Best strategies to negotiate efficiently with hotels for your meetings and events
Posted on 2024-01-10Negotiating the best rates with hotels for your corporate meetings, trainings, and year-end parties requires skill and expertise. To help you become more efficient in your future negotiations, we are pleased to share some expert tips:
1. Share your budget: Many meeting planners are hesitant to openly share their budget, fearing that they will be overcharged. However, by stating your maximum budget from the beginning, you can actually secure unexpected deals with hotels. This is because hotels' sales managers tend to offer higher rates on the first quote to ensure they can reach their target rate after negotiation. By sharing your budget, hotels may be motivated to offer you a better deal to secure your meeting group.
2. Be flexible on dates: Offering some flexibility and providing a list of alternate dates to the hotels you inquire with can give you more negotiation power. Hotels often have spots to fill for various reasons, and by being open to different dates, you may have a greater chance of securing a competitive rate.
3. Know peak dates: If your event is non-residential, meaning it does not require guest rooms, hotels in busy cities like Singapore, Shanghai, or Hong Kong may be more reluctant to offer competitive rates for the utilization of their ballrooms. However, considering a non-residential event on a Friday could be a wise strategy. Hotels can then sell their guest rooms to individual travelers for staycations, and they will be less concerned about filling guest rooms.
4. Use a unique channel: It is advisable to avoid using multiple channels to check hotel rates in order to remain desirable to hotels. When hotel sales managers receive multiple inquiries for the same date, they may not offer the best rate until they figure out who the real decision maker is. To approach this situation effectively, either source the hotel on your own or appoint a dedicated third party, such as an events sourcing company. This will give you better leverage in the negotiation process and increase your chances of obtaining the best rates.
5. Consider an event sourcing company: Event sourcing companies, like 1000Meetings, work with a substantial number of clients and consolidate their budgets. This gives them more bargaining power than a single meeting planner and provides access to additional options and contacts within hotels and hotel chains. Moreover, event sourcing companies are knowledgeable about the best deals in the market and have insights into different destination needs throughout the year. They can assist you in identifying the most suitable hotel and location based on your requirements and meeting information.
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