EventSource Now Offering Commissionless Program
Meeting portal EventSource last month introduced its first noncommissionable service package, offering a road-show program geared primarily toward meetings without room nights, for flat fees ranging upward from $50 per event.
The portal will research properties and their meeting room availability and make recommendations for that $50, said EventSource director of meeting services Dennis DeVoto, with such services as contract negotiations, food and beverage guarantees and post-event billing and reports costing additional fees.
Given the high amount of attention paid to corporate meeting budgets in the current economic slump, plus the hotel industry's increased willingness to book meeting space without commensurate room nights (Meetings Today, April 23), EventSource officials believe the time is right to introduce a package promising cost-effectiveness for types of meetings that, in some cases, have not been canceled or postponed: road shows, product launches and training meetings.
"The economy has changed for hotel too," DeVoto said. "Now they have the space to do this. We're looking at one-day shops that are between 30 and 100 people, but they're usually local employees or attendees who don't need guest rooms."
The fact that EventSource expects a significant number of meetings to be booked without room nights led to the decision to offer a commissionless cost, DeVoto said. EventSource stands alone among its online rivals, all seeking corporate meeting management and procurement accounts, in charging a 10 percent commission.
The new program, dubbed Road Shows & More, actually grew from commissionable business booked by Microsoft Corp. and other EventSource accounts last year. Microsoft booked more than 500 meetings through the portal last year, tripled that total this year, and sought the portal's assistance for arranging meetings without guest rooms.
"Some of our clients with whom we were booking meetings came to us with requests for dinner parties and such, and eventually asked for net rates," DeVoto said. "This package grew out of that."
Buyers do not need to be previous clients of EventSource or license its Compass meeting procurement offerings to use Road Shows & More. EventSource requires 30 days of lead time to stage RS&M events.