What Planners Really Want: Relationships
Whatever side of the industry you are a part of, it is critically important to develop rapport and to understand the goals, needs, and desires of the planner, sponsor, the hotel, and the media.
Planner and CCSM Relationships
Starting with the initial sales process, a planner can be wary of what and how much the hotel will be charging for in sleeping room rates, resort fees, taxes, and meeting space rental. After the contract is signed planners may find a sense a relief and are ready to start the planning with the CCSM. During this time when a CCSM should be focusing on relationship building in the planning process, other obstacles can present themselves. Often the planner will find that there are other fees associated with conducting meetings and events within the contracted meeting space. Most of the fees are covered in a small clause in the contract that states something like “current catering policies apply.”
It is the responsibility of the CCSM to communicate to the planner what additional fees they are responsible for in a manner that explains their purpose, with that message being delivered both confidently and eloquently. Such conversations can evoke emotional responses from the planner such as disappointment, anger, and hurt—responses like “I have never paid for water stations before” or “this hotel is too difficult to work with; I am never returning.” This is mostly attributed to the inexperience of the planner, lack of budgeting for operational fees, and an overall feeling in the back of their minds that hotels are trying to sell them something at all times.
Getting past obstacles will be essential in the relationship building with planners. The CCSM must earn their planner’s respect. Respect comes from when the planner can see you know your job, including when you don’t have the answer to all their questions that you DO know how and who to get answers from quickly. Additionally, planners will appreciate that you have anticipated their needs by knowing their program inside and out. The planner will look to you as the expert in your property, company, and city. Planners will, in due course, trust you enough to lean on you for advice in making suggestions and recommendations that are frustrating or causing inertia to them. A CCSM can make statements like “I can see this is difficult for you, so here is how I can help you,” and explain what you can and will do. Or “I am here to help you through this; let me know your most important meeting objective for us to achieve together.” It is at that point where CCSMs provide clear solutions and options that will remove the planner’s frustration that the relationships with the CCSM moves forward as a true partnership and as an extension of the planner’s team!
Let’s elaborate on an important part of knowing your planner’s program “inside and out.” Ideally your planner has provided detailed documents months ahead of time that includes for each meeting room and each date the times, room setup specifics, audio-visual and IT requirements, and food and beverage details. Although this is not 100 percent fantasy on the CCSM’s part, it can happen every once in a while. When this doesn’t happen, a CCSM must find out piecemeal all the details so they can understand the entire program. The ideal time for this is during onsite preplanning meetings and conference calls. If a planner is not getting you the details you need, suggest a monthly (and eventually weekly) conference call to address specifics. A CCSM is wise to focus on one topic at a time. An example would be a call on reviewing meeting room assignments, their scheduled event times, possible room set turns (meaning the room might be set for theater and then turn for the next meeting to crescent rounds). The next call could be on learning the food and beverage plan events. In all of these calls, the CCSM will need to drill down by asking specific questions with an attention to details on operations from the hotel side, while planners gain service level expectations. For example, a planner may tell you that all meals will be served in their exhibit hall. The questions to ask are:
What menus have you planned?
Where will the guests be coming from prior to the meal?
Where will they go after the meal?
Is seating provided for meals or are guests expected to roam the tradeshow floors while eating?
With answers to these questions, the CCSM will be able to explain the operational side to the planner with suggestions. For instance, if your property has a standard for paper and plastic products only (no china, glass, or silverware) for tradeshows, this can be communicated to the planner by explaining that it allows the guests to eat standing and to visit tradeshow booths, then disposing of service items in trash receptacles placed along the tradeshow floor. This allows more time for guests to spend directly with exhibitors at their booths. Exhibitors, in turn, benefit by having more attention focused on them rather the meal being held in a function room without exhibitor interaction.
Lastly, there are still old school relationship builders and maintainers that hold up even in today’s busy cyber world. These include taking planners to dinner or other bread-breaking meals. This allows you to treat the planner to pleasant activities (not costing them money), thereby putting them in an open and grateful mindset. They begin to open up about themselves with personal detailed information such as where they live, marital status, children, pets, free time activities, and food and beverage preferences. Make notes in your CRM systems of planner likes and special nuances for future communications.
