PSA Enlists Meetingmax for Event Housing

Company to use system to manage more 

than 300,000 rooms in 2013

Colorado Springs, CO and Vancouver, BC; October 23, 2012 – Event solutions provider PSA announced today the signing of an agreement with Meetingmax Systems, provider of the hospitality industry’s most flexible hotel reservation system.

PSA will use Meetingmax’s online system to manage the housing needs of clients including USA Triathlon, USA Fencing, and the National Senior Games Association. PSA expects to manage more than 300,000 rooms through the system in 2013.

“We are delighted to partner with Meetingmax for our event accommodation needs,” says Kurt R. Aichele, Chief Strategy Officer, PSA. “We looked at numerous providers and none demonstrated the ability to handle room bookings for large-scale, city-wide events like Meetingmax. Based on the common values held by our two organizations, we feel that we have a great relationship ahead.”

While PSA had an existing housing system, the company was looking for added functionality, more comprehensive reporting, and an integrated user experience. Meetingmax’s system will allow PSA to link housing and registration for large-scale events, eliminating the duplication of data entry and ensuring that registrants book inside reserved housing blocks. 

PSA was also looking for a way to track room nights associated with all of its clients’ events.

“Historically, we manage more than 2,000 events each year, around the world,” continues Aichele. “Knowing our reach extends beyond 50+ countries, tracking our room bookings through Meetingmax will allow us to leverage our global buying power on behalf of all of our clients.”

“A huge benefit of our system is the intelligence that it can provide,” says Jeff Duncan, COO Meetingmax Systems. “With our reporting features, planners can be sure of their event’s economic impact, allowing them to leverage that information in the future.”

Using Meetingmax’s system, planners can easily track and manage their room blocks without having to contact each hotel separately; hotels can efficiently search, process, and report on all rooms and reservations for each group; and event attendees can click one link to review participating hotels, explore their features, and book a room.

About PSA:

For more than 25 years, PSA has been impacting communities with customized solutions as we SERVE event organizers through intentional, responsive, and care-filled relationships.  PSA offers an integrated platform of services including site selection, housing management, event management, travel, creative services, communications, and peer review support. The company specializes in the Federal, Commercial, and Sports sectors. Visit the PSA website at www.ExplorePSA.com.

About Meetingmax:

Meetingmax Systems provides the travel industry with the most flexible online housing reservation system. Tailored to meet the needs of convention and visitors bureaus, event planners, and organizations, the system provides users with a simple, yet powerful, means to manage conference and event room bookings. The company is based in Vancouver, BC and can be found online at www.meetingmaxsystems.com.

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Contact:          

     Gwen Hardy                                                       

     Elettra Communications                    

     604.738.3870                                     

     gwen@elettra.ca

Welcome Carrie Dick, Our New Director Of Managed Housing!

 We are very excited to welcome our new Director of Managed Housing, Carrie Dick, to the Meetingmax team. Carrie has been with us for just over 4 weeks and already it feels like she has been with us for years.

With over 20 years of experience in hotels, event and conference management, working with national and international clients and destinations, Carrie brings heaps of knowledge, understanding and skill to the job.

Prior to Meetingmax Carrie was with Advance Group, planning and executing national and global conference and events across Canada and the United States for up to 1,800 attendees; this included managing the large guest room blocks for these events.

Previous to this, Carrie worked as the Revenue Manager and Conference Services Manager at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria BC, executing twenty five plus conferences for up to 1000 delegates annually,  helping to manage the group hotel room blocks to maximize hotel group room sales and increase overall hotel sales. This well rounded experience in our industry gives Carrie the exceptional advantage of understanding our housing technology from many different angles.

Prior to her work in the hotel and hospitality industry Carrie trained as a dancer and is a huge supporter of arts & dance to this day, regularly taking in performances and citing this as her “happy place.” She is a big Vancouver Canucks fan (when they’re actually playing), keen on F1 racing and loves to travel and experience new cultures whenever possible. She is looking forward to being a part of the dynamic team that is Meetingmax!

Welcome to the team Carrie! 

VIFF 2012

Tonight marks the start of the 2012 Vancouver International Film Festival!

VIFF is among the five largest film festivals in North America, featuring 380 cinematic gems from over 75 countries this year alone. The event runs from September 17 - October 12, 2012. 

We are proud to be an official sponsor of VIFF, providing the online reservation technology to manage hotel rooms for out-of-town guests, or locals who want to stay closer to the action. 

