Maritz Rolls Out Mtg. Data Warehouse

Maritz recently launched a data warehouse for its strategic meetings management clients, in order to supply detailed reports on meetings metrics and history.

The warehouse, currently used by 10 clients, compiles gathered data into reports for customers.

The program currently houses customer data from the last five to seven years and will be updated as their programs progress. The data is gathered during Maritz's sourcing process and also can be imported from a client's other suppliers, in order to provide clients with a complete view of their meetings, said Richard Spradling, corporate vice president of Maritz Inc.

Maritz rolled out the data warehouse to its strategic meetings management customers on June 1. The company plans to offer the warehouse to Maritz Travel customers within the calendar year and eventually roll it out to all Maritz clients, Spradling said.

"What we've done with the data warehouse is put information that they can use to make a difference in saving money and improving the effectiveness of their meeting program right at their fingertips," said Steve O'Malley, vice president of strategy, industry relations and strategic meetings management for Maritz Travel Co. "It allows them a quicker and deeper view into where their spend is going—things like the ability to see when a property receives an RFP but declines to respond or when a property responds by saying it's not available."

The data reports, presented to clients either monthly, quarterly or annually, also track such metrics as how many hotels in a chain allow a rebooking clause as well as contracted and actual rates by property.

"This is designed to do is provide the most robust data available to effectively manage your investment in travel," Spradling said. "This is all about making sure we're optimizing that investment and making sure that we're using the contracted suppliers and we're getting the best rates available."

Having data consolidated into one place can help with the negotiating process, said Corbin Ball, president of Bellingham, Wash.-based meetings technology consulting firm Corbin Ball Associates.

"If you have everything in one place, you have a better handle on the data," he said. "That makes it a very powerful product."

"The benefit for our clients will be that they're going to have at least as good if not better information than the hotels with which they're negotiating," said O'Malley. "It's really a comprehensive view into what the relationship looks like between our clients and the major chains and the individual properties."

Maritz can customize the reports based on client preference. "The level of detail of that spend is dictated to how deep our clients want to go," O'Malley said, adding that companies in the pharmaceutical industry could use the reports to ensure they are complying with industry regulations.

The data also will be used for benchmarking so clients "know how they're doing against like customers and how they're doing in like markets," O'Malley said.