Clients of full-service meetings solution provider ConferenceDirect have a new option for managing vendor deposits and payments thanks to a just-announced partnership with Meeting Escrow Inc.
“We are excited to become an exclusive strategic partner with ConferenceDirect,” said Grant Snider, president and CEO, Meeting Escrow. “By introducing Meeting Escrow’s secure payment, foreign currency, and deposit escrow solutions to their clients, ConferenceDirect Associates will be providing cost-savings, risk reduction, and foreign currency budget protection for their events. This is a win-win-win partnership.”
Meeting Escrow’s mission is to simplify and secure meeting and event payments globally. Rather than going through multiple, lengthy approval processes for payments to individual meeting vendors, planners place event funds with a single vendor - Meeting Escrow - which takes care of allocating it to separate, secure trust accounts for release to vendors per their contracted schedules. Planners can also set up a deposit escrow solution with select vendors, where total payment is held in trust until the program operates, providing an extra layer of risk protection for the planner’s organization.
Meeting Escrow is especially beneficial for planners holding international events, as the company handles foreign currency exchange upfront so there are no budget surprises, and also can manage VAT reclaim on the back end, if required.
With the pace and workload planners face today, these are solutions they have been asking for, according to Larry Hanson, chief marketing officer at ConferenceDirect, whose Associates work with more than 4,000 clients. “We have had numerous requests from clients looking for single vendor payment solutions, simplified foreign currency management, and general risk management solutions. Meeting Escrow checks all the boxes,”Hanson said. “We are delighted to welcome this innovative supplier to the ConferenceDirect Strategic Partner family, as we continue to curate for our clients the best that the industry has to offer."
Based in West Hollywood, California, ConferenceDirect is a full-service global meetings solution company whose portfolio of services includes: Site Selection & Contract Negotiation, Conference Management, Housing & Registration Services, Mobile App Technology, and Strategic Meetings Management Programs. The company’s 350+ Associates manage more than 11,000 meetings, conferences, and events, representing 3.88 million room nights annually, for over 4,000 customers.
Based in Toronto, Canada, Meeting Escrow helps planners spend more time designing events and less time managing payments. The company’s streamlined global payment solutions include serving as the single payer to all meeting vendors, holding deposits in escrow until programs operate, converting meeting budgets to foreign currencies upfront to avoid the impact of exchange rate volatility, reclaiming VAT, and more
