Strategic Sourcing

Cost Savings Capabilities

As part of the Experient family, Appin Consulting enjoys unmatched buying power, which together with our outstanding record for high quality and ethical negotiating practices, has enabled us to establish unique Hotel Strategic Partnership Agreements with many of the worlds’ leading hotel chains. When Maritz & Experient combined in 2012, we became one of the highest group room-night producers in the world for several major hotel brands, including Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental Hotel Group, Marriott and Starwood. In addition, we have partnerships with many unique, boutique and independent chains, and that allow our clients to take advantage of our buying power outside of the “big box” options. We work with Disney, Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Kimpton, ALHI, MGM & many more. If you imagine them... we include them. Our exclusive partnership agreements provide you with the following additional benefits:

Written guarantees from all contracted chains that room rates we secure for you will never be increased to offset any sales commissions. You are always guaranteed the lowest rate, and many times that includes the lowest published rate (yes, even against Priceline and Expedia)!
The guarantee that all contracted rates for business initiated on your behalf will never be more, and will almost always be less, than what you could get on your own.
Access to standardized contract templates that have been developed in partnership with each of the chains that provide some of the most client-centric (that means you) terms and conditions in the industry, and affords a streamlined and efficient contracting process. We can customize our templates to fit the needs and requirements of your organization. These templates are continually updated as case law and the meetings industry evolves.

How Are We Different?

Due to our buying power and our strong, longstanding, ethical reputation, we have partnership agreements in place with the leading global hotel brands and major suppliers & convention centers. These agreements provide our clients “most favored nation” pricing assurances and exceptional contract terms and conditions that improves the starting point for negotiations and effectively minimizing client risk and/or exposure. No other service provider can offer these same types of long-term contractual assurances.

On average, our contracts’ department processes more than 9,000 hotel contracts annually, representing millions of room nights. This unmatched volume allows us to leverage and establish relationships obtaining the most favorable options for individual clients. Our library of standardized contracts and addenda clauses can limit contract objections, reduce financial liability, and ultimately achieve enhanced service levels. With our knowledge of industry performance standards, we present you with liability-reducing contracts for approval and signature. Our staff reviews any changes made to the contract during the negotiating process prior to review with your own legal counsel. We assist you in establishing priorities for the negotiating process, and ultimately, you will benefit from a fair and equitable agreement.

What Are The Benefits Of Working With Us?

Concessions are now an ordinary feature of hotel contracts, and our clients are savvy consumers of hotel product. What if we told you that we have included numerous popular concessions into our standardized contracts as a baseline? And then, at that elevated starting point, we then begin negotiating what’s important for you?

We have done just that. The combined buying power of the Maritz and Experient family of companies has resulted in a program called MSP2. Our contracts are pre-negotiated for lowest possible financial baseline to begin program-specific negotiations. You can further negotiate, leveraging additional site specific benefits.

Due to our market share, all of our clients start from an improved position in negotiations. MSP2 provides you with the tools to deliver a minimum level of savings of 25% on each project where we manage negotiations and contracting. The benefits of MSP2 are completely exclusive and are not offered to other third party firms. They are guaranteed to you when you use our Strategic and Preferred partners (but you are in no way required or limited to contracting with those partners) including: Hilton, Starwood, Fairmont, Four Seasons, MGM and Ritz Carlton and Preferred Partners: Marriott, Hyatt and InterContinental

Preset agreements significantly reduce the time spent contracting and shifting the focus to negotiations
Risk mitigation ensures little time is spent on the “fine print” and legal intervention because it has been pre-vetted
Category discounts on A/V, food and beverage, décor, function space, staff rooms and office space lower program costs
Soft dollar value-adds like complimentary rooms, suite upgrades, amenities and free/reduced parking enhance the overall event experience

Meeting Sourcing Internationally

Our teams have:

Booked Events in 41 Countries, and 119 Cities Around the World!
Sourced 151,155 room nights in 2012 with revenue in excess of $35m
Signed 360 contracts representing Association, Government & Corporate markets
Revenue Growth of 300+% in the last three years
Expanded our Client’s Global Reach…delivering impact to their bottom line
Sourced and Managed Housing for large citywide events
Formed Strategic Hotel Partners, DMCs, and PCOs who share our high standards