We can only go by what's written in the article, but it sounds like the CC fee was the only item at issue. Hootsuite was willing to budge on it and essentially

We can only go by what's written in the article, but it sounds like the CC fee was the only item at issue. Hootsuite was willing to budge on it and essentially had the vendor put business development activities into the contract. I agree that it does start to look like personal services, and I'd not be happy about it if it were something larger. But the vendor was buying dinner every once in a while anyway - why do you think they agreed to it? And while Hootsuite maybe could have leveraged that term for something else in the contract, it sounds like they're very happy with their end of this. It'd be one thing if the Vendor was promoting this, but it's the party that conceded the larger term thinking it beneficial. It's certainly a YMMV situation.