Direct booking for groups requires real-time inventory and trust in the right technology to serve both planners and suppliers
The current industry standard for booking hotel rooms and conference space is like a canyon, with meeting planners and hotel inventory separated by a massive chasm — a lack of trust and transparency filling the void between.
Now, imagine a bridge linking each side of the canyon, making the booking of rooms and space a direct and trustworthy process. That’s what direct booking technology for groups has to accomplish.
The advent of direct booking
Restaurants hit a new stride when online booking became easily accessible. With apps like OpenTable, managers could fill tables by allowing guests to fill out reservations online. Phone reservations, restaurant flow and wait times harmonized, improving guest experiences as well as restaurant income, rating and reviews.
Soon, technology emerged that allowed companies and planners to book event space at these restaurants, as well as office spaces and meeting space in other venues. But renting a vacant space does not amount to booking a meeting. Booking space doesn’t automatically orchestrate a catered lunch, presentation tech, guest amenities and other ancillary services.
The standard for booking a meeting depends on the planner’s ability to book these other aspects of the event at the same time, whether they choose to do so or not. A booked meeting room is a blank canvas. Until you paint in the necessary event details, you don’t have a full picture.
The importance of rooms plus space
Hotels need to sell guest rooms alongside their meeting space in order to earn adequate revenue. Groups can’t be “space hogs” without also spending on sleeping rooms, catering and other hotel services.
While online travel agencies (OTAs) helped sell guest rooms, up to nine rooms at a time, there has lacked a way to do both — sell group guest rooms in bulk and meeting space — online, directly to event planners and group organizers. Online group booking doesn’t work when the event professional can book one half the equation online but still has to submit an RFP for the other half.
Who is going to complete one half of the process online and then call the hotel for the other half? No one. The planner will simply call the hotel for both. (The exception to this rule are hotels that don’t have meeting space for sale. An online group booking tool would still be valuable for properties that want to offer inventory in excess of nine rooms at a time, the booking limit currently in place with OTAs.)
What the hospitality industry needs is a solution that bridges this divide and brings these aspects of group booking together on one online platform.
A single guest can use OTAs to plan their entire vacation, and patrons can go online to set a dinner date. And planners should be able to organize gatherings and conferences in the same way, all in one place, entirely online, with group rates, meeting space or both, as well as catering and amenities, at their fingertips.
Changing industry behaviors
The adoption of direct group booking will require an adjustment in industry behaviors for both planners and venues. Any time an industry has shifted sales from in store or over the phone to an online transaction has required nurturing consumer behavior to adopt the different medium.
When OTAs first came on the scene, the booking process wasn’t so automatic — hotels didn’t even know they had sold a room. They received faxes or other manual notifications of bookings, which then had to be inputted into their system.
In early 2000, when I was general manager of the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Florida, our staff had to check the fax machine every morning for bookings and make sure they were manually entered into the reservation system, while figuring out which OTA the guest had used. It didn’t matter if the booking wasn’t communicated to us or if the OTA had sold a room type that wasn’t available — when that guest showed up, we’d be the ones who looked bad if their booking was missing or incorrect.
Given that booking a meeting online is still in the nascent stages, some planners may be reluctant to change their previous processes and workflow, even if the new way turns out to be simpler and more efficient.
Most important, planners have to trust that the technology will deliver on what it promises. They have to have confidence that the online group booking is connected to and integrated with the hotel’s sales and catering system. They also have to have confidence that the transaction will be easy.
To meet planners’ needs, suppliers have to provide better information and more transparency so that the end user will trust the online technology and have confidence that their transaction will be completed accurately.
The hospitality industry has come a long way in the past 20 years, and direct booking for groups is a highly anticipated development for our tech stack. It’s time for the hospitality industry to embrace building connections, trust and easier transactions between buyer and seller.
Originally published on Hospitality Net.
Select IHG properties are the first to deploy GroupSync Engage, the market’s premier online booking technology with real-time room and space availability for planners
Groups360 and IHG Hotels & Resorts today announced the release of GroupSync Engage, the hospitality industry’s first integrated direct booking solution for groups to include both meeting space and guest rooms. IHG is the first brand to launch the streamlined instant booking capability on the GroupSync platform, which will initially be available at approximately 30 hotels in the U.S. in the coming weeks.
