Corinthia Hotels | Cvent Supplier Network Certification
Introduction
Corinthia Hotels, a collection of five-star luxury hotels, is a brand which prides itself on its family-led spirit, generosity and good service. Founded by the Pisani family of Malta in 1962, the business now comprises of nine hotels spread across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Over the past year, the brand faced pandemic-related struggles akin to many hospitality businesses across the world. With a third of their business typically generated by MICE, they wanted to optimise their use of the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN) to help generate more business once it began to return. Facing a reduced workforce, Corinthia decided to use the time productively by elevating their employees’ CSN skills, therefore, the Cvent Certification Programme was a perfect solution.
We spoke to Carey Duckworth, Head of Global Sales for Corinthia Hotels about why they partook in the programme and what changes it brought about for their team and hotels.
What made you decide to get your teams Cvent certified?
Initially we looked through the Cvent Supplier Network Certification. For our current team and new team members it was important for them to understand the importance of the tool, how we utilise it, and what we have done with it in the past. A huge part of that is that we invested a huge number of financial resources and time into the platform which we found has been hugely beneficial. We have enjoyed incredible support from key Cventers over the years and we have further utilised and developed the tool. In some of our key MICE business we have taken advantage of the tailor-made request for proposal (RFP) response tools.
For these reasons we agreed we needed to invest the time as we wanted to go back and rebuild our pipeline off the back of the pandemic. And part of that was making sure that the people on the ground had confidence in using and knew the importance the CSN. The other reason was to show our key stakeholders in our business the importance of the tool because as you can imagine, as in most hotel companies the financial side of this now has become scrutinised more than ever before. We needed to make sure we could demonstrate the value of the CSN for the short and long term.
How did your staff prepare to take the Cvent Supplier Network Certification exam?
We shared all of the training courses Cvent supplies. We monitored our employees’ progress when they were taking it and how they were doing based on their workload. Also, these guys were on furlough, so these certifications weren’t quick – they were built over a number of months.
In what way has your use of the Cvent Supplier Network changed since taking the certification?
It really helped our team understand the way they should be utilising the CSN and improved their general understanding of it. It’s helped them be more efficient on the platform and also the follow-up process, the qualification process; being able to drill down and understand how solid a lead is for London vs. a lead which is giving us 15 destinations; how do we best spend our time? At the moment we’re time-poor due to a lack of resources like most businesses.
How would you say the certification has helped your staff in their roles?
The certification allowed us to realign and refocus. Our roles have changed and diversified, it made sure that we had an impact on the area of where our revenue streams were coming from, and this platform is key for that. It made sure our teams were laser-focused on those areas while really getting a better understanding of how the platform works and improving everyone’s use. It allowed us to be at our sharpest when return started to happen.
What are the overall benefits the Cvent Certification has had?
The certification has borne fruit and we have seen growth, month after month which is positive, and several our hotels have started to win business. The tool is helping us push our message out and we can circulate our on-property promotions and brand promotions.
What advice would you give someone who is considering getting certified?
I would say absolutely do it. For every property there should be a Cvent champion, and that person should lead the accreditation programme for the property and get as many people as possible to really get an understanding of what the programme offers and what it offers your hotel and how it fits into your structure and strategies around these market segments. I’d say it’s a great initiative and you’ve just got to be able to blend it in with the time that you’ve got.