Generally, a planner that tells you what they want, what they are not fond of, and reminds you of these items more than once will be a relationship you can manage well. Be cautious of those planners who do not express the wishes and are hard to get to know.
Check in frequently with planners during their events or on the convention floor to see what they need at that particular time and follow up quickly with tasks and solutions. What’s important to your planner should be tremendously important to you.
Meeting planners of all types LOVE complimentary industry perks, and who doesn’t. Perks such as suite upgrades, welcome and mid-program amenities, limo transfers, show tickets, staff meals, and the ever-popular spa treatments!
Sponsorships are growing, due to the ability to target market segments and because television advertising is not as effective now that viewers can record and fast-forward through commercials.
If you are planning a press conference for the media, provide at least three days’ notice. Schedule the event early in the day so the reporter can make the evening news. Friday tends to be a slower news day, so it is the best day to schedule a press conference. Saturday and Sunday are not good days because a smaller news crew is typically scheduled. Let them know if there will be food available, as food is a draw for most reporters.
Relationship Builders
Smiles
Make people feel at ease; no one wants to feel ill at ease
People gravitate to people who make them feel comfortable
Know when to say please
Know how to say I’m sorry
Know how to say thank you
Know how to give and receive compliments
The customer is not always right
The RIGHT customer is always right
Not all customers are created equal
Some buy a lot from you, respect your opinions, and pay their bills on time
Some just really drain you with small orders, constant complaining, and late payments
Planners Have Choices
They want to be convinced that booking with you is the right choice.
In other words, that their event will be done right!
Building a Sense of Community
Two of the most basic of human needs are a sense of belonging and a need for nourishment. Over the centuries, the communal meal or the act of breaking bread together has been an important element in maintaining the family and may include friends. No one ever enters an Italian grandmother’s house without being offered food and drink.
Here are some suggestions on how to bring that feeling of belonging to your events?
Hospitality desk in the lobby: for guests checking in or in the group registration area. Offer complimentary drinks, snacks, and conversation, where permitted.
Family style service: platters are set on the banquet table for guests to pass around and serve themselves. This option should only be for small groups with three courses or less. (Be sure the hotel has plenty of lightweight platters. And avoid entrees in heavy sauces, especially red sauces. Splatters happen! )
Tastings: wine, beer, coffee, tea, cheese, chocolate, game, even apple varieties, and so on.
New exotic foods: introduce foods from other countries to start a conversation, such as reindeer pate1 or mangosteen.2
Make refreshment breaks interactive. Have guests create their own snacks from ingredients provided, such as plain cupcakes with different icings and toppings. This gets conversation and laughter going as everyone shows off their masterpieces. Also popular are trail mix components.
The Catering Convention Services Sales-to-Service Process
The simplistic sales-to-service process consists of:
Initial sales call by a sales manager or an RFP (request for proposal ) sent by the planner or meeting planner
Proposed list of room availability, services, and pricing
Site inspection and selection visit
Contracting for the agreed event, convention, or tradeshow
Turnover of contract to the servicing teams
Execution of events, including postevent accounting
Thank you and welcome back for future programs
For standard hotel and conventions centers, the process begins with the sales process.
The most common ways this is initiated:
Planner or meeting planner calls directly to hotel sales managers or regional managers that they have developed relationships with during their career.
Planner or meeting planner develops an RFP3 and sends out to the hotels sales departments, convention, and visitor bureaus or third-party planners.
Third-party planner sends out RFPs to hotels sales departments, conventions, and visitor bureaus.
Request for Proposal
An RFP form includes information that a hotel sales manager can review to determine if the business opportunity is an appropriate fit for both parties.
The guts of an RFP are what we call in old-school terms rates, dates, and space data. The availability of the hotel and its facilities, sleeping room rates, and facility rental on planner’s desirable dates will determine its viability.
But not all sales processes include RFPs. They can be as simple as a phone call to the sales manager. Often planners with long-standing relationships with sales managers may want to begin with an informal process.
