IPCAA NEWSLETTER

The IPCAA Housing Forum working group took advantage of the recent Council meeting in Berlin, to set up the first official session of this new IPCAA initiative.

Together with members of the working group, invited representatives from the hotel industry discussed various aspects of congress-related accommodation processes. The primary aim was to share information from both sides, in order to improve understanding and communication of the challenges and constraints the parties experience.

The event resulted in a very fruitful exchange, which will undoubtedly assist the IPCAA in further steps towards clarification and ultimately, it is hoped, resolution, of points of concern concerning the provision of hotel rooms for medical meeting delegates.

The hotel representatives present – from major international chains – confirmed that the pharmaceutical sector is considered among their top business areas. IPCAA members were pleased to note that there already seems to be a certain understanding of issues arising from industry regulatory codes and action is being taken among some parts of the hotel industry to better understand code contents and restrictions. Some organisations are even increasing hotel staff awareness via internal Intranet sites and organising internal training.

Lively and frank discussion on topics such as:

• Contractual terms and conditions
• Hotel room rates and their variability
• Allotment policies
• Industry constraints
• The role of other parties involved in determining accommodation policies etc. for congresses

indicate a need for greater transparency, particularly at a time when both regulatory and budgetary pressures are impacting on the pharmaceutical industry’s capability to fund hotel rooms at previously existing levels.

The “resale” of hotel rooms at, sometimes, considerable surcharges above the price received by the hotel and also at restrictive terms and conditions, is an area of particular concern and further study is clearly indicated.

Commenting on this initial meeting of the IPCAA Housing Forum, Sylvia Fondanèche, Vice President of the Association, and Head of the Housing Forum working group, stated:

“This was a very interesting first event, in what we plan to be a continuing series of exchanges with various interest groups involved in international medical congresses. There are far too many assumptions and lots of comment without having facts available! Equally, there are obviously some “grey” areas involved. What we are going to do via the Housing Forum, is to interact with all parties concerned, to create an acceptable level of transparency on issues such as those discussed in Berlin. The next group we would like to meet with will probably be the medical societies themselves, in order to try to establish a common framework of understanding and set some joint objectives relative to congress housing policies”.

Consideration is now being given to the timing and venue for the next IPCAA Housing Forum meeting; in addition, there are already plans to investigate production of a “Best Practice” guide related to congress accommodation issues.

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