Meeting Room Scheduling at Hotels and Event Venues

Meeting Room Scheduling at Hotels and Event Venues: main benefits

Efficient meeting room scheduling is essential for smooth operations and customer satisfaction in the fast-paced world of hotels and event venues. With the advent of meeting room scheduling software, managing and optimizing meeting spaces has become more accessible.

This article will explore the benefits of implementing a meeting room scheduling system and why hotels and event venues should consider using one like Spazious.

What is a Meeting Room Scheduling System?

A meeting room scheduling system is a software solution that enables hotels and event venues to manage their meeting spaces effectively.

Likewise, it provides a centralized platform where managers can view real-time availability, make reservations, and optimize room utilization.

These systems streamline the entire scheduling process, eliminating the need for manual tracking and reducing the risk of errors or double bookings, among others.

Who can benefit from Meeting Room Scheduling?

On the one hand, meeting room scheduling systems benefit many businesses, such as hotels, conference centers, event venues, and co-working spaces. 

Likewise, these systems are precious for establishments with multiple meeting rooms of varying sizes and configurations. In other words, spaces that host events and meetings of different typologies. Whether hosting corporate meetings, conferences, or social events, efficiently scheduling and managing meeting spaces is crucial for maximizing revenue and ensuring customer satisfaction.

On the other hand, event planners and corporate professionals looking for meeting spaces can also benefit from this technology. Nowadays, these professionals spend much time searching for specific locations for their meetings and events. Moreover, they are waiting for a quotation and a response to their RFP.  

In conclusion, a meeting room scheduling system makes this process more efficient for hotels and planners. It helps hotels close more rooms and increase their revenue. Planners save time and obtain an immediate meeting room reservation and quotation. 

How much does this software cost?

The cost of meeting room scheduling software varies depending on various features, including the provider. 

In fact, different pricing models exist, including monthly subscriptions or pay-per-use / pay-per-reservations options. In this last case, the hotel will pay a commission for every meeting room booked through the booking engine. Hotels and event venues must evaluate their needs and budget before choosing a meeting room scheduling system. 

Why consider a Meeting Room Booking in Hotels?

There are different benefits hotels, and other venues will experience by using a meeting room booking system. Most of them directly affect its revenue increment and process optimization. 

#1 Optimize Room Utilization

One of the primary benefits of implementing a meeting room scheduling system is the optimization of room utilization. Hotels and event venues often have various meeting spaces, ranging from small conference rooms to large ballrooms. With a meeting room scheduling system, managers can easily view the availability of each room in real-time, avoid double bookings, and maximize the utilization of their meeting spaces.

This efficient allocation of resources ensures that every room is used and reduces the frustration of scheduling conflicts for staff and clients.

#2 Enhance Customer Experience

A seamless and user-friendly booking experience is crucial for customer satisfaction. Meeting room scheduling software offers a convenient platform for clients to search for available meeting rooms based on their specific requirements. 

By integrating such software into their websites or mobile apps, hotels, and event venues can provide clients with a hassle-free booking process. Clients can check availability, select the desired room, and make reservations within minutes. This enhances customer satisfaction and frees up staff to focus on delivering exceptional service during the event.

#3 Streamline Operations and Increase Efficiency

Manual meeting room scheduling can be time-consuming and prone to errors. By implementing a meeting room scheduling system, hotels and event venues can automate the entire process, reducing the risk of mistakes and streamlining operations. 

With a centralized platform, managers can handle reservations, generate invoices, and manage customer data seamlessly. This automation saves time and minimizes the chances of double bookings and scheduling conflicts. Staff can then focus on other critical aspects of their business, such as event planning and customer service.

#4 Obtain Real-Time Reports and Statistics

Meeting room scheduling systems provide valuable insights through real-time reports and statistics. Managers can analyze room utilization, booking patterns, and revenue generation data. This information enables informed decision-making to optimize meeting room offerings and pricing strategies. 

By identifying trends, peak booking periods, and popular room configurations, hotels and event venues can allocate resources effectively. Thus, plan for peak seasons, and improve overall profitability.

