As I was sitting at work negotiating the second contract of the day, when it dawned on me that if I ever lost the travel bug – I could be an attorney and as a matter of fact I should have Esquire at the of my name now!! Well that might be stretching it but I think one day – I would make a hell of a paralegal.
One of my favorite things about this industry has always been the “Art of the Sale” meaning:
- Understanding what my client wants and what are their hot buttons.
- Understanding how the hotels/DMCs/venues make their money and what they will and will not negotiate.
- Blending the two and ultimately getting the deal signed where it’s a win-win for everyone involved and feeling like I had brought value to my client and was a partner with my vendors.
All of that is still very true “the art of the deal” but anyone who has been around a few years has seen a shift from clients, third parties and vendors working the deal to
- Multiple rounds and versions of contracts.
- Procurement departments
- Corporate Legal is involved
- Multiple signatures on SOW/LOA’s/CONTRACTS
Times are different and when I was sitting at my desk renegotiating the force majeure clause, it struck me how this one particular clause has changed within just the last three years . . . Before it referred to actions of god, firs, strikes, civil disorder etc. Now largely in part to the state of our World we are seeing things like war, terrorism, curtailment of transportation, extraordinary occurrence outside of the control of canceling client that make it impractical to travel, WHO warnings, acts of God to include volcanoes that haven’t erupted in 100 of years, and so on!
All of which have counter points from legal who like words like impractical vs. impossible but hotels hate to hotels telling us they will include WHO warnings but only if it gets to pandemic level 6 and clients that want to have such aggressive “cancel for ANY” reason because everyone got so burnt in 2009 – that it makes it almost impossible to truly achieve #4 – the ULTIMATE deal.
Three things I would recommend you negotiate in EVERY force majeure clause:
- Curtailment of transportation with 0% associated to it.
- Extraordinary occurrence outside the control of client X that makes it impractical to travel said destination.
- WHO warning that states its impractical to travel to said destination – with NO pandemic levels associated to it.
In this day of group travel negotiations, there is a clear winner and a clear loser. The “Art of the Deal” in 2010 has become more laws of averages and specific words – I guess if I am looking at the glass half full, I am learning something new every day, I have outstanding negotiation skills and on some contracts I give legal a run for their money!
