Hyatt To Book Mtgs. Online

Hyatt Hotels and Resorts this fall will introduce the capability to book meeting space for small events online directly into the chain's automation systems. Meetings of 100 attendees or less at any of the chain's domestic, Canadian or Caribbean properties will be bookable through Hyatt's Web site.

Hyatt long has sought to allow such booking, but the difficulties of reserving space and food and beverage service so far have kept bookings offline. The chain solved this problem by integrating a meetings-specific booking engine into its proprietary sales automation system, called Envision, allowing planners to access the same property availability that Hyatt's salespeople can, said vice president of sales operation Fred Shea.

When available—"between October and Thanksgiving," Shea said—planners will be able to search the 122 Hyatt properties by specific hotel, hotel type, city or location. Planners will enter F&B needs and meeting room specifications and will be quoted net, noncommissionable guest room and meeting room rates. Envision can reject the request based upon the hotel's specific yield management specifications, allowing Hyatt to avoid situations in which a group of 10 books the hotel's largest ballroom, for example, Shea said. Within 24 hours, a hotel representative will call the planner.

Using Hyatt's E-mmediate Meetings booking tool does not commit the planner or the hotel to an official agreement, Shea said, nor is the quoted room rate or meeting room rental rate non-negotiable. "It's a verbal definite but both sides have an out," Shea said. "If either side has cold feet, they can back out. But this lets them know what the price basically is, and we wanted to be able to get that number out there immediately upon booking."

Though it's likely the inclusion of only net, noncommissionable rates will vex some third-party planners and meeting management companies, Shea said the new system has the ability only to offer one rate, based on the parameter of business for a given hotel on a given day.

"There would be too many complications at this time to offer several rates," Shea said. "This allows an equal platform for all bookings, but we don't think this excludes third parties because we can book meetings offline at the higher, commissionable rates."