Tacoma Regional CVB Launches Online Housing Reservation System

Software expected to help region secure convention business

Tacoma, WA and Vancouver, BC: September 22, 2010 – Tacoma Regional Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) announced today the signing of an agreement with Meetingmax Systems to handle its online housing reservation needs. The CVB made the decision in order to meet the growing calls from meeting planners for a simplified housing solution.

“Meetingmax’s system has an excellent reputation within the travel industry,” says Shauna Lunde, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Tacoma Regional CVB. “Meeting planners have had positive experiences with the system in other destinations and have been requesting the service from us.”

With 87 hotels and 6,000 hotel rooms, the Tacoma Regional CVB was looking for a system that could simplify the process of reserving room blocks at a variety of hotels. Instead of having to use each hotel’s system to track bookings, a meeting planner can secure blocks of housing through the CVB and manage their bookings through one central portal. Conference attendees are sent a link which allows them to explore participating hotels and book their own rooms.

“In today’s competitive market, having an online housing reservation system is another service that CVBs can offer their meeting planners,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “It’s a value added benefit that can help Tacoma and Pierce County attract business.”

Meetingmax’s system was selected based on its user-friendly interface and the fact that it does not have minimum booking requirements. The system has received positive feedback from other Washington destinations and is now used by CVBs in Spokane, Tri-Cities, and Yakima.

Located just 18 miles south of the Seattle-Tacoma Airport on the I5 corridor, Pierce County is an easy to reach destination for convention attendees. The region offers a wide variety of activities ranging from fine dining and harbor tours, to kayaking and hiking at Mt. Rainier. Visitors can easily explore Tacoma’s historic and cultural attractions on foot, including the Museum of Glass featuring the work of renowned glass artists.

VIFF Attendees Get the Sundance Treatment

Meetingmax Systems to provide housing reservation technology for film festival

Vancouver, BC; September 16, 2010 – While organizers of the Vancouver International Film Festival have countless details to worry about, this year they won’t be worrying about hotel reservations. As a festival sponsor, Vancouver-based Meetingmax Systems will be providing its online housing reservation technology to manage room bookings for visiting filmmakers, VIPs and guests. This follows the successful use of the online platform at last year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

“We were looking for a way to make sure that housing arrangements for our guests would run seamlessly and were impressed with the results that Meetingmax produced at Sundance,” said Betty Verkuil, Director of Development, VIFF. “Having the support of local companies for our festival is critical for our success. We’re pleased to have technology developed by a Vancouver business play a key role in the festival’s logistics.”

With eight hotels providing rooms for the festival, VIFF organizers wanted to simplify the process of reserving rooms for VIPs and guests. Instead of having to use each hotel’s system, organizers can manage all hotel bookings through one central portal.

While Meetingmax is based in Vancouver, the organization primarily works with convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), meeting planners, and organizations in the United States. This will mark one of the first times that the system will be used in Vancouver by local hotels and event planners.

“Our partnership with VIFF will allow potential clients to explore the customizable features of our online booking platform,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “In turn, our system will streamline the housing reservations process for festival organizers, which can otherwise be an unnecessarily time-consuming element of event management.”

Duncan developed Meetingmax’s online housing reservation platform after years of organizing events and conferences. Given the time required to manage rooms at various hotels for events, he began looking for an existing software solution that could streamline the process. After an unsuccessful search, he spearheaded the development of Meetingmax’s own software in 2007.

Since then, the company has seen steady growth. The software is now used by CVBs in more than 20 destinations across North America. In 2009, Meetingmax was responsible for processing more than $7 million in hotel transactions.

“Our CVB clients have responded with positive feedback on their experiences with the Meetingmax system,” continues Duncan. “We are hearing that conference planners are now asking for the service from CVBs before making a final decision on which city gets their conference business.”

South Shore CVA Teams With Meetingmax

CVA signs agreement to streamline housing reservations for visiting sports teams

Hammond, IN and Vancouver, BC; August 25, 2010 – As part of its ongoing investment in technology, the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority (CVA) has engaged Meetingmax Systems to handle its online housing reservation needs. Through the agreement, South Shore CVA will use Meetingmax’s system to manage housing bookings for conference and event attendees, including teams traveling to the region’s numerous sports tournaments.

