<B>RezPort Gets Groups</B>
<I>Amex One Adds Meetings, Attendee Mgmt. To Booking Tool</I>
By Chris Davis
American Express One will introduce capability to book meetings and group airfares at negotiated corporate rates online through its RezPort booking tool later this month. The agency also will partner with online meeting portal StarCite to offer Amex One clients site selection and RFP features.
The two moves will allow all meeting planning and attendee management functions to be completed through a customized RezPort tool, said American Express One vice president of meetings and incentives Jay Roseman. Meeting buyers have the option of allowing Amex One's agents to book attendees' air or having attendees make their own arrangements online.
Attendees who book online will be prompted by RezPort to enter their meeting registration information, including lodging, education sessions and badge information. "This will eliminate the need for travelers to go to multiple platforms for their air, hotel and session reservations, since it's all done at point of sale," Roseman said. The RezPort air component will be able to book travelers using zone fares, basic airline meeting fares or corporate negotiated rates.
Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based American Express One, the only division of American Express that handles corporate meeting and group travel, serves only clients with less than $10 million annual travel spend. Many of its clients have decentralized meeting programs, and Roseman said RezPort will "give them standard booking resources and useful tools that will save both money and time. There's a lot of opportunity here for savings, for decentralized as well as centralized programs."
Adding StarCite's capability will allow small corporate programs an online site- selection tool. StarCite recently announced a separate tool to allow online booking through E-Travel, but the two deals are separate.
At least one of Amex One's clients was pleased at the prospect of online bookings for meeting attendees.
"This is a nice solution for us," said Megan Carmody, transportation manager for Zurich American Insurance of Schaumburg, Ill. "We have a meetings page on our corporate intranet, where we have meetings information and registration. Booking would be an intuitive extension of the process."
Carmody said the solution, in addition to providing efficiencies through Zurich American's meetings Web page, will allow her department to better track meetings spending and use that information to improve negotiations.
"We have two in-house planners but no effective way to leverage our meetings spending," Carmody said. "With the way this organization has operated, this solution seems to support our initiatives in that area. It's a logical way to put the pieces together."
Carmody wasn't fully aware of all of StarCite's offerings, but added that the alliance with American Express One intrigued her. "It seems like a well-rounded corporate solution to help manage meetings," she said. "To have anticipated a trend is impressive on their part.
American Express One is the third major agency committed to offering StarCite as its meeting portal solution, following StarCite's parent McGettigan Partners and Maritz. StarCite now effectively is positioned as the online meeting management solution for all of American Express' group clients, since Amex outsources that functionality to Maritz.
"Both StarCite and American Express have earned reputations for providing comprehensive end-to-end services that enable customers to achieve process efficiencies and cost savings," said John Pino, chairman and CEO of StarCite. "By joining forces, we have created a powerful offering that builds on the achievements of both companies."
Ed Tromczynski, president and COO of meeting portal PlanSoft.com said there is demand among meeting planners for an online booking solution.
"We probably get five RFPs per week asking for some sort of online module," Tromczynski said. "Self-serve products in the meetings industry that capture online travel will be a big deal, and we are very involved in serious discussions to offer that capability soon."
While one consultant said the meetings industry is ready to embrace a tech solution that enables site selection, RFP transmittal and online booking, he issued a caveat that the early adopters of such technology likely will be large corporations with travel budgets higher than Amex One's $10 million threshold.
"Corporate meeting planning departments have been trying to get a handle on their technological options," said Jeff Rasco, senior consultant for strategic relations with Austin, Texas-based Team Tech International. "But to do it in-house is extremely cost-prohibitive and many just don't have the time to learn how to use and adapt software."
Rasco said this problem is particularly acute at smaller companies, which usually have small meetings departments staffed by planners who are extremely strapped for time. "But they would love to see a solution," he said. "If someone just came in and was able to turn it on, so to speak, they would accept it."
That said, Rasco believes that acceptance and usage of online group and meeting booking will be led by large companies who will encourage or mandate that their planners use a particular technology or online booking solution. As soon as that happens, and as soon as large-corporation meeting managers are able to document their stories, he said, smaller companies then will begin to explore these solutions.
"We're not there yet," Rasco said. "There's only a small percentage of planners using these sites. But as outside providers develop solutions that can centralize all travel and meeting booking, allowing planners to be more strategic, it will happen. It will be a slow process, but it will happen.