Planners Shy From Tattling On Reps

No one likes to be the bad guy.

When meeting planners have a bad experience with a salesperson, they usually don't take their complaint to the top. They're more apt to switch suppliers, or even just to tell their peers about their experience, than to contact the salesperson's boss.

"It's disappointing, but not surprising to me, that this is what happens," said Louis Kievit, director of sales and marketing at the Grand Hyatt New York. "It's not always comfortable to call the director of sales and possibly be the reason someone loses their job, and changing suppliers or complaining to peers is easier than dealing with conflict."

David Scypinski, vice president of industry relations for Starwood Resorts and Hotels, said he doesn't blame planners for dropping suppliers whose salespeople have failed them in some respect. "If something is defective, it's defective, and we better fix it for the long haul," he said.

As for some planners' strategy of spreading word about an under-performing salesperson to their peers, Scypinski said it's not OK if planners do that in a public forum. "There's a non-quid-pro-quo standard in the industry. We [hoteliers] don't say to our colleagues, 'Such and such association is crappy.' To publicly badmouth either side is one of the most irresponsible things you can do, because everyone's experience is different."

Agreed Terri Breining, president of Concepts Worldwide in San Diego and current chair of Meeting Professionals International, "Maybe it doesn't reflect well on us as an industry that we can't be upfront. We should talk to the supervisor before trashing someone or just leaving a supplier partner without explanation.

"Going to the boss is more responsible than engaging in character assassination or just going away mad."