Initiatives
At Universal WorldEvents we offer various meeting planning procurement initiatives as follows:
Fixed Fees
We organise and deliver events that meet the objectives and needs of our clients. We offer a fixed price service and charge fees based on our estimated time taken to deliver a specific type of event based on the brief, duration and depth programme, destination, venue and number of delegates. Should our time costs exceed the amount of our agreed estimate then that is at our own expense. We provide estimates with full breakdowns and only, if the brief changes or additional requirements are requested, do our fees increase or decrease and the change in cost is pre-agreed before any costs are incurred.
Procurement Procedures
As part of our standard operating procedures we ensure we negotiate with all suppliers to achieve maximum cost savings. These costs savings are passed on to our clients by way of reduced costs through the following key areas:
Accommodation
- Preferred Supplier Agreements with major hotel groups
- Consolidation of hotels to maximise leverage and increase buying power
- Database of rate history to use as leverage (i.e. using competitor hotels for comparative quotes)
- Never accept first offer and always negotiate to the best offer possible
- Ensure terms and conditions are favourable
- Added value to include room upgrades, free agency rooms, reduced bar rates, complimentary welcome reception and breakfast included in the room rates
Travel
- Negotiate with airlines for the best group rates on requested routes
- Refund all unused taxes on cancelled tickets
- Research and secure optimum flight options
- Ensure that low cost carriers are used where appropriate
- BTA card to manage your travel spend through the AMEX account
Delegate Management
- Provision of the Universal WorldEvents event software
- Client reporting and financial management
- Maximise early registrations
- Minimum risk – cancellation fees
Local Agents
- Preferred supplier status agreements with local agents
- Utilise local buying power to negotiate rates at a local level
- Agree and disclose to client any local agent management fees on the budget
- Negotiate local agent contracted services
- Frequent use and knowledge of destinations builds direct relationships with suppliers (cutting out any local agents)
- Benchmark local agent costs against direct purchasing to ensure all rates are competitive
Food, Beverage & Social Options
- Negotiate Food & Beverage rate card
- Ensure guaranteed numbers are accurate
- Outsourcing some of the Food & Beverage elements
- Social programmes having a strong creative element
- Use Universal WorldEvents on-site staff wherever possible (rather than contracted staff expense)
