During one of the sessions at a recent CanSPEP conference, I overheard several of the event planners talking about how their conference attendees continually book hotel rooms through online services, rather than booking rooms within the conference hotel room block.

This causes problems because room blocks aren’t being filled and event planners are still charged for the rooms.

As I sat in the session, I thought of several reasons why a registrant should want to book in the room block. I encourage event planners to consider adding some, or all, of the following wording to their registration forms and confirmation emails to help fill the room block.

Reasons to book in the room block and not online:

1. You don’t have to pre-pay for your room if you book in the block, but you do if you are booking through a discount service.
   
   
2. The room you book online may not be comparable to the rooms in the conference room block. Remember, you get what you pay for!
   
   
3. Booking in the block will allow you to make changes to your reservation if needed.
   
   
4. If you book online through a discount service, you can’t cancel and get any of your money back.
   
   
5. If there happens to be a room drop (i.e.: conference message, schedule change or gift), you may miss out.
   
   
6. If you book in the block, you get to claim award points.
   
   
7. If you are using a discount service, your hotel may not be close to the conference hotel, so you won’t be able to sneak back to your room for a nap, snack, or to check email between sessions.
   
   
8. If your hotel is not within reasonable walking distance of your event, you will incur cab costs which may offset any savings that you received.

At ePly, we are always making suggestions to our clients on how they can increase the success of their events. By using some, or all, of the eight ideas above on your registration form, you have a better chance of filling your room block and avoiding attrition fees.

In next month’s newsletter, we’ll explain how using a simple “Save-the-Date” form can help you secure more registrations for an event.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.

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