Marriott Goes Direct - 2001-01-29

<B>Marriott Goes Direct</B>
<I>Enables Attendees To Book Rooms Via Site</I>

By Chris Davis

Marriott International recently introduced a new service that allows corporate meeting attendees to book guest rooms at negotiated rates directly in the chain's res system via its Web site. Meeting buyers reacted with cautious interest.

The key to the Group Direct Book is a seven-digit password given to meeting managers after the event is booked and contracted. Attendees who access Marriott's site on their own or, soon, through a hyperlink on their corporate intranets, enter their passwords, which would allow the reservation system to book them into the correct hotel and time and at their corporate negotiated rates.

Marriott developed the functionality as part of ongoing improvements to the capabilities of its Web site. It has been up and running only for a few months, and the chain has not yet widely promoted it to its corporate meeting buyer clients, said vice president of sales, products and promotions Mark Sherwin.

"The ability to have their attendees book through Group Direct Book would be stipulated in the meeting contract," Sherwin said. "Once the seven-digit password is disseminated to attendees, they would have the option of booking their stay through a self-guided field."

There are some booking processes Group Book Direct can't yet handle, including the ability for attendees to change their reservations, Sherwin said. That would still require a phone call to the hotel, but as Marriott continues to develop and refine the system, Sherwin said, that capability should be added, though no timeframe is set.

Hilton also has this capability, but has not extensively marketed it throughout the industry, said vice president of sales technologies Keith Hymel. Only Hilton-branded properties can receive such reservations through the Hilton Web site, but Hymel said the chain hopes to extend the capability to Hilton's other brands by mid-April. "We have the technology to be able to book group attendees at negotiated rates through a group-customized Web page in real time," Hymel said. "It's one of our better-kept secrets, but it's been very well received by the clients who know it's available."

Companies that have used Hilton's service are frequently technology-oriented or have corporate cultures conducive to embracing electronic and online communication. "We will shortly try to partner with our top 300 meetings accounts to expand this," Hymel said. "It's pretty simple for the attendee to do it, but we will have a toll-free number, so not everyone has to book online"

Starwood does not yet have the functionality, but it is a priority and currently being developed, a spokeswoman said.

Hyatt Hotels and Resorts last year quietly introduced the functionality, and vice president of electronic distribution Joan Lowell said about 16,000 room nights for meetings were booked via online reservations through October. Under Hyatt's system, buyers can alert property sales managers of their desire for online reservation capability, and a dedicated page for their meeting is attached on the Hyatt Web site. The site- hosting vendor creates each new page, which is not complex, Lowell said.

No password is needed to book. "It's obviously not for the general public, but we've found a password isn't really necessary," Lowell said. "The page is accessible from a direct link from the corporation's site, but otherwise you would have to know where to find it. And we don't make attendees use a personal identification number if they're calling our toll-free reservations line."

Attendees can cancel reservations online but not change them, and the system is working well so far, Lowell said. "It still represents a smaller portion of reservations," she said, "but we wanted to make sure the option was available to planners."

Bass Hotels & Resorts does not offer the functionality, stated vice president of e-commerce Eric Pearson. "We are working with several meeting-related Web sites to provide similar services and features," he said, but added that "Bass cannot comment on these items currently under development."

Meeting buyers expressed interest in the development of attendee self-booking tools, but many stressed that each corporation has separate needs concerning its program structure. As such, they said, it was incumbent on buyers exploring the service to find methods of offering their attendees the convenience of self-booking without sacrificing control over rooming lists, registration requirements or payment structures. Also, many felt is was key to offer this service as an added value to travelers and not as the only method of hotel booking available.

"This would be a great thing for some of our employees, but it also would put more of an onus on the traveler," said Dan Baillie, travel manager for Jersey City, N.J.-based Block Drug Co. "I get antsy asking employees to do more work themselves. It's something I would offer them as an option, but I wouldn't force them to do it. Actually, we would probably let our agents handle it--give them the access code, so they can book attendees more quickly without using the phone. Plus, they could do it at off-peak hours when they aren't as busy."

Other buyers expressed concerns that, though the corporation would have the authority to restrict which employees could use the self-booking password, employees not intended to attend the meetings could gain access. "If you can get the attendees to do it and you can monitor who has booked rooms for the meetings, then it's something we'd be very interested in," said Barbara Cummins, Florham Park, N.J.-based associate director of meeting management services for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "A technology goal for us is a one-stop shop on the Web or on our intranet for air and hotel."

It's also important to understand attendee booking patterns, as the flip side of the wrong employees attending the meeting would be the possibility of intended attendees neglecting to book their travel in time if left to their own devices.

"We would absolutely be interested in something like that," said Cheryl Otting, manager of travel and meeting services at Minneapolis-based Pillsbury Co. "We've been looking for ways to automate everything, because it's to the benefit of the hotel, the company and the attendee. My concern is that attendees would wait until the last minute, and I don't know what effect that would have." Otting added that there could be some employee resistance to absorbing self-booking: "You would hear about it in the beginning, but once they're used to it, they would be fine," Otting said. "There's a little pushback to anything new and different, but many employees eventually love it.