American Express Meetings & Events, has announced the availability of MEETINGS EXPERT in the Asia Pacific region, a service providing companies with an experienced sourcing and contract negotiation expert for meetings that may be planned outside of a managed, centralised meetings and events program.

MEETINGS EXPERT has been designed to assist professionals who are responsible for planning meetings but who may not be trained meeting planners to secure the best terms from hotels and venues. The service provides all of the information a client needs to make an informed choice of venue, while the buying power of American Express helps obtain the lowest rates and contractual terms.

The service connects companies with experts to negotiate all aspects of a meeting contract including conference rooms, sleeping rooms, food and beverage, and ancillary spending for events with a minimum of 10 rooms per night. By tracking meetings sourced, the service also provides companies with standardised reporting – allowing risk control, optimised spend and program insights.

“We are excited to extend this new offering to the Asia Pacific region as it is very much aligned with the needs of corporate buyers,” said Issa Jouaneh, vice president and general manager, Meetings & Events. “The program builds on our local insights and capabilities, leveraging the tools and best practices of the program launch in North America.”

MEETINGS EXPERT was piloted last year with companies in North America and is now broadly available in Asia Pacific.

“As companies become more focused on meeting and expense consolidation, MEETINGS EXPERT offers a solution for those who plan meetings on an ad hoc basis. It is important – even for those companies planning meetings only intermittently – to implement a structure around the process. We expect that the MEETINGS EXPERT will demonstrate the value of managing meetings and associated expenses – one of the largest categories of uncontrolled spend for most companies”, said Danielle Puceta, director JAPA, American Express Meetings & Events.