Small Group Activities
Team: Trish, Vicky, Jacque, Ginger, Chandra, and Liz
2. How has a hotel proven to be a partner with you in your past experience? What did they do and how did it support you and your meeting?
In our team, our hotel experiences are varied but there are major themes which are similar in our stories. We all believe that a few key aspects need to be present in order to feel there is a true partnership. They range from believing that we are being attended to with extra care from our spoken through to our unanticipated group needs. This is especially true when the property provides extra amenities whether it is in additional services or accommodating for sleeping and meeting room overages. As well as, it is important for us to feel attended to even when we ourselves are not preparing for the event as of yet. A good example is when the hotel calls you a year in advance to confirm that you would still like to hold the annual event at their facility. Oftentimes, we do but haven’t actually confirmed our intent with the hotel since we are so busy facilitating to other functions.
The following are the individual experiences from our team:
Trish
The first experience that comes to mind for me impacted a social event more than the actually meeting. We were in Charleston, SC for a sales meeting and one of our staff members was within a couple months of her first child. We decided to have a surprise baby shower for her since we were all together. We were trying to keep costs down so we decided to use one of our rooms and have an outside caterer bring in some simple finger foods. Our plan was to run up during lunch and decorate, then I would sneak out of the meeting a few minutes early to meet the caterer and take the food up in the afternoon….and we all know, things always go as planned! The caterer showed up way to early and didn’t have any contact information with him to know who the food was for. The hotel staff outside tried to help but they were unsure what to do. They called the manager out and the manager went around to the groups that were there and started looking for the right person. When he came to me, I felt terrible that they had been running around for this. He could not have been nicer…not only did he not mind looking for the right person but he had one of the guys take all the food upstairs and set it up. Then he had them bring us ice buckets, glasses and sparkling cider for a toast to the new mom. He then told me to phone the front desk when we were done and they would send someone up to help me clean up and take away any trash. The hotel had been wonderful with our meeting. They were already taking really good care of us but this was above and beyond. The Renaissance will always be my first choice in Charleston now and I recommend them to everyone.
Vicky
There was a time when I believed the hotel saved me from a great embarrassment by being able to anticipate a need that I was to busy to think of myself. I facilitate the national council meetings along with their respective nominating committee meetings. Usually they fall in the same time frame so each council and their nominating committee is placed in the same block. One time, there was a date change, which I knew about, and the nominating committee was coming in the week prior to the council. Two months new to the College Board, I completely forgot to reserve space for them at their preferred hotel and by the time I remembered the occupancy at the hotel was very tight.
To make a long story short, the conference service manager, who my first born will be named after, was able to provide an addendum to the council’s contract and fit the group in on the required dates. This saved me the work of trying to find an alternate location, having eyebrows raised and having to explain to committee members why they are at a different hotel. Two years later, my conference service manager always inquires about my future meetings and we have discussions on what my anticipated needs will be for each event I have.
Jacque
There was a situation when I had not scheduled a meeting at a hotel that I used yearly, my contact called to see if we needed space there because another organization was going to schedule a big meeting and use most of their sleeping and meeting rooms. This was very helpful since I had not gotten around to reserving space. I was also informed that another educational organization would be in the hotel the same day and they probably would be interested in the programs and services we offered, so my contact asked me if I wanted to reserve meeting rooms close to them and she even put me in contact with the coordinator of the event.
Ginger
One key point to a hotel acting as a partner is their understanding of your group’s needs. For example, as we reviewed the agenda of a proposed meeting, the hotel contact noticed that we were taking the participants to dinner off-site. The hotel then offered to reserve the charter bus on our behalf. Also, we had reserved meeting space with a hotel and needed to extend the times of our reservation. When I requested this extension, I was informed that another group had booked back to back with us. However, my hotel contact and I worked to find a compromise as we offered a working lunch (instead of an hour break for lunch) and the other group agreed to push their set-up back an hour therefore giving our program the extra time needed.
I would also agree with Jacque’s statement that it really means a great deal to me when a hotel calls to inquire if we are going to use the same space the next year. It let’s me know how valuable our business is to them.
Chandra
We use a lot of Marriott properties, and I have found that they proven to be a partner with me by taking care of catering needs when needed, giving me the best meeting rooms, being very accommodating when it comes to last minute changes. What they have done is just work very closely with my colleagues and I to ensure a successful meeting and have been very accommodating to our needs. I don’t think they have every said no to any of our request.
Elizabeth
The Renaissance Tampa International Plaza proved to be a partner with us for our Counselor Leadership Conference by showing follow through on the items that were most important to us. Our sales manager asked us what our 3 golden key issues were and we listed them, not expecting much. The staff at the hotel took these 3 issues to heart and followed through on each one. It was important to us that check-in and registration go smooth so that our participants received a seamless, cohesive feel between the hotel and our registration staff. They managed this beautifully, even providing us with a stationary registration area at no extra charge. We also felt that signage was important to us as we have experienced a distinct lack of adequate signage at other workshops. Again, the staff had each breakout room labeled and provided more than adequate signage in public areas that led our participants to where they needed to be. Our last key issue was knowing who our event staff was and having the ability to easily find them to help with any problems that may have arisen. Our on-site staff was introduced to the event manager and the banquet captain and was provided with a means to reach either at a moments notice.
Attention to these key issues helped us to produce one of the smoothest running workshops we have offered. Participants raved about how well everything went, how much they enjoyed the location, and most of all, how special they felt they were treated by the College Board and the hotel. That is how the hotel was a very good partner for our meeting and supported us very well.
