All the complaints are quickly becoming a thing of the past. CVBs across the country are offering the latest online technology with all the cutting-edge bells and whistles, along with improved and more convenient services, as part of their citywide
housing services — at no charge to show organizers.

Take, for example, the Orlando/ Orange County CVB, the first bureau to sign on with Passkey.com in early 1998 to manage its housing process. Passkey.com, which offers an Internet-based reservation system, now handles housing for 19 CVBs across the country and gives exhibitors and attendees the flexibility to make hotel reservations online, by fax or through Passkey’s call center. Reservation information is managed in a centralized database accessible by show management, the CVB and the hotels in real-time. With access to housing numbers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all parties can generate up-to-the-minute block and pickup reports — even after the cutoff date.

“With the old system, show managers couldn’t see what was going on with their room blocks. We had to constantly run reports. The whole process took a lot of time,” explains Jane Chaney, CMP, Vice President of Convention Sales and Services for the Orlando/Orange County CVB. “It was also harder for the hotel community to accurately forecast and project a group’s needs. This system allows us to do that.”

The bureau still manages the housing process, but Passkey eliminates many of the time-consuming and labor-intensive steps along the way because information is keyed in only once. “We still provide the services we did before, but the automation has made us more efficient,” says Chaney.

The CVB has negotiated with area hotels to pick up the $13 processing fee per reservation to cover operating expenses, but show managers must still negotiate their own housing contracts. “With this system, we can catch potential problems sooner. We can tell, for example, if a room block is too big or too small and, because we have day-to-day relationships with area hotels, we can respond faster. There’s no time lag. All the information is right there,” Chaney says.

The system has worked well for David Berenhaus, CMP, Convention Coordinator for Arlington, VA-based National Science Teachers Association, which produces three regional meetings annually, as well as a national convention that requires approximately 7,000 rooms on peak night. Berenhaus worked with the CVB and Passkey.com for his most recent convention, held April 6-9, 2000, in Orlando.

A few years ago, arranging room sub-blocks meant that Berenhaus would work with an exhibitor to compile a room list and send it to the CVB so they could input the information before passing it along to the hotels. And when an exhibitor would call wanting to check on
her rooms, finding the answers often meant several phone calls between Berenhaus, the exhibitor and the CVB.

Now he can give that same caller a code to access information about her room blocks online, and if there’s still a question, Berenhaus can pull up the same information the CVB or hotel would see in
seconds.

“Exhibitors can give the code out to whoever needs it, which makes them more responsible for their rooms,” says Berenhaus. “It saves me, the bureau and the hotels a lot of work.”

Meeting new demands
Edward Nielsen, President and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus, isn’t surprised to see CVBs outsource housing or adopt online technologies.

“CVBs are doing a lot of things they haven’t done in the past,” Nielsen says. “CVBs are under pressure to not just be destination promoters. Now they are expected to be engines of economic development and to pay for themselves.” Upgrading the reservation process or outsourcing it is one way CVBs can cut costs while also offering better service to hotel bureau members and show managers. Over the past few years, more than 30 CVBs have outsourced to third-party housing companies or adopted new Internet and software packages.

“Offering a technology-driven solution was important to our image as a technology community,” says Ric Luber, Executive Director of the Austin CVB, which began using b-there.com — a Web site that provides destination-related services, such as the ability to make restaurant reservations and order tickets, as well as hotel, airline, car and event reservations — in March. “Because we have so many Internet and technology companies in our city, many of our meeting and exposition visitors come to Austin for technology-related events. This option gave us both the efficiency we need to be competitive, as well as the technology our visitors want.”

How it works

While each city’s housing service may offer unique features, there are several that run common to all of them that, five years ago, weren’t available to show managers.

Typically, CVBs offering these services have negotiated with area hotels to charge a one-time transaction fee for each reservation that varies from $3 to $15, depending on the needs of the event. Show management still works with a CVB representative, who provides options on which area hotels are available with what room blocks on which dates.

