Meetings Matter Chatter
Industry trends and topics pertaining to the travel and meetings industry
Meetings Matter Chatter
Building Connections: The Heart of Hotel Sales
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Join us as we chat with Ben Warner, Group Sales Director at the Westin DC Downtown, who will take us behind the scenes of the bustling world of hotel sales. Ben will share his experiences navigating the intricacies of the sales process in the hospitality industry. Whether you’re planning an event or simply curious about what goes into finding the perfect venue, Ben will provide valuable tips and expert advice to help you make informed decisions.
Hi there. Welcome to Meetings Matter Chatter. My name is Jenna Baker, and I am the Vice President of Account Management at BCD Meetings and Events, and I am your host. Today I am joined by Ben Warner, who is the group sales director at the Weston DC Downtown Hotel. And Ben's going to talk to us all about the busy life of being a sales director at a hotel. And he's going to help us understand everything that goes into the sales process, what he does in any given day. And he's also going to give us some tips on how we can find the perfect space for our meetings. So, Ben, welcome.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me today, Jen. I'm so appreciative of you extending the invite.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm thrilled to talk to you. I feel like we're going to open the curtain on the life of the sales director, which is a little bit mysterious. Maybe you don't think so, but I think it is. But I would I always like to start by hearing about people's career paths because sometimes we people always started and intended to be in the business that they're in. And sometimes they just fall into it. So I'm just curious about yourself. I know you can tell me a little bit about uh where you live. I think you don't live in DC, but you you sell for a DC hotel and kind of how you fell into this world.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I would certainly describe it as falling into the world. This was, you know, absolutely not the course I thought I would take when I first got in. And uh slowly but surely learned to just absolutely love the industry. So yeah, when I graduated, there was no jobs anywhere that I was particularly looking, you know, marketing. I thought that would be my avenue. And uh I was looking up for jobs up and down the East Coast, out west, wherever they would have me, and I couldn't find an option. Uh and ironically, my mother at the time worked uh at Marriott in architecture and construction, so a different world than meetings and events, and said, Hey, what do you have to lose? You might as well just look at Marriott. And so I did, reached out and was fortunate enough to get a couple of folks that were here in the market who said, Yeah, come on in and let's talk to you about hotels a little bit. And uh one of those was a general manager who got me started, gave me my first shot after convincing me after that conversation that front desk would be a great place to just learn the business and see if this is the right fit for me. Um, he said, by the way, I've got about 12 open jobs in my front desk. So if you're if you're still looking, uh give you a shout tomorrow. And so I did and and kind of took off my career from there. So I started in operations, uh, covered a number of our hotels here in this market, and then absolutely just had that desire to get to the business side of things, get into the sales side. Uh, and so I found my way into sales and I was selling small meetings, working my way through the uh the market. And we have just a really robust portfolio of hotels in the DC market. So super fortunate to be in this area where there were so many options and great properties around. Continue to just grow and grow and fall deeper in love with the industry. I think the first time you sell a full house program and you get to see it come to life, right? Sometimes we sell these big conventions and you have to wait years to see them in action. And so the first time you see that, what an impact that has and just what an awesome experience, right? So you you want a little bit more of it, you want to keep continuing to dive into it and eventually uh led my way into sales. And so before I got to this hotel, I was a sales leader in Maryland and I was covering a portfolio of our hotels in suburban Maryland and in Baltimore and just a great experience overall, certainly a pre-COVID, uh during COVID, and a post-COVID experience. And so once we got through that, this hotel just happened to be coming out of this massive renovation that was all of the chatter here in the market. And uh an opportunity opened up here, and just that passion of convention uh business got me uh to take a look at this and you know, jumped right in. So that's how I got started about 18 months ago. Uh, just about uh the month after we officially launched as the West in DC downtown.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, I definitely want to hear about the hotel that you're in now and the opening and all that. But before we do that, so just starting out in Marriott, you mentioned the front desk. Is that is I had heard that that's kind of how you start out in um in a company like Marriott, right? Are you required to work in different departments? Is that how you get started in the business?
