21 September 2006 | Rebecca Ellinor

A guide to help purchasers, hotel booking agents and hoteliers work together will be published later this year.

Peter Rand, director of industry relations at event services agency Zibrant, who is contributing to the project, said: "Procurement departments are increasingly encroaching into our lives and I believe this involvement is the best thing to happen to the meetings and events business."

Speaking at the Hotel Booking Agents Association's annual conference this month, Rand said the project is exploring how it can overcome problematic issues. Among them are booking agents not liking procurement and believing purchasers don't understand the meetings and events business.

The project is also trying to address how savings can be measured; what event management includes; the comparative benefits of having a sole or several suppliers; how to negotiate the best rates; and how to reduce fictitious enquiries simply to get a price by which to benchmark other offers.

Roy Ayliffe, director of professional practice at CIPS, who is also working on the project, said the paper would identify good and bad practices.

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