Cost-Effective Event Transportation

Tips for Cost-Effective Transportation in Today’s Market

Getting the Bus There on Time and On Budget
One area that can hinder the timeliness, as well as the sentiment of attendees, is transportation. Ensuring your attendees arrive and are shuttled in a convenient and pleasing manner can set the tone of your entire event. However, pulling it all off with today’s streamlined budgets can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are a few key areas that can help you save money without hampering the quality of your event.

1. Order Early: One of the main methods of saving money related to transportation is ordering early. Although it’s logical to handle transportation as a last tasked item as you want to have all the other details finalized first, planning early can allow you to lock in fuel rates as well as provide more flexibility in available vehicles. Further, while a good Destination Management Company (DMC) is able to accommodate last minute requests, an organization can typically save money if the vehicles are reserved early. Even if your schedule isn’t firm, a DMC can book a tentative schedule. If you do not book early, vehicles will become reserved by others, resulting in higher fares for the remaining inventory. In such cases, depending on your group’s size, several smaller vehicles may need to be utilized if a large enough motor coach isn’t available. This will result in higher costs as well as require additional coordination on your end.
2. Plan Routes Early: Another consideration is the ability to better plan routes and activities. By consolidating transfers and looking at all available options with your DMC, you’ll benefit from a more economical solution. For example, with air travel, many attendees book their own flights these days, resulting in countless itineraries and airport meet-and-greets. However, much expense can be eliminated by utilizing a program manifest. This ensures the proper number of buses are ordered and available during an appropriate timeframe for attendees. Gathering such information can be cumbersome, so it is key to partner with a DMC that offers attendees the opportunity to easily share their travel information, such as through a custom event registration website.
3. Know the Rules: Other factors that may impact your bottom-line are restrictions and permitting, staging areas for loading and unloading guests, safety, inspections, insurance and more. With ample notice, a DMC can ensure economical and efficient solutions related to these factors that can add to your cost as well as slow down or halt your transfers if not planned properly. It is also key that your DMC have connections with local convention and visitors bureaus, hotel concierge, airport staff and city officials to assist with routing information, streamlined staging, and more. Knowledge of various customs and cultures is also critical.

In addition to incorporating these tips to save money, your transportation line-item can also be a revenue generator for your event. For instance, some DMC’s will facilitate sponsorship opportunities for the group by integrating branded bus wraps, headrest covers or other signage to promote the sponsor and/or conference theme. This not only provides you with the opportunity to generate funds, but it provides for a better experience as you can incorporate the brand and theme through every attendee touch point.

Many common mistakes, inefficiencies, expenses and general areas of frustration can be alleviated through simple pre-planning with your Destination Management Company. If possible, it is recommended to share transfer and shuttling needs with your DMC three to six months prior to the event. Other transportation, such as airport meet-and-greets, can be arranged one to two months in advance.

A member of the metroConnections team since 1990, Splittgerber started as a Transportation Services Coordinator and moved into sales for the same division before being promoted to her current position. In this role, she oversees the Tour and Transportation Services division, its operations and sales functions. Prior experience includes sales and marketing positions in the hotel industry. She has extensive experience including execution of the Family Career and Community Leaders of America tour/transportation programs each year in different cities throughout the country, management of multiple 4,000 person conventions within a one month period, and even juggling the management of 17 groups during the NCAA final four championships. A member of MPI, she holds a B.A. in Journalism/Advertising from South Dakota State University.

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