Contracting
At such time that planner or meeting planners and hotel sales managers have agreed to move forward with a formal sales contract, then additional processes are initiated. Often, the details for the contract are sent to the BR (business review) committee meeting where members of the sales team and directors determine if it is viable for the company as a whole. In many organizations an executive approval from director or vice presidents of sales is sufficient for approving legal documents. If the contract is approved, it is then sent to the contract signer who may have not been the meeting planner involved in the negotiation but rather the group’s “C” level, vice presidents, owners, or legal teams, among others, for signature approval.
File Turnover
Once the contracts are signed by the group and countersigned by the sales team it is ready to be put through the turnover process to the catering convention services team. After all the gathering of pertinent documents, including the signed or countersigned contract, documented approvals and forms, deposit confirmation and miscellaneous documents, the turnover packet is e-mailed out. Departments or individuals receiving these turnovers can include the directors of catering convention services, group rooms coordinator, audio-visual suppliers, and other key hotel departments.
When the director of catering convention services receives the file turnover they assign one or more CCSMs to the group. The CCSMs will send the planner an e-mail introduction of themselves letter, followed by a follow-up phone call. At this time, they may send additional information to the planner such as guidelines or policies not covered in the contract as well as current catering menus.
Execution of the Contract
At the start of this chapter we mentioned the sales process in its simplistic terms. It is, of course, anything but simplistic. After the contract is signed and turned over to catering and convention services, it is a complex and time-consuming activity to drill down in order to find what all the components of the program are. These can include, but are not limited to:
Schedule of events for the entire program
Food and beverage specifications
Meeting room setup
Audio-visual requirements
IT—Internet technology requirements
Exhibit and trade show arrangements
Third-party planners or other companies the planner has contracted with
Reviewing contract concessions
Potential outside or off-property events
Resolving any noncontracted issues
VIP arrangements
Preplanning site visits
Overall planner expectations for all of the above
The drill-down process can be ongoing throughout the planning process, and you can expect the unexpected for program additions, changes, and even changes to the additions.
As the planning formalizes and the program nears, the CCSM is diligently preparing for the group arrival. The main forms of communication to hotel operations teams are BEOs (banquet event orders), group resumes, and information shared at the earlier held pre-con meeting. When the group is onsite, the CCSM assists them with meeting requirements and overseeing the operations of registration, room setup, food and beverage. After the group and its planners depart, the CCSM submits final accounting, sends thank you e-mails or letters, and files group folders under completed events.
However, rarely is this the last of working with this group on this particular program. Frequently, the correspondence, issues regarding lost items, their thank-you letters, post-event issues from guest surveys, complaints or billing discrepancies can continue for several weeks.
Gratuities, Tips, and Service Charges
Gratuities: Gratuities are mandatory and are added to the bill. They can range from 18 to 24 percent of the total bill. Gratuities belong to the staff, and the hotel is not allowed to keep any portion of the monies.
Tips: Tips are voluntary, like when you are in a restaurant. If service is exceptional, planners may add a tip on top of the mandatory gratuity, or they may tip specific individuals for services rendered.
Service Charge: Most people would think that the service charge is for service, but hotels can keep a portion of this fee. Many sales people will say that the service fee is non-negotiable, but some meeting planners say they ask what it covers, and have been able to negotiate away part of the fee by eliminating part of the services.
It is important to note that some distribution rules are defined by individual state laws. For example, in Massachusetts gratuities must be distributed in their entirety to frontline service personnel. Also, in some states, taxes may not be charged on top of the gratuity, but added to the total after computation of taxes. In some states the portion of service that is directly paid to servers in gratuity is not taxed while the portion of the service charge that is paid to the “house,” meaning hotel, is taxed. For example, if the hotel service charge is 24 percent and the servers get 15 percent of the 24 percent, it is nontaxable. The remaining 9 percent of the 24 percent retained by the “house” is taxable.
In most of the states, service charges are collected by the house and redistributed as the management sees fit. While a good part of the service charge goes to the service staff, often a portion is kept by the house for bonus or commission payment to catering sales or conference services managers, with the remainder going to the overall bottom line of the property. Again, the tax issue tends to be governed by state law, but many states charge tax on top of the service charge.
