Selecting or selecting a venue for a meeting or event on site can be a daunting task – researching options, completing RFPs, finding time for on-site visits and negotiating.
Enter the site to select a company, whose main focus is to procure the site and suppliers throughout the process and provide shepherd customers with herding customers. Onsite selection is usually a service for clients, as those who make the choice receive commissions to confirm the business from the property.
Although many conference planning companies can assist with live selection, the two largest participants in the field are Brisbriscoe and Conference. Both companies conduct commission sharing models with their primarily self-employed colleagues.
Helmsbriscoe
The grandfather of the site selection company Helmsbriscoe was founded in 1992 and focuses on researching and booking venues for commercial activities. This service does not have the smallest meeting size; the company holds meetings in 10 to 10,000 rooms.
According to Helmsbriscoe, last year it booked more than 41,000 meetings in 113 countries. Many of its 1,500 employees are former hotel sales staff with knowledge of the venue, price and customer history. The company said it could get lower interest rates than planners can get by themselves due to its collective purchasing power.
Helmsbriscoe sends RFP to customers through its own hotel RFP management system, HB Connect, negotiates prices and reviews contracts.
Clients include associations and companies, from the International Association of Drilling Contractors to Nike. Helmsbriscoe also provides customers with full-service conference management services, from registration to logistics to financial management and settlement. A geographic list is available on the site, although any staff can assist planners in booking venues at any location.
Meeting
Another major player in the field of website selection is the conference, which was founded in 1998 and has 300 employees providing venues in 110 countries. The company says it books 45,000 rooms for 13,000 events each year for the night. Conferences work with companies and associations, from trade shows to incentives to sales meetings.
Like Helmsbriscoe; the staff at the conference have a background in hotel sales. It also consists of 120 conference professionals, manages over 1,000 events each year and provides professional services such as event marketing, green conference support and experience design.
Other companies that offer website selection
With a lot of requests received by hotel sales staff every day, using respected companies for on-site selection helps planners prevent their RFP from becoming “RFP spam.”
Among the companies that provide on-site selection services, there is Prestige Global’s meeting source and has worked in the business for 33 years. Its procurement experts work with clients’ wish lists to present a selection grid, negotiate pricing and review contracts on their behalf. HPN Global has developed its own procurement platform and personalized RFP and has a contact point in every hotel. Other well-known companies that provide these services include on-site selection groups, on-site selection services and conference innovation.
