Meeting planners' perceptions of hotel-chain practices and benefits: An importance-performance analysis

While the physical features of a given meeting or convention hotel are important, of greater interest are the practices or activities that a hotel uses to support the meeting. Using an innovative web-based survey, members of the Professional Convention Management Association indicated which practices and features are most important to them before, during, and after a meeting. Additionally, the PCMA members indicated how well the convention hotel (of three chains) to which they were most loyal functioned against those factors. The chains - Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott - earned high marks from the planners, but each one, nevertheless, needed to address specific performance factors. For all properties, the planners rated two practices - prompt follow-up on calls and faxes and flexibility of the property to accommodate the specifics of the event - as most important prior to the event. Not surprisingly, the most important attribute during the event was a hotel's ability to deliver services as promised, as well as employees' effectiveness at resolving problems. Finally, accurate billing is a key factor after the meeting is concluded.