GroupSync Engage offers a breakthrough online booking solution for meeting and event planners and hotel brands. Event planners can now book guest rooms, meeting space or both in a secure, convenient, online transaction. This initial rollout marks the first of many deployments of GroupSync Engage with IHG during 2021.
“We have been working with IHG Hotels & Resorts to deliver greater value to the meetings and events customer,” said Kemp Gallineau, CEO of Groups360. “We believe that the future of booking meetings will be direct and online, especially for smaller and less complicated events. Our collaboration with IHG will extend to more IHG properties throughout the U.S. and Canada in 2021.”
Gallineau noted that the GroupSync Engage solution enhances the relationship between planners and suppliers by offering, for the first time, real-time availability and group rates for both meeting space and guest rooms, so planners can book a meeting or event completely online. Simplifying booking eases the planners’ workload and frees up hotel staff and resources, which are mission-critical issues during this period of recovery for the hospitality industry.
This instant booking capability also allows customers to customize their event by selecting food and beverage options, audio-visual needs and meeting room configuration. It’s a perfect solution for meeting planners needing meeting space and guest rooms for any occasion, from citywide conventions to sports tournaments.
“We are always looking for ways to make the lives of meeting planners easier and more efficient – allowing them to instantly book a meeting space will eliminate the need to create an RFP,” said Derek DeCross, senior vice president, global sales, IHG Hotels & Resorts. “We know not all planners are booking meetings right now, but together with our recently enhanced Meet With Confidence program, GroupSync Engage is one more way we’ll be ready when they are.”
Read more in this exclusive interview with BTN Group and this article by MeetingsNet.
Planners: Learn more about direct booking for your next meeting.
Hoteliers: Find out how to launch GroupSync Engage at your hotel.
Given the effects restrictions and lockdowns are having on business and leisure travel, hotels need creative ways to generate income.
If your hotel is in need of immediate revenue, consider implementing a voucher or gift certificate program to sell room nights and hotel services for future stays.
By selling gift certificates to new and existing customers, you can tap into pent-up demand from pandemic-weary travelers.
Buy now, travel later
After long quarantines and stay-at-home orders, people everywhere have cabin fever. Many travelers will be anxious to get out of the house once lockdowns are lifted, but few might want to travel far from home. They are likely to stay within their own city or head to a destination easily reached by car.
The “staycation” is one of the season’s biggest trends. It’s an easy way to take a break without too much time or expense.
Hotels have plenty to offer with luxuries such as indoor pools, rooftop lounges with city views, and high-end dining. Staycation packages allow locals to enjoy a spa day or a pampered overnight stay.
A simple solution for online sales
Now is the time to take advantage of the staycation trend, as well as sell future stays to new and loyal customers.
E-commerce solutions such as GroupSync Gifting enable hotels to create, sell and manage the redemption of voucher packages for instant cash flow. These packages include F&B, staycations, spa services, activities, cash value gift cards and more, which are sold through a hotel-branded website.
Take advantage of the pent-up demand for future travel and drive revenue for your hotel. Get started today.
Originally published on Boutique Hotelier.
When hosting meetings and events, hoteliers frequently acknowledge that they’re outsourcing their relationship with attendees who stay at their hotels. The relationship is typically managed by the event planner, who is responsible for liaising with the attendees and venue staff.
In an age where relationships and distribution channels are key, hotels need to know who their guests are. Hotel sales managers who use the room-block management solution in GroupSync Optimize not only streamline communication with planners but they also gain access to key information about the participants.
Guest profiles for better service
The more we know about our guests, the better we can serve them. GroupSync Optimize collects valuable information from meeting attendees. Guests who use the housing platform to make their reservations in a room block voluntarily supply their email addresses, job titles, loyalty numbers and other information that hotels rarely receive from a planner’s rooming list.
Hotels using GroupSync have noticed that 36% of guests enter their loyalty program information and 100% provide their email address.
With loyalty program information, hotels can customize interactions with these regular guests, giving them the level of service to which they’re accustomed.
With proper permission, hotels are also able to retain guest information for marketing and promotional purposes. This access could lead to additional opportunities to upsell around the event and subsequent patronage that isn’t applicable under the current rooming list process.
Historically, hotels have limited exposure to their group guests until they check in, but that no longer needs to be the case.
Take a tour of GroupSync today to learn more about how this platform can help you capture insights into your group guests and meeting delegates.
