Jane and David Smith, Founders and Partners

The Metro Meeting Centers concept grew out of our own experiences in the hospitality industry.

Jane’s story... For nearly 10 years, I operated an independent meeting planning business. I found the process of planning and holding a meeting to be inefficient and often frustrating. Meeting facilities varied widely, both in quality of service and design. Just finding the right person to talk to within a hotel or conference center was a challenge. At many properties, smaller meetings did not receive the same attention as larger groups. Meeting costs were determined largely by the planner's skill in negotiating against the property's desire to maximize yield. Contracts often did not disclose all of the charges and fees and usually levied significant penalties for attrition or cancellation.

David’s story... I began my career with a major conference center company. In 1981, I opened a consulting firm specializing in sales, marketing, and operating strategies for hotels, conference centers, and resorts. Over the years, I came to believe that many of the processes practiced in most hotels and conference centers hindered the planning and execution of a top-notch meeting. The industry approach to booking and planning a meeting was cumbersome, many hotels claimed to be conference centers, but few had the design features or quality of customer service necessary to earn that title. Pricing was always negotiable and dependent upon many variables…the number of guestrooms, the ratio of guestrooms to meeting space, revenue from food and beverage... and more.

We thought there had to be a better way! With the help of a great team from our consulting and operations group, we conceived of a meetings facility that would offer the solutions to the issues we experienced with other "meetings" places.

The result was Metro Meeting Centers... a specialized meetings center in downtown locations.