Meetings Beat - 1997-04-28

Best Western Debuts Electronic RFP

A landmark project-a software package enabling electronic RFP exchange-is being implemented by Best Western International this June. Called Lanyon RFPassist, it will be handled through Best Western's corporate headquarters and the Dublin central reservations office, with several hotels testing a customized version. The package is available pre-programmed in 13 major travel agency formats, as well as the National Business Travel Association and Association of Corporate Travel Executives file formats (BTN, March 3).

"The RFP process is an important element in the hotel, travel agency and corporate client relationship," said Brigette Yancy, Best Western's manager of corporate and agency marketing. "It allows entire brands or individual properties to compete for coveted group business."

Best Western got involved in development in the summer of 1995, during a meeting of the RFP special committee at a Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association gathering.


Virtual Site Inspection At Last?

A company called P&V Virtual Site Surveys pledges to get three-dimensional room images of a "significant collection" of U.S. and international properties on its burgeoning site by January 1998. The site (http://www.pnv.com), currently under construction, offers demo views to highlight the company's approach and capabilities, but P&V's management is in discussion with several hotel chains, as yet unnamed, for participation in the program, according to president Vince Ahaesy.

"Our content will go far beyond square-feet floor plans and traditional beauty shots-we will give an accurate representation of the facility, and the Apple Quick Time programming will allow a 360-degree scan of the rooms we re-create on the site," Ahaesy said.

Although he is familiar with the struggle to get virtual site inspections off the ground, he has confidence that the company will provide the service "in a significant way." For more information, call 800-542-3052.


MPI Sets Conference Agendas

Spring is in bloom and educational opportunities are numerous from Meeting Professionals International. MPI's Professional Education Conference-Europe will be held this year in Lausanne, Switzerland, from May 15 through18 at the Beaulieu Convention and Exhibition Centre. Educational topics include an overview of how sporting events can be linked to meeting marketing strategies and hospitality techniques.

Also upcoming is the organization's 25th Anniversary and World Education Congress in Baltimore this August 3 through 5, with a keynote address by former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp. Slated for hands-on study is a technology lab and five tech workshops that include power searching on the Internet.

The Baltimore show also will feature MeetingPlace '97, with over 365 exhibitors. It will be documented with MPI's WOW (Meetings Without Walls) service, a kind of interactive brochure that allows exhibitors to put up graphics and text listings and educational programmers to offer highlights of their sessions. News items generated from the conferences also will be posted.


Assns. To Give Courses Via Computer

Also on the educational technology front, both the Professional Convention Management Association and the American Society of Association Executives expect to launch new "distance learning" programs-educational offerings via personal computer-for their memberships in coming weeks. ASAE's first course on writing will debut in early May, and PCMA's first course will be on meeting planning. ASAE will offer the same number of professional credits for the course as for its in-person courses; PCMA hopes to do the same.


Opryland Offers Park Perk

Nashville's Opryland Hotel now offers meeting attendees the chance to ride a roller coaster or catch a show between meetings. With the new Getaway Ticket, meeting-goers gain unlimited entrance to the adjacent Opryland theme park for their entire stay.