SPEAKER_00Well, there is so many different journeys, right? I I know plenty of just amazing people who have started their career out in sales, maybe as a coordinator, maybe at front desk, maybe as a restaurant worker, maybe as a doorman, right? I think, you know, our company, but certainly the industry just does a great job of getting people in, showing them the people skills that they need, and then kind of taking your career from there. For me, that was to learn operations was just a huge piece of my experience that I think has really teamed me up well today. And I think there's just a variety of different places you can start out in hotels, which makes it such a great place to work.
SPEAKER_01I like your journey because I I had, I wouldn't say the same because I don't work in hotels, but kind of the same in that I started at the entry level and had the opportunity to work in different roles and and moved into operations and have furthered my career at the company. But it does, I I'm just one of those people that I really like understanding how everything works and how things operate, because then I feel like I can make a more informed decision. And I'm sure that applies to you as well in the sales process. Like if a client says, Can you do this crazy thing? Like you truly know if you can or can't.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I think certainly if you've had that experience before, whether you're working with internal operations folks who maybe we have a group that has just a very interesting idea about how we need to pull something off, right? You're you're bringing that perspective to the table, whether it's operations or maybe it's a senior events person who's got this great repertoire of experience to come back to. Uh and that lends itself a lot of credibility internally and as well with our customers and our planners who want creative ideas and solutions to come up with how to win this business.
SPEAKER_01Got it. Okay. Now I also want to ask you now, as you said, you just kind of naturally progressed into sales. You were seeing that side of the business, you were curious, and so you got in it. But sometimes when we think about, you know, a salesperson, like there might be like a stereotype around the type of personality you have to have, and you know, everybody sells, and you know, you're just banging on doors and you're relentless. Is that what it is? Or is it the idea of it?
SPEAKER_00No, absolutely not. No, no, no. I think uh a couple of those just all-time great movies out there, you know, you think Glen Gary Glenn Ross, Coffee is for closers, right? Or Wolf of Wall Street, sell me this pen. Like these are these lines that just stick with everybody. And, you know, they're entertaining. But the reality is, you know, I think our season meeting planner crowd, if myself or one of my sales professionals walked into a room with that approach, uh, I think the meeting planners would laugh them out of the room, right? It just wouldn't go anywhere. This this is an industry that's just built on relationships, right? It is built on long-term relationships. As I mentioned before, you know, sometimes we're working on meetings that are years away, right? I have children that might be graduating high school by the time that event comes to fruition, right? This is a relationship industry. And certainly for us in sales, that's the approach that we try to administer. And you think about how I started my career and my journey here at Marion and many others that did that as well. You know, there's not a lot of universities out there that have sales degrees, right? That's a growing industry. You can find finance, you can find economics, you can find all these different types. And there's really not a lot of sales degrees out there. So we really have to start not from scratch, but you're really trying to find the right people. And by finding those right people, you're looking for people who genuinely can build relationships with folks, right? So that's what our industry is really built on. And I think for our team, it's all about trying to strategize for the long term and in building credible uh relationships and being genuine.
SPEAKER_01Do you just um when it comes to the sales process and maybe the training to become a salesperson, is it one of those things where you're like, I guess, is there training on that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think, well, broadly speaking, and certainly for my approach at least, and what I find here at a great company like Marriott, you know, we start with those people who just genuinely are a great fit for hospitality, right? We we say, if you have that right smile, we can train you on the other skills, right? You can teach somebody how to fit a 20-person new shape into this size square footage room, right? You can you can teach people the skills they need, but you really do have to have that passion for connecting with people and that appreciation for all the types of groups and people that come into our buildings, right? One week we might have a professional team in, one week we might have an amateur sports team, and next week it could be an incentive trip with a major corporation, or it could be a very large repeat association or a multicultural group. So you have to be able to connect genuinely with all different types of people that we welcome into our doors.