One of the items most professionals miss with this issue is the effect on server or employee compensation and its subsequent effect on the skill level of banquet or catering service staff.
In part, server compensation at gratuity-based properties seems to require a higher level of record keeping, as the gratuity pool for each event must be kept separate and divided by the staff that worked the event. The result is relatively transparent compensation to service staffs and they feel reasonably compensated for their work, resulting in attracting a higher level of professionalism, loyalty, and dedication to service.
With a service charge-based compensation model, the compensation becomes far less transparent. Record keeping is made easier by allowing the property to create a “tip pool” for the pay period–the total amount of service charges are divided by the total work hours of service personnel for the pay period, resulting in an hourly wage or “share” (e.g., $10,000/500 labor hours = $20.00/hour). The total amount of compensation to an individual is based on the number of hours worked multiplied by the dollar amount of the share. While easier from a record-keeping standpoint, this method is much less transparent to the frontline worker in a variety of ways. In general, the house rarely discloses to the planner how much of the service charge is actually directed to worker compensation and how much is directed to the house.
Examples of how this has played out: At one property, all catering managers and CCSMs were allotted 40 hours in the tip pool per week, adding to the number of labor hours and reducing the frontline hourly wage. While this serves to incentivize the manager, it can discourage professional service personnel, as it reduces their overall compensation. At one property, it did not stop with middle management, but upper-level management (from assistant director to the higher levels, further diluting the tip pool ).
At another property, the compensation for workers ranged from $14.00 to $18.00 per hour, depending on what the resulting calculations regarding the tip pool were. On the one hand, this meant that servers were always guaranteed to make at least $14.00 per hour. On the other, if the hourly wage calculated out to $20.00 per hour, then all additional monies above the $18.00 per hour were shown as revenue toward the catering or conference services budget. Because the property was located in an area with a small labor pool, the director of the department proposed doing away with the $18.00 ceiling in order to attract and retain a more highly skilled worker. Upper management refused because they did not want to lose the revenue that the additional money from the service charges provided to the bottom line.
This kind of situation results in a lower level of service and a less-professional staff. Why work in this department if one is highly skilled, when one could be better compensated for less work by being a restaurant server, for example?
Fixed and Variable Costs
While people are complaining about the high cost of food at catered events, they are not considering the overhead that a hotel has to cover in the price of the food. Overhead includes both fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs would include the mortgage or lease payments, insurance, investment in furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FFE), salaried positions, and so on. Variable costs would include the cost of food; heating, air conditioning, or ventilation (HVAC); hourly salaries; printing; and so on.
The Cost of That Muffin
One of the largest expenses is labor. Let’s look at that muffin on the continental breakfast table. How many people are involved in getting that muffin on the table? Someone has to put it on the menu and have the menu printed. Someone has to take the order and create the BEO. The BEO goes to the chef, who orders the ingredients from the purchasing manager. Someone receives the delivery on the loading docks and gets it put into inventory. The cooks then need to requisition the ingredients from the storeroom and bake the muffin.
Meanwhile, porters are cleaning and vacuuming the meeting room. The banquet setup crew then comes in with the tables and chairs, followed by the banquet service people who requisition the linen from the laundry and the utensils from the storeroom and set up the table. The engineer has to be sure the room is the proper temperature. Then there is a banquet server that keeps the table refreshed during the function.
At the end of the function, the staff needs to come in and break down the room and send the dirty linen to the laundry and everything else (dishes, utensils, etc.) back to the stewarding department (they wash the dishes) and then to storage.
At casino properties, the cost of a 24-hour operation is staggering. It costs upwards of $1 million per day to just keep the doors open.
If you want cheap muffins, you could always go get them at Costco and feed your guests in a public park. But, in a hotel, you have to pay for the labor, overhead, and the service.
Food doesn’t cost that much in comparison to the overall event, photographers can cost just as much as a caterer sometimes. We are in a very labor-intensive business, and we have to deal with perishable foods and waste.
1 http://foodbeast.com/content/2011/12/01/reindeer-pate/
3 Request for Proposal.