Two Cos. Launch Attendee Tech

Two new offerings from meeting technology providers look to give meeting buyers more options and flexibility for planning events. Passkey last month introduced a new group reservation system that allows hotel properties of all sizes to create an event reservation Web site in one step. Meanwhile, Certain this month will release an optional travel module as an add-on to its Certain Registration application

Passkey's EventExpress is geared to smaller meetings and less-complicated events. "We realized that Passkey was used extensively for larger events, and that the overhead it took to build and manage an event for smaller groups was a little greater than the benefits," said Sam Fahmy, vice president of product and marketing.

The system cuts many of the steps required for larger meetings, allowing registration to occur on one page in one step. Customers need only fill out eight fields, such as the number of rooms required.

"With the previous system, you had to go through a number of steps to actually create and customize the Web site and input the inventory for that event," Fahmy said. "EventExpress is geared to events with less than 200 attendees." There is no cap on the amount of allowable participants and Passkey has seen it used for large meetings.

EventExpress is included as part of Passkey's standard offerings.

Meanwhile, Certain's new module has standardized formats and reporting capabilities. The formatting contains 15 preset questions, such as flight numbers and departure times, that can be modified by the planner, and an additional 15 slots for customized questions. "There's only so many questions you're going to ask and almost everyone asks the same questions, so it introduces a standardized format for all of those details to be collected," said director of product management Brett Weigl.

While the system can be used for any size meeting, "We see it used most often in meetings that have 200 or more attendees," Weigl said.

The module is optional for Certain customers and there is a per-transaction charge above the base product charges.