A Fresh Approach to Hotel Selection, Compliance, and Overflow Accommodations
By Joe Lipman | Summit Management Services
I had an interesting conversation with representatives from Marriott’s Moxy Barcelona and Madrid Marriott Princesa Plaza. It reinforced something I’ve been thinking about for some time:Perhaps we need to change the way we source hotels for international pharmaceutical meetings.
Traditionally, when sourcing an investigator meeting for 100, 150, or 200 participants, we look for a hotel that can accommodate everyone under one roof. We evaluate the guestrooms, meeting facilities, food and beverage, location, and overall cost.
But international pharmaceutical meetings present another challenge: Not every attendee is permitted to stay at the same hotel.
Depending on the country, company policies, industry codes, and applicable hospitality and transparency requirements, some participants may face restrictions on hotel classifications, room rates, meals, or the overall level of hospitality provided.
A five-star hotel such as the Majestic, Meliá, or InterContinental might be an excellent choice for the scientific meeting itself, yet its accommodation rates may exceed the limits applicable to certain participants.
That doesn’t necessarily mean we should eliminate the property from consideration.
The Two-Hotel Solution
Why not source the meeting hotel and the accommodation hotel separately?
Use the property with the best meeting facilities as the host hotel, while arranging accommodations at a nearby, more economical hotel for attendees whose policies require it.
During my discussion with Ricard Amenós, Corporate Sales Manager at Moxy Barcelona, I began to see how this could work.
Moxy Barcelona has approximately 440 guestrooms, convenient access to Barcelona Sants station, dedicated group check-in facilities, and a contemporary hotel concept.
It could be an attractive alternative for pharmaceutical attendees who cannot stay at a more expensive host property.
We would simply need to consider transportation between the two hotels, whether by walking or scheduled shuttle service, and ensure that the combined cost remains within the applicable guidelines.
But Not Every Hotel Should Be the Meeting Hotel
There is an important distinction.
Although Moxy Barcelona offers meeting facilities, I would be cautious about using it as the primary meeting venue for more than approximately 100 participants.
The largest classroom configuration is around 100–110 attendees, and I would want to evaluate the actual dimensions and sightlines carefully.
A ballroom that is relatively narrow and stretches over a long distance can create challenges for a scientific presentation. Participants seated toward the back may have difficulty seeing the speaker or presentation materials, requiring multiple monitors throughout the room.
For a pharmaceutical investigator meeting, where scientific presentations, detailed data, and audience engagement are essential, the configuration of the meeting space is just as important as the stated capacity.
My preference would be to use Moxy Barcelona primarily as an accommodation alternative or overflow hotel, rather than trying to make it fit a larger general session.
For a smaller meeting, it could certainly be worth evaluating.
A Different Way to Write the RFP
Perhaps we should start asking hotels two separate questions:
Can your property accommodate our entire meeting, including guestrooms and meeting space?
If not, can your property serve as a compliant accommodation partner for attendees staying outside the primary meeting hotel?
This would open opportunities for hotels that might otherwise be eliminated because their meeting rooms are too small.
It would also allow meeting planners to consider premium meeting venues without automatically excluding them because their guestrooms exceed certain participants’ hospitality limits.
Of course, every arrangement would need to be reviewed against applicable country-specific requirements, company policies, and transparency reporting obligations. A lower hotel rate alone does not establish compliance.
My Suggestion to Carlos and Our Hotel Partners
I would encourage Carlos and our hotel partners to think about this opportunity when presenting properties to pharmaceutical meeting planners.
Rather than selling Moxy Barcelona exclusively as a hotel for meetings, consider positioning it as apharmaceutical accommodation partner for larger meetings taking place at other Barcelona hotels.
That means developing relationships with nearby host hotels, identifying realistic transfer arrangements, and offering competitive group accommodation packages that include breakfast and applicable taxes.
For meeting planners, the benefit is flexibility. For hotels, it creates opportunities to capture room nights from programs they might otherwise never be considered for.
And for pharmaceutical clients, it offers another way to accommodate international participants while respecting the hospitality restrictions that apply to them.
Sometimes the best hotel for the meeting isn’t necessarily the best hotel for every attendee.
That’s the kind of thinking that can make a difference in how we source and manage international pharmaceutical meetings.
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