“Negotiate Better: What’s behind the Curtain?” Gary R. Hernbroth Chief Motivating Officer, Training for Winners

There are no bad groups, only bad dates.

Anything important to the owners is important to the general manager Profitability Rev POR Rev PAR Index Rev PAR Social Media ADR

A General Manager’s value depends on who is doing the evaluating Bottom-line profitability Revenue generation Quality standards Service standards “Don’t take this wrong, but to our company, hotel operators today are just a necessary evil.” Hotel real estate investment group

Let’s go “behind the curtain” of a hotel’s P & L #1 hotel expense: Labor Rooms profit: 70% (the most wiggle room) Food & Beverage profit: 20% (approx.); Catering vs. A’ la carte Room rental profit: It depends (set-up, tear-down, housemen, insurance, lighting, HVAC, linens, maintenance)

… And be able to communicate it to us Memo to planners: Please know thy … And be able to communicate it to us

What do we need most from you? Accurate history (including prices paid) Is the destination confirmed yet? Your room/meeting pattern Concessions you are requesting Meeting space requirements

What do we need most from you? Rates/Budget desired Any flexibility in dates? Ancillary spend by delegates Any other potential business/meetings you can bring to us? Decision process and decision date

What hotels go through internally when evaluating groups… Vetting process for every group “Selling by Committee”: Rev-Max meetings involving GM, DOS, sales managers, revenue manager, conference services Consideration of the concessions being requested: Assign them a weight Your salesperson has to be able to articulate your business & plead your case on your behalf Rev-Max stand-up?

A partnership based on just rates, dates and space will only leave you with reservations! Supply & Demand Communication Trust Pain Points

Never forget: All successful negotiations involve some amount of “give & get”

© Gary Hernbroth and www. trainingforwinners. com, 2017 © Gary Hernbroth and www.trainingforwinners.com, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the author and/or owner strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary Hernbroth and Training for Winners, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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