A world first for a multi-destination alliance, the three-year strategic collaboration will offer BestCities’ clients a new portfolio of secure payment, foreign currency budget protection and VAT reclaim services for business event clients globally. BestCities clients will receive preferred pricing on the fees for their services, that are not offered to clients meeting in other destinations.
The Meeting Escrow partnership is the first by BestCities since it announced a new strategic plan and enhancement of the Alliance’s offering earlier this year, ahead of its 20th anniversary in 2020.
Equipping BestCities with a competitive advantage and market differentiation, the partnership aims to address key challenges faced by clients when planning events globally across currencies. These challenges range from varying exchanges rates, which can have a significant impact on client budgets, to mounting administration costs and time involved in VAT reclaim processes.
The benefits Meetings Escrow has crafted to support BestCities’ clients and partners include:
Foreign currency budget protection: opening a foreign currency trust account to lock in today’s exchange rate so clients have zero exposure to future rate increases when their event takes place in their selected BestCities destination
VAT reclaim process: co-ordinating claims, paperwork and compliance on behalf of clients to ensure an effortless process and to maintain a single point of contact for the event planner
Preferred pricing: BestCities’ clients that sign on with Meeting Escrow will receive a 50% discount on their annual fees for the first 3 years, a savings that is exclusive to the Alliance.
Paul Vallee, Managing Director at BestCities Global Alliance, said: “BestCities is always looking for ways to expand our offerings and bring new benefits and solutions to the table for our clients.”
“This important partnership with Meeting Escrow provides tangible benefits to clients by providing solutions to common financial issues that associations face when meeting around the world.”
“Meeting Escrow is a company that we are pleased to partner with as they not only provide practical solutions for the marketplace but ensure they give back to the industry. For example, they support the Incredible Impacts programme we jointly operate with ICCA that recognizes associations with $7,500 grants for long-term legacies.”
Grant Snider, President and CEO at Meeting Escrow, said: “We are excited to enter into this 3-year strategic partnership with BestCities Global Alliance and their network of 12 international convention bureaus.”
“BestCities’ prestigious international profile and values align perfectly with our global focus on financial security, transparency and risk management for Business Events.”
“We are a proud supporter of the BestCities and ICCA Incredible Impacts programme. This new partnership will deepen our collaborative efforts to bring additional value to clients.”
For more information you can visit www.bestcities.net.
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For further information, interviews or imagery for BestCities contact:
Daniel Glendinning at Wire, on daniel@wearewire.co or +44 (0)141 648 9610
Notes to Editor:
About BestCities
BestCities Global Alliance is an international network of 12 leading convention destinations around the globe. They are distinguished by the commitment of the members' convention offices to offering special standards of service. Members include Berlin, Bogotá, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Houston, Madrid, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo and Vancouver.
By working together, BestCities adds a unique value to its member cites. This ‘Alliance thinking’ not only brings a level of creative client solutions no individual partner city could deliver on their own, but in turn helps BestCities’ members achieve their own objectives, better than they could alone. www.bestcities.net @BestCitiesGA.
About Meeting Escrow
Based in in Toronto, Canada, Meeting Escrow simplifies and secures meeting and event payments globally. The company’s streamlined payment solutions include serving as the single payer to all vendors, holding deposits in escrow trust until program delivery, converting meeting budgets to foreign currencies upfront to avoid the impact of exchange rate volatility and coordinating VAT refunds. www.meetingescrow.com @meetingescrow.