Hotel contracts can be complicated, but are a must to protect your organization and make mutual obligations perfectly clear. Additionally, contract risk reduction and cost containment have become an important metric in the Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) landscape.
- Create a custom hotel contract template for your organization (ready for signature), versus issuing a contract addendum (limited content and often conflicts with hotel’s stated clauses).
- From each RFP, assess your revenue contributions, by category, and have a negotiations plan—think like a hotel revenue manager.
- Calculate all performance clauses, based on profit, not revenue. (Do the math.) Eliminate or reduce hotel fees and surcharges.
- Include approved legal department liability language (i.e., indemnification, force majeure, breach by hotel, bankruptcy, successors and assigns, etc.).
- From each countersigned contract, create a cost savings/risk reduction report and distribute it to managers and key stakeholders.
Robyn Mietkiewicz, CMP, CMM, is director, global meeting management for Meeting Sites Resource, a global leader in meeting site research and custom contract negotiations, meeting support services and SMM consulting. For questions, email Robyn.