Site Search & Select - Articles & News #Client ToolsSite Search & Select - Articles & News #Client Toolshttps://www.sitesearchselect.com/blogs/tag/client-toolsTue, 24 Feb 2026 19:15:42 -0800http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[International Meetings Are Back!]]>https://www.sitesearchselect.com/blogs/post/international-meetings-are-backOur international friends are welcoming our global events with renewed passion and excitement. While we are still cautious with all that is happening in the world, we are returning the sentiments with creativity, vigor and flexibility.]]>

. . . with some caveats

It has been a long time coming since our customers have felt comfortable booking conferences, incentives and events outside of North America. With Europe and many other countries’ travel restrictions easing, the doors are being flung open. Our international friends are welcoming our global events with renewed passion and excitement. While we are still cautious with all that is happening in the world, we are returning the sentiments with creativity, vigor and flexibility.   

. . . with some caveats

It has been a long time coming since our customers have felt comfortable booking conferences, incentives and events outside of North America. With Europe and many other countries’ travel restrictions easing, the doors are being flung open. Our international friends are welcoming our global events with renewed passion and excitement. While we are still cautious with all that is happening in the world, we are returning the sentiments with creativity, vigor and flexibility. 

Book Your International Meeting
Book Your International Meeting

Europe is the Top Choice

More than 50% of Site Search & Selects’ international meetings have always been bound for Europe. Our trends are racing in this direction once again. 

Our clients are not only considering major meeting capitals but also secondary destinations and venues. There is confidence that hospitality partners abroad will be fully staffed and able to take on any challenges that will arise.  The ability to pivot or be flexible for our clients has now turned into an artform on all sides. 

Europe is the Top Choice

More than 50% of Site Search & Selects’ international meetings have always been bound for Europe. Our trends are racing in this direction once again. 

Our clients are not only considering major meeting capitals but also secondary destinations and venues. There is confidence that hospitality partners abroad will be fully staffed and able to take on any challenges that will arise.  The ability to pivot or be flexible for our clients has now turned into an artform on all sides. 

S3 is ready to help you make the transition

            

When it’s time for you to dip your toes back in the international stage, please remember that Site Search & Select can be your temperature gauge. We have 27 years of expert knowledge and relationships with hotels and other venues that have both global reach as well as those that are lesser known to our North America client partners. Rest assured, the hotels, venues and destinations that we present will be diverse and creative enough for your events to stand out and create lifelong memories and experiences. 

Michael Hudson, CEO | Site Search & Select 

S3 is ready to help you make the transition


When it’s time for you to dip your toes back in the international stage, please remember that Site Search & Select can be your temperature gauge. We have 27 years of expert knowledge and relationships with hotels and other venues that have both global reach as well as those that are lesser known to our North America client partners. Rest assured, the hotels, venues and destinations that we present will be diverse and creative enough for your events to stand out and create lifelong memories and experiences. 

Michael Hudson, CEO | Site Search & Select 

Find Out More
Find Out More
]]>Thu, 03 Mar 2022 19:44:17 -0500<![CDATA[IBM Sponsors One-Year Mentorship Program to Site Search & Select]]>https://www.sitesearchselect.com/blogs/post/ibm-sponsors-one-year-mentorship-program-to-site-search-selectToday, Michael Hudson, CEO of Site Search & Select starts an exclusive one year Mentorship Program as a mentee with the IBM Global Procurement and Supplier Diversity teams. The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) developed this program and graciously coordinated our CEO's involvement.]]>

Created With The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce 

The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) developed this program in coordination with IBM and other global Corporate Partners.  Certified LGBTBEs (LGBT Business Enterprises) are eligible for scholarship programs, mentorship and leadership training, and other business development opportunities to gain exposure within corporate procurement processes. Multinational corporations like IBM are very interested in diversifying their supply chain with Certified Diverse Suppliers like S3 so their products and services will stand out from their competitors. And it's the right thing to do to support small businesses. Today, Michael Hudson, CEO of Site Search & Select starts an exclusive one year Mentorship Program as a mentee supported by the IBM Global Procurement and Supplier Diversity teams. 

