Open Forum

Let's kick off this Monday's Huddle of the Week post with everyone's favorite topic . . . contracting!

Whether you're an event planner or a hotel/venue representative, negotiating and finalizing contracts is a crucial part of the event planning process. Today, we want to dive into the world of contracting with hotels as an event planner and discuss some important considerations and experiences.

As an event planner, contracting with hotels is a key aspect of ensuring the success of your events. Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to event contracts: 

1. Negotiating favorable terms: When contracting with hotels, it's important to negotiate terms that are advantageous to both parties. This includes discussing factors such as room rates, event space availability, cancellation policies, attrition rates, and other key details. Successful negotiation can help you achieve a win-win situation, where you secure the best possible deal for your event while also ensuring the hotel's satisfaction.
2. Paying attention to crucial clauses: One common pitfall in contracting is overlooking crucial clauses that can end up costing you big. It's essential to carefully review the contract and pay attention to details such as force majeure, liability, indemnification, and any other clauses that may impact your event. Missing or misunderstanding these clauses can lead to unexpected expenses or legal complications down the line.
3. Building strong relationships: Contracting is not just about signing a piece of paper; it's about establishing a strong relationship with the hotel or venue. Developing a good rapport with the hotel's event team can go a long way in ensuring smooth communication and addressing any issues that may arise during the planning process. A positive relationship can also lead to better negotiation outcomes and future collaborations.

Now, we'd love to hear from you!

Questions for Event Professionals

• What are your latest successes or failures when contracting with hotels?
• Have you been able to negotiate favorable terms?
• Did you miss any important clauses that had an impact on your event? 

Questions for Hospitality Professionals

•  What has your experience been like when working with event organizers?
• Have you encountered challenges or found effective ways to collaborate?

Let's kick off this discussion and make this Monday a productive one for everyone involved in the exciting world of event contracting!

#HuddleoftheWeek
#VoiceIt
#SupplierNetwork

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Kelli Kopec
Senior Product Marketing Manager
CventUnited States
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Questions for Event Professionals

• What are your latest successes or failures when contracting with hotels? Many hotels are increasing their attrition clauses. In an event last spring, we signed a contract for 40 room nights, but a huge group of attendees decided to stay elsewhere and get several big Air B&B houses. We ended up having to eat the cost of 35 room nights, which we hadn't budgeted, and was a huge hit to our finances.
• Have you been able to negotiate favorable terms? In some cases. In many others, hotels know that they'll sell rooms on weekends in our city, as it is a destination location.
• Did you miss any important clauses that had an impact on your event? We didn't miss the attrition clause, but we hadn't expected attendee behavior to be what it was.

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Cate Liverman
Director- Constituent Relations
UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School FoundationUnited States
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• What are your latest successes or failures when contracting with hotels?
  • understanding that everything is negotiable, and always have a good back-up in case you are not happy with the final negotiated terms
• Have you been able to negotiate favorable terms?
  • yes
• Did you miss any important clauses that had an impact on your event?
  • No, but I learned the hard way not to trust what I am promised if it's not in the contract. "having it in our notes" is not good enough. 

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Lori Wildman
Marketing Director
lwildman@dmainc.com
DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc.United States
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• What are your latest successes or failures when contracting with hotels? failed at getting timely responses to RFPs
• Have you been able to negotiate favorable terms? nothing extra special or above and beyond.
• Did you miss any important clauses that had an impact on your event?  ALWAYS include a No Walk clause

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Hallie Loeb
Event Operations
CDW United States
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• What are your latest successes or failures when contracting with hotels?
  • Both a failure and in some ways a success: we overestimated our block, but tanks to our good relationship with this property, we were allowed to keep booking within the block at the preferential rate until the last-minute, way past the cut-off date we had agreed to in the contract. We still had to pay attrition damages, but less than what the property could have charged us with based solely on contract.  
• Have you been able to negotiate favorable terms?
  • The university negotiates a master agreement for us for the whole campus. One nice thing is that the same overall owner company operates two neighboring hotels, so sometimes our guests get upgraded to the nicer property at the pre-negotiated price of the "cheaper" one. 

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Beline Falzon
Event Planner
Stanford UniversityUnited States
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