| Why has NFS installed Rendezvous at so many leading corporates, conference and training centers? Because we understand the many differences between the scheduling of meeting rooms and managing a conference center.
This is a difference that is too often overlooked but is crucial in the choice of scheduling software. For example, conference centers typically require “Events” functionality that spans the booking process, deals with foodservice/menu complexities, handles the meet and greet process and also incorporates last-minute changes very efficiently.
These last-minute changes generally set the service level provided in terms of client perceptions of the facility and user experience. Based on our experience of implementing Rendezvous, our browser-based conference, events and food service management solution, we have identified some important issues that conference center managers should consider in implementing new solutions.
The Efficient Use of Packages
Booking events such as a training course or a management meeting requires the booking of many items, each requiring specific things to be dealt with by different members of the service team. Rendezvous Package Handling is unique. It packages your room rental charges with equipment rental and catering charges and sells them for a fixed fee per person. Rendezvous allows you to create custom packages for each meeting to suit your clients’ needs and their budget.
Reception Services
Meet and Greet services are now an important aspect of conference center management. The Rendezvous Visitor Module gives you the tools to insure that visitors are dealt with appropriately. From being able to import a visitor list to logging their food service preferences, travel and car parking requirements, right through to producing a visitor badge with a photo, Rendezvous takes care of them all. After all, first impressions really count!
Rendezvous Event Features
As conference center manager, you need to capture client details correctly and manage them for future reference. Apart from a full history of bookings, cancellations and refusals, Rendezvous holds extensive information on your clients such as anniversary date, birthdays, professional and special interests. Reminders and traces are also an important aspect of conference center management. Rendezvous Activity Tracking makes important tasks such as chasing deposits and finalizing menu details very easy.
Food Service and Menu Planning
Typically, conference center management involves many complexities in the food service area, whether or not an external catering company is involved. Rendezvous allows the user to modify pre-set menus on the fly. The menu price is recalculated in real time, enabling the user to make an informed decision on whether the proposed custom menu is within budget. The notes feature also allows very detailed capture of client-specific menu requirements.
Financial Management
The planning of most events at a conference center requires a level of financial capability. This may include the ability to track costs, make comparisons with budget or produce an invoice or credit note. Rendezvous deals efficiently with invoices, deposit invoices and credit notes. Moreover, Rendezvous Split Billing allows the meeting / conference charges to be split in numerous ways. Rendezvous even allows the export of invoices to your favorite accounting package, saving you valuable time.
Keeping up with Changes
Rendezvous has an Automated Alerts facility so that all service departments can be kept instantly up-to-date with new requirements. Relevant change information can be delivered to a Blackberry for staff on the move or to a display device in the service department for instant action, based on the unique Rendezvous Tracker feature.
Multi- Purpose Rooms
Apart from the traditional daily, weekly and monthly calendars, Rendezvous has an additional Restaurant Calendar for situations in which you may want to book tables instead of rooms and manage dining capacity based to time slots and restaurant outlets.
Easy Access for Conference Staff
Managing a major event means staff are very often on the move. Rendezvous offers an easy-to-use Self-Service interface and also gives system access via a PDA. This means staff can get the information required from any PC or mobile device.
To know more about what our cutomers say about
Rendezvous please see our
testimonial page.
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