Office Space Specialist Making Room For Corporate Mtgs.

A test-preparation firm, faced with the challenge of sourcing large volumes of worldwide day-meeting rooms, has spurned hotel space in favor of conference rooms that are offered by a temporary office space specialist.

Malibu, Calif.-based Veritas Elite GMAT Preparation, which trains students for the GMAT entrance examination for Masters in Business Administration courses and conducts six sets of classes each year in 100 locations across 35 worldwide cities, turned to temporary office space firm Regus for the requisite meeting space. Under the brand Business Meeting Spaces, Regus has 3,700 meeting rooms within its office suites at 700 locations in 55 countries.

Many buyers find sourcing rooms for day meetings difficult because hotels can prove reluctant to rent conference space that does not bring in guest room nights. It is doubly hard for buyers like Veritas Elite director of operations Lindsay Hutchinson, who need rooms in multiple locations because hotel chains do not usually offer a coordinated response across their portfolios.

Hutchinson said Business Meeting Spaces is cheaper than hotels and offers a better product, in terms of both room quality and account management. "If I went to a hotel company, it would probably direct me to the director of meetings in each city," she said. "Regus has acted as a one-stop shop for finding the appropriate facilities for me. You are able to develop a personalized relationship with them and they get to know what you need."

Hutchinson also praised the room facilities, which include free broadband access and local and national telephone calls. "The facilities are standardized and I know what the price is going to be," she said. "I find the price more competitive than most hotels."

Regus claimed it has more meeting rooms on its books than the Hilton, Le Meridien and Millennium & Copthorne chains combined. It has been offering meeting space since it launched in 1989, but initially it only was available to customers of its core office-rental business. The meetings sideline only has been branded formally as Business Meeting Places and promoted to non-office clients during the past couple of years. Business Meeting Places added 700 rooms in the United States when Regus bought its competitor, HQ, in August.

There are two limitations to the Business Meeting Places proposition. First, it does not have rooms for more than 50 people other than in a handful of key locations such as London and New York. The second is that there are no dining facilities—Regus only can offer catering for working breakfasts and lunches. However, Business Meeting Places vice president Brian McCabe said that is why the company is able to undercut hotel meeting rates by 20 percent to 30 percent. "We don't operate restaurants, so we don't have the same costs as hotels," McCabe said. "In North America, we don't have to add a service charge either."

McCabe added that he is willing to discount to buyers who bring volume, but that the rooms already are low-priced.