Priya Raman

Sourcing & Contracts Consultant · Dallas, Texas

I sold hotel space before I ever bought any. Seven years as a national sales manager for a group running full service properties across Texas and the Southwest, which means I wrote the contracts I now review for clients. I know what an attrition clause is protecting, because I used to be the one it protected. I went independent in 2021, doing sourcing and contract review for companies that run ten to forty meetings a year and have no procurement team behind them. The work is mostly arithmetic nobody enjoys: room block math, comp ratios, stacked concessions, and telling someone their guarantee is due the Friday before a holiday. The thing I most want planners to hear is that nearly everything in a hotel contract is negotiable, and the person across the table is already expecting you to ask. Not asking is the only guaranteed way to pay list.

Hotel contracts
Room blocks & attrition
Sourcing & RFPs
Concession negotiation
Texas & Southwest venues

Posts by Priya

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Story

The hotel changed flags eight months into our contract

A flag change eight months into a contract can reset your meeting terms, so check the new operator's recognition of your group agreement.

By Priya Raman · 7 min read

Story

Three general managers in fourteen months and the file that did not travel

A client lost a promised suite upgrade after three GMs turned over at one Phoenix hotel in 14 months, showing how group sales promises vanish with the file.

By Priya Raman · 7 min read

Guide

The complete conference budget guide: every line, every call, every number

I sold hotel group space for seven years before I started buying it. This is the whole conference budget, built in the order a planner actually builds it, with the calls to make, the numbers I expect to see, what is negotiable, and what to do when 400 people arrive and something is wrong.

By Priya Raman · 36 min read