Meetings Beat - 2005-03-21

NBTA Releases Meetings Policy Position Paper
The groups and meetings committee of the National Business Travel Association on Feb. 16 released the third installment in a series of resource papers on strategic meetings management. The paper is aimed to help in creating meeting policies and follows the committee's "Framework for Success" paper, a white paper describing guidelines and best practices for strategic meeting management, issued last year (Meetings Today, March 29, 2004). "The first 'Framework for Success' paper mapped out the concept and benefits of a strategic meetings management program based on sound policy. This new policy paper helps readers think through the nuts and bolts of creating the policy foundation for an SMMP," said Madlyn Caliri, co-chair of the groups and meetings committee and procurement manager of global hotel, meetings and events for AT&T, in an NBTA release. According to the position paper, a successful meetings policy can include eight elements: meeting definition, approval process for expenditures, calendaring/meeting registration, contracting, logistical planning, payment process, SMMP process tools and applicable corporate policies. The committee released a paper on sourcing the air and hotel components of a meetings program in August 2004.

Amex Offers Rebates, Issues Meetings Strategies
American Express has offered meeting buyers 3 percent off their total hotel bill or a free sleeping room for every 15 rooms charged when they pay with an American Express card. The Afterwards Meetings & Events promotion, launched Feb. 8, applies to events booked by April 30 and held before the end of the year. More than 200 hotels nationwide are participating in the program. In addition, on Feb. 17, Amex issued seven "core strategies" for meetings expense management programs. Meetings spend constitutes between one-third and two-thirds of overall corporate travel spend, according to Amex. "By systematically examining their meetings spend and implementing a disciplined approach to managing this category, as we've mapped out in our strategy, companies can create programs that will lead to reduced costs, greater control over spending and a high degree of compliance with corporate policies,"said Jay Roseman, vice president of American Express Business Travel in a company release. The core strategies include developing a travel policy and preferred suppliers, compliance management, data consolidation and benchmarking. "Once corporate demand for meetings is centralized and total data on spend is complied, a corporation will be in a much stronger position to track purchasing, leverage its volume and negotiate with suppliers in both its meetings and transient travel programs," Roseman said.

Meeting Reg, Housing, Travel Tool Released
Wyndham Jade LP, a Dallas-based meetings technology firm, on Feb. 14 released a Web-based system that centralizes housing, registration and travel for attendees. The tool, called Onesystem+, allows registration, and hotel and air booking on one Web site, the company said. "We are able to go onsite to a convention center or hotel and set up a portable network that can be accessed as attendees check in," said Tom Levine, chief information officer for Wyndham Jade, in a company release. "We even offer wireless capabilities, so that attendees with a wireless laptop connection can check in, avoid the lines and simply pick up their name badges and information packets later."

Industry Orgs Issue Joint Labor Statement
Three meetings industry organizations on Feb. 17 issued a joint statement regarding labor disputes affecting the hotel industry in response to "tactics being used by the Unite Here union that involve contacting meeting planners directly and asking them to boycott particular hotels," according to the statement. Meeting Professionals International, the American Society of Association Executives and the Professional Convention Management Association encouraged good-faith negotiations and pledged support for fair wages and benefits for union workers. However, the associations spoke out against proposed boycotts of hotel chains involved in the dispute. "We condemn any effort to cause widespread disruption of the meetings business," the associations said in the statement.

~Corrie Dosh