Look Closely

When touring a hotel, make sure to consider the following.

• Available sleeping and meeting rooms. A 500-room hotel might have only 380 rooms available because of agreements with airlines or other customers.

• Meeting-room charges. Don't assume that meeting rooms in a hotel are going to be free. Conference rooms might be, but ballrooms might not.

• Attrition clauses. Negotiate these with great care.

• Other groups in the house. Ask about this early.

• Exclusive contracts with service companies. It's very possible that the hotel has an exclusive contract with a florist or business center, for example. But you might be able to negotiate rates.

• Complimentary-room policies. One complimentary room for 50 paid is typical, but the ratio can slide, depending on how badly the hotel wants your meeting.

• Drayage and storage policies. What does it cost to move materials within the facility? How long will the property store materials that are sent for the meeting?

• Remodeling. Ask what's being planned at the property and in the area. Will a wrecking ball be crashing into the building next door during your board meeting? (This has happened.)

• Security. Will you need it at the exhibit hall, the front door, the parking lot? What will it cost?

• ADA. Ask to see the facility's certificate of compliance.

• Credit and payment policies. Never settle for a contract that requires you to pay on-site. You will be too distracted to go through the master account while on-site. Give yourself at least two weeks to pay so that you have the time to review the master account carefully.

• Cleaning and maintenance policies. What are their schedules for the exhibit halls and the room corridors?

• The back of the house. If you see swinging doors, walk through them. Go look at the loading dock and the kitchen. Its appearance could give you insight into how the facility as a whole operates.

• The meeting rooms. Are there chandeliers in the ballroom that will affect projection? Are there beams that will affect availability? Is there a room suitable for a board meeting?

• Parking. Are there enough spaces, and where is the lot?

Final Instructions

Finally, here are miscellaneous tips that will result in a better meeting:

• Deal with the decision-maker. Talk with the person who signs the contract. Otherwise you're wasting your time.

• How many and what kind of attendees are you going to deliver? If you're bringing 100 influential church leaders and decision makers who might bring groups to the property, you have leverage.

• The process. After you've made your site visits, prioritize your favorites and begin negotiating with your top choice, keeping in mind how good or bad your second choice is in comparison.

• Find a colleague for site inspections. On the first day, you cover a group of locations in a city, and your friend visits others. You meet for dinner to compare notes. The next day you flip-flop the visits. You will garner much more information than if you do the visits alone.

• Be wary of surrogate site inspectors. If the meeting is important enough to you, do the site visit yourself. You are responsible for the meeting's success, and nobody else knows what you're looking for better than you.