SPEAKER_01Obviously, those relationships serve you because potentially you have the same meetings year after year, some meeting types, right? And so you're getting to see your old friends again and seeing that meeting come to life and whatever went you know well last time, you're enhancing that even more, right?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I think I can't tell you how many trade shows you, you know, you show up to and oh my goodness, I haven't seen so and so in seven years, eight years. And those relationships in our industry. I mean, I I know other industries probably say, oh, we we're about relationships too, but certainly in the hospitality realm, um, I think we do it the best collectively, right? Um those relationships matter, and you'll see them at our hotels, you know, down the road again. Um, it's such it's such a small network of people as well. So you often see, you know, so many great friends from over the years that we've been able to meet and connect and have great programs together.
SPEAKER_01It's funny because when you're operating a program, it's like uh I used to work in television, it's sort of the same, maybe it's a shorter term when it's at a hotel, but it's like there's that week that you are like tied to the hip of your partner there and like working, like texting, calling all day and night, and like really connected, and then it's just over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but those experiences matter, right? When you're in the trenches like that with somebody and building genuine rapport. And certainly, you know, I think on the operations side, right? Like we hear so many, hope so many different clients that come back and say, oh my goodness, this person that was your meeting manager on the floor or your CSM or your salesperson, it's because they were in the in the trenches with them, right? They genuinely cared and showing that great hospitality that we're known for.
SPEAKER_01So, specifically in terms of your role, you are responsible for group sales. So can you kind of explain what group sales is, what other types of sales that you have at the West End?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would love to. So we have so many different important channels to our business, right? You have the leisure folks, you have business travel, you have local catering with amazing galas and special events and people having weddings, you've got small meetings. So my my focus is growing and developing our group business, right? So I it's meetings and events, small meetings, mid-sized meetings, large, you know, citywides, all that we can, you know, pull through for this this great hotel. So uh yeah, I want to grow our group.
SPEAKER_01Do you have a certain vertical that you specialize in it or is it all all group?
SPEAKER_00So I have a team of professionals and they all have different verticals that that they're uh developing. And for me, no, I I care about all the sum of all parts, right? So all group, and it's it's just an amazing, like I said. I never know what group is gonna come through my door. Today is a very different group than tomorrow. It keeps us on our toes, but it's part of the reason that I just love this industry and I've stuck with it for so long.
SPEAKER_01Well, that leads into my next question, which you've alluded to, which is really what a typical day looks like for you, which it sounds like it there probably is no typical day, and you're seeing different groups all the time, which definitely makes it a lot of fun. But uh, but tell me just generally what what might a day look like for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, generally, if I were to give the best uh visual representation of what this job is, it is playing a massive game of Tetris. Uh, we are trying to get all these different groups, they're different sizes, they're different shapes, and we are doing our best to pull them all together, to have the best Tetris board that you can imagine, right? And so, how do we do that? So we do that with people, number one, right? So we have a team of sales professionals, and I'm incredibly fortunate in this role. I have just a really, really tenured, great team. And, you know, a lot of what we talk about is how to remove obstacles, how do we find different business that maybe we haven't been able to have a great option for before? How do we develop a strategy that makes sense to the planners and make it easy on them? And where do we need to go to find those planners, right? So we're managing that aspect and strategizing, but we're also doing our best to be super efficient, super quick to whatever's coming our way. You know, all the RFPs coming through, how do we manage that? And how do we again pull that all together to create this amazing Tetrasport, if you will? So that's that's the best visual description of what I can say about the job.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay. I like that description. And so I'm picturing, like you said, you know, maybe you you come in that morning and there's a, I don't know, like a very serious corporate meeting on one side of the hotel, and you've got, I don't know, some like fun thing on the other side of the hotel. And then that evening everything flips and you've got a wedding and you know, you've got your leisure traveling.
