Each HTNG workgroup carries an annual support fee that applies, with certain exceptions, to all participating companies.  This support fee is designed primarily to offset the cost of face-to-face meetings.  HTNG subsidizes the other support requirements of the workgroups from general funds.

This page outlines the fees themselves and how they are applied, and also identifies exemptions and credits that may be available to certain participating companies.

Annual Support Fees

Who Pays; Entitlements:  An annual workgroup support fee is assessed per company, per workgroup.  It entitles the company to send one participant to each face-to-face meeting of the workgroup.  Companies may send more than one participant, but an additional fee will normally apply (see Additional Participants section below). 

When Billed:  Annual support fees are normally billed in November of the prior calendar year for ongoing participants.  For companies that join workgroups during the year, and for newly formed workgroups, they are prorated and billed at the time the company joins as a full voting member.

When Due:  Workgroup support fees are payable within 30 days of the invoice, or (for annual billings) on the last day of the prior calendar year, if later.  Late payments are subject to 1.5% monthly interest or the maximum allowable by law.

Unpaid fees will result in company delegates being unable to register online for face-to-face meetings, and payment in full will be required for onsite registration. 

Regular annual support fees invoices that remain unpaid on March 1, and new member support fees that remain unpaid 60 days after issued, will result in suspension of the company from the workgroup.  Retroactive reinstatement is possible if the invoice is paid within 45 days after notification of suspension.  After that date, the company must reapply and pay the delinquent fees in order to be reconsidered for membership in the workgroup.

Companies with delinquent fees from any HTNG workgroup are not eligible to apply for any other HTNG workgroup until the delinquent fees have been paid.  Companies with lapsed HTNG memberships and outstanding workgroup support fees are not eligible to rejoin HTNG until the outstanding support fees have been paid.

How Fees are Set:  Fee levels are based on historical and projected meeting costs, as well as available subsidies from HTNG general membership revenues.  Subsidies are allocated to specific workgroups based on need.

Corporate hotel members and industry partner members, which together constitute the vast majority of workgroup participants, pay identical support fees.  However, to encourage participation by smaller hotel groups and individual consultants, workgroup companies that are represented by employees who hold individual HTNG memberships are granted a 50% discount.

*The In-Room Technology workgroup admits all new members on a six-month provisional basis.  During this time, no annual support fee is assessed, but provisional members who attend workgroup meetings pay the Additional Participant fee for each attendee.

Prorates:  Members who join a workgroup during the calendar year will have their fees pro-rated based on the number of full or partial quarters remaining during the year, except that the quarter in which the member is admitted to the workgroup will only be billed if a subsequent face-to-face meeting is scheduled during the same quarter.

Refunds:  Members who resign from a workgroup during the calendar year will be entitled to a pro rata refund or credit of fully unused quarters.  Refunds or credits will also be made if the workgroup disbands during the calendar year.  Workgroup fees are not refundable in other situations.  A quarter is considered to be "fully unused" only if resignation occurs prior to the first day of the quarter.  To resign from a workgroup, please send an e-mail request to the HTNG Membership mailbox.

What the Fees Pay For:  Generally, workgroup support fees help defray the costs of meeting space, food and beverage, audiovisual, telephone, and Internet access for face-to-face meetings, and teleconference and webconference support for tele/web conference meetings.  Meals and breaks during meeting hours during the day are normally included, and a light continental breakfast is also typically provided.  Two workgroups (In-Room Technology and Payment Systems and Data Security) also fund dinner events during two-day meetings, and their higher fees reflect this practice. 

No Fees for Team Participation:  The teams formed within each workgroup generally do not have face-to-face meetings, or when they do, they can often be held informally and with little or no cash cost to HTNG.  Consequently, no support fees are currently charged to participate on teams chartered within an HTNG workgroup.  However, companies that are members of a team but not of that team's sponsoring workgroup may not attend face-to-face meetings of the full workgroup except in accordance with HTNG's and the workgroup's policies. 

