Catering and Convention Service Survival Guide in Hotels and Casinos

Lisa Lynn Backus, Patti J. Shock

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781631575914
• eBook ISBN: 9781631575921
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

The role of the catering and convention service manager (CCSM) is diverse and must juggle event components. This book imparts authors' in-depth knowledge of what a CCSM does, what emotional and technical skills are required, how to relate to planners, and execute contracts. It covers communication, food and beverage information, banquet service styles, menu planning, and event space setup standards. Included are best practices of working with nonprofits, social, wedding, association, corporate, VIP, celebrity events, and tradeshows. The authors also discuss how this industry operates within casino properties. Then, the revenue upsell opportunities for all stakeholders, industry accounting, and the paperwork that pulls it all together.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to the Catering and Convention Service Field: Your Job Is So Glamorous You Party Every Day

“Your job is so glamorous, you plan parties all day!” Catering and convention service managers (CCSMs) and event planners of all types hear this frequently from others who are in awe of what we do.

The truth behind this infamous curtain of sensationalized perception is that the majority of the time of a CCSM’s work is in a standard office environment, or out on the convention floor and juggling a variety of duties.

CCSMs spend good deal of time gathering planner and group information via e-mails, conference calls, and in-person preplanning meetings. They ask a variety of questions to learn about the various groups, their profiles, and guest demographics. Additionally, they seek to understand the meeting planner’s objectives and how they prefer their reports to be submitted. All of these are happening while the planners are on a site inspection and fact-finding mission of their own regarding the property, the policies, and the interworking of various departments.

CCSMs struggle with the dynamics of what a planner wants, what their superiors’ desire, and how they plan for their guests based on what the actual guest expectation is when their events occur. A good article is “20 Things Event Planners Say.”¹

For example, a planner may schedule a morning coffee before a meeting when a guest is actually expecting a breakfast. A planner may be on a strict budget and doesn’t provide enough coffee for the entire group. This leaves guests unhappy and often believing the hotel did not prepare adequately for them. This is a tough position to be in as a CCSM as you must be professional enough to respond to the guests and not point fingers or blame your planner, and at the same time offer the guest an alternative for purchasing breakfast items within the hotel and inform them of the next time when hosted coffee will be available.

The bulk of time for CCSMs is spent preparing banquet event orders (BEOs) for each event that must be produced by the hotel. For social events such as weddings or galas, there could be 2 to 6 BEOs; for small meetings there could be 10 to 20 BEOs; for really large conventions there can be a few hundred BEOs. Depending on the complexity of the event, it could take 15 minutes to over an hour to create a single BEO.

A typical day for a CCSM without a group in-house could start off with reviewing and prioritizing a list of to-do items made from the previous day, checking e-mails, returning calls, attending file assignment and staff meetings, diving into BEO completions, being interrupted by planner calls for events a year or two from now (requiring you to open a different file on your desk and opening new screens on your computer). Sometimes this is followed by the exact same request from another planner, now creating a mess of open files on your desk and computer. Then a sales manager might call to say a planner is coming for an unplanned site visit tomorrow at which time, of course, you already have a preplanning visit scheduled with another group. Your next call is from another sales manager requesting a floor plan diagram for 1,000 guests, classroom style in a ballroom where little other setup information is provided and they won’t sign a contract till they see their meeting on a diagram today.

If the day consists of having a group in-house, then we might be to work by 6:30 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. breakfast followed by the 8:00 a.m. general session, the 10:00 a.m. coffee break, a 12:00 p.m. lunch, 3:00 p.m. coffee break, a reset of the general session room and breakout rooms, the exhibit hall opening, and finding time to fit in more juggling of all of the above. Finally, a 6:00 p.m. reception with a 7:00 p.m. gala event with amazing food, signature drinks, and celebrity entertainment, allowing you to post photos on Facebook and receiving the following feedback from your friends: “Your job is so glamorous, you plan parties all day!”

The principal function of a CCSM is to execute a sales contract in all its glory while ensuring planner satisfaction, making money for all stakeholders and, of course, within the planner’s budget. Now that is a super successful CCSM!

Catering and Convention Services Manager

This person services meetings, conventions, and social events that are turned over to them from the convention sales or catering sales team.

Catering Sales Manager

Catering sales manager (CSM) makes the initial contact with social or meeting planners without guestrooms. They negotiate and implement the sales contract, which is turned over to the executive director and directors of catering and convention services, who turns them over to the appropriate CCSM after both parties have signed the contract.

Assistant or Associate Director, Director, Executive Director of Catering and Convention Service

These leaders oversee the department and are responsible for the day-to-day operations. Part of their responsibility is to facilitate file assignments from the sales team to a CCSM. Additionally, these positions also perform the tasks of CCSMs.

Hotel Convention Sales Manager

This person is the initial contact with various convention meeting planners, third-party meeting planners and corporate meeting planners. They also negotiate and implement convention sales contracts, which are turned over to the executive director and directors of catering and convention services who in then turns them over to the appropriate CCSM after both parties have signed the contract.

Other titles at some properties include the staffs that perform both the sales and services for groups. These include but are not limited to executive meeting manger, event manager, event coordinator and include in their titles, associate, senior, assistant, or associate director, director and executive director.

A CCSM’s duties are all encompassing. They are information central from the planner to other hotel departments on communicating what a catering and convention group will be doing during their time within the hotel.

