McCormick Place & Chicago venues
Convention movement, from the arrival wave to the last shuttle
Airport arrivals, hotel transfers, convention centre runs, off-site dinners and departures — coordinated as one programme across the whole show.
Tell us the shape of the programme and we will price it.
Part of Convention & Event Movements · all services
What this service handles
A convention is not one transportation problem, it is four: the arrival wave, the daily hotel-to-venue movement, the evening off-site programme, and the departure wave that everybody underestimates.
VaultPac holds all four on one trip. Arrivals are movements against flights; daily runs are scheduled movements with counts; evening events are their own movements with their own vehicles; departures are worked back from flights rather than from the closing session. Dispatch watches the whole show rather than each day in isolation.
Chicago is a convention city and McCormick Place is the largest exhibition centre in North America. The operating assumptions on this page are built around that — the distances, the loading constraints, the fact that the first and last days are the ones that go wrong.
Typical movement
- Arrival wave Flights across a day or two, greeters where needed
- Hotel transfers Bags on a separate vehicle, staged ahead
- Daily venue runs Scheduled movements with counts
- Off-site dinners and events Their own vehicles and their own timings
- Departure wave Worked back from flights, not from the closing session
Who uses this service
- Convention and conference organisers
- Corporate meeting planners
- Exhibitors and sponsor teams
- DMCs and event agencies
- Hotels hosting convention blocks
- Association and society staff
How VaultPac coordinates it
Every booking is a trip. A trip carries trip services, and each service breaks into the individual movements that actually have to happen — which is why the people and the bags do not have to travel the same way.
- Trip
- Trip services
- Individual movements
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Trip → Trip Services → Movements
One trip holds every service on it, and each service breaks into the individual movements that have to happen. A single booking can carry people and bags on different vehicles and different clocks without becoming two bookings.
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Group manifest
Send the passenger and bag list you already have. It is read into the trip instead of being retyped into a form.
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Multiple vehicles
Several vehicles on one itinerary, each with its own assignment, timing and passenger list.
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Separate cargo vehicle
A dedicated vehicle for bags, cases or equipment running alongside the passenger vehicles rather than inside them.
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Passenger movement
Sedan, SUV, Sprinter, minibus and coach movements priced and dispatched by the transportation engine.
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Luggage movement
Bags booked as their own movement, with their own route, their own timing and their own proof.
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Dispatch monitoring
Every movement on one board while it runs, so a late arrival is seen rather than reported.
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Changes during the trip
Times, stops, vehicles and passenger counts can change after a trip has started without rebooking it.
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Meet & greet
A greeter recorded on the movement itself, so dispatch knows the handoff is staffed and not assumed.
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Secure storage between movements
Items can be held under custody between a pickup and a delivery, and released on a schedule rather than on arrival.
What runs this movement
Assignment reads the passenger count and the bag count, so the vehicle that arrives fits both. Larger movements run several.
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Sprinter
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Minibus
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Motorcoach
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Cargo vehicle
Why VaultPac for this
- The whole show is one programme, so the departure wave is planned from the same picture as the arrival wave.
- Luggage moves separately, which is what makes an arrival wave survive contact with a hotel kerb.
- Storage covers the gap between check-out and the last session, which is where convention departures usually break.
- Dispatch holds the programme for its full length rather than per-day.
Questions
Can you cover the full length of a show?
Yes, and that is how it should be booked. Arrival wave, daily runs, evening programme and departure wave are movements on one trip rather than four separate arrangements.
What about the gap on departure day?
Check-out at eleven and flights in the evening is the classic convention problem. Bags are collected, held under custody and delivered to the airport timed to the flights, so the last day is usable.
Do you work with the show's official housing and hotels?
We coordinate with whichever hotels your block is in. We do not claim official-vendor status with any show or venue.
Next step
Plan convention transportation with us
Tell us the shape of the movement — dates, numbers, where it starts and where it has to end. We come back with an operating plan and a price, not a form letter.