Meetings Concierge Nancy Nachman

Is it important to have a separate banquet room away from the meeting room for meals? Or do you prefer meeting and dining in the same meeting room? There are so many things to consider before making the choices that work best for your group.

Why is it a valuable tip to avoid hand written contract changes?  Anyone should be able to pick up a contract and read it and understand the terms, without trying to figure out hand written notes on the agreement.  You may leave your job, or the hotel sales manager could be no longer working for the property by the time the meeting dates occur.

Even though a hotel tells you they have meeting space available for your group, there are several items you need to check to be sure the meeting room is ideal. 
Find out the dimensions of the meeting room, the ceiling height, whether or not there are windows, and ideally a room with 4 solid walls vs sharing an airwall with another meeting.  T
here is a lot to know before selecting a meeting room.  Ideal event space ensures happiness and comfort of your guests.

Hotels have all sorts of room types and this is referred to as Run of House (ROH). When reserving and contracting a room block for a meeting, find out what your options are to be sure your executives and guests get the best choices. Superior rooms are smaller; deluxe rooms are larger. Bed types range from 2 queen beds to 1 king bed. Views change from incredible to not as grand. Don’t agree to ROH (run of house); rather, hand-pick exactly what you want for your group and makes sure it is spelled out in the contract.

Planning a meeting is like the game of telephone.  You tell someone something.  They tell the next person and the next person, etc., etc.  Things fall through the cracks or get miscommunicated.  A good meeting planner will always arrange a pre-conference meeting with the conference services manager and other department managers prior to your group’s arrival to go over the agenda and make sure your plans are exactly what the hotel is going to provide you.  It’s your opportunity to review guest rooms per night, start and end times of meetings and banquets, and menus.  After all, your goal is to make sure the hotel delivers the perfect plans you have made in advance for a successful meeting.

The meetings industry got crushed by the global pandemic & COVID-19.  There was very little warning to prepare for an entire trade to shut down abruptly.  Meeting planners constantly have to deal with changes yet no one could have imagined something like a worldwide health crisis that forced thousands of cancellations of meetings.  Find out about how to move forward again to bring people together for meetings, and how to be astute and aware and plan for the “what ifs”.