Hotel companies and third-party intermediaries recently have introduced a variety of options that enable travel and meeting managers to book meetings online. Developing the technology and business case for real-time group and meeting bookings online has taken some time, but now that it's a reality at least one hotel company said bookings are slow to emerge through its newly created channel.
Marriott International Inc. in June introduced QuickGroup, a booking site designed to eliminate the multiple phone calls and faxes necessary to confirm a small meeting and book a small room block. QuickGroup allows planners to book up to 25 guest rooms and request meeting room space across all brands (except Ritz-Carlton) for an event online, without having to wait for replies from sales managers. After receiving a meeting space request, a Marriott sales representative phones the planner to confirm the rate and availability. Marriott plans to roll out a complete solution in the "near future." QuickGroup provides customers with direct access to an individual hotel's property management system that houses its discounted group rates and inventory, facilitating real-time booking.
"We thought that we would see much more group going online, and it hasn't really happened. With our QuickGroup product that we launched this year, frankly we haven't seen the response that we expected," said Amy McPherson, Marriott executive vice president of sales and marketing, speaking at a PhoCusWright conference in November. McPherson said meeting planners still are seeking to work directly with sales representatives, as opposed to booking through the system, to ensure that every step can be accounted for, since the sole responsibility of the meeting is placed upon planner's shoulders.
McPherson said Marriott's group booking product currently is geared more toward the noncorporate markets, such as for sporting events, small businesses or noncomplex groups that need multiple sleeping rooms.
Hilton Hotels Corp. introduced this functionality on its Web site in 2005, branded as e-Events where meeting planners could book five to 25 guest rooms and meeting space without a request for proposal, order food and beverages, and gain access to an application to view and manage a meeting attendee list online. Hyatt Corp. in 2005 introduced its offering via its Web site and in partnership with StarCite, which returns almost immediately sleeping room rates and availability, with meeting room rate and availability delivered in a follow-up call from a sales representative.
Working independently can limit a hotel company's reach, according to Hilton, which led to the recent partnership with StarCite to further distribute its inventory. Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants also aligned with StarCite to include more corporate clients.
Deployment of real-time booking solutions has just begun to gain traction as top hotel chains have aligned with third-party meeting technology firms to provide access to inventory, rack and negotiated rates, and meeting space. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. partnered with Worktopia last month to grant access to small meeting rooms and guest rooms in 63 properties in North America, and InterContinental Hotels Group announced in 2007 it will do the same with its Holiday Inn brand. Third-party intermediaries like StarCite and Worktopia broke into the market with online tools that allow meeting planners to compare rates from several brands.
"In some cases, there are technological issues that can prohibit or delay the ability to book online. I think everyone is trying to get to the level where everything is booked online; it is part of the evolution of group bookings," said David O'Donohoe, StarCite senior vice president of global supplier sales. "We see connectivity as the key. Our corporate clients need inventory in order to shop. As that inventory becomes available to our corporate clients, the greater the value."
"StarCite provides excellent distribution opportunities for our nearly 2,500 hotels across nine brands in North America, giving us immediate access to meeting planners booking through their Small Meeting Solution system, and leverages the best products in small meetings technology," according to a statement by Hilton vice president of e-sales Bob Brooks. "In addition, our agreement provides a global opportunity."
Marriott's QuickGroup is currently available independent of intermediaries. "We are not interested in selling through an extranet, which we think ultimately does not serve the customer or our hotels," said Marriott senior director of e-commerce Geoff Heuchling. "If someone is able to develop a system that can work like we want to work, it is going to be all about the business model and making sure that we and our customers are able to offer the best rates that we can to our customers and it's not going to economically disadvantage the customer."
"The advantage for us is to have our own proprietary tool with no additional fees and no commission that we are paying; that is a clear advantage for a hotel," agreed Brooks. However, alignment with an intermediary became inevitable in order to reach a broader range of corporate clients.
As competitors look to intermediaries to broaden distribution, Marriott's McPherson said her company's outlook might change. "We want to be strategic and selective with whom we are working with because we don't practically have the resources to deal with everyone, and we want to make sure we are not paying for the same customer twice," she said. "We look at business models, we look at the compensation models and we figure out what is the best thing for our business and for our partner. We'll go there, I just think it is going to be a while."
Moving forward to further automate the process, Worktopia announced in October an alliance with Pegasus Solutions to directly link its Universal Meetings Solution to the central reservation systems of more than 86,000 hotel properties--in real-time, similar to an agreement between StarCite and Pegasusannounced in 2007 that now is up and running. Worktopia's agreement with Pegasus will be live by first quarter 2009, and about 30,000 registered users will have access to the system, said Worktopia chief marketing officer Joan Rothman.
"Meetings and events represent a sizable portion of business travel spend annually, reaching $175 billion this year in the Unites States alone," said Worktopia CEO John Arenas. "The corporate buyers and meeting planners who have been relegated to phone, fax and e-mail for planning meetings and events will enjoy new cost controls, improved productivity and ensured compliance."
Arguably, intermediaries are faced with more difficulties in achieving real-time meeting bookings as opposed to the hotel companies, according to Marriott and Hilton executives. They said that the so-called real-time inventory may not be accurate because, in some cases, there is a delay from the hoteliers in loading the inventory through the global distribution systems, causing double-bookings and inaccurate rates.
"One of the disadvantages for third parties is the reliance on technology and the limitations of technology. If a proprietary tool had any improvements or additions, all that information is going to be displayed to our brand.com site; third-party information can get dated," said Brooks.
However, this may even be the case when booking through the hotel company's site and, as an insurance policy, Marriott confirms bookings after 24 hours to enable planners and the hotel property to make adjustments or cancel the booking.