Matching program and system for corporate meeting planners and hospitality providers

A vendor client computer based bidding method for matching hospitality facility data, representing vendors furnishing hotel facilities, meeting room facilities, or other hospitality facilities, with requirement data, representing respective necessities of a plurality of meeting planners for a corresponding plurality of meetings or events, said data stored on a server, said server begin one of a server computer and a plurality of networked server computers, and said bidding and matching method implemented over a client-server network with said server and a plurality of vendor client computer systems and a plurality of planner client computer systems coupled together via a telecommunications network, at said server:

• (a) storing said hospitality facility data and requirement offer data in a database, said hospitality facility data at least including vendor contact data, room quantity data and amenity data;
• (b) gathering requirement offer data and planner contact data from meeting planners via corresponding planner client computer systems, the gathered requirement data including facilities requirements data;
• (c) matching requirement offer data with said hospitality facility data;
• (d) supplying blinded requirement offer data, without revealing the identity of the corresponding meeting planner who supplied said requirement offer data, to vendors associated with said hospitality facility data which match said facilities requirements data, the matching vendors associated with corresponding vendor client computer systems;
• (e) presenting, to said corresponding meeting planner who supplied said requirement offer data, blinded specific hospitality facility data responsive thereto;
• (f) permitting said corresponding meeting planner to select blinded specific hospitality facility data representing a predetermined number of vendors;
• (g) in the event said corresponding meeting planner cannot fulfill necessities corresponding to said requirement offer data, repeating the permitting selection step while excluding at least one of said predetermined number of vendors and repeating an enabling communications step;
• (h) storing facilities offer data in said database on said server;
• (i) presenting blinded facilities offer data to one or more inquiring meeting planners;
• (j) gathering specific facilities requirement data from a plurality of responsive meeting planners relative to said facilities offer data;
• the vendor client computer based bidding and matching method comprising the steps of:
• supplying said vendor contact data, room quantity data and amenity data to said server;
• supplying specific hospitality facility data via a corresponding plurality of vendor client computer systems to said server relative to said presented blinded requirement data;
• enabling direct communications by participating in an exchange of vendor and planner contact data between said predetermined number of vendors and said corresponding meeting planner, said predetermined number of vendors being selected by said corresponding meeting planner supplying said requirement offer;
• supplying facilities offer data from at least one of said plurality of vendor client computer systems to said server, said facilities offer data representing an offer by at least one vendor to supply hospitality facilities, said facilities offer data including at least a hospitality facility feature and facility offer price data;
• presenting, to said at least one vendor supplying said facilities offer data, blinded specific requirement data responsive to said facilities offer data;
• permitting said at least one vendor to select blinded specific requirement data representing a further predetermined number of said responsive meeting planners;
• enabling direct communications by participating in an exchange of planner contact data between said further predetermined number of said responsive meeting planners and vendor contact data of said at least one vendor;
• and,
• in the event said at least one vendor cannot fulfill the corresponding offer to supply hospitality facilities, repeating said presenting said blinded specific facilities requirement data step to said one vendor while excluding at least one of said further predetermined number of responsive meeting planners and repeating the enabling communications step.

A planner client computer based bidding method for matching hospitality facility data, representing vendors furnishing hotel facilities, meeting room facilities, or other hospitality facilities, with requirement data, representing respective necessities of a plurality of meeting planners for a corresponding plurality of meetings or events, said data stored on a server, said server being one of a server computer and a plurality of networked server computers, said bidding and matching method implemented over a client-server network with said server and a plurality of vendor client computer systems and a plurality of planner client computer systems, said server:

