1. Shorter booking windows seem to be a trend. Are you seeing that, and how are you working with planners who are looking to book within six weeks or so?
We are absolutely seeing that. As I mentioned, I turned contracts today for October 9, November 3 and March 15. We are working with the short-termers by sending contracts with the proposals, by sending menus with suggestions and having a one-stop approach. The convention service manager is determined when the contract goes out. We pair the planner with our team and move the process along as much as we can to ensure all are ready quickly.
2. How does working with Visit Birmingham help you be more efficient? Are you able to build better planner relationships through working with Visit Birmingham?
Plain and simple, our hotel would not be the success it is without our relationship with the Birmingham CVB. For starters, we are partners at over 10 trade shows annually. The cost to do these events alone would be prohibitive. Further, in our case, selling Birmingham is priority number one. Once a planner is sold on our city, I believe our hotel will shine, but getting a national planner to look at and utilize a second-tier city is a challenge. The CVB does just that! They sell the city and via tradeshows, FAMs, customer relationships and partnering all of the above with our team shows customers a unified front. We are truly fortunate in Birmingham – Steve's team and my team have sellers who have known each other for decades. The rapport and relationships shine through on a site visit and show our customers just how strong we are together. Again, could not do it with out them!
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Paul Dangel
Director of Sales and Marketing
Hyatt Regency Birmingham - The Wynfrey HotelUnited States
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-29-2022 11:56
From: Tanvi Kakodkar
Subject: We're back with our 'Ask the Expert' session - Sep 29
Our last two questions for the day for @Paul Dangel:
- Shorter booking windows seem to be a trend. Are you seeing that, and how are you working with planners who are looking to book within six weeks or so?
- How does working with Visit Birmingham help you be more efficient? Are you able to build better planner relationships through working with Visit Birmingham?
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Tanvi Kakodkar
Customer Marketing at Cvent
Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2022 23:13
From: Tanvi Kakodkar
Subject: We're back with our 'Ask the Expert' session - Sep 29
It's time for our next Ask the Expert session here in the Open Forum!
According to the recent Northstar/Cvent Meetings Industry PULSE Survey, 53% of event planners say that concern about a new COVID variant impacts their current planning. This has grown steadily over the last three reports. That's notable and a little surprising. Why? Because at the same time, 68% of planners are nonetheless actively sourcing and booking events. Does this show concern around new mandates? Or does it really show how resilient we are, how we've adapted, and our determination to reconnect. The new era of meetings and events is about using tools and best practices to overcome challenges.
Join us on September 29, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET to hear from industry experts on how they're overcoming recent challenges, whether that's COVID or even more pressing cost concerns and short staffing. How can destinations better help planners and hotels connect to design meaningful experiences? What should destinations and hotels know about the most pressing challenges facing planners? When planners say that they want suppliers to be more supportive – what are some tips on how to better engage and provide a greater level of support?
Our featured experts include:
- @Steve Pierson, Director of Convention Sales, Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau
- @Paul Dangel, CMP, Director of Sales and Marketing, HYATT REGENCY Birmingham – The Wynfrey Hotel
Cvent is partnering with Northstar Meetings Group to co-produce and cosponsor the Meetings Industry PULSE Survey. We surveyed 460+ event professionals in August 2022 to get a look at planner sentiment around the meetings and events industry.
Reminders from our Community Team on how the Ask the Expert session will work:
Add your questions from the industry experts by replying to this thread below any time before or during the Ask the Expert session. Be sure to look at other Community users' questions and click Recommend to those that you would also like to learn more about.
You can expect to see answers from our experts starting at 11:00 am ET on Thursday, Sep 29. Follow the thread by clicking the blue star and be ready to add follow-up questions and discuss further with other users. We'll wrap up the event at 12:00 pm ET, so be sure to join us then.
We look forward to reading your questions!
Note: This post contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Specifically, any unreleased services, features, functionality, or enhancements referenced in this discussion post or in other public statements are not yet generally available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who license any solutions from Cvent, Inc. should make their purchase decisions based on features that are currently available. We have based these forward-looking statements on our views concerning future events and development plans as of the date they were made. We assume no obligation for and do not intend to update any such forward-looking statements.
#Miscellaneous
#SourcingaVenue
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Tanvi Kakodkar
Customer Marketing at Cvent
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