This decision tree is part of the group booking change reconciliation guide. It takes a hospitality systems advisor from the first conversation to the right introduction and marks where the answer stays open until SourceX's rights review. It is general information, not legal advice.
Why the events office knows the records but rarely signs
The director of events, or director of events operations, is the natural first contact. They know how a guaranteed count becomes a banquet invoice, which disputes were memorable, whether superseded event orders were kept and where the kitchen files its production sheets. In systems such as Oracle OPERA Cloud, the events team maintains the expected attendee count, the guaranteed count and the actual count that drive what a group is billed, so they can describe the history precisely.
OracleWhat they usually cannot do is commit the company. A hotel's records sit under at least one ownership layer and often two or three: the entity that owns the building, the company that operates it, and sometimes a brand whose systems the hotel runs. The person with the clearest view of the records is several steps from the person who can say yes.
The decision tree, branch by branch
Answer the questions in order and stop when a branch names the signer.
- Is the hotel run by the company that owns it?
- Yes: the owning company's CEO, often the owner personally, is the signer. Go to question 3.
- No: go to question 2.
- Is it run by a third-party management company under a management agreement?
- Yes: the operator's CEO signs for the operator, but the agreement often decides who controls operating records, and the owner may need to consent. Counsel reads it. Go to question 3.
- No, it is franchised or licensed to a brand and run by the owner: the owner signs, but go to question 3 with the brand agreement flagged.
- Were any of the records created in a brand-provided or group-wide system?
- Yes: the franchise, license or group agreement may set terms for that data. Mark it "unknown" for the rights review and go to question 4.
- No: go to question 4.
- Will the named executive take a short call with the director of events as sponsor?
- Yes: introduce them.
- No or unsure: do not submit yet; ask who would decide.
Most single-property, owner-operated hotels stop at question 1. Management companies running many hotels take question 2 for every property, and the answer can differ hotel by hotel. The general version of that split is set out in who owns data in a shared group system.
Record owners versus signers
| Role | Records they know | Can they open a licensing discussion? |
|---|---|---|
| Director of events or events operations | Event orders and versions, guaranteed counts, captain's counts | No; the sponsor |
| Catering or banquet manager | Production sheets, banquet checks | No |
| Event accountant | Postings, correcting postings, variance reports | No |
| Director of finance or controller | Invoices, credit notes, retention policy | Rarely; advises |
| Systems administrator | Which modules and years exist, export settings | No |
| Owner or the owning company's CEO | All records of an owner-operated hotel | Yes, within contracts |
| Management company's CEO | Operating records it controls under the agreement | Yes for the operator, often with owner consent |
Where the owner is a holding company or fund, the person who prepares the answer is often a group finance leader, with the CEO signing; holding company CFO responsibilities describes that role.
Where legal, client or attendee sign-off comes in
Three kinds of terms can narrow what a hotel company may license, and each is a question for counsel, not for the partner.
Client contracts. Group and catering contracts can carry confidentiality clauses. Counsel decides whether they reach banquet invoices, event orders and the planner's correspondence.
Attendee and contact details. Event files name planners, sometimes attendees with dietary notes or rooming lists. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, and the regulation's principles include purpose limitation and data minimization. Comparable rules apply elsewhere. Exclusion or de-identification may be required, and SourceX's review decides which.
Owner, operator and brand agreements. These decide who controls the records at all. Why data rights matter explains why that answer comes before any talk of volume or buyers.
If you advise several hotel owners in one forum, the note on peer advisory group confidentiality covers how to raise the topic without sharing one member's situation with another.
Open until SourceX's rights review
The tree names whom to introduce. It leaves these open:
- whether the owner, the operator or both hold the right to license each record class
- whether brand or group agreements exclude records kept in shared systems
- which client and attendee details must be removed, and whether some events are excluded entirely
- whether there is buyer interest in this history, and on what terms
An introduced company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions and never ask for invoices, event orders or logins. The worked late-headcount case shows what the records contain, the referral brief template has a field for the signer, and the hospitality page lists related records.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
Once the tree has named the owner or operator executive who controls the hotel's group booking records, register as a partner, check the company against who qualifies and read the program terms before you make the introduction.