For example, the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (CCTB), which outsources to third-party housing company Deerfield, IL-based ITS Inc., maintains housing liaisons on its staff to promote its housing program, called “One Stop Chicago,” a service that includes handling of room blocks, assigning hotels, sending confirmations to attendees, forwarding rooming lists to hotels and inventory control of room blocks. CCTB staff facilitates communication between ITS, hotels and show management.

While CVB staff and vendors will assist with management, show managers are ultimately responsible for negotiating hotel contracts and overseeing the day-to-day tracking of reservations.

Once room rates are set, show management determines how reservations will be taken, what exhibitors and attendees will see online, and what other options to offer, such as the ability to call or fax reservations.

The CVB or vendor will then set up the system based on a group’s specific needs. For example, with Passkey.com, blocks and sub-blocks can have different inventories per day, different rates per day, different minimum-night-stay requirements per day and different maximum number of people per room.

All information is entered into a database, and show management works with the CVB or third-party vendor to be sure the database has the appropriate fields they want for reservation and reporting functions. Most programs offer a variety of templates for sorting information, such as alphabetically by name, by room type or by arrival date. In addition to real-time accessibility to the system, most CVBs will also send regularly scheduled e-mailed reports upon request.

Technological changes are also allowing show organizers to “drill down” into any data collected. From payment patterns to rooming lists, minute details about each sub-block can be reported. For example, WYNTRAC — a software application used by Las Vegas-based Housing On-line/PGI, which provides housing services for the San Diego, Philadelphia, Hawaii and New York CVBs — allows show organizers to set up different reservation pages for attendees, exhibitors, speakers or any other sub-groups. Separate codes can be given to each category so that sub-groups can be sorted accordingly.

Some cities support a transparent link from the show’s Web site to the reservation system, while others require exhibitors and attendees to access the city’s Web site. When exhibitors or attendees access the site, they enter their arrival and departure dates (or if they use the call center, a customer service representative will enter this into the system) and the system will generate a list of available hotels instantly. Exhibitors and attendees can click on the hotels for information about amenities and room costs. Some systems will allow users to view a map showing the hotel’s
distance from the convention center and area attractions. Users then
make their selection and enter credit card information.

Exhibitors and attendees can be given the option to revise or cancel reservations at a later date, and most systems can be set up to automatically apply cancellation fees after the cutoff date. Confirmations are sent instantly for online reservations, and in a matter of days, instead of weeks, for reservations made via fax or phone.

In addition, several CVBs and third-party vendors can link to registration forms, airline reservations and car rentals, which are tracked in the same database and accessible to show managers. For example, in Chicago, ITS can also handle airline tickets and, through its relationship with Galaxy Information Services LLC, can incorporate registration into its package for a fee.

A look down the road

One-stop shopping seems to be on the horizon for CVBs and third-party vendors alike. Those who can’t currently handle reservations for car rentals or airline tickets on the same Web page or in the same phone call are quickly making plans to do so.

Meanwhile, show managers will continue to drive the evolution of
CVB housing. Take, for example,
Rita Pierson, Manager, Regional Meetings and Travel for the Alexandria, VA-based American Physical Therapy Association, who actually requested bids from several Passkey.com-enabled CVBs to manage housing for her upcoming event in San Antonio, which doesn’t offer online housing services.

Local hotels in San Antonio have been slow to buy into changing the way housing is handled. The CVB offers citywide housing services for free and employs six people to keep housing running smoothly. For now, the hotels would like to keep it that way, but the CVB is considering new housing options. “Managing citywide housing has been one of the hottest issues to come along for some time,” says Carmen Gamez, Convention Services Manager for the San Antonio CVB. And for other cities that haven’t outsourced or adopted new technologies, convention housing is sure to be a top priority in the future as they look for ways to remain competitive.

Heather Kirkwood is Senior Editor of EXPO.