Achieving adequate housing for all convention attendees is an important and increasingly difficult task. As meetings have increased in size and technologies have changed significantly, insufficient progress has been made in effectively addressing attendee housing needs.

The current convention housing process often appears ill-prepared to meet today's increased demands -- especially for large city-wide conventions.

Five principal groups are involved in the housing process: associations, exhibitors, other attendees, housing bureaus and hotels.

HCEA believes having a partnership between exhibitors and associations -- working along with housing bureaus, hotels and others -- is integral to our mutual success and serving our mutual client, the professional attendee. If housing problems are to be resolved satisfactorily it is important that all parties work together to achieve mutually satisfactory goals.

GOAL

HCEA believes the primary goal of the housing process should be to assure adequate, economic, efficient housing which serves all convention attendees' requirements.

GENERAL NEEDS

A. Adequate number of total rooms: It is critical that planning and execution provide an adequate total number of rooms to house both association member and exhibitor attendees.

B. Appropriate rooms: To the maximum extent possible, all attendees' housing should meet their requirements for quality and close proximity to the convention site -- consistent with economic resources. Rooms should also be assigned on an equitable and objective basis. A point system based on history is recommended.

C. Need for quality assurance: An effective system needs to be in place to accomplish the above on a timely basis.

D. Room pick-up: a more accurate and timely commonly used system for assuring reliable room pick-up information in conjunction with conventions is needed. A universal model for hotel chains to report pick-up to associations is needed. HCEA supports the APEX initiative of the Convention Industry Council in establishing such a model.

E. Adequate staffing: all parties involved in the process need to devote an adequate number of competent staff.

SPONSORING ASSOCIATION ADDITIONAL CONCERNS (as HCEA perceives them)

A. Need to enhance association credit and control for all housing: Meeting planners often see their role as representing all constituencies and being empowered to act on their behalf.

B. Need to decrease exhibitor cancellations and association loss of use of those rooms canceled. Some perceive a need for deposits to assure these goals.

ADDITIONAL EXHIBITOR CONCERNS (which HCEA has identified)

A. An equitable allocation system is needed: The system should provide for an adequate allocation to exhibitors in number, quality and proximity of rooms to convention site. The system also should include an equitable, objective allocation of rooms through a system other than an arbitrary first-received, first-assigned basis.

B. Guarantees: Need to use a workable system of guarantees (e.g., credit cards, letters of credit) not deposits --to facilitate responsibility. No advance charges should be made to individual rooms/credit cards under any circumstance.

C. Freedom-of-choice: Assure exhibitors maintain their ability to secure needed rooms independently, provided they have attempted to use the housing process to secure these rooms.

D. Flexibility: Exhibitors should have flexibility to make name changes in existing reservations.

E. Coordination of sleeping and function rooms: Exhibitors need to have functions in hotels with sleeping rooms should be met.

F. Exhibitor negotiating power should be recognized and used for everyone's benefit: The significant negotiating power of exhibitors should be recognized in housing decision-making. Exhibitors constitute up to 50% or more of all healthcare convention attendees and generally provide considerably more than 50% of convention revenues. Additionally, exhibitors also book significant numbers of rooms for their own corporate meetings.

SPECIFIC HCEA SUGGESTIONS:

A. Establish a priority procedure of hotel room assignments.

B. Develop an objective and accurate measure of room pick-up.

C. Develop an improved association/exhibitor mechanism for communicating room cancellations (including specified association contact)

D. Designate an association contact for exhibitor rooming needs.

E. Provide a positive incentive for room pick-up; possibly giving those exhibitors having a high percentage of pick-up additional points on a priority system for allocating rooms.

F. Provide exhibitors the option to make guarantees to hotel by (1) letter of credit (2) credit card or (3) cash. (Deposit should not be made to housing bureau.)

G. HCEA makes a differentiation between credit card guarantees and credit card deposits. It favors debiting credit cards when a room reservation default occurs, not before.

H. Assure initial room guarantees whatever the mechanism, (e.g. letter of credit, credit card) are for the first night.

I. Consider fourteen (14) days in advance of arrival date as a reasonable cut-off with rooms canceled after this date subject to charges against established guarantees.

J. Set up a task force in key associations to address issue; have EAC task force of (1) exhibitors with significant housing needs and (2) responsible association staff.

K. Communicate housing issue information to all concerned.

Revised 6/01

For additional information about HCEA, Email: hcea@kellencompany.com.