View IBM Diversity & Inclusion Report (2020)

S3 has been actively expanding a range of services throughout the pandemic. 

            

Site Search & Select has been adding services, creative offerings and innovative venue sourcing services to Fortune 500 multinational companies throughout the pandemic. This includes strategic growth and innovation planning, market strategy as well as the latest in supply chain and procurement policies  — all of which are the topics of the Mentorship Program. We can't wait to share our knowledge with our clients and our community. Thank you IBM and NGLCC! 


Michael Hudson, CEO | Site Search & Select 

Get more information about Site Search & Select's commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

Book A Free Consultation

Get more information about Site Search & Select's commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

Book A Free Consultation
]]>Tue, 11 Jan 2022 18:12:22 -0500<![CDATA[How to Create the Gold Standard in Availability Reporting Tools for Global Venue Sourcing]]>https://www.sitesearchselect.com/blogs/post/how-to-create-the-gold-standard-in-availability-reporting-tools-for-global-venue-sourcingA custom software approach streamlines finding venues and submitting results to clients. Our clients can easily select options and submit feedback. The comprehensive availability report is easy for event planners. Vendors like the ability to make concessions, counter offers, and get more business.]]>

The S3 Difference

What differentiates S3 global venue sourcing from its competitors is how we search for the perfect venue for client events. We have developed a custom software program and proprietary approach that streamlines finding available venues and submitting search results to clients. We developed the software with Excel Rain Man, a Woman Business Enterprise (WBE). The result is our clients can quickly and easily select options and submit feedback. The availability report is clear, comprehensive, and easy to read for experienced event planners. Vendors appreciate the ability to make concessions, make counter offers, and secure more business. Learn about the collaboration with Excel Rain Man to develop the software, the experience of Lowes Hotels & Resorts and San Francisco Travel Association as valued vendor partners. 

Credit: Asian Art Museum San Francisco - San Francisco Travel Association

Big Decision: Off the Shelf vs. Custom Software? 

Site Search & Select isn’t like its competitors in the global venue sourcing space.   When it was time to make a change with our RFP tool and how we report our search results to our clients, the big question was “do we utilize one of the off the shelf software solutions or do we go full circle and develop our own customized solution?” 

We knew it was time to consider a change when our volume was dramatically increasing but couldn’t increase the organization’s headcount. Isn’t that familiar to us all?  For several years, we managed our RFP and Availability processes in-house alongside a few white label customized client versions of an off the shelf software solutions commonly used in the events space.  Our experienced team members knew moving forward which properties, providers and reporting tools work best for our clients.   The S3 niche is to always be unique and stand out with every aspect of our work.       

We decided that we needed to create a customized solution that was going to be easy for our vendor partners to fill out. We also needed the tool to manipulate that data to create and populate beautiful spreadsheets. Our goal was to enable our clients to easily make their decision on the right venues and local suppliers.  Who could we turn to for a turnkey solution that transform these pain points into one of the strengths of our brand while still keeping true to our mission, vision and values? 


The S3 Vision is prominent throughout the Decision Process – Enter Excel Rain Man

Site Search & Select Vision: to celebrate and promote the inclusion and diversity of our global partners and highlight and connect these partners to our clients and their ever-evolving event needs.     

Excel Rain Man is the leading business entity for creating customized Excel spreadsheets that solve complex problems for their clients. This amazing Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) came to our aid with a diverse rescue plan that was perfectly paired for Site Search & Select and our clients. 
Jen Portland, CEO Excel Rain Man

Jen Portland, CEO of Excel Rain Man, has an interesting and inspiring story on the creation of her unique business.  She and others thought it might be untimely starting a customized spreadsheet reporting business during the 2008 economic crisis.  Truth be told, it was the best time for her to create this type of enterprise because of the economy. By 2013, the firm decided to officially forge ahead with their mission of equity diversity and inclusion and carve their niche and officially become certified as a WBE.  They immediately were able to show their uniqueness and leverage their certification and rise to the top of many departments of the New York City government.  They currently work with many organizations, multinational corporations and now during COVID-19 they have been making tremendous strides within the government sector to create custom spreadsheet solutions which often include automation of workflow.

