Instead of having one interactive product to help automate meeting planning, buyers in coming months will find two partially competing options since the breakup last month of the much-ballyhooed Meetings Exchange project, forged by several industry associations and PlanSoft Ajenis.
Arthur Esch, who spearheaded the original Meetings Exchange portion, has withdrawn from the partnership, citing the lack of standards on the PlanSoft Ajenis end of the product. Esch has formed a new venture, Meetings Exchange Inc., and allied with a new set of partners.
Although industry members are wowed by some of the features in both options, they are questioning why the industry needs two options and are pleading for the two factions to reunite.
"We want them to get back together," said Roy Evans, executive vice president and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association-a partner in the original Meetings Exchange, which was initially called Virtual PCMA. "Both have complementary components. Hopefully, the American Society of Association Executives, Meeting Professionals International and PCMA can drive this. Right now, it's being driven by suppliers."
In addition to the three associations, the original Meetings Exchange-PlanSoft Ajenis partnership included Conferon, a meeting planning firm; and the Hyatt, Marriott and Sheraton hotel chains. All except PCMA remain partners in PlanSoft Ajenis. Although only PCMA is still a partner of Esch's, members of all three associations will receive the Meetings Exchange software free through 1998.
Echoing the concerns that prompted Esch to withdraw from the partnership with PlanSoft Ajenis, Evans said he planned to encourage a PCMA committee to address the lack of standards to communicate, exchange data, contract and execute meetings. In a letter that was read at PCMA's Leadership Conference, Esch urged meeting planners to make their needs and desires known through their associations. "Meeting planners need to say, 'this is the information I need on my desktop, the way I want to communicate, the file format to exchange data,' " he said. ASAE president Bill Taylor said he, too, will emphasize the need for industry standards at a unity meeting this spring.
Ed Paradine, general manager of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, urged all three associations to help develop standards. As an example, he cited applying for a mortgage, which uses essentially a standard form no matter what bank it comes from. "The mortgage bankers association figured this out a long time ago," he said. "Technology is forcing us to pursue standards today."
Ray Hall, CEO of the Electronics Representatives Association in Chicago, put it bluntly: "The truth is they aren't and shouldn't be competing; that's insane. One of the problems is that PlanSoft is trying to set standards for the entire industry, and they ought to be facilitating this. We need standards on how we report to each other; we have to agree how we're going to communicate through electronic data interchange."
The PlanSoft product might not have been created with everyone sitting down around a table, president Ed Tromczynski said in response to critics. "But over time, a standard will be created," he promised. "This isn't going to be exactly what the end result needs to be. We're prepared to accommodate upgrades. Right now, we've taken standardization beyond anyone in the industry."
But until the standards are developed and a reconciliation of the minds occurs, the two sides are working on separate launches.
The first of these automated solutions will debut May 1 under the Meetings Exchange name. Esch, head of the new Leonardtown, Md., company, has teamed with four vendors-CEO Software, HotelView, JetForm and PSI-Net-to offer customizable floor plans for over 500 properties, videos of more than 150 hotels, meeting industry news, listings of value dates, use of a forms software that eases creation, exchange and export of data; and directories of hotels, convention and visitors bureaus, and planners. The offerings will be delivered through a combination of Website (http://www.mxi.net), CD-ROM, digital video disk and diskette.
The 19,000 meeting-planner members of PCMA, MPI and ASAE will not pay any fees to use the Meetings Exchange, or MX, product through 1998. For others, the cost will be $15 per month. Vendors can get a basic property and contact data listing for free, but more detailed multimedia presentations will cost $135 to $270 a month, which includes access to MX and the Internet by the sales and convention services staff, Esch said.
The launch database was created by combining an early version of the PlanSoft property database with Esch's existing databases and data provided by vendors. More than three dozen CVBs and 200 hotels have committed to participate in the fee program, he said.
Tucson, Ariz.-based CEO Software makes the CAD software that planners will use to view and customize meeting room setups for over 400 domestic hotels and 150 international ones. In addition, planners can draw their own floor plans for properties not listed. Hilton Hotels Corp. just contracted CEO to draw meeting specs for its more than 240 domestic properties. The software allows planners to view pictures of room sets, hear audio and even print their own table tents, labels and cards.
HotelView Corp., Boca Raton, Fla., offers videos of hotel lobbies, rooms, meeting space and recreational facilities for more than 150 hotels in North America. Currently distributed via laser disk to travel agencies, with hotels paying for the service, HotelView will be distributed via the MX Website in June, according to Tracy Badcock McIntyre, regional director for the company.
JetForm Corp., based in Ottawa, Ontario, is the leading vendor of electronic forms automation that helps users design, fill, route, print and manage forms. MX members will be able to use the software to design their own forms, paying a nominal fee of $25 to $30, Esch said. PSI-Net, a leading Internet service provider, will offer Internet access to any who need it.
As for Plansoft, both the PlanSoft Network database and Ajenis planning tool will be in general release by September. The PlanSoft Network will be accessible via a Website, CD-ROM and diskette, listing more than 2,700 hotels with full details (some in multimedia) on meeting rooms, contacts, amenities and standard prices for all meeting equipment, audiovisual aids, catering and destination management services billed through the hotel. The search engine allows users to sort by any parameter, including first names, meeting room sizes or amenity sets. Sponsors can have multimedia images of their properties or their logos displayed in a yellow pages section of the database, although all vendors will be listed in the white pages, Tromczynski said. Vendor participation in the multimedia section costs $6,000 per year.
Ajenis is an electronic template for creating conferences and events. Using this part of the offering, planners will be able to electronically prepare and send requests for proposals to hotels, contract with a property and then plan and detail all events, including budgeting.
For now, the PlanSoft partnership will act as a hub to exchange data between planners and suppliers. Most hotels will be able to exchange data with planners, but only 40 large convention hotels initially will be able to import the data from planners into their back-office systems used by convention services and accounting. But PlanSoft is working with developers of the leading hotel back-office systems to develop interfaces to allow this by year-end, Tromczynski said.
Hyatt, Marriott and Sheraton will each receive 1,000 copies of the PlanSoft package to distribute to their clients who are members of MPI and ASAE; it has not yet been decided whether PCMA members will receive it. Other planners will pay under $500, with the actual pricing to be determined this summer, Tromczynski said.