proximity and timing), labor disputes, airline cancellations due to adverse weather conditions or labor disputes, and floods.

Typical exclusions include financial cause or lack of support for the event, war or military action, government action and terrorism outside of the bounds of the policy. By having such insurance in place for revenue-producing meetings, the group can ensure that no matter what the liability under the contract, the group’s revenue from the meeting will be protected.

Rights

The group’s rights under the hotel contract in the midst of transportation interruptions also will be governed by the contract. In this instance, however, what the contract says is often not as important as dealing with the practical issues. For example, if the prior group has not departed due to flight cancellations, the hotel may not have enough rooms to honor your group’s reservations. In the event that a guest overstays their reservation dates, the hotel generally has two choices: Evict the guest or assume a new contract exists and charge the guest on a day-to-day basis. Since eviction is a rare consequence in the event of overstay (eviction is a consequence in the event of a guest’s violation of law or hotel policy), hotels typically treat the overstay as a new contract. That said, the hotel has no other option but to relocate the incoming group’s guests. Since a hotel room reservation is a contract, the hotel must provide alternate accommodations to the guest. That may mean “walking” the guest to any other hotel or, if the contract includes a “walk” clause, the terms of that clause will govern in such an event. It is important to include parameters in the clause such as the type of alternate hotel (nearby and equal or better quality), and reimbursement of transportation to and from the hotel and the alternate hotel as needed. Some groups request that the guest be returned to the hotel as soon as possible and receive upgraded accommodations along with an apology letter. Bottom line, if it appears likely that a walk situation will occur, the group must monitor the hotel’s relocation practices to ensure they meet the terms of the contract.

As life imitates art, I recently found myself in a walk situation caused by bad weather in another part of the country. While it appeared that the hotel had appropriately followed walk procedures, its method of dealing with guests who were being relocated was less than professional. Front desk managers were not adequately trained in basic customer service in such a situation and, as a result, many attendees were upset about the situation. In order to avoid this outcome, planners should work with the hotel’s front desk staff to ensure attendees are treated appropriately.

With regard to function space, the group’s rights are governed by the contract but once again, if the previous group does not vacate the space, the incoming group has the practical problem of securing its required space. As compared to sleeping rooms though, the group should have more leverage to insist that the hotel move the previous group. Function space is rented on a daily basis for specified hours. If a group exceeds the hours it reserved, the hotel has the right to remove the group from the space. Again, it is important for the incoming group’s planner to work closely with the hotel to ensure that this situation does not arise in the first place. Planners can undertake a number of measures both in and out of the contract to ensure that if transportation interruptions occur, they will be properly poised to minimize their duties and maximize their rights.

Barbara Dunn is an attorney and partner with Howe & Hutton, Ltd. in the firm’s St. Louis, Mo., office. She specializes in hospitality law and is a session speaker at the 2010 Rejuvenate Marketplace in Louisville, Ky., Oct. 18-21. For more information about Rejuvenate Marketplace, visit RejuvenateMeetings.com.