• (a) storing said hospitality facility data and requirement offer data in a database, said hospitality facility data at least including vendor contact data, room quantity data, amenity data, and room price data;
• (b) matching requirement offer data from a corresponding meeting planner supplying the same with said hospitality facility data;
• (c) presenting blinded requirement offer data, without revealing the identity of the corresponding meeting planner who supplied said requirement offer data, to vendors associated with said hospitality facility data which match said requirement offer data;
• (d) gathering specific hospitality facility data from said vendors relative to said presented blinded requirement offer data;
• (e) gathering facilities offer data, representing at least one offer by a vendor to supply hospitality facilities, and storing said facilities offer data in said database, said facilities offer data including at least a maximum hospitality facility feature and facility offer price data;
• (f) presenting blinded facilities offer data via said server to one or more inquiring meeting planners;
• (h) presenting, to said at least one vendor supplying said facilities offer data, blinded specific requirement data responsive to said maximum facility feature and offer price data;
• (i) permitting said at least one vendor to select blinded specific requirement data representing a further predetermined number of responsive meeting planners,
• (j) in the event said at least one vendor cannot fulfill the corresponding offer to supply hospitality facilities, repeating said presenting said blinded facilities offer data step to said one vendor while excluding at least one of said further predetermined number of responsive meeting planners and repeating the enabling of communications step between said meeting planners and said one vendor;
• the planner client computer based bidding and matching method comprising the steps of:
• supplying meeting planer contact data;
• supplying requirement offer data from a corresponding meeting planner of said plurality of meeting planners utilizing a corresponding one of said plurality of planner client computer systems, the requirement offer data including facilities requirements data;
• presenting, via said planner client computer system to said corresponding meeting planner who supplied said requirement offer data, blinded specific hospitality facility data responsive thereto;
• permitting said corresponding meeting planner to select blinded specific hospitality facility data representing a predetermined number of vendors;
• enabling direct communications by participation in an exchange of vendor and planner contact data between said predetermined number of vendors and said corresponding meeting planner supplying said requirement offer data;
• in the event said corresponding meeting planner cannot fulfill necessities corresponding to said requirement offer data, repeating the permitting selection step while excluding at least one of said predetermined number of vendors and repeating the enabling communications step;
• displaying, to one or more inquiring meeting planners via corresponding planner client computer systems, blinded facilities offer data from said at least one vendor;
• supplying specific facilities requirement data from responsive meeting planners of said plurality of meeting planners relative to facilities offer data;
• and
• enabling direct communications by participation in an exchange of planner contact data between said further predetermined number of said responsive meeting planners and vendor contact data of said at least one vendor supplying said facilities offer data.

A computerized system for matching hospitality facility data, representing vendors furnishing hotel facilities, meeting room facilities or other hospitality facilities, with requirement data, representing respective necessities of a plurality of meeting planners for a corresponding plurality of meetings or events, the computerized system comprising:

• means for storing and maintaining said hospitality facility data and said requirement data in a database on said at least one server, said hospitality facility data at least including vendor contact data, room quantity data and amenity data;
• means for gathering requirement offer data and planner contact data from said plurality of meeting planners, the gathered requirement offer data including facilities requirements data;
• means for matching requirement offer data with said hospitality facility data;
• means for presenting blinded requirement offer data, without revealing the identity of the corresponding meeting planner who supplied said requirement offer data, to vendors associated with said hospitality facility data which match said facilities requirements data;
• means for gathering specific hospitality facility data from a group of responding vendors relative to said blinded requirement offer data;
• means for presenting, to said corresponding meeting planner who supplied said requirement offer data, blinded specific hospitality facility data responsive to said facilities requirements data;
• means for permitting said corresponding meeting planner to select blinded specific hospitality facility data representing a predetermined number of vendors;
• means for exchanging contact data between said predetermined number of vendors and said corresponding meeting planner supplying said requirement offer data;
• means for determining if said corresponding meeting planner cannot fulfill necessities corresponding to said requirement offer data, and, in such event, reactivating said means for permitting the selection of said vendors while excluding at least one of said predetermined number of vendors;
• means for gathering facilities offer data from at least one vendor offeror to supply hospitality facilities, and for storing said facilities offer data in said database, said facilities offer data including at least a hospitality facility feature and offer price data;
• means for presenting blinded facilities offer data to one or more inquiring meeting planners;
• means for gathering specific facilities requirement data from a responsive plurality of meeting planners relative to said facilities offer data;
• means for presenting, to said vendor offeror, blinded specific requirement data responsive to said facilities offer data;
• means for permitting said vendor offeror to select blinded specific requirement data representing a further predetermined number of said responsive meeting planners,
• means for exchanging contact data between said further predetermined number of said responsive meeting planners and vendor offeror;
• and,
• means for determining if said vendor offeror cannot fulfill the corresponding offer to supply hospitality facilities, and, in such event, reactivating said means for presenting said blinded facilities offer data step while excluding at least one of said further predetermined number of responsive meeting planners.

A computerized bidding and information exchange method accessible on a telecommunications network for matching hospitality facility data, representing vendors furnishing hotel facilities, meeting room facilities or other hospitality facilities, with meeting requirement data, representing respective necessities of a plurality of meeting planners for a corresponding plurality of meetings or events, the bidding, matching and information exchange method comprising the steps of:

• gathering and storing said hospitality facility data for said plurality of vendors and said meeting requirement data for said plurality of meeting planners in a database accessible via said telecommunications network, said hospitality facility data at least including vendor contact data, room quantity data, and amenity data, said meeting requirement data including facilities requirements and price data and storing meeting planner contact data associated with said meeting requirement data;
• obtaining a plurality of meeting planner offers from a corresponding plurality of meeting planners, each planner offer having a respective meeting requirement;
• posting and making available blinded facilities requirement data and gathering responsive hospitality bid data from a plurality of interested vendors relative to said posted blinded requirement data;
• obtaining a plurality of hospitality facility offers from a corresponding plurality of hospitality vendors, each facility offer having respective hospitality facility offer data including at least one facility feature and a facility offer price;
• posting and making available blinded facility offer data and gathering responsive meeting planner bid data from a plurality of interested meeting planners relative to said posted blinded facility offer data;
• permitting selection of a predetermined number of bids by each respective offering party;
• exchanging respective contact data and bid data between each said offeror and the predetermined number of selected bidders;
• and,
• in the event said offeror cannot fulfill the respective offer, repeating said permitting selection step and exchanging step while excluding at least one of said predetermined number of bids.

