Get What You Want!

What to keep in mind before, during, and after a negotiation.

Before

Don’t Understand a Contract Clause? Get it straightened out before you sign. If you don’t know what something means, and the hotel representative doesn’t know either, you could face a disaster down the road.

Good Negotiators Know What They Want As Well As What They Have. Instead of approaching a venue and saying, “Tell me about your venue,” you should be saying, “Let me tell you about us, our group, and our buying power.: If you do that, then the other side begins to think, “I’ve got to get this business.”

Know the Total Value of Your Meeting: room nights, food and beverage, the purchasing of in-room movies, and everything else that is spent. Know and give yourself credit for every penny that your groups will spend, and then be sure to use this information as leverage.

Write A Clause Intro Your Contract that says you will receive the history of the meeting (an accounting of all of your meeting spending) before you pay. Hotels today have very sophisticated accounting systems: insist upon getting your group’s spending information.

Know as Much as You Can About the Person or Organization With Which You Are Negotiating. Ask about other groups that have met at the facility. Who are the people at those organizations with whom the hotel did business? Call those people and find out about their experience. (Supplies will ask about your recent meetings and will be calling to find out about you and your meetings.)

Determine Your Priorities! In your notes, make three columns, one for “needs,” one for “wants,” and one for “interest.” Needs are things you absolutely must have. These might be dates, or numbers of rooms, or access to convention center. Wants are things you would like to get but are more flexible

During

Start With The Most Important Items First. Many people ask if they should negotiate price first. Yes! If that is the deal-maker for your group.

Start Out Friendly. Remember that you are building a relationship.

Remember Hotels Are Most Focused on RevPAR: revenue per available room. Everyone involved in hotel sales is evaluated on the basis RevPar. If you can create a high RevPAR, then it helps your negotiating position. If not, your position might be weak.

Make Time Work For You Never reveal how much time you have to negotiate the deal. When you do that, you have given away some of your power in the negotiations.

Adhere to the 80/20 Rule Spend 80 percent of the time in negotiations listenging and 20 percent talking. When you listen, you gain information, and information is power.

Learn to Be Silent North American abhor silence. Use this fact to your advantage. For example, if the sales manager says:”We can give you these rooms for $100 a night, “don’t say anything, and see what happens.

After

Always Leap At The Opportunity to Write the Contract. It allows you to put on paper what you thought the deal was and forces you to read the contract.

Be Date – Specific In the Contract. Instead of saying “90 days before the meetings,” “say” on May 1, at 3 p.m” This will prevent problems with interpretation later.

Remember Hotels Are Most Focused on RevPAR: revenue per available room. Everyone involved in hotel sales is evaluated on the basis RevPar. If you can create a high RevPAR, then it helps your negotiating position. If not, your position might be weak.
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