Global unrest, fluctuating exchange rates and unfamiliar suppliers have made international corporate meetings expensive and troublesome, said several corporate meeting buyers. Some buyers have encouraged their companies to relocate meetings to the United States or Canada, while others said they use U.S.-based hotel chains when selecting a meeting location overseas. However, some buyers said their companies require overseas meetings, and they hope to adopt similar meetings management strategies abroad as at home.
Craig Ardis, director of global special events for Ada, Mich.-based Amway Corp., said currency exchange rates do affect site selection when planning overseas events.
"We always look at what the cost is based on the currency exchange and we monitor that closely wherever we are," Ardis said. "If we can make changes to capitalize on that, we try to."
Ardis said promotions such as the even euro-to-U.S.-dollar exchange rate offered by InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
(Meetings Today, April 18) do have some impact on where Amway holds overseas meetings. "It would definitely be one of the factors we consider when we're making decisions," he said.
Pamela Wynne, manager of corporate meeting planning for Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service, said she was notified immediately of InterContinental's exchange rate offer because ETS has a multinational preferred vendor contract with the hotel chain.
"I sent that offer out to all my people here to encourage them. If anybody was thinking about international meetings then now would be the time to take advantage of the offer," Wynne said. "It was a great incentive, and if other companies followed suit they'd get a lot more European business."
Wynne said unfavorable exchange rates have led her to move meetings out of Europe and into Canada or the Caribbean, when appropriate.
"I would encourage going to those areas where they're not using the euro and we could get more favorable exchange rates," she said.
ETS has a global presence, Wynne said, so it cannot stop holding events abroad regardless of the exchange rate. Only 5 percent of ETS meetings are held overseas, but they represent a disproportionate amount of spending.
"Even though overseas meetings are of a smaller amount, they end up being a good chunk of change because of the rates and because it's so expensive to get there," she said.
Security also has been a top concern for ETS when holding meetings overseas. The company specifically uses U.S.-based or "U.S.-friendly" hotel chains abroad because of consistency of service and their ability to help with visa or legal issues. Wynne also ensures that any hotel property she uses has security procedures in place.
"We have to do business globally. It's not really a choice to go international or not," Wynne said. "Sometimes, we just have to go overseas because that's where we're conducting business. We're doing more and more business now in the Middle East and it's not a choice, because that's one of our clients. That's why we in the travel and meetings department really need to be on our toes and do things where we can save the company money, and make sure that employees are safe and secure."
U.S. corporate meeting buyers should expect hotel contract negotiations to be different in Europe or other overseas destinations, according to Lynne Tiras, president of Houston-based International Meeting Managers. Working with an internationally recognized brand can help smooth negotiations.
"For anyone going international, or to Europe, negotiations are always better when you can work with a brand that is U.S.-based," she said.
Jo Ann Gallardo, Round Rock, Texas-based hotel and meeting coordinator for Dell Inc., said her company recently embarked on a consolidation and cost-cutting drive for corporate meetings, with an eventual aim of centralizing overseas events. Overseas events include a lot of unknown factors, she said.
"It's a lot different because of culture and I think that plays a huge role as it pertains to meetings," she said.
Security is an important issue to address when setting up a centralized meeting management program overseas, Gallardo said. "We need to bring our security folks on board to advise us as to what facilities are safer to use than others," she said. "There's still a lot of legwork that needs to be done."
American Express recently rolled out its corporate meeting card in Europe
(see story), giving U.S. companies with European offices the option of settling payment through their European meeting departments.
Olivier Sauser, vice president of partnerships, innovation and development for American Express in Europe, said a growing number of U.S.-based companies are consolidating and centralizing European meetings to follow the model they have implemented at home.
Sauser said more U.S.-based companies are giving control over payment of European meetings to European offices, but unique national taxes and legal requirements in Europe make it difficult for overseas branches to copy a corporate meetings management policy created in the United States.
"It's always a little bit more difficult to deploy a program for a U.S. company when they come to Europe, which is why we have the card in all of those countries. We can address the situation according to the customer's requirements," Sauser said.