Small and midsize meetings continue to get attention from
technology providers looking to move the booking process online and away from
the request for proposal process. While some tech providers are targeting the
corporate buyer and travel management company communities with booking tools
that bring in content from the global distribution systems and other sources,
Expedia has announced a different approach. As part of its "Expedia
Powered Technology" solutions, the company will target individual hotels
or groups of hotels with a back-end software that integrates into hotel
websites.
The software will enable prospective meetings clients to
search, configure, price and book meeting space online. They can define audiovisual
equipment and catering needs within the tool and also book group lodging. Expedia
is promoting integrated meetings revenue management tools that can link up to a
hotel's property management system that will enable hotels to adjust meeting
and group prices dynamically based on a number of factors that include, but are
not limited to, seasonality, day of the week, room type and the number of
participants.
The same technology that powers the booking engine can also
be used by hotel sales representatives to streamline the request for proposal
process when small and midsize meeting request come in via email or other
channels. Rather than building and calculating each bid manually, the Expedia
tool allows reps to plug the meeting details into the system and generate a
quote automatically for the prospective client. The quote and the details are
then emailed to the meeting organizer, with a link back to the reservation that
allows the prospect to adjust the meeting details to their needs as the
technology adjusts the quote instantly.
Expedia has piloted the tool in Germany with select hotel
partners, including Best Western Hotels Central Europe, which claims to have
cut small and midsize meeting response times from an average of five hours to
14 minutes. The online travel giant already has implemented the technology with
select hotel partners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as in Asia.
It is currently in conversation with individual and chain hotels in the United
States.
While the solution may appeal to hotels as an efficiency
play and to meeting planners as a way to streamline a major headache with
select hotel partners, it is somewhat limited as a meetings management tool. As
a supplier-side solution, it lacks the reporting capabilities supported by centralized
meetings booking tools targeted to the corporate buyer.