Corporate meeting planners now have a new way to source and book hotels, and better manage the event planning process: Planner+, a new online platform specifically designed to provide enterprise-level meeting and event planners with the support and tools needed to coordinate and manage corporate events.  

Created by Groups360 and powered by its integrated web-based hotel and event space booking platform GroupSync, the new solution offers a specialized set of tools and features to help planners simplify, standardize, and streamline the planning process, including request and approval workflows, meeting request forms, and budgeting, booking, and tracking tools.

“One of the inherent challenges that Planner+ solves for company meeting and event planners is organizing and standardizing the disparate processes that companies use to plan and track various types of events,” explained Christian Oliver, senior vice president, product for Groups360. “To address this growing industry need, we have developed a comprehensive system that allows corporate planners and teams to easily build and track all meeting data, including event criteria, budgets, expenditure, and tiered approvals within a single portal that is accessible to all company stakeholders.”

He continued, “We built in different budgeting tiers and different approval processes based on those budgets so that companies can customize exactly how they want approvals to work. Since it’s built within GroupSync, it also provides powerful hotel sourcing and booking capabilities that [can] save significant time and money—both valuable resources for any size organization.”

The initial release of Planner+ includes an in-app meeting request form with a customizable multi-step approval process and financial reporting tools. Additional features will be available soon, including the ability to apply an organization’s Master Service Agreements (MSA) and set preferred hotel properties, chains, or brands for every user within an organization, according to Groups360 officials.

Founded in 2014 by former hotel industry executives David Kloeppel and Kemp Gallineau to help improve and refine the way group meetings and events are booked and managed, Groups360 was created to make group travel simpler and more transparent.

Enter GroupSync, the company’s integrated technology solution, which enables suppliers to distribute inventory, engage with planners, and optimize group revenue, while enabling enables planners to search, shop, source, and book hotel properties that fit their needs based on their criteria, such as number of rooms, price range, location, and meeting spaces.

According to Groups360 officials, the GroupSync marketplace enables meeting planners to shop, source, and book, with the ability to see live real-time rates and availability at more than 25,000 global properties. Instant booking is also available at participating hotels, which allows planners to book 10-25 rooms online—as well as event space for up to 50 people, AV and catering—without having to contact the hotel or go through the traditional RFP process.

For larger meetings, GroupSync offers a simplified RFP process that streamlines, tracks, and organizes hotel responses into a single dashboard.

Created in response to customer feedback, Planner+ was designed to meet the needs of a range of planners, from the head of a meetings department and a third-party meeting planner to an executive assistant or anyone seeking a simpler way to customize the corporate event booking process, according to said Cayce Tubeville, Groups360 regional sales director.

“Planner+ is solving a series of problems for meeting planners, [including having a] better understanding and control over who can book what size program, what they’re spending and where they’re spending it,” Tubeville said. “It gives you the ability to have more controls and parameters around things that are important to your company.”

To learn more about Groups360 and GroupSync Planner+, watch this video.

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