Hotel points. The goal is to engender loyalty among meeting planner customers. But do they influence decisions, and if companies accept them, how do they put them to use?
With all the discussion around meeting planner ethics, Prevue decided to do an informal poll of meeting planner readers and here’s what 5 of them had to say about hotel points.
“Points do not influence my decision. Prior to starting my business a year and a half ago, I worked for a large corporation who did not allow planners to keep points for contracts. This is instilled in me and I have chosen to keep this true in my business as I would never want my client to feel that it is a factor in what I present to them as the best option. When it comes down to the contract, I generally ask the client if they want the points and if so, will use their rewards accounts. I know this is likely not how some independent planners do things, but I feel it is the ethical thing to do.”
“70% of the time, points are a factor in booking a venue.”
“Sometimes I use points, but only for guest room stays. I noticed that most hotels do not ask me for my membership number when I check in for work-related stays and at least one chain will not allow you to earn points if you are not paying for the guest room. We cannot earn points for the meetings—they are deposited into a central company account.”
“Yes, we definitely keep our points! Because the meetings we do are generally on the small side, we always negotiate for double planner points for the lead planner on each meeting. If one planner negotiates a contract and a different planner actually handles the program, the two planners split the points equally.
Loyalty points often provide value to those in a thankless position. It can provide an incentive to my clients that can use the points for personal vacations/trips.”
Among the uses for the points among those who claimed them were: upgrades for VIPs or comp rooms for staff; charitable donations; speaker gifts; site inspections and staff travel; lodging when participants experience travel issues and are not able to get home; disaster relief rooms; rewards for employee drawings during the holiday season.
