There’s a significant amount of useful information in the program breakdown to help event and meeting planners understand more details about the AIG event. It’s important to note that the breakdown data is dated after the completion of the program and the day the St. Regis bill was prepared, so it may be safe to assume that the data should reflect final expense details.
For a lack of a better description for each section of the spreadsheet, simply review the document and view each block of data as a separate section (e.g., section 1, 2, 3 and so on):
Section 1: This is the initial total contracted rooms by AIG General Life.
Section 2: This is the Minimum Room guarantee contractually required prior to the event, reducing their initial contract of $191,275 down to only $189,325. However, St. Regis did attempt to help offset AIG’s obligation by reselling $18,585.60 rooms to offset contractual requirements. This brought the requirement down to $170,739.40.
Section 3, 4 & 5: This reflects the actual rooms used during the event, including no-shows.
Section 6: This is where we find the actual revenue requirements and how the fees were accounted. This is the source of some important data.
The Dollar Amounts in the Conference Breakdown
- Per Minimum Requirements Listed: $189,325
- Less Resold Rooms (reducing requirements): $18,585.60
- Subtotal Required: $170,739.40
- Minus Actual Used: $117,750
- Subtotal Determines Room Attrition Requirement: $52,989.40
- Plus 10.16% Occupancy Tax: $5383.72
- Total Room Attrition Requirement: $58,373.12
From the above calculation we can recognize the required room attrition charge.
However, the rooms used at $117,750 plus the 10.16% occupancy rate only equals $129,713.40 for Room Charges, which is $7,183.50 less than what the St. Regis charged for Room Expenses. Although the question for clarification was presented to spokespersons at AIG, the House Government Reform and Oversight committee, St. Regis and Starwood, all declined to comment or provide clarification.
With this in mind, possible explanations for the additional charge may or may not include any of the following:
- The conference program breakdown provided by Starwood may reflect some errors.
- AIG may have covered incidental room charges (e.g., internet, laundry and/or mini-bar).
- The meeting planner may have charged legitimate program expenses to the master room bill.
- It may be a combination of all of the above.
AIG Event in More Detail and Suggested Improvements, next page