The Attrition Condition

Abstract

Attrition provisions in group-business contracts have become increasingly problematic for meeting planners in recent years because meeting participants and exhibitors increasingly seek their own accommodations outside room blocks, particularly when they find low-price rooms via Web sites. A 2002 survey of 143 meeting planners (primarily working with associations) found that most signed contracts containing attrition provisions for the largest meeting they held in 2001, but only one-third of those who came up short on room-block guarantees were billed for attrition. Many planners negotiated some form of settlement. Rather than have attrition continue to be a point of contention for hotels and meeting planners, a better approach might be for hotel sales managers and meeting planners to work together to formulate reasonable attrition policies. From the meeting planners’ view-point, this would include receiving credit for the business that the meeting brings to the hotel, whether in the room block or through other sales channels.