Additional Participants

Companies who are members of a workgroup may bring multiple participants to face-to-face workgroup meetings upon payment of an additional fee (per person, per meeting).  Fees will be as follows, although they may be reduced on a case-by-case basis depending on meeting times and catering costs.

Companies who are not voting members of a workgroup may also attend workgroup meetings if permitted by the policies of the workgroup and HTNG, and are subject to the additional participant fee for each individual attending.  Companies applying for workgroup membership will, if accepted as a full voting member of the workgroup during a meeting, be assessed the annual support fee, prorated for the remainder of the year starting with the quarter in which the next face-to-face meeting has been scheduled. 

Exemptions

The annual workgroup support fees will be waived for:

• Academic and media participants, if approved by majority vote of the workgroup

• Association Partners of HTNG

• HTNG members who are (or in the case of individual members, whose companies are) recognized not-for-profit organizations

• With certain limitations as noted below, companies located in regions where the workgroup has held, or expects to hold, no face-to-face meetings.

Annual workgroup support fees will also be waived for "telephonic participants."  A telephonic participant is a voting member of the workgroup who expects to participate only by telephone or web conference, and not in person.

• Only hotelier members of HTNG are automatically eligible to be telephonic participants, and this option needs to be specifically requested in advance.

• Industry Partner members may be accepted as telephonic participants by majority vote of the voting members of a workgroup at any meeting.

• Telephonic participants may attend a maximum of one face-to-face meeting per year by paying the additional participant fee.

• Conference bridges are not offered by all workgroups or at all meetings.

The additional participant fees may be waived for:

• Guests or speakers invited by the workgroup leadership

• Academic or media participants, if approved by the majority vote of the workgroup or, on a one-time basis, by HTNG management

• Up to four extra participants from a member company that provides a meeting room and/or catering for a specific meeting

• One additional participant from the same company as the workgroup chair or co-chair

• Members of the HTNG board of Directors attending in their official capacity, or representing their own company, if that company is a voting or provisional member of the workgroup or is under consideration for membership at the meeting

• HTNG advisors attending in their official capacity

Regional Waivers for Distant Participants:  As noted above, companies located in world regions where a workgroup does not hold face-to-face meetings may be exempt from annual support fees.  To qualify for the exemption, the following conditions must both apply ("current year" refers to the calendar year for which fees are being assessed):

• During the prior year, the workgroup did not hold any face-to-face meetings in a world region where the participating company has a presence (as defined below); or (for new or restructured workgroups), the workgroup is not expected to hold any face-to-face meetings in any such region during the current year

• The company sent at least one attendee to at least one face-to-face meeting of the workgroup in the prior year, unless there were no such meetings

For the purposes of this exemption, a meeting is considered to be outside of the participating company's world region if the meeting venue is both (a) on a different continent, and (b) at least 3000 miles (4827 km) from the normal office location of each individual who attended face-to-face meetings of the workgroup on the company's behalf in the prior year.  In the case of a new workgroup member, the waiver may be made based on the intended participants for the current year, but is subject to retroactive billing if actual participants are located in non-qualifying world regions.

Credits

Some smaller HTNG workgroup meetings are hosted by member companies.  Because the total costs are usually much less than in a hotel, HTNG offers financial incentives for companies to do this in the form of credits, the value of which typically well in excess of the hosting company's out-of-pocket costs.

Participants may earn credits for meeting hosting, which can be applied against future workgroup support fees and extra participant fees for the same workgroup.  On request of the primary account contact, credits can be transferred to a different workgroup.  Credits may not be applied retroactively. 

If your company provides a meeting venue, catering, or related services for a full Workgroup meeting, or assists HTNG in obtaining below-market rates for these services, then you will earn a credit equal to the financial savings provided to HTNG.  HTNG will estimate these savings based on the differences between its actual costs and the estimated costs of the "next best alternative." 

Credits are not generally available for meetings of other than a full workgroup meeting (e.g. team meetings), although exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.