Executive board meetings remain a noticeable holdout in the trend toward the application of strategic sourcing techniques in corporate meetings management, as many senior executives still want luxury VIP services for their own events despite their embrace of cost-cutting and procurement techniques.
Offsite executive meeting demand took a hit following the overall economic downturn five years ago, but the market has returned, said Kevin Kowalski, vice president of brand management for Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts.
"They've come back in the last two-and-a-half years. They're a good segment because they tend to be higher-rated customers who like to treat themselves well with good food and beverage, spa and other ancillary revenue," Kowalski said.
However, there still are lingering concerns about excessive spending and negative images of corporate mismanagement, he said, and the industry may never return to the levels of luxury travel that it saw in the late 1990s.
The value of executive groups goes beyond the revenue earned by the actual meeting, Kowalski said.
"If it's the senior vice president of sales, chances are he's going to have his annual sales meeting with his 2,000 associates, which is a really big opportunity for a hotel. If you take care of him and give him a really good experience in the smaller boardroom setting, he's more likely to want to use your hotels for his bigger meetings. He's a meetings initiator," he said.
Senior executives may decide companywide strategic sourcing initiatives for meetings are not worthwhile if they experience a lower level of service at an executive board meeting.
"Top-down is absolutely essential. If they don't see the value, you're never going to get people on board. It's just too easy to call your favorite place to book your meeting," said Steven Lee, general manager of global indirect purchasing for Canton, Ohio-based Timken Co. "You can't blame the event planner or administrative support personal because their boss on the executive level is more concerned about, 'Did we get it right?' rather than, 'Did we pay $5,000 too much?' "
However, there are ways to source high-touch meetings through a centralized policy and still retain the service levels that executives expect, Lee said. Timken uses a third-party planning firm for top-end executive meetings, but Lee said he forces the company to source the event through Timken's registration tool.
"In those high-profile events you want to have better planning coordination onsite anyway. I'm not going to take a hit for them not having water or something," he said.
Kowalski said corporate customers often work through a third-party planning company for high-touch events, because board meetings are considered high-risk.
"This is a segment that tends to book toward the internal travel organization, where there is some expertise. Even though these are smaller meetings, they do tend to happen through a professional planner more often," he said.
As chauffeured car providers increasingly offer corporate meeting and event services
(BTN, Sept. 25), there has been an increasing demand for VIP transportation services.
"We do a lot of these very high-profile groups, whether it's board meetings, VIP services or a group of VIPs within a larger event," said BostonCoach vice president of events Catherine Chaulet.
VIP services go beyond the type of car used or red-carpet treatment—there are other important concerns, including security, flexibility and confidentiality. Many BostonCoach event customers do not realize the extent of their executives' requirements, Chaulet said, and rely on the company for a la carte consulting services.
"One of the constants with these VIP groups is that there are multiple changes, so there is ongoing communication between the meeting planner or the executive assistant in charge of that group and us in terms of the arrival times and the different locations they're going. That's absolutely critical to ensure success," she said.
Even such small factors as signage can be significant for senior executives. BostonCoach recommends working with coordinators to seek out arriving VIPs at airport pickups, rather than hoping your CEO will see their name in a sea of name placards.
"Depending on the size of the group, we may recommend an onsite transportation group to address any last minute changes that they may need," Chaulet said.
At one recent executive event, BostonCoach kept vehicles on standby to be able to quickly adjust to VIPs unscheduled transportation needs.
Executive meetings sometimes require coordinating private aviation services with the ground transportation company, presenting unique challenges in flight tracking, she said.
"Some of these private jets are not traceable on purpose," she said.
Since executive meetings still have a tendency to stay outside of a managed meetings program, buyers and planners of the events are sometimes inexperienced.
"They don't necessarily think about it, and part of the reason is sometimes the people that are in charge of these have not worked on that type of meeting before," Chaulet said, "so they come to us to get ideas on how to successfully deliver on these types of requests."