#5 Integration with Other Systems and Technologies

A robust meeting room scheduling system can seamlessly integrate with other methods used by hotels and event venues, such as property management systems (PMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. This integration ensures smooth data flow, eliminates duplicate entries, and reduces the risk of errors. 

It also enables the sharing of customer information across different systems, providing a holistic view of the customer journey and enabling personalized and targeted marketing efforts.

Spazious: the 360º solution to manage Meetings & Events

If you are looking for software specialized in events and meetings management, discover Spazious and its innovative technology.

Spazious is a 360-degree solution for managing hotel meetings and events business, as it includes three different platforms in one unique space. 

Spazious offers an Instant Booking Engine for Meetings and Events to capture instant leads and bookings. With it, hotels increase the number of secure reservations and revenue for M&E business. Also, event planners receive an instant response to their RFP. Used to waiting an average of 48 hours to get an answer from the hotel, Spazious helps save 97% of the time (from 48 hours to a maximum of 1 hour to confirm the reservation). 

To manage the deals, sales, and distribution features of meetings and events management, Spazious includes their iSEM®. Through Immersive Sales and Event Management, hotels and event venues can improve their sales process. It will help them save time, costs and automate repetitive tasks. It is immersive, as sales teams and event planners can use the 2D and 3D event configurator from it.

As a matter of fact, the Diagramming Platform is the third solution Spazious offers. Events can be configured and personalized from the platform. Making a room reservation has always been challenging and exciting. It feels like playing a video game! As a result, hotels refrain from committing errors in the event or meeting setup. This configuration also helps take into account the total amount of the event. 

Find out more about Spazious and ask for a demo here!

In conclusion, implementing a meeting room scheduling system like Spazious can significantly enhance the efficiency and profitability of hotels and event venues.Moreover, by optimizing room utilization, enhancing customer experience, streamlining operations, accessing real-time reports, and integrating with other systems, hotels and event venues can stay ahead in the competitive market, provide exceptional service to their clients, and maximize revenue generation. 

To sum up, investing in a meeting room scheduling system is wise for any establishment looking to streamline its operations and provide a seamless booking experience.

Future-proof your Hotel Sales Strategy: main insights from the Webinar

Future-proof your Hotel Sales Strategy: main insights from the Webinar

Three expert companies in the sector come together to discuss trends, experiences and technologies applied to increase sales in the MICE segment. This is how “Future-proof your Hotel Sales Strategy” started. A Webinar organized by Lure Agency, Event Temple and Spazious that was recently broadcast live. 

In this post, you will find the main insights featured that were discussed. 

Navigating changes in 2023: what we are seeing in the sector

The current state of the industry includes:

  1. Increasing adoption of automation.
  2. A shift to remote/hybrid work.
  3. The changing of customer preferences.
  4. The need for seamless event planning.
  5. Growing demand for customized products. 

Challenges we are facing and solutions

The challenges identified were:

  1. The need for personalized messaging
  2. Addressing the demands of smaller events and meetings
  3. Potential economic downturns
  4. Differentiating B2C from B2B sales and marketing strategies
  5. Leveraging specialized software for small meeting requests
  6. Highlighting unique value and expertise
  7. Tailoring strategies to different needs
  8. Investing in modern technology
Promotional Content Webinar
Future-proof your Hotel Sales Strategy

Pro Tips Lure Agency

Lure Agency recommended following the W.I.N.S. strategy. It includes:

  • Welcoming prospects with an inspiring web experience
  • Identifying opportunities
  • Nurturing prospects with educational content
  • Selling only after building a trusting relationship. 

Implementing this strategy consistently leads to a proactive and predictable flow of direct business. In addition, the objective is to achieve scalability, better closing ratios, increased control, and profitability. And at the same time, reduced reliance on RFPs and third-party business.

Pro Tips Event Temple

Event Temple advised evaluating and selecting best-in-class technology options, rather than settling for a single all-in-one solution. 

