A Continuing Success Story: Ritz-Carlton’s “Meetings within Reach”

By Joan King

Although booking events continues to be a vital source of revenue for hotels and resorts, meeting planners today have increased bargaining power (and there are other alternatives, such as virtual meetings). So getting those bookings is more challenging than ever—yet it’s only half the battle: since today’s discounted rates increase the cost of customer acquisition, keeping the business is now more critical than ever. This capability can ultimately determine which organization will be in a stronger competitive position when the economy rebounds. As planners lock in attractive rates, meeting or exceeding their expectations becomes paramount.

The one common denominator among venues that deliver consistently successful events is having the ability to take the pulse of their customer at any given time. Tacking on a post-event survey is not enough; and traditional feedback methodologies cannot achieve a high enough response rate to yield valid results. Acquiring knowledge about the meeting planner’s experience is an ongoing process that enables critical issues to be identified at any point in the event timeline. This critical capability enables you to actually see where revenue is at risk and take action; otherwise, when customers are dissatisfied, very few complain and the rest simply go elsewhere.

Gathering continuous feedback is only one step in the process; more important is the dissemination of actionable information to the staff that delivers the service experience. Behind the scenes of any great conference event and/or satisfied meeting planner are the savvy venue personnel that plan and host the event, and know how to properly execute from start to finish. Typically that process begins by capturing feedback prior to the event start and taking immediate action that will positively impact the client’s perceptions. In fact, there is a lot to be learned by getting online feedback before, during and after an event, so that when the next group arrives for the pre-convention meeting, everyone has already stepped up their game and is now more prepared to deliver an even better meeting experience.

If an event host does their part and keeps customers happy, that increases the probability that they will book repeat business, in spite of price wars. Paying attention to meeting and event planners matters! One way for a hotel or resort to equip their venue for ensured success is finding an advanced online feedback system for meeting planners. Some important capabilities to look for is a system that streamlines the communication process, analytically correlates every critical aspect of service delivery and provides historical data capture for trending and strategic planning—all of which cumulatively enhance relationships with meeting planners.

Bottom-line: Do some research and look for a system that can help your organization compete in the meetings business, capture market share, effectively deliver impeccable service and execute service recovery quickly if something isn’t just right. The more advanced systems available today are sophisticated and customizable technologies that have already been field-tested and are in production. In addition, having such a system in place enables you to have a repository of valuable competitive intelligence.

Conclusion

Today meeting planners are under pressure to spend dollars wisely (as business continues to recover after the “AIG” effect) and will only patronize hotels or resorts that truly pay attention to their needs and requirements. In the past, old style survey approaches made sales managers feel like they were getting a report card rather than useful information about how they could improve the service experience, from first contact to event delivery. Today’s more advanced online survey approaches capture continuous feedback and produce actionable information in the form of “hot button” reports—even in first-time-business situations.

Remember, if you take care of the meeting planner the right way, you will also be protecting a vital revenue stream that you can’t afford to be without, recovering possible lost revenue and getting an unmatched ROI.

Joan King is Managing Director, Loyalty, for UniFocus. She can be reached at jking@unifocus.com or by phone at 972-512-5169.