Hilton Hotels & Resorts may be the next shoe to drop on the cutting of commissions for independent meeting planners starting October 1, 2018, according to David Bruce, who leads the Meeting Planners Unite group.
Meeting Planners Unite, which was conceived to provide a voice for independent planners, was formed in protest of Marriott International’s January 2018 announcement that it was cutting the commission rate to 7 percent from the traditional 10 percent for group business booked at its U.S. and Canadian properties.
Bruce said the information that Hilton will cut planner commissions on October 1, has not been confirmed, but does come from “two very strong sources,” one of which is a large tradeshow producer and the other a member of the “Big Four” third party meeting planning companies that were exempted from the Marriott cut.
“I do hope Hilton is smarter than this,” said Bruce, managing partner of the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas-area meeting planning and association management company CMP Meeting Services, in a message to his Meeting Planners Unite colleagues via its LinkedIn group. Meetings Today will provide more updates once available.
Read more about the Marriott Commission cuts, and David Bruce, here.
