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The Hotel and PCO Relationship: Room Block Management without the Crystal Ball

The Hotel and PCO Relationship: Room Block Management without the Crystal Ball. A guide to room block management (Forecasting with Foresight) Monique English AFMEA Accommodation Department Manager arinex pty ltd. The Foresight. You don’t need a crystal ball…. You need statistics!

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The Hotel and PCO Relationship: Room Block Management without the Crystal Ball

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  1. The Hotel and PCO Relationship: Room Block Management without the Crystal Ball A guide to room block management (Forecasting with Foresight) Monique English AFMEA Accommodation Department Manager arinexpty ltd

  2. The Foresight • You don’t need a crystal ball…. You need statistics! • Creating the perfect room block can be broken down to a 3 step process: • Step 1: Consider the facts • Research/evaluate previous events • What is your delegate profile? • Step 2: Statistics/Look at your event • Program • Additional technical tours • Where is the event? Consider your destination. • Step 3: Market segment • Choosing the right hotels for your delegates is paramount to success!

  3. The Foresight • Step 1: Consider the Facts • Previous room statistics from prior conferences • Number of rooms/room nights booked • Percentage of delegates who booked through the PCO/Agent • Breakdown of rooms booked in each star rating • What are your delegates like • What is their spending power? • Where are they coming from –list hotel chains that they would know • Do they require share options?

  4. The Foresight • Step 2: Statistics/look at your event • Program • Look at your program to deduce the amount of rooms required on your ‘side dates’ • Do you have full or half day’s in your program at the beginning or the end which will influence delegates arrivals/departures • Do you have technical tours or additional programs which will require extensions of stay over the weekend • Destination • Is it a destination where delegates would come pre/ post event for leisure • What events are on in the destination over the time of your event. Will it affect availability for your room block

  5. The Foresight • Step 3: Market Segment • There is no benefit to your delegates, or you if you chose the wrong hotel for your event. • There is no point in placing accommodation in 5 star hotels when your event needs 3 star accommodation….and vice versa! • Look at your requirements • Is there a requirements for twin options? • Are there likely to be families? Will you need apartments? • Do you have a large number VIP guests who need suites/club lounges? • Are there transport options for easy access to your venue • Are the hotels you are considering within walking distance

  6. The Creation • Now that you have the insight…..how do you create the perfect room block? Its not guesswork…it’s science! • Look at your delegate numbers – better to be based on conservative figures • Look at percentage you expect to book through your room block • Look at where your delegates are coming from. Do they all need accommodation or will you have a portion of local residents • Consider how many will be sharers…this will reduce your room requirements?

  7. Room Allotment Management • What works? • Reviewing your event forecast on a continual basis • Keep in mind your stakeholders COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY! • How to do it? • Look at your figures work out what is selling, what is not • Review early bird figures • Readjust your room blocks based on the expected figures • Contact your suppliers as early as possible if your event forecast has changed • Market knowledge, keep in mind the destination

  8. The Science! • Think of each event as an experiment into what is successful and compare across similar events. • How? • Maintain records and review • Compare your room block achievements over years • Analyse your data and use this as a guidelines for future events

  9. What you may find! • An insight into my analysis has brought some interesting facts to life…. • For association business on average 38% of delegates overall • choose to book through the PCO this is consistent over the past 3 years • Interestingly this increases based on the venue category • Where the Hotel is the meeting venue, 53% of delegates choose • to book the PCO • Over the past 3 years, 69% of the room block would be taken up at the venue

  10. Statistical Evaluation • Statistics • Maintain and analyse statistics across your core business • What statistics should you think about? • Materialisation • Booking percentage • Rooms booked by cut-off dates • Take up of rooms at certain milestones • International vs. National delegates • Thank You

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