Key considerations for sales teams when assessing the technology stack include:

  • Ease of use.
  • Integrability.
  • Customer support and training.
  • Essential tools for modern sales teams, such as:
    • Online booking for small events
    • Self-creation and upsell proposals
    • Efficient RFP response solutions
    • Integrated marketing
    • Sales tools for robust lead management

Pro Tips Spazious

Spazious provided three pro tips

  1. Maximizing marketing and sales efforts through digital investments and analytics.
  2. Leveraging guest data for personalized marketing and innovative campaigns.
  3. Building and maintaining a positive online reputation by monitoring and leveraging reviews.

By implementing these strategies and leveraging technology, hotels and other event venues can futureproof their sales strategies, adapt to changing customer needs, and stay ahead of the competition in the evolving hospitality industry.

 

Are you interested in trying Spazious? Ask for a demo, and we’ll take you on tour to show you all the functionalities and results you can achieve using Spazious, the E-vent Company!

Spazious integrates with PAYCOMET to streamline bookings in the MICE segment

Spazious integrates with PAYCOMET to streamline bookings in the MICE segment

  • The integration offers a seamless booking and payment experience for meetings and events.
  • PAYCOMET integration ensures payment security.
  • Spazious continues to roll out integrations to improve quality and customer experience.

Madrid, May 29th, 2023. Spazious, the leading technology solution for digitizing the MICE segment in hotels and event venues, announces its integration with PAYCOMET, the renowned online payment platform. The aim is to offer an end-to-end solution from booking to payment and subsequent transactions.  

This strategic partnership will enable hotels and event spaces using Spazious to receive secure and convenient payments directly from the event booking engine. Plus, further improving efficiency and customer experience. 

Still, in many hotels and event spaces, bookings are made offline, which involves time-consuming management, high consumption of business resources, and exposure to high-security risks. However, thanks to Spazious’ innovative technology, this process has been digitized, automated, and significantly streamlined. With 97% savings in booking management time, Spazious has revolutionized how hotels and event spaces manage their distribution, sales, and operations.

Payment platform
Payment via PAYCOMET

Spazious’ M&E booking engine automates the reservation request process, allowing customers to book reservations quickly, easily, and securely. With PAYCOMET integration, they can also complete their booking payment directly, eliminating the need for separate transactions on different platforms.

In addition to facilitating payments, this integration also allows them to manage deposits and returns from Spazious’ Back Office. This is a central hub for managing commercial opportunities for event spaces. 

We are delighted to collaborate with PAYCOMET to provide a fast and secure booking and payment experience for our hotel clients’ customers,” said Antonio Batanero, co-founder and CEO of Spazious. “The integration with PAYCOMET further strengthens our solution and allows us to provide a complete and efficient service that improves sales team productivity and customer satisfaction.

Spazious continues to innovate and collaborate with industry-leading partners to deliver advanced technology solutions that drive digital transformation in the MICE space. Integrating PAYCOMET is a further step in its commitment to simplifying and improving event booking and payment processes.

About PAYCOMET:

PAYCOMET is an online payment platform that provides secure and flexible solutions for electronic payment management. Its innovative technology enables agile and secure payments with digitized sales channels in all businesses.

About Spazious:

Spazious is a leading technology solution that digitizes the MICE segment in hotels and event spaces. Its meetings and events booking engine automate the booking request process, saving 97% of the management time (from an average of 48 hours to a maximum of 1 hour) and improving the customer experience.

Paycomet
Spazious Logo

Using a hotel booking engine for M&E: benefits and examples

Using a hotel booking engine for meetings & events: benefits and examples

The use of a hotel booking engine for rooms is now widespread. Although, hotels, resorts, independent venues, and many operators, still haven’t discovered the advantages of instant booking for MICE management.

Let’s take a look at how this type of tool can help streamline all processes.

What are Hotel Booking Engines for Meetings & Events

An instant booking platform is typically referred to as a software application used by hotels and accommodation providers to enable guests to book rooms directly through the hotel’s website. 

It acts as an online reservation system that allows guests to search for available rooms and make reservations. Also, it provides real-time availability and pricing information. 