SPEAKER_00Like it's part of the joy of it. It keeps us on our toes. So to your point, there really is no typical day, but you know, again, it doesn't matter the industry, it doesn't matter the group. It goes back to the core principles, right? Which is just being able to connect with people, delivering on a great experience. So we have the aspect of, you know, me working with my team. And of course, we've talked about the operations teams at the hotel and all these other amazing departments that are delivering these, you know, just incredible experiences, right? So being able to work cross-functionally with them and provide insight, or how can we have a great conversation that leads to something new to really, really have this great meeting? Um, and then you have the client side. So, of course, I'm, you know, part of my responsibility is to make sure I'm there present. You alluded earlier. We have a great set of repeat customers, and how do we, you know, maintain those great relationships, but also how do we go out and find the right ways to find new ones? And that's part of my overall responsibilities as well.
SPEAKER_01Got it, got it. So, one of the things um uh I know that you work for Marriott. Weston is within the Marriott portfolio. I actually no, I didn't get married at a Weston. I was gonna say I got married at Weston, I got married at a Sheridan, but still that was Starwood way back when. That's you know, that's a long time ago. But but I'm just wondering, how do you keep track of all these brands? Because I have a lot of difficulty with it. And um, I don't know if like as customers we're expected to understand it. We certainly just depending on the type of customers we're servicing, like we'll have certain key brands that we're really focused on. Like we're not gonna go for like the the long-term stay brands or the super high end in a lot of cases. But yeah, how do you like it? Do you have like a cheat sheet on your desk or how do you keep it straight?
SPEAKER_00So we have over over 30 brands and counting in the Merit Bonvoy portfolio. And there's a different traveler that's really a focus for each of those brands, right? And to your point, you know, what you know, for a large conference, that's not necessarily where a long-term stay would go. So for Weston and how we fit into that portfolio, we are really centered around uh that traveler that is absolutely about their health and wellness, right? So we are really that wellness focused brand within the portfolio, and certainly a large convention resort network hotel uh within that subset. So we're a premium hotel. And so what do we do to try to focus in on those travelers? And how do we really differentiate ourselves from the rest of that portfolio? Well, we focus in on several wellness pillars, right? So we have eat well, we have sleep well, uh, we have play well, just to name a few. So when you think about how do you sleep well, how do we pull that through and differentiate Weston Heavenly Bed? I can't tell you how many customers come into our hotel and say, I own one of those at home, and how passionate they are about this is the best bed. Uh, in our hotel, we're fortunate enough we were actually the first to launch the next generation Heavenly Bed, which is also just an amazing night's sleep. Think about playing well or working well and maintaining high levels of fitness. Well, how do we do that with our fitness studio? So we have a Weston workout studio that's 10,000 square feet. It's the biggest studio that you'll find in any hotel in the DC market. Uh, and certainly, you know, how many times do I have customers that come up to me and say, you know, you don't need to show me the gym. I've I've seen it before, you know, it's that little closet in the side of the corner of the hotel. This is not, we tell people very often, no, no, no, you you want to take a look at this. This is how you elevate that experience. So that's how we're really trying to differentiate and make sure people understand when they come to this hotel, it really has their health and wellness in consideration of all aspects of the building.
SPEAKER_01That's really nice because the gym, um, I'm someone when I travel, I do like to go to the gym. And I, it's always a little awkward when you're seeing like your co-workers in the gym. So if it's like some tiny crammed room and then you're like right next to them on the treadmill, like I don't know, it's just a little weird. So it sounds like if you have a huge space like that, you could spread out.