“While convention traffic is important to us, our region’s core strength lies in our ability to host major sports tournaments,” says Speros Batistatos, President and CEO of the South Shore CVA. “But this type of business requires that we book teams and their families into numerous hotels across the region. Meetingmax’s system helps us streamline that process for our customers and hoteliers.”

By using Meetingmax’s system, instead of having to call different hotels and reserve rooms with their own credit card, a coach or event planner can make one call to the CVA to secure room blocks. Each tournament attendee is then directed to log onto the system to book and pay for their own room.

“Instead of spending our budget on visitors’ guides, we are investing in technology and improving the efficiency of our marketing efforts,” continues Batistatos. “By having people reserve their housing through us, we can break down the demographics, learn more about our customers, and build a targeted email database.”

Meetingmax’s system ties directly into the CVA’s award-winning email marketing program. Once guests have booked in, the CVA sends them their room confirmation along with information about what to do when they arrive and coupons for partner restaurants and attractions. After checkout, the CVA emails visitors a survey to gauge their satisfaction with the hotel, local restaurants, and sports facilities. South Shore then provides this feedback to the other organizations.

“Our system helps South Shore build relationships and alleviate their clients’ stress by not having to run around and contract with different hotels,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “We can provide their event planners with quantitative data that they can use to plan next year’s event. For example, by tracking bookings, we know that their teams want to book at hotels with a pool, that offer continental breakfast, or are close to certain facilities.”

As part of its selection process, South Shore looked at several other housing systems but ultimately selected Meetingmax for its user-friendly interface, customizable features, and affordable per-reservation fee.

In addition to deploying online housing, South Shore has also embraced other technology to improve service and efficiency. Recently, the organization launched a mobi site for mobile phones and has deployed advanced database marketing tools to help drive tourist traffic.

About South Shore CVA:
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority is the sales and marketing organization leading the hospitality industry and supporting its partners in the development and promotion of tourist attractions along Indiana's south shore of Lake Michigan.

VISIT Milwaukee Selects Meetingmax

Online housing reservation system to welcome visitors to the jewel of the Great Lakes

Vancouver, BC; December 15, 2009 – Meetingmax, provider of the travel industry’s most flexible online housing reservation system, today announced the signing of an agreement with VISIT Milwaukee. Through the agreement, the Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau will use Meetingmax’s system to manage convention housing bookings for its more than 60 member hotels.

As part of its selection process, VISIT Milwaukee looked at several other housing systems. The organization primarily selected Meetingmax based on its user-friendly software interface.

“A big part of our mandate is to ensure that guests are warmly welcomed to Milwaukee, and that begins the moment they book their hotel room,” says Dave Larson, Director of Convention Services, VISIT Milwaukee. “Meetingmax’s system makes it easy for conference delegates to quickly search for a participating hotel, explore its features and book a room.”

Milwaukee is a premiere Midwestern meeting destination. In addition to its dynamic downtown and state-of-the-art convention facilities, Milwaukee differentiates itself through its warm hospitality and affordable prices. In 2008, tourism generated $2.7 billion in spending in Greater Milwaukee and supported approximately 66,000 local jobs.

News of the VISIT Milwaukee agreement follows the signing of agreements with Atlanta’s Cobb County and Hamilton County, Indiana. Meeetingmax’s system will be used to manage convention housing bookings at CVB member hotels in both counties.

“Right now we are seeing considerable interest in our system. Given current market conditions, CVBs are looking for ways to make it as easy as possible to manage events in their cities,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “Our system offers hotels, planners and CVBs powerful, customizable tools that allow them to efficiently manage their inventory.”

simpleview Teams Up With Meetingmax

Duo to Provide Online Group Reservation Technology to Destination Marketing Organizations

Tucson, AZ and Vancouver, BC; July 14, 2009– simpleview, North America’s fast-growing provider of technology solutions to the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) industry, announced today a partnership with Meetingmax Systems. Through the relationship, simpleview will market Meetingmax’s flexible and cost-effective online housing reservation system to its roster of DMO clients in North America.

“This new relationship presents great opportunities for our clients as well as for both companies,” says Ryan M. George, CEO, simpleview. “Meetingmax’s comprehensive online housing system rounds out our product offering and will provide our clients with new abilities to win group business.”

As part of the agreement, the two companies will begin integrating simpleview’s content and customer relationship management software with Meetingmax’s online housing system. This will help clients avoid the cost and hassle of working with independent systems and create a seamless experience for the user.

