“Table of Eight” – Our occasional column with comments about Chapter events.
What a nice turn out for the Chapter’s breakfast meeting at the Hilton – Fort Lauderdale Marina on SE 17th Street. In attendance, in addition to our members and colleagues, there were members of MPI and GMIC. Karen Smith, Meetings Media, was the moderator of a Meeting Planners Panel that included: Dahlton Bennington, Business Meeting Services, SFM Group (formerly Spherion); Katherine Manfredi, Sr. Director of Events, Strategic Event Management; Victoria Ascione, Director, Corporate Meetings & Events, Bacardi; and Joost de Meyer, Owner, First Incentive Travel.
As always, there will be different things that people will remember from a presentation that may apply to their specific hotel/company. But here are a few key points from my notes.
In general the panel discussed issues facing meeting planners, what was on their minds, and what questions the attendees might have to assist them in working with meeting planners. It was noted that in the last 2 years, the meetings industry has really banded together to recognize the value of the industry. Meetings are responsible for creating $240 billion dollars in spending and 1 million American jobs.
What is the future of the meetings industry? Is business back? Are people starting to book?
It seems inbound international meetings are facing a tough year due to the European economy (the value of the Euro; Visa problems, etc.); However, outbound incentive travel is beginning to grow, although stays are mainly within the US or closer to the US (Caribbean). People seem to be booking – it’s growing, it’s coming back, but still lean and more last minute (shorter lead times, i.e. 3 – 6 months out) with lower budgets. It was suggested that hoteliers focus their marketing efforts during a company’s Quarter ends before their budgets expire or are used up for that time period.
What are the trends?
Hotels have less sales people for meeting planners to work with. It’s even more important for hotel websites to have the information planners need to work with, such as: function sheets, property maps, meeting room specs, photos they can copy and download, green initiatives, etc. In addition, BEO’s should be very specific so that anyone of any level can understand them and that it’s all written down on paper. Hoteliers need to show that they understand their customers and their expectations. Suggestion: Get input from a meeting professionals advisory panel – have them do a critique on the design of your website.
How important are “green” meetings? Hotels will have a competitive edge if they are green and provide this information to planners (even if they don’t ask for it). There are ways to do this with little or no cost. It is increasingly important to guests and meeting attendees. It was suggested that there be a part of an hotelier’s website that list this information so that it can be copied and pasted into a meeting program.
How important is CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)? Giving back/doing good?
This trend is becoming an increasingly important part of meetings -- making for great team building and satisfaction. This is also a great chance for hotels to put these plans together in advance and offer them as optional CSR programs to a meeting planner. Hotel partners can even become involved in the activity, increasing their visibility in their own community for good deeds, using this as information in press releases.
What is the value of a face to face meeting? It has been shown that corporate meetings drive sales performance. They are strategic motivators for sales. A recent survey stated that a company would lose 17% of its profits if it eliminated business travel. $39 billion dollars in tax revenue (for the federal government) comes from business travel. MPI has some great stats on the value of meetings. Incentive meetings have been studied as well. They’ve looked at incentive programs financially from year to year in relation to revenue. They’ve assessed the impact of retaining staff, the cost of training, and re-training; reviewed the value of incentive programs to hotels and to a destination dollar wise, and to all the side companies that benefit. Hoteliers should make sure to do some sort of “feed back form” after every event and meeting to gather facts and figures.
Best, Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider
PS Just a reminder to send in your industry news/updates for the “Around Town” Column for the chapter’s blog to jwfranklin1@gmail.com.
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