SPEAKER_00We do, we do. And erotically, uh, again, just to speak to that, some people don't like to work out in the gym. So we actually have several suites that have Pelotons in them if they want to do their workout in their room and and not be in the front of you know a giant crowd of people. So again, we're trying to think of those aspects and what different travelers would define as their health experience. And and so we think we have quite a few great solutions for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's that's really nice. I I used to have a West and Heavenly bat, and I'm sad that I don't have one anymore. So maybe that'll be my next one. I went in a different direction and I regret it. Yeah. So uh so as you know and our listeners know, at BCD, obviously, we do corporate meetings, and of course, we have tons of professional meeting planners that work for us and for our customers, and they have a lot of knowledge, obviously. They know how to plan meetings. We have purchasing and sourcing managers who work with your team amongst others to negotiate contracts and look for space. I'm just curious from your perspective on a sale, on the sales side, when an RFP is coming through, like what are you really looking for? Like what could we do to make it attractive for you to want to bid on?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a great question, right? Because we we want to work with as many groups as possible, right? Back to the Tetris board sort of analogy that I was using earlier. How can we get these all to fit together? So sometimes that means the largest booking, but it's not as simple as, oh, the largest booking, right? There's a lot that goes into that thought process. So I would say there's a few things that can make RFPs just a little bit more enticing, and at least from the sales side, that would certainly expedite the process or lead to a better, better negotiation results. So, first of all, is date flexibility. So I know there's a time and a place where, hey, I have this group arriving tomorrow, I need it now, and I need an answer. So there's a time and a place to say we just need to make it happen if we have it available tomorrow. But for the most part, I think you would be surprised how many planners say they're not flexible until the reality sets in that their dates aren't available. And so we have to come up with other solutions. So I think being open-minded to those dates, even if, of course, there's a center target of what you're aiming for, being able to have just sort of in your back pocket a couple of dates that are options is always something to note in those RFBs. The second piece would be, again, back to the total revenue. It's not all about the largest revenue all the time, right? Sometimes there's other aspects of the revenue that really help us. We need something smaller to fit well with whatever else may be on our books. So looking at the total catering spend, looking at the total audiovisual spend, all of those things are important to the total picture. I think there may have been some misconception in the past of it's all about rooms, rooms, rooms, rooms, rooms. And it really is. And I think even more so in this day and age, uh, we're really looking at the total revenue that a group brings to the table. And then I'd say the third and sort of final piece that's really, really helpful to expedite the process is providing day-by-day history. I think customers in general, from my lens, at least individually here, I see history provide it, right? Oh, they were in this city the year before. They were in that city the year before that, and they can give us the cities, but really the day-by-day uh numbers, because the question is gonna come up. My team is gonna ask, I really need to see those pickup numbers. So I make sure I can give you all the rooms that make sense. And you think about how do we manage risks together, right? How do we get blocks that are really genuinely the best fit for the hotel and for the group? Getting that day-by-day history on the front end really saves a lot of time and back and forth later on in the process. So those would be my suggestions to just create the best RFP that's outstanding.
SPEAKER_01Got it. Okay, all right. Yeah, I I agree with you. A lot of times our clients will say that they're not flexible and then and then they are. In terms of you were mentioning that the revenue is important, obviously. We're, you know, you're you're running a business, like you're you're there to make money. Some of our customers, a lot of our customers, uh, have to deal with meal caps. So they can only spend a certain amount of money on on their meals, and that definitely would decrease the revenue as as compared to maybe like a tech company or somebody that doesn't have a meal cap. It sounds like, I mean, our suspicion is that that is a factor. It seems logical that it is, but it sounds like it can be, but it's not the only factor, right?
SPEAKER_00No, certainly not the only factor. And it's all about just having the right set of dates that make sense for both parties, right? It's about finding the middle ground together about where's the best place to take this and a little bit of flexibility on one side, a little bit of flexibility on the others, and that's how we come up with these solutions, right? I think, you know, for us, at least at our hotel, what we try to do with different industries. Again, we're working with many different industries, so we see it all. And it's about understanding what that customer's need is and ideally coming up with those solutions before you're getting those RFPs so that you already have that sort of thought process of where it needs to go. And then you're gonna hopefully alleviate the back and forth down the road, right? Because how frustrating for a customer to think that maybe we're interested and then we don't have a solution and we have to, you know, add extra weeks onto this timeline to try to figure ourselves out. You know, so our approach is uh as best as we can to get that resolved on the front end, really have a great idea going in together. And I think that's where long-term strategies come into play, really having those connections and those conversations before the RFP ever gets there, right? And that way we're already on the same page and moving in the right direction together.
SPEAKER_01What about customers that are space hogs? You know, they want like they have, I don't know, 40 rooms on peak, but they need like 16 breakouts or something like that.
