When attrition hits

Sleeping room attrition can have a tremendous impact on your event costs. Here are five tips for lessening your financial burden.

 

Review Your Contract. Hopefully you, or your meeting planner, were diligent in negotiating the attrition terms of your hotel contract before you signed it. Pay close attention to attrition clauses, cancellation clauses, food and beverage and ancillary revenue minimums, and other liability clauses. If you negotiated a favorable contract, these clauses will help limit your financial exposure.

 

Call the Hotel. As soon as you notice your attendance faltering, contact the hotel. Tell them what is happening and ask for their help. The sooner you can do this, the easier it will be to work together to mitigate the damage. Even if it is after the fact, a conversation with the hotel should be your first action.

 

Think like the Hotel. In addition to seeing the impact of attrition from your perspective, think about it from the hotel’s point of view. Simply put, you both face financial burden. Work with the hotel so you can substitute revenue elsewhere and reduce financial burden to both parties, resulting in a win-win situation.

 

Contact the National Representative. If you do not have success with your local hotel contact, do not hesitate to contact the national representative. This is an especially successful tactic when you plan multiple meetings with the same hotel chain. The national representative will appreciate your business from a broader, long-term perspective. This will not be your last meeting and your value as a customer far exceeds losses from one event. If you do not have a national representative, partner with a company, such as Hamilton Group Meeting Planners, that has a national representative from every major hotel chain.

 

Seek Guidance from a Professional. If your meeting has already happened and none of the above tactics will help, consult a professional meeting planner. Meeting planners, like Hamilton Group Meeting Planners, bring a steady stream of business to hotels and can use their leverage and relationships to help minimize your losses.

Contact Hamilton Group Meeting Planners if you need assistance with attrition or any meeting planning needs.

Concerned about attrition? Click here to contact us and learn how we can help at no cost to you.

 

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