Hilton Follows Marriott as Meetings Disruption Is on the Agenda
Photo Credit: A man spoons a crouton in this promotional photo for Hilton Worldwide's meetings program. Hilton's commission cuts will put further pressure on third-party meeting planners. Hilton Worldwide
Skift Take
Hilton following Marriott with a commission cut is no surprise, really. The writing is on the wall for a larger upheaval in meetings' distribution. The innovation of small upstarts will play an important role, as well.
Much to the chagrin of third-party meeting and event planners, it looks like commission cuts are going to spread across the industry.
Hilton Worldwide will cut commissions from the current 10 percent to 7 percent in October for North American hotels, following Marriott International's lead. It's likely Hyatt or Wyndham will follow suit next; hotel chains are looking to use their leverage during this travel boom to pay less to planners.
We also took a look this week at how online booking is slowly coming to the meetings sector, particularly for simple meetings that don't require much planning.
Finally, I did some thinking on how the tren