SPEAKER_00We've never seen any of this. No, yeah, yeah. Again, it's all about the time and place, right? So sometimes, as you mentioned before, we do have a business to run, and that business is to maximize our occupancy. And there's a time and a place where hotels are going to be in a position to do so rather easily, and there's gonna be a time and a place where maybe there's different demands, and it's just not the right date. It doesn't necessarily mean no it means we need to just find a date where we can find the middle ground where we can provide that option yeah okay because I think our sourcing managers generally I mean you know they're busy you're busy everybody's busy so they're sending the RFPs primarily through a tool like C Vent but it sounds like in some cases it would be better to just uh call you or your team I think it's the balance right so every every customer has their needs and and Cvent's just an amazing resource clearly we use that as well and uh it provides you all sorts of options to provide that but it gets back to the root of the industry right which is hospitality ultimately we're in a hospitality business and there's a time and a place to move quickly move efficiently get the notes out and get it back and and customers sometimes aren't in the mood for a phone call and we have to recognize that right because maybe business doesn't allow and we need to be sensitive and cognitive to that but simple phone calls about hey this is this is where this can make sense for us and this is where we could find a solution for you. It's a little bit hard to do that through an email at times right sometimes it's just let's pick up the phone and work this out together. Yeah absolutely all right I know I've been asking a lot of questions about the sales process I know you want to talk about your hotel you shared a couple really cool things about it already about the the beds and the the gym but tell me a little bit about uh and our listeners about the Weston DC downtown yeah absolutely yes to your point we're super excited about it so we launched as a Weston we had previously been a Renaissance hotel for many decades here in the market that's how we were well known and um we were due up for that renovation cycle and through those conversations the narrative kind of changed of how you know we're doing great but how can we just change the experience create a new story and do something different in this market and Weston was just a brand that really stood out as an opportunity here. So it was over a hundred million dollar renovation and when you talk about you know sometimes hotels uh you may see a renovation and oh it's just the rooms this year and maybe it's the meeting space next year and we were incredibly fortunate that we got to do it all in one swoop. So it was really a top to bottom process everything from the guest rooms the lobby bar and to our meeting space. So it is just an eye-popping experience when you walk in for the first time especially if you had seen it prior. When you walk in it has just amazing ambiance you're greeted by uh just a lovely hotel, restaurant and bar that has just great lighting effects that we really elevated that experience. There's a Weston well to the left which is a new approach for many different Westons that's uh making it to a hotel near you down the road but the Weston well provides alkaline and still and it's three different types of water in there, right? So you think about small aspects if I'm a planner, oh you know I love those aluminum bottles, right? We all want to reduce waste but if you don't have a place to fill up those water bottles, those bottles go to waste so we have hydration stations throughout the guest room floors, throughout the meeting space floors to help really really go back to that wellness feature. When you get down to our meeting space so we have 7000 square feet of space and we have really spent a lot of time uplifting the experience below. So in the Washington DC market we have height restrictions that limit our buildings right so a lot of the meeting spaces across hotels across brands go below grade. So for us how do we really lighten it up how do we add this extra feel so when you go below grade it doesn't feel that way and this was a lot of time and effort there we've created a lot of networking spaces that you'll see throughout the building more places to connect and plug into uh how many times you break out of a meeting space and you can't find a place to charge your laptop we have added and we have thought about that and there is ports everywhere. Then you get up to the guest rooms right so we have 807 guest rooms and we have a multitude of suites. I mentioned the suites that have Pelotons in them before but some really really just clean and polished look we have that next generation heavenly bed uh we're so close to our Marriott corporate headquarters here so we get to really really augment a lot of the resources we have locally here to help come up with a lot of these great things that we get to roll out to the rest of the Western brand but that next generation heavenly bed is just amazing. And then you walk over to that fitness studio which again is is quite an option when you get into there. So I could talk endlessly about it but there's just some great features throughout the building.
