HEDNA report helps enable online meeting plans
The Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA) announced the publication of a white paper called “Enabling the Online Marketplace for Meetings: A Toolkit.â€
The report, done in partnership with PhoCusWright, is a guide to the current state of technology in the rapidly evolving group online marketplace. “The report is also geared to understanding the current opportunities and challenges that exist,†says HEDNA, adding:
“The Toolkit helps hotels and others assess readiness for deployment of an online group marketing strategy offering real-time booking of meeting facilities, simple catering, audio visual equipment and group rooms.â€
The report is also a practical resource for planning an online booking solution for small groups and simple meetings of up to 75 attendees.
The Toolkit is based on study by the HEDNA Group Online Committee, which includes over a dozen leading hotel, travel distribution and technology professionals, as well as research by PhoCusWright.
The HEDNA study concluded that the technology to enable online booking of meeting facilities and group room nights by hotels is now in place, although not yet in a single online session.
The report describes the current balance of interests between customers’ needs for visibility, control and access to preferred programs compared with hoteliers’ needs to optimize revenue, and control distribution of availability of guest rooms and meeting space.
“With more than two-thirds of US corporate meetings having 50 or fewer attendees, according to PhoCusWright research, the opportunity for online automation for small meetings has never been more compelling,†the report says.
The new white paper examines the question of how fast the online migration will take place and how the balance of interests among corporate and leisure group meeting planners, travel distribution systems and hotels will evolve — a similar situation faced when hotel guest room booking moved online.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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