-Develop Your Own Contract
The ideal starting point for contract negotiations is to write your own version of the hotel contract. Joan Eisenstodt, chief strategist of Eisenstodt Associates, and Edina Lessack, CMP, president of Meetings and Events USA, have both developed contract templates, which they send to a hotel after they receive its proposal and contract. They recommend working directly with a lawyer to write your own contract.
2-Get Everything in Writing
If the hotel doesn’t accept the contract Lessack prepares, she sends the hotel a prioritized list of items she wants included in the hotel’s contract. These items should not surprise the hotel. By the contract-negotiation phase, the hotel should know your basic needs for the event, based on your request for proposal (RFP) and subsequent conversations.
3-Read Every Word
Eisenstodt suggests that you not only read every word of your hotel contract, but read it three times — carefully. “I approach each contract like I’m reading a detective story,” she says. “I like to figure out exactly what’s happening.” Laurie Tralle, site-selection chair of the Upper Midwest Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, learned to keep an eye out for hidden fees as she read the contract for the association’s annual conference last year. “I was digging through the contract and I saw that they were charging $1 per chair to set up the room,” she says. “It wasn’t a deal-breaker, but it certainly alerted me to what else might be hidden.”
4-Negotiate For Amenities
You can also negotiate for specific amenities to be included in a contract for free or at discounted rates.
5-Specify Penalties
Most hotel contracts include specific penalties if you fail to comply with the terms of the contract, but many do not include penalties for the hotel if it cancels your event or fails to meet other terms in the contract.
6-Sell Your Event to the Hotel
If a hotel recognizes the value of your business, it will be more willing to negotiate in your favor. To help the hotel recognize this value, says Eisenstodt, “you have to know what your meeting is about and what it will bring to a facility; then ask the facility what its priorities are.”
7-Customize the Contract to Your Attendees
Once negotiations begin, prioritize your negotiation points based on the specific needs of your attendees. For Tralle, room rate is most important. “Many of our people are from Podunk, MN, or ND. If sleeping-room rates are high, people have a hard time selling the conference to their bosses.” She also asks for free meeting space, and requires the hotel to allow her to bring in AV equipment.
8-Define Terms
Eisenstodt often testifies as an expert witness in court cases regarding hotel contract disputes. She finds that the majority of cases come down to how each side interprets the language in the contract.
9-Ask Questions
Throughout the contract negotiation process, ask open-ended questions about the contract terms and how the hotel operates, such as one of Eisenstodt’s favorites, “Can you tell me more about your check-in policies?”
10-Protect Yourself
Hotel contracts almost always include clauses that protect the hotel if you cancel your event or fail to meet your room block. These clauses are fair, in theory, because the hotel may forfeit other business to accommodate your event.
Courtesy of Exhibitor Magazine