SPEAKER_01Yeah it sounds really awesome it definitely sounds like a focus on wellness like you said which I think has been a big focus for our customers as well. It's something that the attendees want sometimes the individual that's planning the meeting or responsible for the agenda of the meeting is so excited to have everybody together that they just want to cram like a thousand things into the agenda and then we don't get to take advantage of the wellness even though we all know that we should be because and on one of my previous podcasts we talked about it if you're working a normal work day maybe your hours are 8 30 to five so when you're at a meeting theoretically those should be the same hours. Maybe you have a separate dinner or something but like you shouldn't have to start at like 7 30 in the morning and end at six o'clock and have 15 minutes to call your loved ones.
SPEAKER_00So well on that note too I mean it's you know thinking about how their planners are trying to cram things in it you know it's nice to know that there's places that are thinking of how do we take some of that off your plate. We actually have an interesting statistic which is over 85% of our guests are engaging in some type of wellness activity while they're staying with us. Right. So what does that look like on a meeting planner side? And that's a unique hotel statistic statistic, excuse me. And you know what does that look like on a planner side knowing that your attendees they're they're doing some things that maybe you don't need, you don't know about and maybe that gives you a little bit of freedom to leave some things for them to decide what to do and making sure that you're finding a place that has those options available to them.
SPEAKER_01You're totally right they're not just sitting around bored and you need to be worried that they're not like you know entertained they're they're doing their thing. But I think you're saying all the you know you're ticking all the boxes I know just as a personal like a leisure traveler like being able to refill my water bottle and not having to spend $150 on like you know 10 waters because I'm one of those people that's drinking water every second. And then yes a comfortable bed I would imagine your hotel is quite quiet and soundproof which is also something people really like and then the gym it sounds like our meeting planners have a lot of good tools right you've got good meeting space you've got wellness and I I would imagine if they need any help shaping their agenda you guys would be happy to provide some suggestions. What else do you have for them? Like for example some hotels might have a charitable giving program that the planner could partake in and to do a little bit of CSR at the meeting. Do you have anything like that?
SPEAKER_00So I think uh there's a great program that that's across our our Marriott Bonvoy not even necessarily specific to our hotel that we try to encourage with planners is a connect responsibility uh connect responsibly initiative and what planners can do is they can sign up to receive a meeting impact report and think about certainly with BCD's business of such a a large contingent of uh corporate companies that have these initiatives and in carbon offset programs this is a great way we can provide some feedback about what that what that plan looked like throughout the program and give those details back to either use it to help meet those targets that that company or organization may have or to think differently about the next time and what can be a change to approach. And I think that impact report can be really really useful for planners. And then the other piece that we're doing here I mean I if they haven't already sign up for the Marit Bonvoy app it just makes your life so much easier to just sign up for the app. Do the I use it all the time you know my family I've encouraged them to use it just you can connect with the front desk you can do so much with it and it continues to evolve every every year right so those would be the areas I would focus on.
SPEAKER_01Okay all right I also have to ask you so obviously you're in DC and every couple of years there's a new administration it comes in and out. So I would think that your client base would evolve every couple of years right like you might have different groups that are more attracted to the area or less attracted to the area based on whoever is sitting in the White House. Is that is that an accurate assumption?
SPEAKER_00Well no I not not quite so I would say regardless of how the political winds are changing our focus is has been and always has been to to sell this city as this amazing vibrant destination right so yes it's a a pretty big focus of our our business here compared to other markets but there is so much to do in Washington DC the vast majority of my customers are coming because they want to be in this city they want to know that there's over a thousand restaurants and bars that are outside my my doors they want to go to the different activities that are free for their for their attendees or if they're coming here on leisure for families uh they want to come because it's accessible because it's right around the corner from the airport and you can take a ride across the Potomac or you can walk over to Chinatown you can walk through Georgetown the wharf and all these other amazing places that are vibrant like U Street right that that's what's bringing attendees and ultimately giving them just a great experience here. So while you know certainly we tailor we don't tailor our strategy to a specific administration we're here to just make sure every type of group is having an enjoyable time in DC.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I went to DC um I think it was in November of last year and I mean I've been to DC a many times but it is such a gorgeous city and you're right everything's not everything but there's a lot of free stuff. I mean all the museums and everything so it's it's it's pretty amazing what you can see for free which you know as a leisure traveler or if you're even attending a meeting but you've got some free time like we who doesn't love free so absolutely a nighttime tour around DC I mean it is there anything more beautiful than that and it's free right so there's so many just amazing options uh for for every type of traveler. Yeah. All right last question for you Ben I'm just curious about trends just in the in the hotel sales space in general like are you seeing higher volume, lower volume? Are you seeing different group sizes? Like what are you seeing trend wise?
