Passkey, TravelCLICK Go for Single-Property Events The recent partnership between the Quincy, Mass. - based Passkey (www.passkey.com) and TravelCLICK (www.travelCLICK.com) will spawn a new meeting planning tool for hotels and single-property events. According to Rich Westerfield, Passkey's vice president of marketing, the yet-to-be-named product will be a Web-based application with features similar to Passkey's ResDesk, an Internet-based housing reservation function that allows the hotel and planner to view and manage room blocks in real time, as well as generate tracking reports while allowing attendees to view their bookings.

The new tool, Westerfield notes, will allow individual hotels to launch a Web page for each event, branded with the hotel's name and hosted by Passkey, a departure from marketing its tools through CVBs. TravelCLICK's take in the deal is Passkey's database of hotel, event, and registration information, which it will use to get a foot in the group market door by creating trend reports for individual hotels that would contain, for instance, occupancy rates, he says, but mainly the ability to separate transient from group bookings.

What does this mean for planners? First of all, Westerfield assures that proprietary and confidential information, such as personal data and meeting data, won't be divulged, and the primary benefit to planners will be that they will be able to view pick-up reports 24/7 from the hotel. The cost depends on the hotels, he says, which can opt to charge planners for the service or offer it free. It remains to be seen, but the likely scenario would have hotels building the cost into the room rate charged to the attendee. Pricing for the new product is still being worked out, but besides a "nominal" licensing fee for the hotel, each transaction will cost in the $1 to $2 range.