ALEXANDRIA, Va.
The Convention Industry Council (CIC) has launched a new suite of resources for planners to help combat the increase in room block piracy and poaching, which occurs when businesses actively recruit attendees and exhibitors away from reserved room blocks.
Room block poaching and piracy can result in a host of problems, from loss of time and money to damaging brand reputation and liability issues. In its initial research survey conducted in 2014, CIC found that 73.1% of responders had events or meetings that had been targeted by piracy or poaching yet the majority of them (70.5%) had not developed prevention or mitigation best practices.
In response to these issues, the CIC’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) initiative assembled a workgroup to delve into the issue, chaired by Michael Dominguez, MGM Resorts International and MaryAnne Bobrow, CAE, CMP, CHE, Bobrow Associates Inc.
The workgroup then hosted a Poaching Summit of industry experts at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to identify the extent and effects of room block poaching and piracy and ultimately developed a toolkit to combat its effects.
APEX examined the issue from the perspective of a variety of stakeholders: including hotels, event organizers, housing bureaus, destination marketing organizations and industry associations to create definitions and resources for planners as well as overall education.
The toolkit provides an overview of the issues, implications for stakeholders, a list of state attorneys general, guidance and resources on how to handle the issue.
For the full toolkit and additional resources visit:
http://www.conventionindustry.org/StandardsPractices/APEX/roomblocks.aspx