SPEAKER_00Oh it's I mean it's it's been all over the place when you think about sizes. So certainly I I don't know if anybody has the the right answer to you know different sizes coming out of COVID. You see groups that are growing you see groups that have less attendees it's just such a mixture. But I would say there's a couple general trends that we see at least at our hotel that are um you know unique unique situations. So I would say one is every planner wants a unique space. It's all about return on experience and they want a unique space. They don't necessarily want their people sitting in a ballroom all day long. So for us our Magnolia ballroom which we just launched with the indoor outdoor terrace, you know it it connects into a place we call Anthem Row, which is the equivalent of almost taking over a city block right there in our in our backyard attached to this terrace and you can do so many interesting events, you know, food trucks out there and all kinds of great activities that you can really do to amplify that that that guest experience. So I think unique spaces is one thing. And it's really hard to come by that indoor outdoor space in DC in particular. So for us it's a great benefit. And then the other you know piece I would say is a is a heavy heavy focus is unique food and beverage options, right? So everybody wants something different for food and beverage. And so there's small subtle ways that you can make changes or amplify them. And we have a fantastic culinary team here. We have a great chef Chef Lindsay we have our own pastry chef which I always joke is sort of like your secret weapon at any hotel is having a pastry chef in-house, right? Always be best friends with the pastry chef, especially if you like desserts like myself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But no, I know so for instance, you know we we make this hand pressed juice in the morning. So let's just say it's a hand pressed carrot juice that we we use on our menus. That carrot juice, there's pulp from that we can take that pulp and we craft it into our carrot muffins or carrot cupcakes that we use later on. And so by doing those small subtle changes and using those great ingredients, we can also reduce the food waste and that's a great creative example right of of these unique food and beverage. And you know those are talking points for meeting planners to bring back again going back to the green initiatives and going back to unique ways to have food and beverage offerings that that speaks to it. You know we added a brick oven pizza to the center of our restaurant that we didn't uh have before and our chef spent two years on that sauce to get it down right until everybody was satisfied that this is the winner. And so we have that great pizza in the focus now that's handmade you know right there with such a focus on the on the high level of ingredients to pull it off. So yeah food and beverage food and beverage food and beverage that is a hot topic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I love that and I would definitely encourage any meeting planners listening to ask those questions and and get the information because because as an attendee I do love to hear that stuff especially like oh I've reused this or we recycled this or yeah it took two years to make this sauce just makes it all the more special and like you're really having that you know kind of once in a lifetime you know opportunity. How would you have known that if we hadn't had that conversation right of that's what went into this carrot muffin right exactly right you thought you thought it was just a carrot muffin but it's so much more. Ben thank you so much for joining the podcast today and really pulling back the curtain on sales and how it is to run sales in a hotel very interesting stuff. I think it was helpful for myself helpful for our listeners and I really appreciate you joining us today.
SPEAKER_00Uh Jenna no I've really really enjoyed it I can tell that TV background you had from before just really shines shines well here in in in this situation. But thank you so much for having me on this today. We really appreciate your time and thank you for just uh giving us the platform to share this wonderful renovation we had here at the West in DC Down.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely I hope we can visit you soon. Thank you, Ben. That's all the time we have for today if you liked what you heard please like and subscribe. I'm Jenna Baker and this is Meetings Matter Chatter