How Google’s Former Event Manager Works Better with Hotels

An event manager’s workday usually consists of a full, if not, overflowing plate. From meeting with caterers to booking hotel rooms, there is one thing that always stays the same: the abundance of contracts and payments that come with each event. I sat down with Sertifi’s new event manager, Ginger Hart, CMP, to get her take on the benefit of automated processes and the impact they have on her workflow. 

All In a Day’s Work 

With over 20 years of experience working in event management, Ginger has lent her talents to big names like Google and NASCAR. Her greatest feat so far? Renting out Disneyland for a week for 10,000 people. 

“That Disneyland event was fun, but it was equally as cumbersome due to the paper pushing that came with it,” she said reflecting on the event. 

To pull off this ambitious task, Ginger partnered with 14 different hotels, along with multiple event spaces and restaurants at and near the park, to make sure every event attendee had access to three meals a day and a place to stay on the company dime. 

Print, Sign, Scan, Repeat 

Without any digital forms or payments at her disposal, Ginger had to lean on traditional print methods to sign and submit physical authorization forms for each attendee’s hotel stay, along with individual BEOs for each mealtime, function, and restaurant – sometimes handling almost 100 pages per contract! 

“At the time, there were no streamlined payment options. Everything was sent over fax, and it was miserable. Every single form, whether it was an authorization form, a BEO, or a contract that required a signature, had to be faxed to me, printed out, signed, scanned, and sent back. It was not secure at all and definitely not preferred.” 

Losing Business Thanks to Manual Processes 

But the madness didn’t stop there. When it came time to pay for a room block consisting of 300 rooms at one of the hotels on Ginger’s radar, the hotel refused to use an authorization form and was going to require each attendee to put their own card down at check-in. 

“I begged the sales manager to let me at least provide the credit card details over the phone if he wasn’t going to allow me to fill out an authorization form. I knew that without it, an overwhelming situation would be created not only for his front desk team but also for the 300 people and their families trying to check in all at once.” 

When the sales manager didn’t budge, Ginger took her business elsewhere, resourcing three different hotels nearby who did offer authorization forms.  

“In the end, I didn’t want my team members to have to put a card down because not everyone had the liquid cash to do that. I thought, ‘This is a company event. It should be paid for by the company.’” 

A Simplified Workflow 

Today, Ginger covets digital authorization forms, contracts, and payment solutions as they’ve simplified her workload, helped her provide information more securely, and allow her to focus on her event strategy rather than paper pushing. 

“The manual process was not easy, but it was the only way. The only other option was not having the event. It required so much running around, I always thought, ‘Why can’t we streamline this and do it all online?’ And now we can!” 

A Streamlined Workflow 

Ginger prefers working with hotels who offer a group authorization form for reserving room blocks, so there’s just one form to complete for every guest. She also prioritizes hotels who’ve ditched paper and allow you to contract and pay for events online. 

“I love using digital authorization forms to authorize specific charges knowing that my preferences are documented, so I don’t have to be onsite for my card to be processed. I’m also no longer hyper aware of every charge. When it comes to big expenses like deposits, I love having the option to pay online, on a schedule, with the ability to complete them anywhere with my phone or laptop in a second so I don’t have to wait around or find a fax.” 

A Secure Workflow 

Whether it’s authorization forms, digital contracts, or online payments, Ginger values the extra layer of security and ease that comes with digital solutions. 

“I’m also no longer worried about credit card details sitting in a paper tray unguarded. I really appreciate it when a digital payment or authorization tool utilizes tokenization. That way, security is one less thing for me and the sales manager to worry about. I’m free from jumping through hoops to event plan as I please.” 

Ginger loves digital solutions so much, it prompted her to join Sertifi, which she used in the past as an event manager. Sertifi’s digital solutions were created to streamline your workflows in a secure and simplified manner while offering customers greater convenience. Explore how Sertifi can help your property here.