Hyatt Launches New Planning Tool

Hyatt Hotels revealed its new Hyatt Planner Portal today, a comprehensive online tool for meeting and event planners. Within the platform, planners can manage meeting details such as contracts, attendee information and costs through all stages of the process. Planners also can access their information from past, current and upcoming events through the platform, providing them with crucial, convenient access to historical data that can be shared via easily generated reports.

"Created with feedback directly from meeting planners, this solution aims to alleviate pain points planners face," noted Steve Enselein, senior vice president of events at Hyatt. "And it captures information in one place so they can spend more time focusing on what is most important for their attendees."

To sweeten the portal's functionality, Hyatt has developed a proprietary room-reservation tool for attendees that works in concert with the portal. After confirming a room block, planners will receive a custom reservation link for their group to book directly on Hyatt.com, which includes the group name, event dates and selected property or properties. Attendee reservations made via that link will automatically populate the room lists on the Planner Portal. Among the reports planners can generate will be attendee lists that include hotel arrival, departure and cancellation information.

Hyatt has a history of developing planner-focused proprietary technology, and the Planner Portal will help tie together some of that functionality. Banquet menus, event-space floor plans and collaborative diagramming software will be accessible through the portal, as will Hyatt's Event Concierge App, which allows planners to make requests directly to the hotel team via the app. Group Bill also will be accessible via the platform, a Hyatt innovation that organizes all event costs into a single invoice.

The Planner Portal - which was unveiled at IMEX America, taking place this week at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas -- currently is available to planners only via invitation. The hospitality company plans to release it fully in early 2019.

Source:  Meetings-conventions.com