The duties of a CCSM can consist of any or all of the following:

• Assist sales managers on site visits, creates diagrams prior to contract signing.
• Conduct preplanning meeting and menu tasting after file turn over and before the actual program begins.
• Provide information to hotel departments via an electronically generated document they create called a group resume. The resume will have the BEOs, group guest room block pick-up, key contacts, VIPs, arrivals, accounting codes, schedule of events within the conference center, hosted meals, free time, and off-property events. This allows all other departments to staff accordingly for check-in, check-out, restaurant and outlets, valet, housekeeping, exhibit load-in and load-out, and so on.
• Schedule and conduct pre-cons (pre-convention meetings).
• Organize planner offering such as banner hanging, personalized hotel key cards, bell stand room deliveries, marketing and advertising opportunities to planner and their vendors or sponsors.
• Work with the exhibit, decorator, or drayage companies for those groups that have exhibit halls included in their programs (Often this includes the purchase of hotel items such as ice, cups, electrical, Wi-Fi, etc.).
• Work directly with planner affiliates on sponsored food and beverage events.
• Prepare floor plan diagrams and fire marshal permit diagrams.
• Coordinate contracted concessions such as amenities and discounts.
• Prepare BEOs and send to planner for approval prior to group arrival and for distribution within the hotel for operations teams.
• React professionally and quickly to pop-up events and unknown onsite changes.
• Arrange planner limos for arrivals and departures.
• Provide daily banquet checks for planner signature approval while group is in-house.
• Advise planner on food and beverage current expenditures compared to the contracted minimum.
• Administer hotel planner recognition program.
• Seek planner participation in the meeting planner satisfaction survey.
• Work with hotel auditing and accounting departments, as well as preferred vendors on final billing.

A career in catering and convention services is an amazing opportunity for the person who is very detailed in their communication proficiencies and who likes a bit of autonomy. The CCSM must have the energy to work long hours and weekends, not be afraid of the unknown and like to coordinate several small items to make one harmonious event. The CCSM must also enjoy being surrounded by controlled commotion, all with proven upsell talents and immense customer satisfaction skills.

The Planners

Meeting planners may have a variety of objectives depending on what type of event, meeting, or convention they are planning.

For the most part, meeting planners come in the following categories:

• Corporate
• Association
• Union
• Nonprofit
• Third-party and independent
• Wedding and social
• Government
• Sports
• Special events

For corporate planners, objectives may be focused around accommodating the demands of their VIPs. Also a hot-button for the corporate world is providing exceptional service at every touch point in service. Often the planners take this personally if they believe guests will blame them for something or if the hotel’s misgivings are making them look bad to their guests and superiors.

Planners, for expediency, often tend to address the CCSM directly about issues with the hotel that might not meet their expectations such as long lines at the front desk, long lines at the bars or the amount of time it takes their guests to get through catered buffet lines. As if you, the CCSM, can fix each guest’s interaction with a multitude of questions for the front desk agent, help them decide what to order from the bar or how they scrutinize the food items on the buffet!

Association and union planners are typically looking for a wow at their events. This can include energizing general sessions with entertainment, often with musical introductions. Also, these groups enjoy the latest and greatest in technology: items such as the catch box² which is a microphone in a tossable box enclosure versus using standard standing audience microphones. Member retention and new member recruitment are top priority to their existence, and conferences with the wow factor can be their best tools for engaging members.

The nonprofit planner may focus on reaching the bare minimum in contracted food and beverage guarantees. Additionally, they often rely on monetary sponsorships of their events. Planners have a way to thank these sponsors such as listing their level of contribution on direction or content signage, shout-outs at general sessions, advertisements in printing programs, and so on. In other words, nonprofit events are required to create awareness and raise funds with minimal expenditures. Also the nonprofit planners depend on receiving tangible donations such as auction items that will generate revenue to fund the meeting, event, convention, future projects, and campaigns. It’s important to keep a balance of providing a nonprofit planner with great service while also creating profits for you, your employer, and all stakeholders!

Third-party planners and independent planners are a CCSMs “frenemy.”³ These planners are loved for their organization skills, detailed communication tools, and overall knowledge of the industry and the end user planner. They can also be a nemesis, known for micromanaging a CCSM and often many other hotel positions.

While a CCSM will show up 15 to 20 minutes prior to a food function, these meeting planners may have been there for half an hour, ordering staff around with changes and additions. CCSMs can learn valuable skills from these planners. They work with CCSMs, hotels, conventions centers, and various planners all around the world, using the best practices from all these experiences onsite at your facilities; don’t miss the opportunity to pick up some of their tricks-of-the-trade, like conducting a quick operations meeting with key players of the hotel and their staff daily. These meetings are typically held each day of the program to discuss what worked well and areas for improvement that day and more importantly to review the following day’s details in the areas of timing, setup room turns, audio-visual specifics and changes, VIP needs, food and beverage pop-ups and cancellations, and so on....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 Introduction to the Catering and Convention Service Field: Your Job Is So Glamorous You Party Every Day
• Chapter 2 Required Skill Sets: Apologies, Empathy, and Education
• Chapter 3 What Planners Really Want: Relationships
• Chapter 4 Contracts and Their Execution: The Agreement
• Chapter 5 Communication: Listening and Delivering
• Chapter 6 Food and Beverage: The Catering Part of Catering Convention Services Management
• Chapter 7 Staffing and Service Styles for Food and Beverage Events
• Chapter 8 The Space: Choosing and Setting Up the Room, Outdoor Areas or Tents
• Chapter 9 Nonprofit, Social, and Wedding Events: Understanding the Emotional Side of Events
• Chapter 10 Association and Corporate Events: The Business Side of Tourism
• Chapter 11 Casino, VIP and Celebrity Events, and Tradeshows: Dealing with the Rich and Famous
• Chapter 12 Upselling for Repeat Business and Working with Vendors: Improving the Bottom Line
• Chapter 13 Accounting for Catering and Convention Services
• Glossary
• Appendix
• Index