Evya Richards had her doubts about returning to a Capitol Hill hotel she’d previously sworn off. But when a site specialist she trusted recommended it for a June 2025 conference, she gave it another chance.
For one thing, the property was now part of a major chain. And she knew the convention services manager.
Richards, meeting manager for The Energy Council, signed the contract in May 2024, with all the usual clauses — including one about change of ownership.
What she didn’t know was that the property changed from corporate-owned to a franchise after the contract was signed.
“The service and everything, whether corporate-owned or franchised, should be seamless, because as a franchised property you’re still flying that brand’s flag,” she said. In this case, the franchise employees were not given any access to information, systems, or credentials.
Then everyone she had been working with started leaving.
Trouble Brewing
The first sign of trouble was in March 2025, when she started noticing that she had no introductory emails from the hotel. She reached out to her sales manager, only to find that she was no longer there.
“Still, that wasn’t a big alarm because I know salespeople tend to move on. So I reached out to the person who I thought was going to be my CSM, and she sent me back an email that she was moving on.”
That’s when she picked up the phone.
During their conversation, the CSM never gave Richards any indication that the hotel was changing ownership and employees were leaving.
Around that time, the issues started. Because of a mistake in the system, the registration cutoff date was listed a month earlier, so her attendees — high-profile state-appointed legislators and leaders in the private business sector energy from companies like ExxonMobil and Shell — started reaching out saying they had tried to register for the meeting but the room block was full.
“I had at least four or five different rooms coordinators,” she said. “Every time I’d reach out to somebody, they were no longer there. It was like the first time they’d ever heard about this.”
Enter the Task Force
Less than 30 days before the meeting, after numerous frustrated emails and calls, the sales manager finally called to tell her the hotel had been sold. She was assigned a new CSM, a ‘task force’ contractor who actually lived in Atlanta.
These interim management professionals are brought in from all over the country to fill critical roles. “I knew nothing of that world, but she was a seasoned professional,” Richards said. “However, she was extremely overwhelmed, because we weren’t the only group coming in.”
The issues persisted. “No BEOs, no room diagrams, nothing.”
That’s when the hotel brought in additional contract task force employees: a banquet captain, a food and beverage director — and a new CSM to relieve the overworked one.
Attendees Never Knew
The June 5-7 meeting went off without the 130 attendees having any issues or idea of what went on behind the scenes. The room block was opened back up, and all the logistics fell into place.
Richards has decided not to pursue any legal action. She did hold a debrief meeting with the new general manager (the previous one also left) and her third CSM, to let them know how she felt about how they handled the situation.
“It would have been a professional courtesy for the previous GM to have contacted me to let me know what was happening, and the contract says that the hotel is supposed to do that. I told them that meeting planners talk to each other, and as a planner who has been doing this for many years, I feel like we’re getting a little disrespected.”
She has asked that the hotel offer her the same rate for a future meeting, and perhaps she would consider returning again in two years.
She’ll be sure to get that promise in writing.
Her advice to fellow planners: Ask if a hotel is franchised or corporate-owned or -managed. There can be differences in flexibility, brand standards, and contracting. In her previous role, for example, her company would not work with franchise hotels. “They were not as amenable to our addendums,” she said.
“Moving forward, we’ll be putting this in future RFPs, along with a 90-day change of ownership clause.
“So many things went so terribly wrong,” said Richards. “I think if I hadn’t been more seasoned, it could have been even worse.”
