Successful Room Block Management Part 1: Blind Cuts

When your event is 60 days away, ask the hotel what total occupancy they’re forecasting over your meeting dates. Then have them update you every other week until your arrival date. Most hotels begin building forecasts months in advance. However, there are still a lot of assumptions in place. If you find that the hotel is forecasting a 90%+ occupancy On any day over your meeting dates, you’ll want to have a conversation. The conversation can go two ways:

• If you feel you’ll meet or exceed your block: Let them know this ASAP. Right now that forecast likely has you achieving only up to the blind cut. Giving the hotel your thoughts on pick-up will help them protect your block while better forecasting their occupancy.
• If you’re likely not going to pick up your full block: Tell them ASAP. When a hotel forecasts 90% or higher occupancy, they’ll begin to cut down on different channels in order to get the highest rate possible. Letting them know ahead of time will enable them to keep these channels open longer.

Accurate forecasting is a key way that hotels manage their inventory and maximize their occupancy. Knowing how your hotel partners manage that forecasting process will help you protect your own block, while avoiding attrition penalties or possible walks.

Next time, I’ll talk about attrition, as well as three key points to keep in mind when negotiating the allowable attrition clause in the contract.

Learn more about how hotels typically use blind cuts, cut-off dates and attrition, so you can make the right decisions in managing your room block with our free ebook, How to Manage Your Room Block & Avoid Attrition.