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Association News
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Boosting the Room Block, by Timothy Schneider, Publisher, Association News
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Boosting the Room Block, by Timothy Schneider, Publisher, Association NewsLos Angeles, CA – June 2014 / Newsmaker Alert / Association meeting planners have long faced challenges when it comes to compelling meeting-goers to stay in the association’s hotel room block. Those problems worsened with the advent of the Internet and the ability for attendees to easily check for lower-priced rooms and then quickly communicate their findings via email or social media with other association members.

As if the situation was not challenging enough, home-share websites such as Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway are making it easier than ever for meeting and convention-goers to find non-hotel rental accommodations. A new metasearch site, alltherooms.com, even aggregates the data from the home-sharing sites and combines it with data from hotel-focused sites to present users with a full range of accommodation options that includes everything from $11-pernight hostels to five-star resorts and luxury homes.

Given the ease with which meeting-goers can identify less costly and sometimes superior accommodations, Martin Bay, director of meetings and expositions at Kellen Company, encourages actively educating attendees and providing them with good reasons to stay in the group’s room block. Bay cites the following list of reasons why your members should stay in your association’s room block at the hotel you’ve selected:

1. The official hotel has been reviewed and approved by your association.
2. Better networking opportunities exist when attendees stay at the official hotel.
3. Reservations within the block can be protected contractually so the attendee will be less likely to be relocated if the hotel is oversold.
4. The association can provide on-site assistance for members staying at the official hotel.
5. The group contract can provide friendlier booking terms (including no change fees and no full prepayment) than many online sites offer.
6. Attendees can be guaranteed the group rate for the duration of their stay.
7. The association can arrange for complimentary shuttle bus service between the official hotel and meeting venues, providing attendees convenient transportation and another opportunity to interact with fellow attendees.
8. It may help to explain that staying at the official hotel helps minimize expenses for the association, thereby keeping both housing and registration fees lower.
9. The association may also consider offering an additional registration discount when the member books inside the group’s block or pricing registration and accommodation as a package.
10. Staying at the official hotel is another way of supporting the association. In other words, it’s the right thing to do.
Thanks to our enthusiastic attendees and exhibitors, last month’s relaunch of the Meetings Quest trade-show series was a tremendous success. For a photo report from Meetings Quest in Mesa, please turn to page 26 of the Association News digital edition.
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Timothy SchneiderTimothy Schneider is the publisher of Association News and SportsTravel magazines, which serve group travel planners responsible for generating 106 million hotel room nights annually. Schneider Publishing also organizes Meetings Quest, America's longest-running series of trade shows for meeting planners, and the TEAMS Conference & Expo, the world’s largest gathering of sports-event organizers. TEAMS '14 is being held in Las Vegas, November 10-13, 2014. For further information on advertising or sponsorship opportunities, please call toll-free 877-577-3700 or 310-577-3700 if calling from outside the United States.

The current issue of Association News can be viewed in digital format online by clicking here.
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Media Contact:
Timothy Schneider
310-577-3700
Schneider Publishing Company, Inc.

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Placement Dates: 06/05/14 – 08/05/14
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