Moving from B2C to B2B concept, hotel booking engines can be applied for booking meetings and events. This platform will help hotels and venues to improve their MICE management. Take into account that this process is currently developed offline, and using Excel.

As such, instant bookings applied to M&E enables operators to manage reservations in real-time. These tools are also useful for collecting payments and managing clients’ information, such as contact details and special requests.

 

Discover how to digitize your MICE segment by downloading this Guide. You will learn how to use technology and digitalization to boost your visibility, bookings and revenue.

Booking Engine for meetings and events at hotels

Benefits of Using a Hotel Booking Engine for Meetings & Events

Streamlined Booking Process for Event Planners

A hotel booking engine provides an easy registration that simplifies all processes. In addition, it generates real-time updates concerning the availability and event information. Plus, it allows payments.

It also provides the possibility to automate communication between hotels and planners. Thus, this translates into time savings and fewer efforts for event planners, leading to greater user satisfaction.

Increased Visibility and Access to Event Spaces

A hotel booking engine for events and meetings typically integrates a marketing strategy to promote the event spaces listed on their platform. This can turn into increased visibility and more bookings, which also means a revenue increment. 

At the same time, hotels and venues can also offer virtual tours that can be displayed on the booking engine. These are simulations that offer a 360-degree view of the spaces that generate engaging online experiences, enhancing the booking process. In addition, recent research has shown that virtual tours on hotel websites can increase conversion rates between 16% to 67%. 

More Efficient Management of Event Attendee Accommodations

Hotel and venues booking platforms can be integrated with accommodation services, simplifying the booking process on all sides while providing added value in both areas. This includes the generation of personalized rates and discounts for clients or the offer of analytics and reports for operators, from where to develop Business Intelligence and make informed decision

Hotel Booking Engine for Meetings and Events

Example of Hotel Booking Engines for Meetings & Events: meet Spazious the i-SEM®

Spazious is an immersive sales and events management platform dedicated to streamlining booking processes for hotels and event venues. This software helps companies move forward from manually managing the booking and scheduling of event spaces.

Features and Benefits of Spazious

  • Real-Time Bookings: meeting packages (DDRs) and your meeting spaces are available to website visitors through Spazious.
  • Sales and catering options: the platform facilitates offering clients additional services such as food and beverage or audiovisual equipment, among others.
  • Integration: events and accommodation information are reunited in a single access point for teams in real time. 
  • Sales approach: the platform is designed with a sales perspective, helping companies close deals while automating the management of leads
  • Unique digital options: Spacious integrates the possibility of generating realistic 2D and 3D designs through the diagramming platform. In addition, hoteliers can add virtual tours, minimizing requests for on-site inspections.
  • Communication enhancements: event layouts are easily shared, so that everyone involved can “see” ideas and planning, leaving less room for error. Plus, from each virtual tour’s frame, marketing teams can extract high-quality images. 

Key Considerations When Selecting a Hotel Booking Engine

Operators looking to incorporate a hotel booking engine for their meetings and events should make sure the platform they choose aligns with their needs. 

 

Some important features to look for in this type of engine include:

 

  • An intuitive user experience and navigation, so that its implementation doesn’t face many obstacles.
  • Possibility to integrate the booking engine with other software systems that the hotel is already using.
  • Potential for personalization according to each business’s needs.
  • Secure and reliable payment system.
  • Access to reporting and analytics.
  • Cost and ROI considerations.

Questions to Ask Potential Hotel Booking Engine Providers

  • What are the features and functionalities of the hotel booking engine?
  • Can it be integrated with the hotel’s website and present software?
  • Can it be customized according to the needs of my business?
  • Does it offer secure and reliable payment?
  • Is there available customer support? Do they offer training to get started?
  • What are the pricing models?
  • Can the company provide successful cases of implementation of the hotel booking engine for other businesses?

 

If you’re looking for a reliable hotel booking engine that helps your company move away from inefficiencies regarding MICE management, look no further. Get in touch with us and speak to our team about how Spazious can help boost your sales.