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

Abstract 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.