19 ITB Buyers Circle Big business is best in a small circle ITB Buyers Circle is the place to be for serious buyers with a background in leisure, business travel or MICE. For decision makers with significant budget. The main purposes of the buyers’ circle include signing deals, negotiating pricing and packages and finding new products and partners. ITB Buyers Circle stands for exclusiveness. There are 1,000 members every year. Each is handpicked and carefully qualified by an international team. The criteria reflect ITBBerlin’s travel inventory and exhibitor´s needs, and the strong intent to gather members with a reasonable variety of characteristics. What to expect from ITB Buyers Circle? Onsite benefits save money, but especially time. • Free tickets to ITBBerlin and ITBBerlin Convention, 7 – 11 March 2018 • Exclusive participation at ITB Speed Networking Event, 8 March 2018 • Separate Meeting Rooms are at your disposal at Marshall-Haus • No waiting time thanks to shuttle services and fast lane • Work space with Wifi, trade journals and newspapers in the ITB Buyers Circle Lounge • Refreshments and relaxation area in the ITB Buyers Circle Lounge >> www.itbbuyerscircle.com Jaana Chan is Product Director APAC, Hotelplanner.com and Meetings.com. We asked her to tell us about the business and how it will evolve in 2018 and what she is most looking forward to seeing at ITBBerlin. The company celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2017. In 2018, nearly billion in group travel leads will be sourced via HotelPlanner and Meetings.com worldwide. Our websites are translated into 28 languages and the business is a mix of 55% leisure (SMURF) groups and 45% corporate (MICE) events. What are the main trends in buyer demand? The internet is more accessible for everyone than ever, which makes it very easy for end clients to compare their products and this is also absolutely fine – but we want to make it even easier and better by helping our clients to compare hotel features, location, quality scores and prices faster and easier. What are you hoping to gain from this year’s ITBBerlin? There is always room for innovations and there THE SPEED DATING AT ITB BERLIN IS SUCH A GREAT TOOL Jaana Chan Product Director APAC, Hotelplanner.com and Meetings.com Online is Driving Business HotelPlanner & Meetings.com are the largest websites selling group travel online in the world is also always room for improvements. We help our hotel partners and clients at the same time. We bring more high value businesses to our hotel partners and at the same time we help our clients to execute their trip plans nearly effortless. Are you particularly interested in particular travel themes? We are a B to E platform, which means everyone who is happily using the internet for sourcing hotels for events are our preferred clients. The online business is definitely booking. More and more people are nowadays taking advantage of our incredible technology to save time, receive a wider selection of hotel offers, obtain excellent rates and to call our team of expert planners to make life easier. With our technology and service we can help anyone become a superb event organiser. How important is the speed dating organised at ITB for you? The speed dating at ITBBerlin is such a great tool. Basically, you are able to meet a number of people no matter if it is a client or a supplier, there are no other events where you can so easily make connections with that huge amount of people in such a short time. Everyone knows it is a “speed” dating, therefore everyone walks in already determined and knowing what they want to find it. This makes it easy and efficient. It’s great! Why did you decide to join the ITBBerlin Buyers Circle, and what, for you, are the key advantages of being a member? Being able to pre-schedule appointments allows us to prepare every single meeting we will have during the show which results in way more efficient meetings especially within a very short time. Another great advantage is that ITBBerlin guides you through the whole show. Competent guidance and network functions are highly appreciated. ITB makes sure we walk our 10,000 steps too… it’s the perfect way to boost business and get your exercise in at the same time! Additional details and contact information on the ITB Speed Dating Day can be found at www.itb-berlin.com/ Exhibitors/SpeedDating/ ITB BERLIN NEWS • Thursday 1 st March 2018
