Plan Your Meetings

For a while now, we’ve been hearing from planners who are hopping mad that their small meetings bumped in favor of a larger one. But Sylvania, formerly known as Osram Sylvania Products Inc., is taking their contractual dispute with the Boca Raton Resort & Club to the courts.

The lighting company, which holds its annual national sales meeting of 244 sales representatives at the resort, filed a lawsuit on June 29, asking the Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge to order the resort to honor a 2004 contract for meeting space and hotel rooms. According to the suit, space offered at the resort’s sister properties did not fit Sylvania’s time frame, and the company was unable to find suitable space on its own. Sylvania has held its national sales meeting at the resort 17 times since 1984. The contract was for 30 rooms for Oct. 20, 421 rooms from Oct. 21 to 24 and meeting space.

Have you had a meeting get bumped after the contract was signed? How did you handle it? Did you have to take the property to court?