Robin Reuben sat down with Cindy Ramesh, Director of Sales & Marketing at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, for an honest discussion on how meeting and event planning for the hospitality industry has changed since COVID — and what does the future look like? Robin and Cindy became friends almost 30 years ago through the Meeting Professionals International Northern California Chapter (MPINCC). They served on the board together and have since stayed in touch. Over this time, they have grown to understand the importance of relationships, especially in the meetings industry — and during the outbreak of COVID-19.
Cindy has been in the meetings and events industry for 25 years, starting her career in Monterey, California, working for hotels and was instrumental in the establishment of the Monterey Meeting Connection and the Monterey Convention Authority. Cindy eventually moved onto the planning side of things, landing in a role where she worked with Fortune 500 technology companies. For the past decade or so, Cindy has been at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Cindy has earned her CMP and is a past recipient of the Northern California Chapter’s Meeting Professional of the Year (2002), Hall of Fame award winner (2003), and past chapter president (1999-2000).
On Constant Changes & Trends in the Events Industry
Cindy: I spend probably a good 30-35% of my time on conference calls, board meetings, listening in on the latest and greatest changes in the city, and around the country. But because we are one of the largest employers in this city, we’re very connected to what’s happening in San Francisco. We not only want to know what’s going on and, and changes happening in our city, but we want to have a voice and be an advocate for our industry and for the city as well.
On Preparing for Live Meetings Again
Robin: Another big concern right now is when will people be ready to meet in person. What are you telling clients to tell their audiences in terms of what meetings will look like or what they need to prepare for?
Cindy: For a live meeting to be successful, it is going to take a lot of collaboration between the venue and the planners and expectations must be realistic. The planning team really has to work together to make sure they communicate clearly with their attendees so they understand what they’re walking into, what the regulations will be — not just the expectations of the venues, but also the expectations for the attendees. They need to be responsible for their behavior and their actions and follow the guidelines and rules that will be set.
We are very fortunate to be a worldwide company with several properties that have now actualized live meetings. We have a lot of information to be able to pull from and learn.
Robin: When meetings do come back will there be mega meetings again or will we move into more regional meetings?
Cindy: It’s so interesting. Being in this industry now for over 20 years – everything has a cycle. Back in 2009, 2010, the same thing had happened. We were doing a lot of smaller meetings. Then we started to get into this cycle where planners and companies decided that doing all these small regional meetings was not cost-effective and the idea of consolidating them, making single larger meetings, took hold and these huge mega meetings became the popular thing.
I do think that we are going to hit another cycle where we go back to more regional, smaller meetings, taking place as people start to feel more comfortable gathering again. We are seeing that a lot of customers are deciding this. With regional meetings, people can drive. They might not necessarily want to get on a plane, or if they do get on a plane, they might only want to be on a plane for a couple of hours instead of 8-10 hours. Being Hilton, we have sister properties spread around the country that are working together to help clients transition to smaller regionalized meetings but stay connected. We can broadcast simultaneously across different properties, so everybody’s having the same experience at the same time.
Robin: The million-dollar question I keep hearing is whether hybrids are here to stay forever. People seem to be liking them. Do you think they are here to stay or are they just another cycle?
Cindy: A hybrid meeting solution is going to be here for quite a while, maybe three, four years at a minimum. It’s an ever-changing industry and so much has changed even over the last decade. It is not the same experience, attending a meeting virtually, so as the technology continues to evolve and get better, I see the Hybrid component being more permanent.
On Automation In the Meetings Industry
Cindy: Technology and artificial intelligence are going to continue to play a big role in the meetings industry. I think as AI gets more developed and more commonplace in the industry, you’re going to see it creep more and more into meetings and events.
The question will be, what can we do to help make the experience at a hotel never lose its feeling of hospitality and its feeling of connection, while looking at ways to automate portions of it? Perhaps, automated room service where a robot might serve food up to your guestroom, or maybe part of the cleaning process might get automated. And it could be exciting. It’s always scary at first anytime new technology gets introduced into our world, but I think it’s all going to be about how we embrace it and how we try to pull it in to make it a seamless experience while still maintaining a human connection.
On Relationship Building
Robin: Out of all of this I try and look for a silver lining. What’s one silver lining, one lesson that you’ve learned through this experience?
Cindy: The biggest lesson that I’ve really learned through all of this is how much relationships matter. I value my customer and associate relationships so much. It’s made all the difference. These are tough conversations that we’re having to have with customers as business is just canceled month after month. And they’re not easy conversations but it’s ten times easier when you have a relationship and you’re working with an experienced planner or a person that you’ve known and developed a relationship with.
Robin: What’s one of the hardest things that you had to do in the last few months, during the midst of all this?
Cindy: Hands down the hardest thing I’ve had to do is furlough our entire team. I’ve worked with these people for years at this property for over 10 years and they become family. There’s really only a small handful of us here watching the assets. It was just devastating. I try to keep in touch with the team; we do team zoom calls about once a month.
Robin: You talked about the relationships and how that helps, but what else can your clients do to work with you when they want to rebook or cancel?
Cindy: The best conversations so far are when clients come to us prepared with ideas that we can talk through as a team. They’ve already given some deep thought into how we’re being affected, just like they’re being affected, and what a good compromise could look like. We really have to come together as a single industry and help support each other.
Robin: It’s a difficult time and we’re always trying to think about what a win-win looks like in all of this.
Cindy: For us, we know things are canceling and we understand why they have to cancel. It’s all about how far out they’re canceling and when can somebody hold something, but for us, the win-win and the crux of the relationship is “Okay, well let us know when you can book. Can we book a future year? Do a future meeting?” With any kind of positive movement, we know that the relationship stays intact and there’s some loyalty there which is a win in our hearts.
On Cleanliness and Safety for Guests and Attendees
Robin Reuben: I know that Hilton just rolled out the Hilton EventReady with CleanStay program recently – what are the top three things that you are excited about?
Cindy Ramesh: The number one thing to me is how much detail has gone into this program and how each stage has been thought through, from the arrival experience all the way to the departure experience.
What really sets us apart is the EventReady cleaning protocol checklist that we give to clients so that they can feel secure about their meeting or event. And another great thing we are doing is putting seals on every meeting room once it’s completely sanitized and ready to go. No one is able to enter the room after it has been sealed, and the meeting planner will break the seal upon entry.
Robin: That’s a great idea. As for food and beverage, what will your foodservice look like?
Cindy: It’s going to be an evolving thing. As regulations loosen and as cities begin to open back up, you are going to see a lot of evolving changes with food and beverage. Because we have a large space to work with, we are spreading customers out for seating, as for the serving of the food we’re looking at more of a bento box style. There will be a variety of prepackaged items that will be available. We’re hoping to be able to offer at least a couple of hot items as well, that you would be served and added to a pre-packaged menu so that contact is minimal. No self-service buffets anymore.
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