To “Excel” or “Not to Excel”

That was the big question.  Excel is such a powerful tool. It’s been around for such a long time.  Even though the business world is very familiar with Excel, would our clients think S3 was still cutting edge if our solution was built on such a grand legacy program?  The answer is YES! 

Excel Rain Man is notorious for building out solutions that I like to call “Excel on Steroids.” 

The benefit of using an Excel based custom tool is two-fold.  The first one accomplished the S3 mission of increasing our bandwidth without increasing headcount.  The secret sauce is that the S3 customized solution starts with a color-coded RFP that each hotel partner fills out.  It includes pricing, dimensions, and all pertinent information for guest rooms, meeting space, food and beverage, taxes, concessions.  It calculates and converts all foreign currency to US$. 


That data is stored behind the scenes of the RFP.  When it’s time to create the client reports, we just add the selected RFPs as attachments, push a few buttons and the report begins to compile automatically.  Depending on the complexity of the specifications, it takes about 5-10 minutes to populate 5-7 tabs, convert foreign currency to US$ for every charge and convert square meters to square feet.  Other than a few tweaks, THERE IS NO HAND TYPING!  We can turn these reports around to the client in record time!

For our clients, we decided to take this approach because Excel is universally used in corporate office environments.  There is no learning curve and the Excel user base is extensive.  The software combines the power of Microsoft with easy customization for the meetings industry.  The product will always be supported because it’s backed by an industry giant.  It was a no brainer!

GEEK ALERT:  most people are not familiar with the underlying technology of these highly engineered spreadsheets.  Did you know you could slow down or speed up calculations?  Many of the field calculations in our tool rely on earlier calculations to populate. Excel likes to run fast.  It doesn’t like to wait for earlier calculations to tabulate.  In order to eliminate a crash and burn, you have to tell Excel to slow down or speed up.  This is just one item of many that our tools utilize that may not be familiar to the standard Excel user that help customize our delivery documents. 
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge

​Why Clients & Partners Rave About Our Tools

"Building customized solutions is Excel Rain Man’s niche.  It’s what helps us differentiate within our space.  We continuously add on and enhance the S3 tool which help address the ever-evolving needs of their clients.“ 





Allyssa Tzavlakis – Project Lead,
Solution Finder and Developer,
Excel Rain Man

Excel Rain Man Website

“My hotel sellers admire how the information is assembled and flows throughout the S3 RFP.  All the information that they wish to convey is requested within the spreadsheet.  We especially like the concessions section that allows us to make counter offers if we cannot 100% fulfill the client’s concession request.  The tool allows us to communicate our interest and flexibility to hopefully secure the business.”


Ramel Kelly, Executive Director
National Accounts, Northeast
and Co-Chair for Diversity for Loews Hotels & Resorts 

Loews Hotel Website

“What sets Site Search & Select apart from competitors is they are a boutique firm that uses a creative and customized tool as an asset which delivers successful results for their types of client partners programs.  Their availability report is clear, comprehensive and easy to read for experienced event planners as well as their meeting stakeholders.” 


Susanna Flores, Director,
Convention Sales - Northeast Region
San Francisco Travel Association 

San Francisco Travel Website

Try S3’s RFP Tool for Your Next Event

Site Search & Select is one of the longest established and most successful venue sourcing intermediaries.  We listen to our customers, create unique solutions by offering cutting edge technology solutions to manage our projects and deliver the most creative results.  If you would like to know more about these tools, our operation, or the team’s worldwide knowledge of hotels, international contracting, and local hospitality suppliers please click below for a free consultation.   

Book A Free Consultation
Book A Free Consultation
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