One of Meeting Evolution’s customers recently needed to respond to an important question from their finance department:
Why are we getting paid faster?
The company typically received commissions four to eight months after an event. Now, it was receiving commission payments within 60 to 90 days.
What had changed?
These are great questions to have to answer, especially when the revenue comes from hotel commission payments for event planners based on actualized sleeping rooms from contracted meetings.
Why Hotel Commission Payments Can Take Months
In the meetings industry, venues are often known for slow commission payments. Delays can be so common that some companies have built businesses around helping third-party meeting planners collect outstanding commissions-for a fee, of course.
For event-planning organizations, delayed commissions can make revenue forecasting and financial reporting more difficult. Manual follow-ups, room-pickup verification, commission calculations, and invoice preparation can also extend the payment timeline.
So, why was this Meeting Evolution customer experiencing a quicker turnaround?
The answer was ME SOURCING.
Simplifying Hotel Commission Processing with ME SOURCING
ME SOURCING is an all-inclusive venue sourcing platform that helps third-party meeting planners manage the entire process-from the initial eRFP through post-event reporting and commission invoicing.
Within one centralized system, planners can:
- Source and distribute eRFPs
- Compare venue responses side by side
- Select preferred venues
- Generate contracts
- Store contract details and room-block information
- Automatically send post-event requests for actual room-pickup numbers
- Generate commission invoices based on contracted terms
- Track projected and actual commission amounts in real time
By keeping sourcing, contracting, post-event follow-up, invoicing, and commission reporting in one place, ME SOURCING reduces disconnected manual steps and lowers the possibility of calculation or processing errors.
Automated Invoices Help Reduce Processing Delays
Invoices generated through ME SOURCING are designed to work with the automated processing systems used by major hotel chains. This can help streamline the submission and processing of hotel commission invoices.
Real-time reporting also gives finance and planning teams greater visibility into expected revenue, outstanding commissions, and completed payments.
Global Sales Offices, or GSOs, can also have visibility within ME SOURCING, making it easier to involve them when additional support is needed to collect an invoice.
Getting Paid Sooner by Reducing the Wait
It is not necessarily a matter of hotels paying commissions faster. It is about reducing the wait time by improving the process.
When sourcing information, contract terms, room-pickup totals, invoices, and commission reporting are managed in one system, fewer details need to be tracked manually. The correct information can reach the appropriate teams sooner, helping reduce unnecessary payment delays.
ME SOURCING supports the full venue-sourcing lifecycle while helping third-party meeting planners improve hotel commission processing, monitor revenue, and collect commissions sooner.
With Meeting Evolution, planners gain more than a venue sourcing tool. They gain an integrated system that supports sourcing, contracting, room-block tracking, post-event reporting, and commission management from beginning to end.