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When implementing a new 3-year strategic transformation project, our client in the banking sector asked us to source venues and maximise cost savings across an extensive learning and development programme to train over 18,000 of their employees.
The client approached Inntel for support, guidance and management for their training and meeting room requirements of a 3-year strategic review, with big, new objectives.
The project requirement included the training of staff on key strategic capabilities.
Participants were based in 100 of the bank’s offices across the UK but are broadly concentrated in five key locations – London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol and Halifax.
Inntel helped manage venues and reduce costs on the external meeting space requirements for a 3-year long project during which more than 18,000 staff members were trained.
The learning programme was blended across a range of channels including face to face training and due to the significant investment in this area, the client wanted to ensure the right venues support the right training environment at this scale.
It was important that the venues we selected were more than just rooms – they were a place to inspire and engage colleagues as well as support a network of trainers and operational support teams.
Inntel held a project briefing meeting with the lead management to fully understand the objectives and expectations of the training schedule and the specific requirements in terms of location, style, standard and budget.
This meeting also covered the terms and conditions needed in terms of contracting minimum numbers, timescales for confirmations, layout of the training rooms and scaling up on delegate numbers when needed. Inntel’s proposal was to operate a straightforward venue hire model with contracts on the minimum delegate numbers on a provisional basis to be confirmed month by month – a month in advance with allowance for final numbers and details to be confirmed two working days before the event dates.
The meeting rooms proposed were selected to accommodate a minimum of 25 delegates cabaret style, with the capacity to increase delegate numbers up to 40 for the larger courses.
Our rate negotiation team reviewed the requirements and sourced rates with specific hotel and venue groups that met the requirements which enabled greater negotiation leverage on both rates and cancellation terms.
All venues proposed included break out areas directly outside the meeting rooms on a private usage basis. Also included in the proposal were lockable storage facilities for training materials and the ability to incorporate moveable branding. Unlimited servings of tea and coffee were negotiated with screen and projects or large plasma screens with laptop connections. Inntel’s specialist consultants heavily negotiated on all elements of every booking to ensure guaranteed lowest pricing.
Client testimonial:
“Inntel made a significant difference to our ability to scale our learning programme through expertly sourcing key strategic training venues across the UK and negotiating best in class packages for a strong learning experience.”
We set up a project team and held regularly schedule conference calls involving the Account Manager, the lead conference consultant within our operational team, key stakeholders and any relevant hotel and venue Account Managers.
This on-going communication helped build strong tri-partite relationships between us, the client and the venues enabling issues to be resolved quickly and also driving cost savings due to greater visibility and flexibility on any cancellation charges.
The Finance Team were involved from an early stage, so they could manage the client’s expectations regarding invoicing and how final numbers would be communicated with the hotel and Inntel. Inntel also offered to send them a final report of costs and cancellation savings.
In the first 12 months alone, supporting this group transformation project, we delivered over £166,000 of savings, equating to 30% of the client’s spend on external training rooms.
They were delighted with the visibility of costs and pricing trends on this large project as well as the consistency of venue quality standards across all training and learning courses.