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

A guide to room block management (Forecasting with Foresight)

Monique English AFMEAAccommodation Department Manager

arinex pty ltd

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!

The Foresight

Step 1: Consider the FactsPrevious 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?

The Foresight

Step 2: Statistics/look at your eventProgram

•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

The Foresight

Step 3: Market SegmentThere 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

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?

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

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

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

What you may find!

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