A vendor client computer based bidding method for matching hospitality facility data, representing vendors furnishing hotel facilities, meeting room facilities, or other hospitality facilities, with requirement data, representing respective necessities of a plurality of meeting planners for a corresponding plurality of meetings or events, said data stored on a server, said server begin one of a server computer and a plurality of networked server computers, and said bidding and matching method implemented over a client-server network with said server and a plurality of vendor client computer systems and a plurality of planner client computer systems coupled together via a telecommunications network, at said server:

• (a) storing said hospitality facility data in a database, said hospitality facility data at least including vendor contact data, room quantity data and amenity data;
• (b) gathering requirement offer data and planner contact data from meeting planners via corresponding planner client computer systems, the gathered requirement data including facilities requirements data;
• (c) matching requirement offer data with said hospitality facility data;
• (d) supplying requirement offer data to vendors associated with said hospitality facility data which match said facilities requirements data, the matching vendors associated with corresponding vendor client computer systems;
• (e) presenting, to said corresponding meeting planner who supplied said requirement offer data, specific hospitality facility data responsive thereto;
• (f) permitting said corresponding meeting planner to select specific hospitality facility data representing a predetermined number of vendors;
• (g) in the event said corresponding meeting planner cannot fulfill necessities corresponding to said requirement offer data, repeating the permitting selection step while excluding at least one of said predetermined number of vendors and repeating an enabling communications step;
• (h) storing facilities offer data in said database on said server;
• (i) presenting blinded facilities offer data to one or more inquiring meeting planners;
• (j) gathering specific facilities requirement data from a plurality of responsive meeting planners relative to said facilities offer data;
• the vendor client computer based bidding and matching method comprising the steps of:
• supplying said vendor contact data, room quantity data and amenity data to said server;
• supplying specific hospitality facility data via a corresponding plurality of vendor client computer systems to said server relative to said presented requirement data;
• enabling direct communications by participating in an exchange of vendor and planner contact data between said predetermined number of vendors and said corresponding meeting planner, said predetermined number of vendors being selected by said corresponding meeting planner supplying said requirement offer;
• supplying facilities offer data from at least one of said plurality of vendor client computer systems to said server, said facilities offer data representing an offer by at least one vendor to supply hospitality facilities, said facilities offer data including at least a hospitality facility feature and facility offer price data;
• presenting, to said at least one vendor supplying said facilities offer data, specific facilities requirement data responsive to said facilities offer data;
• permitting said at least one vendor to select specific facilities requirement data representing a further predetermined number of said responsive meeting planners;
• enabling direct communications by participating in an exchange of planner contact data between said further predetermined number of said responsive meeting planners and vendor contact data of said at least one vendor;
• and,
• in the event said at least one vendor cannot fulfill the corresponding offer to supply hospitality facilities, repeating said presenting said blinded specific facilities requirement data step to said one vendor while excluding at least one of said further predetermined number of responsive meeting planners and repeating the enabling communications step.

A computerized bidding and information exchange method accessible on a telecommunications network for matching hospitality facility data, representing vendors furnishing hotel facilities, meeting room facilities or other hospitality facilities, with meeting requirement data, representing respective necessities of a plurality of meeting planners for a corresponding plurality of meetings or events, the bidding, matching and information exchange method comprising the steps of:

• gathering and storing said hospitality facility data for said plurality of vendors and said meeting requirement data for said plurality of meeting planners in a database accessible via said telecommunications network, said hospitality facility data at least including vendor contact data, room quantity data, and amenity data, said meeting requirement data including facilities requirements and price data and storing meeting planner contact data associated with said meeting requirement data;
• obtaining a plurality of meeting planner offers from a corresponding plurality of meeting planners, each planner offer having a respective meeting requirement;
• posting and making available facilities requirement data and gathering responsive hospitality bid data from a plurality of interested vendors relative to said posted requirement offer data;
• obtaining a plurality of hospitality facility offers from a corresponding plurality of hospitality vendors, each facility offer having respective hospitality facility offer data including at least one facility feature and a facility offer price;
• posting and making available facility offer data and gathering responsive meeting planner bid data from a plurality of interested meeting planners relative to said posted facility offer data;
• permitting selection of a predetermined number of bids by each respective offering party;
• exchanging respective contact data and bid data between each said offeror and the predetermined number of selected bidders;
• and,
• in the event said offeror cannot fulfill the respective offer, repeating said permitting selection step and exchanging step while excluding at least one of said predetermined number of bids.