“This relationship makes sense on every level,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “simpleview has established relationships with an extensive list of DMOs, but housing system technology hasn’t been their focus. With our background in meeting and event planning, we have been able to build a system that meets the needs of DMOs, event planners, and hotels.”

While the companies will initially focus their marketing efforts on the U.S., the organizations are also jointly pursuing growth opportunities in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

About Meetingmax:
Meetingmax Systems provides the travel industry with the most flexible and cost-effective online housing reservation system. Initially developed to meet the needs of Meetingmax’s meeting and event planning arm, the system provides convention and visitors bureaus, event planners and organizations with a simple yet powerful means to manage conference and event room bookings. The system boasts real time processing for hotels, a dynamic pricing model based on the length of the booking, and customizable features to meet each client’s needs. Meetingmax is based in Vancouver, BC and can be found online at www.meetingmaxsystems.com.

About simpleview:
Inc. magazine ranks simpleview #2 among the fastest-growing, privately held U.S. companies in the travel and tourism sector. Since 1991, the company has maintained a 99% client retention rate while capturing the largest market share in its field, helping 125+ destination marketing organizations (DMOs) get the most out of technology, the web and interactive marketing. At the highest level, simpleview develops big-picture strategies for DMO sales, marketing and operations. On a tactical level, they offer integrated products and services tailored to destination marketing: dynamic websites and content management, search engine optimization, interactive marketing services, social media management, design, content and multimedia production. To date, the company’s Web-based destination management system has driven $6.8 billion in economic impact for its customers, which includes destinations ranging from New York City to Portland, Oregon, Boston to Jacksonville, Toronto to the Bahamas. simpleview employs 60+ people in Tucson, Arizona and San Diego, California.

Meetingmax inks deals with four more tourism bureaus

Vancouver company’s online platform now used by 12 convention and visitors bureaus in the United States

Curt Cherewayko

A Vancouver-based company’s online hotel booking system for large-scale event planners is continuing its U.S. expansion, signing deals with four convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) in Tempe, Arizona; Bakersfield, California; and Tri-Cities and Yakima, Washington.

That brings Meetingmax Planning Inc.’s client roster of U.S.-based CVBs, which market their respective cities as destinations for conventions and other large-scale events, to 12.

CVBs such as the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau (SRCVB) use Meetingmax’s booking platform to assign hotels, set room rates and manage room inventory.

Ann Gillespie, a convention sales assistant with the SRCVB, said that the bureau has used Meetingmax’s platform to organize room bookings for up to 25 hotels during a single event. She added that the average convention or conference in Spokane typically requires co-ordination between four or five hotels.

Meetingmax’s platform is essentially another marketing tool to attract event tourism to Spokane, said Gillespie.

“Basically it’s a service for our customers – both the meeting’s planner and the delegates that are attending,” she said.

CVBs, hotels and meeting planners can all use Meetingmax’s system simultaneously to manage and update the planning of an event.

Meetingmax started as the event planning and managing arm of Uniglobe Network Travel. When it began experiencing solid growth, it was spun out as its own entity.

The seven-year-old company initially developed its online platform as a tool to use internally but, after CVBs began inquiring about licensing the technology, Meetingmax developed it into a robust, sellable offering.

“When we needed an online housing solution we went and shopped the open market and looked at all the various solutions before they were our competitors,” said Jeff Duncan, Meetingmax’s COO.

“None of them really addressed 100% of what we needed them to do. So we built one on our own.”

The company generated roughly $1.8 million in revenue last year, between its event planning business and its online system. And while it still does event planning, Duncan believes the company’s future growth will stem largely from its online offering.

In 2008, the platform processed $3.15 million worth of hotel bookings, versus $1.17 million in 2007.

Duncan projected that the system will book more than $6.5 million worth of hotel-room nights in 2009.

The company generates revenue from annual licence fees and commissions from each room night that is booked through the system.

Adoption of the platform has been largely through word of mouth. For example, the CVB in Spokane helped sign the CVB in Madison, Wisconsin, onto the system. The CVB in Tempe was introduced to Meetingmax by organizers of the Ironman competitions in Madison.

Duncan said that what differentiates Meetingmax’s platform from other online hotel-booking systems is that it was built by event planners, not software developers.

“We’re not a software company jumping in the business of online housing solutions,” he said. •

cgc@biv.com