by Bruce Harris

When your association's executive director walks into your office and "shares" the news that a series of "pop-up" meetings are needed in the next three months, take heart.. you may become the most popular meeting manager around! The same hotels that don't want to talk to you about meetings of 40 to 50 rooms for two nights when scheduled two years out will stand in line for them when they are short-term bookings.

Timing affects rate and availability at a hotel because hoteliers are guided by one thing – profit.

As strange as it may seem, to attain a profit, a hotel cannot simply accept every group that calls.

Here's the reason:

If a hotel accepted smaller groups first and then had a major group call, it might well have to turn down the larger group because its meeting space or guest rooms were not available. In that scenario, the hotel would have to fill in with 10 or more smaller groups, generating 10 negotiations, 10 contracts and 10 different sets of menus and meeting needs. Obviously, that also means 10 times the effort.

To protect against this situation, many larger hotels will not book smaller groups until two years out and, in some cases, one year out. Calls to hotels by smaller groups wishing to book long lead time meetings are generally met with, "Sorry, but those dates are not available."

Oftentimes that does not mean the hotel is sold out, but rather that it cannot afford to book your group with such a large lead-time.

If you must book your 40- to 50- room meeting more than two years out, consider smaller hotels where you will actually be a bigger piece of business. Another option is to find a larger hotel where the "group block" (rooms reserved for groups) is in the 100- to 150-room range during your time during your time period. Don't assume that large hotels only want small meetings; some Las Vegas hotels, for example, will commit only 16 percent to 18 percent of their rooms for groups. Your meeting may be just what a 1,000-room hotel in that city is looking for.

If you desire to be in a larger hotel and are not in a hurry to book, then let the hotel know you are flexible and would like to be second option during a given time period. That way, when your hotel gets a larger group, you may become the important filler business the hotel needs to maximize profits. You may even get the hotel to agree to give you the same rate as the larger group.

When it comes to pricing of guest rooms, however, no consistent pattern exists relative to lead time. During certain time periods, a hotel will offer lower rates to get the first group on the books... and then raise rates as its supply of space diminishes. Other hotels, unless they are dealing with a knowledgeable planner, opt for the highest sellable rate for long-term bookings and become more flexible once they are sure that the desired average rate can be achieved.

For all these hotels, the world changes when there is little lead time before some open dates. Hotels will negotiate like crazy for short-run business. This, in some cases, becomes desperation selling. Because no hotel wants to have unoccupied rooms, you can expect unusually low rates and abnormally generous concessions. Other hotels, unless they are dealing with a knowledgeable planner, opt for the highest sellable rate for long-term bookings and become more flexible once they are sure that the desired average rate can be achieved.

Planners need to remember that the hotel with open short-term dates is under pressure to sell those dates. As a planner, this is your source of power whenever a "pop-up" meeting occurs. Unfortunately, most planners who are challenged with a short-term booking never approach the negotiations with a clear understanding of the hotel's position. Instead, they desperately accept almost any rate the hotel offers, feeling that if they don't accept it, they'll never find another spot.

Wise planners, on the other hand, will use the short lead time to their advantage and get the best rates of their planning careers. When the wise planner finds a hotel with availability, the search for a location continues until there are two or more choices. The combination of short lead time and competitive choices always yields positive results. Don't panic when short-run meetings pop up; instead, properly evaluate your new power and be aggressive in your negotiations.

First published in: Convene Magazine, December 1994