Mtg. Planners Invoke CVB Intervention Only Sparingly

<B>Mtg. Planners Invoke CVB Intervention Only Sparingly</B>

By Chris Davis

Though many corporations are increasing their use of convention and visitors bureaus to help stage corporate meetings, the vast majority don't involve CVBs in the meeting planning process for more than a handful of events annually.

Those were the findings of a Meetings Monitor survey of 169 corporate planners, many of whom indicated they would like to see CVBs do more to help coordinate information between corporations and hotels and provide more onsite assistance during events.

About 43 percent of those planners surveyed said they've used CVBs more this year than last, and about 31 percent expect to use them more next year. But of those planners who use CVBs, a full 75 percent use them five times or fewer annually.

Given that CVBs are most used by corporations to help plan large conferences or conventions, according to the Monitor poll, and many small companies don't stage events of this type, many CVB executives have looked to expand the services they can provide, particularly in the area of RFP distribution. But the culture of corporate meeting management often doesn't involve the CVB, officials said.

"We would like to do a better job of attracting corporate clients to use our services, but by and large they tend to bypass CVBs," said Dan Herbers, senior vice president of sales at the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. "In the corporate world, the awareness level of CVBs is not as high as it could be, plus they tend to have the attitude that they would rather do it themselves. They also can have people planning meetings who don't know what a CVB can offer. We have to show where we can add value."

But Herbers believes corporate use of CVBs will increase out of necessity. "Hotel inventory is not growing at the rate demand is, and it will become more difficult to find space at the price corporations need," Herbers said. "They will look to do it better, and Corporate America will search out solutions."

Perhaps, but many corporate meeting managers have established relationships with properties in specific locales, with little need for other resources for their meetings.

"We'll use CVBs for leads to independent contractors to help as coordinators for a particularly large workshop," said Bruce Whitehouse, meeting planner for Lafayette, N.J.-based Lion Technology Inc., who plans more than 200 meetings annually. "We may use them if we have a question about the capacity, or capabilities, of a particular hotel."

But like many corporations, Whitehouse has established histories with Lion's preferred properties and similar needs for most of his meetings, so he doesn't partake of CVBs' RFP dispersal offerings.

"I'll work with the hotels' salespeople directly, because they know what we need, we have a history with them and they'll give us space when we need it," Whitehouse said. "If I was planning a large convention, that would be a different story, because CVBs can do so much with rooming lists and room blocks. But we have small meetings and use the same hotels for them."

Other planners said other forms of CVB assistance can be the most valuable. "We'll use them only rarely, and usually to get onsite staffing help with working registration desks and such," said Greg Slaight, program manager at the Dallas branch of Sprint Corp. "CVBs have a lot of valuable knowledge about their locations and I know that many planners rely on them for general information, but we've been in business long enough to know enough about the destinations and properties we select."

Despite the fact that corporate meeting managers often don't need help selecting or booking a property, CVB officials insist there are plenty of other services that planners can use.

"We know that many corporate clients have established relationships with preferred hotel chains," said Alicia Vargas, director of marketing, convention sales and service for the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau. "That's fine. We can still provide other materials and services, including determining availability at chosen hotels and distributing printed materials."

Vargas said one reason why more corporations don't involve CVBs in their meeting planning processes is the concern that doing so will lead to a stream of post-event contacts.

"We have noticed a gradual increase in requests from corporate buyers, but there is a fear that there will be unsolicited correspondence from properties and vendors that can't accommodate their needs," Vargas said.

The CVBs themselves report a gradual increase in requests for assistance from corporations. The Los Angeles CVB's Herbers said many planners are unfamiliar with the various offerings of his city, and some crystallizing of their wishes is necessary before they can book a property.

"Often, the client comes to us looking to be matched up with a hotel," Herbers said. "First, we'll spend time with them to determine in which section of the city they want their meeting, and we'll whittle the list down based on size and economic factors."

Once a workable list of possible hotels is created, Herbers' office will contact each property, by fax or phone, depending on lead time, with RFPs. "We don't like to make the site-selection decision for our corporate clients, because the hotels are our clients too," Herbers said.

The advent of the Internet has allowed some planners to research information about cities and hotels through CVB Web sites, permitting a form of service that doesn't necessitate personal contact.

"We won't contact them personally," said Beverly Borrelli, travel administrator at Clearwater, Fla.-based Pall Aeropower Corp. "But we will use a CVB's Web site to find out information about the city and other general information, even for local areas. But I don't think there's any service they could provide that would entice me to use them more.