If Your Hotel Cancels, Do You Know the Actual Costs?

What happens if a hotel decides it actually doesn’t want your group? It’s not a question that most meeting planners spend much time worrying about. After all, if you’re signing a contract with the promise that you’ll bring hundreds of attendees to a property, it’s safe to assume the hotel is happy to have your business.

Don’t be so sure, though. Earlier this year, Andrea Doyle dove into the details behind a Texas nonprofit’s claims that a hotel backed out of its hosting duties to chase higher rates during the NBA Finals. Today, she dives deeper into the need to calculate the true cost of a cancellation fast enough for it to matter in a negotiation — because the contract alone won't tell you that number. Head below for the full story, along with a checklist of everything that should be in your program’s safety guidelines and a look at why incentive planners want more from CVBs. — David McMillin

PS. What are you doing tomorrow at 11 a.m. Eastern? If you can squeeze in a break between all your responsibilities, you will not want to miss our webinar on shattering the glass ceiling in meetings. Sign up here.

The contract tells you what you signed. It won't tell you what a cancellation actually costs, or how much leverage you still have once a property starts eyeing a better offer. That intelligence moves between planners, not through legal language.

On September 22 at the Javits Center, senior planners from corporate teams, associations, and agencies trade the contracting shortcuts and negotiation reads that never make it into a signed agreement.

Women power the meetings industry — yet rarely run it. Join Skift Meetings, Elaine Lou Cartas and Monique Ruff-Bell, next Wednesday, 12 August at 11 a.m. ET, for a candid look at the leadership gap, the barriers behind it, and what's changing. Register for the webinar now.

Sponsored by Visit Atlantic City.

Five things worth your time today.

** A sponsored message from the Melbourne Convention Bureau and Business Events Australia.

Your Younger Attendees Don't Want More Tech. They Want Someone to Tell Them What to Do.

New Skift Research shows Gen Z already takes an estimated 65 million U.S. business trips a year, and they’re more anxious about booking and planning those trips than any other generation. And while they fall into the digital native bucket, they’re actually more skeptical of AI than millennials. They don’t want a fully automated agent making decisions for them.

Plenty of those business trips involve heading to a business event, which means that meeting planners have an opportunity to act as a co-pilot who can help those early-career professionals make the most of their experience. Forget a dense agenda or a “figure it out yourself” booking experience. Simple fixes go a long way: a one-page “here’s exactly what to book and how guide, a real point of contact for questions, and confirmation emails that actually spell out what happens next. It's a cheap way to cut down on the pre-event emails asking things your registration page was supposed to answer.

Great events are built on strategy, innovation, and the right resources. The Skift Meetings Toolkit is your go-to hub for best practices in managing meetings and events.