Dramatic Growth for AllMeetings.com Is there room in the market for another Internet meeting planning site? AllMeetings.com thinks so. Brian Ashton, vice president of the company, based in Henderson, Nev., says AllMeetings.com is the only online meeting planning tool that is cost-focused.

AllMeetings.com has experienced more than 100 percent monthly growth since its launch in May 1999, Ashton says, which he attributes to the site's cost-calculating destination selection service for both corporate and association meeting planners.

"Associations especially like us," Ashton says, "because we help them find the overall lowest-cost location for their meetings." Ashton touts the site as the only place on the Internet where planners can get prices on hotel rooms, meals, airfare, and ground travel.

AllMeetings.com uses a proprietary search engine with thousands of hotels listed as well as average meal, airfare, and ground transportation costs based on the city selected. On a recent tour of the site, Ashton demonstrated how a meeting planner can "fill in the blanks" with their specs, much like filling out an RFP form, starting with meeting dates, airports from which attendees will depart, and the number of attendees from each departure location.

If a planner has not determined a site for the meeting, the on-screen view will return a list of destinations from least to most expensive in a spreadsheet format that includes average meal costs, airfare, and ground transportation for each location.

If a planner already has a destination in mind, another of the site's features is the "Budget Estimator," which allows a planner to choose a metro area--Los Angeles, for example. Again the planner fills in the blanks, and the search will return with a list of hotels in Los Angeles and list their room rates from most to least expensive.

AllMeetings.com generates its revenue from the standard 10 percent commission charged to hotels upon booking. It offers customized versions of corporate and association Web sites via hyperlink to an intranet service--an area the company is hot to market, Ashton says. Visit www.allmeetings.com or call (702) 558-9900 for more information.