How to Evolve Hotel Contracts in the Era of Coronavirus
Planners who are ready to book meetings for this year are likely to find favorable terms.
Meeting planners and hoteliers, both eager to get back to work, are desperately looking for the right way to do so. To paraphrase a former secretary of defense, what we know is there are many known unknowns. Somehow, we have to plan for them.
Meetings organizers are hoping for more flexible hotel contracts to help facilitate that process, according to the latest Pulse Survey results from Northstar Meetings Group. More than half (51 percent) think cancellation terms will be more flexible, while 29 percent expect no cancellation penalties at all. Hoteliers are acknowledging and responding to the sentiment.
"We have been revising and reimagining various touch points of the meeting experience, from planning to execution, in an effort to address planners' current and future needs," says Asad Ahmed, Hyatt's senior vice president of commercial services for the Americas. "As such, we have taken steps to incorporate additional flexibility into our contractual terms to give planners more confidence... We are continuing to explore additional opportunities as the situation evolves, including adding language about pandemics into standard agreements."
