When planning a meeting in a hotel, you will want to ensure the sales department captures your group's needs correctly so that you will not be overcharged. Your contact at the hotel will create a group resume for your meeting to share with other departments and ensure anything you need at the hotel will be provided. A group resume is a profile that includes your organization's purpose for meeting at the hotel, number of people attending, number of sleeping rooms and parking spaces required, catering and other functional needs the hotel will be instrumental in providing. This profile should be created about 14 days in advance of your event so make your timeline fit accordingly.

Write out everything you will need for the meeting and provide it to your hotel sales contact to make sure the hotel has the resources to meet your needs. Meals, snacks, parking spaces, breakout rooms and overnight rooms are examples of items you should share with the sales contact. This will give him a preliminary idea for your vision of the meeting and the hotel's role in making it run smoothly. He may provide a standard form for you to fill out to capture this information.

Create due dates for participant meeting registrations with respect to the timeline your hotel sales contact needs to inform staff of your meeting needs. Use incentives to encourage early registration, including discounted registration fees or conference perks. Ensure participants know what is available for use at the hotel and consider including registration for extra activities on your form. Spa treatments, non-meeting dinners and excursion activities are items you could include if the hotel has the resources to provide them and they meet the scope of your meeting.

Communicate with your sales contact once you surpass your final due date to ensure he has a count of the people attending and what will be needed from the hotel. Base any additional numbers on communication you receive from potential participants who want to attend but desire to register on-site, and historic numbers for on-site registration.

Request a review of your group resume two weeks prior to your meeting. By this time, the group resume will have been created and will be ready to be shared with the rest of the hotel. You want to make sure the numbers and activities captured by the sales contact matches your numbers and activities planned for the meeting. Ask questions to ensure you understand every line item you are reviewing. Bring any discrepancies to your sales contact's attention immediately.

Review your invoice from the hotel and match it against the information you reviewed on your group resume and your organization's registration information once the meeting is finished. Check for inaccuracies and overcharges. If you find any, contact your sales contact and the sales manager so they can be corrected accordingly.

Tip

Request a physical copy of your group resume prior to your meeting to keep in your records. Review sample group resume forms to have an idea of what the hotel sales department will need in advance. Communicate any major changes that will affect your meeting attendance as soon as possible.