Meeting venue hire is the pet peeve for many planners while planning meetings. There are so many things need to be taken care of: calling the clients, discussing the facilities and services which will be in place at the meeting, setting up the theme, calling services partners and negotiating prices, sending RFPs, booking a venue so on and so on. The only thing lacking is Time. Report from Quickmobile shows that a planner spends at least 30 days in average planning a meeting. As a result, we have to sacrifice other aspects of our life to save as much time as possible. 51% planners reported spend an average 5-6 hour of sleep, and 42% works 15-20 hrs/day in the planning stage.
There are many websites and online directory that showcase meeting spaces and allow online booking. However, none of them offers an extensive service taking care of the whole booking process from start to finish. MeetingPackage.com tackles that problem by providing a platform which can cover all three aspects of s booking: Search - Book - Manage. So today, let's see how this solution works and how it will significantly change the meeting industry.
Search
Normally, after a discussion with clients about the details of the meeting, the planners scan through their contacts and try to find venues that are sufficient to the meeting needs. There often are at least five options to consider in case the primary one is unavailable . In rare occasions when there is no suitable venue; or the meeting's held in a foreign state, the planner then will go to Web Search Engine or try to find them on the Online Venue Directory websites. According to Quickmobile, 64 % of meeting planners use four to seven technologies in planning the meetings, most of which are event management software or web CMS applications.
With MeetingPackage.com
MeetingPackage.com has a substantial size of inventory with approximately 30 thousands venues and more than 250 thousands meeting rooms all around the globe and still updating. The venues types cover a broad range of hotels, training centres, country houses, or larger spaces for conferences and seminars. The information are taken from the venue's official website or updated by the venue's representatives.
Each venue has a Venue Landing Page which displays basic information, location, meeting rooms and available facilities. Moreover, venues who offer bespoke meeting packages also can be shown on the Package Landing Page.
Book a meeting space has never been easier. After you click on a venue on the Search Page, proceed to a landing page where information about the meeting rooms and facilities unfold.
Sending RFPs
A day of meeting planners usually starts with phone calls to venues and ends with sending emails. A lot of emails. A seasonal planner always send several RFPs to several venues. The whole process consisting of sending the first proposal, negotiating the prices for extra services and equipment, waiting for the final sums... can take a couple of days or even months until everything's resolved.
With MeetingPackage.com
MeetingPackage.com's main purpose is to make the communication more efficient by cutting down the amount of RFPs. In the Venue Landing Page, the final Room Hire rate is available on the Checkout Panel on the right. In this pannel, planners can select the suitable room and see the possible date.
Besides the standard Room Hire, MeetingPackage.com also shows bespoke meeting packages for wider selections. There are four types of meeting package displayed, including: Half-Day Meeting Package (Morning or Afternoon), Full-Day Package, Overnight, and Two-Day Meeting Package. The packages include one or some extra services depending on the venue's offers; such as tea and coffee, lunch or dinner break, and accommodation for stay-over guests. The details of each package are displayed on the Package Landing Page. All package prices are fixed with no further add-ons, except the planner wish to add more services. Should the planner change the number of delegates, the final price will then adjust automatically.
Book a venue
After emails after emails during the negotiation, finally, it is time to put on a contract. It would probably take the venue a couple of days to review the contract, though. Not to mention, if the planner wants to add extra services or make late changes to the deal, he/she has to remake the contract and send it again. Hardly practical.
Booking venues online makes it easier. However, the current online booking websites often ask for a small deposit which requires information of your credit card. While it may raise a fresh concern about security breaches, it will cause some unnecessary annoyances when the planner wishes to cancel the booking. Furthermore, the service ends after the payment. If the planner wants to add late changes to the order, there is no other way than sending emails to the venue again.
With MeetingPackage.com
You can Make a Booking Request or Send An RFQ for venues by clicking the button in the Checkout Panel on the Landing Pages.After that, the system will redirect you to the Order Management Page, where you fill out your contact information. There is also a review panel on the right side showing the details of your order.
MeetingPackage.com doesn't take any electronic payment or deposit for booking. You will send the payment directly to the venue, either upfront through invoice or onsite. In other words, the platform is 100% free for planners.
But wait, There is more, MeetingPackage.com is the only platform that takes care of the whole booking process from start to finish. We understand the essence of the booking process lying on the fast communication between venues and planners. Each MeetingPackage.com user has an interactive personal account where you can review the order status, send direct messages, and negotiate with the venue partners. All's in one single platform.
To review your order, Go to Inbox by clicking the Menu icon on the top left corner ==> Inbox.
Each order is presented in three stages: The first stage is "Supplier should confirm". The Supplier (or venue partner) review the order, date, and seating layout. If all items are sufficient, the supplier then clicks "Confirm" to proceed. The process then automatically moves to the next stage "Customer should confirm".
The Customer / Planner receives a notification that the supplier has approved the order. He/she then logins to his / her MeetingPackage.com account and open the order in the Inbox. The Customer then communicates with the supplier to request additional services or update changes. This communication will happen at any time throughout the booking process. For each new items added, the supplier then appends it to the current list by clicking "Add a new item". The new sum will be updated automatically.
After the customer confirms the changes by clicking the "Confirm" button, then it will move to the final stage "Confirmed Order". There would be no further adjustments can be made after this stage.The Order has been successfully made.
All parties can cancel the order at any stage of the process by clicking the "Cancellation" button. Be aware of the venue's Cancellation Policy before cancelling the order to avoid paying extra penalties.
CONCLUSION:
With MeetingPackage.com, we bring a whole new concept of booking and communicating with meeting venues. We are still constantly building the platform and providing new feature to give our partners total control of the whole process. Want to know more? Visit meetingpackage.com for more information.
