How Riggs & Co saves her clients $100k+ per event and her team countless hours using HopSkip.
Background:
Katie Riggs, who leads sourcing and recommendations at Riggs & Co., an event strategy, design, and execution company, described her process for sourcing hotels for her client’s events before HopSkip as “Painful.”
Buried under endless emails, spreadsheets, and presentations, she was on the lookout for a solution to streamline this manual-intensive process. Enter HopSkip—a tool that caught Katie’s attention and dramatically improved her workflow.
The Challenge:
Before HopSkip, Katie’s team had a complicated process for booking events. “We created an RFP, sent it off to CVB and national hotel brands, and then navigated through a maze of declines, questions, and missing details,” she said. The most frustrating part? “Requesting information that the hotel failed to include,” making an already challenging task even more cumbersome.
The Solution:
HopSkip came into Katie’s world like a breath of fresh air. The platform’s user-friendly interface and highly customizable features made it an instant hit. “The ability to save details and simply check a box to include those in every RFP is a real-time saver,” Katie noted. The pre-built concessions, contacts, and contract clauses transformed how she managed the hotel venue sourcing process.
“We have gotten some stronger concessions since our hotel partners are required to address them in their proposal from the start, which can equate to thousands in client savings.”
These features produced drastic time savings in her sourcing process and enabled a standardized workflow that eliminated the need for follow-ups on missing details originally requested in the RFP.
Game-Changing Features
What set HopSkip apart were its customizable features, particularly the ability to build out concessions and other specific event details in the RFP. “I can just select them and include them in my RFP with a click of a button,” Katie said, highlighting the simplicity yet effectiveness of this feature.
HopSkip’s side-by-side proposal view provides Katie with a clear understanding of which venues have approved or declined specific RFP details, empowering her to easily identify which hotels are best for her client’s events.
HopSkip is so easy to use and is built with planner input. We have seen great results utilizing it. The reports and presentations HopSkip offers have cut out hours of work, per RFP, for us too.
Katie Riggs, CAE, CMP, CMM, HMCC, CED
Chief Event Strategist, Riggs and Co.
The Results:
Eliminates ~200 hours of manual work creating proposal comparisons and proposal presentations
According to Katie, one of the most significant improvements was the hours saved on creating spreadsheets and presentations, which consumed a considerable chunk of her team’s time.
This newfound efficiency has completely transformed Katie and her team’s workflow, allowing them to redirect their energy towards more pressing and important tasks. With the hours saved on creating spreadsheets and presentations, they can now dedicate their time and expertise to strategic planning, client consultations, and delivering exceptional event experiences.
Saving her clients $136k + on average in cost savings through approved concessions per event
HopSkip enables Katie to secure stronger hotel deals by implementing a proactive approach to concessions. By requiring hotels to address concessions upfront, Katie and her team can now negotiate from a position of strength, ensuring their clients receive the best possible value for their events.
This proactive approach has saved Katie’s client’s event budgets significantly and has given her team a competitive advantage. With HopSkip, Katie can navigate the negotiation process with ease and confidence, resulting in higher cost savings for her clients.
Receives complete and accurate hotel proposals
Katie’s team is now free from the frustrations of dealing with incomplete information from hotel partners. The required fields in the platform have revolutionized their workflow, making the process seamless and efficient. Katie enthusiastically shared, “HopSkip has truly streamlined our operations and saved countless hours of back-and-forth communication.”
With all the necessary details readily available, Katie and her team can focus on providing exceptional event experiences without the stress of missing information. This newfound simplicity and organization have enhanced the team’s productivity and enabled Riggs and Co. to deliver even better results for their clients.
Conclusion:
For Katie Riggs and her team at Riggs & Co, HopSkip has been a transformational tool that has elevated their event planning process. From time and cost savings to workflow optimization, the benefits are tangible.
Katie’s advice to anyone considering HopSkip is clear: “Give it a try! It will make sourcing a much less time-consuming task that yields better results.”
If you want to achieve the same level of success as Katie, visit HopSkip to learn more and experience the transformative power of this incredible tool.