Somebody Up There Likes Me, winner if the Special Jury Prize at the 2012 Locarno film festival, is our sponsored film this year. The movie is directed by Bob Byinton and revolves around the main character, Max Youngman, 'who fails to mature - or even age- over the course of 35 years. Max is saddled with a considerable Peter Pan complex. An absurd look at a slacker slouching towards his destiny, this tale of misadventure doles out "smarmy rapid-fire dialogue that would make Preston Sturges dizzy." - Indiewire'

Medicine Hat Accommodation Association Signs Up With Meetingmax

Medicine Hat, AB and Vancouver, BC: August 14, 2012 – The Medicine Hat Accommodation Association (MHAA) today announced the signing of an agreement with Meetingmax Systems, provider of the travel industry’s most flexible online housing reservation system. A group of twelve local hotels is leading the purchase to better manage group housing reservations for sports events.

“Sports events have a tremendous impact on our local economy,” says Elisha Ammann, Executive Director, Medicine Hat Accommodation Association. “The participants not only book rooms at our hotels, but they also visit local restaurants, attractions, and retailers. Sports event planners are looking for added value when they select a city for their event. Offering a system that simplifies their lives just makes good business sense.”

Using Meetingmax’s system, event attendees click one link to review participating hotels, explore their features, and book a room; planners can easily track and manage their room blocks without having to contact each hotel separately; and hotels can efficiently search, process, and report on all rooms and reservations for each group.

“Without such a system, each hotel might speak with a planner more than a dozen times to update them on the status of their block,” continues Ammann. “Being able to offer a simple but powerful online housing reservation system will make the sports event planner’s job much easier and free up hotel staff to focus on customer service instead of pulling reports.”

MHAA selected Meetingmax after conducting a thorough review of reservation systems. The organization was drawn to the low investment required and the system’s ease of use.

“Our system was built for people of all comfort levels when it comes to technology,” says Jeff Duncan, COO Meetingmax Systems. “This means that hotels can easily train all their staff to use the system and that the end-user can intuitively explore the hotels and book their own room.”

Medicine Hat is rich in local history and unique attractions. The city is well positioned at the junction of the Trans Canada Highway and Highway 3, allowing easy access from all directions. Medicine Hat's Municipal Airport is located five minutes from downtown and is a short 50-minute flight to Calgary International Airport.

About Medicine Hat Accommodation Association:

The Medicine Hat Accommodation Association (MHAA) is a group of Southern Alberta Hotels that focuses on attracting additional visitors to Medicine Hat through joint promotions and advertising. The association’s objectives are to work towards common interests and goals of the hotel industry and to have a unified voice in the community of Medicine Hat and Western Canada.

About Meetingmax:

Meetingmax Systems provides the travel industry with the most flexible online housing reservation system. Initially developed to meet the needs of Meetingmax’s meeting and event planning arm, the system provides convention and visitors bureaus, event planners, and organizations with a simple yet powerful means to manage conference and event room bookings. The company is based in Vancouver, BC and can be found online at www.meetingmaxsystems.com.

The Greater Des Moines CVB Teams Up With Meetingmax

We are thrilled to welcome our newest client, the Greater Des Moines CVB, to Meetingmax!

See Des Moines is the official convention, sports & visitor resource for Greater Des Moines which is compromised of 12 municipalities including Altoona, Ankeny, Clive, Des Moines, Grimes, Johnston, Perry, Pleasant Hill, Polk County, Urbandale, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights. ‘Each municipality has their own Chamber of Commerce, as well as unique businesses, attractions and recreation but all have the Midwestern hospitality you expect to find in Central Iowa.’

Annually, Des Moines welcomes 2.9 million visitors to the area. The CVB will use Meetingmax’s online housing reservation system to manage group housing for their events.

The Meetingmax system offers the CVB, their hotels and their planners a powerful and customizable tool that makes it simple to manage inventory. Our system can easily be customized to meet each client’s needs, which allows it to go beyond the hotel room and introduce guests to all the city has to offer.

About Meetingmax:

Meetingmax Systems provides the travel industry with the most flexible online housing reservation system. Initially developed to meet the needs of Meetingmax’s meeting and event planning arm, the system provides convention and visitor bureaus, event planners, and organizations with a simple yet powerful means to manage conference and event room bookings. The company is based in Vancouver, BC and can be found online at www.meetingmaxsystems.com.