Shorter booking windows for meetings and smaller groups are forecast by travel tech giant Amadeus as the market returns.
Face-to-face events are coming back this year, but how have they changed? According to a new trends in group travel report from industry giant Amadeus, the revived meetings landscape is significantly different from the past. Drawing on proprietary data and industry interviews, the report cites the following key trends:
• Business travel is recovering more slowly than leisure travel. But looking at 2022 and beyond, evidence suggests that the MICE market is returning. Amadeus data shows that hotel RFPs increased by 51% in 2021 compared to 2020.
• There are fewer large groups of 500 people or more on the horizon. Trending up are small meetings of 30 to 50 attendees.
•Booking windows for have shortened considerably. In 2019, the average time period from RFP to event date was 223 days; in 2021 it was 193 days.
•Hybrid meetings will continue to thrive. Improved technology is enabling planners to offer “professional-grade” hybrid events that will significantly enhance return on investment.
• The meetings industry continues to be relationship-driven. Today more than ever, a robust revival of group travel depends heavily on the relationship between hoteliers and planners.
•The shift away from corporate HQs and campuses for many businesses has created more demand for out-of-the-office conference space. Smaller boutique hotel brands are looking at ways they can build planner relationships and host these small corporate meetings.
•Technology can automate and streamline the full lifecycle of meetings and events, from the point at which planners send the property a detailed RFP, to the onsite preparation and management of the event itself, to nurturing an ongoing supplier-planner relationship.
You May Also Be Interested In
Survey Finds Business Travelers Eager to Get Back to Meeting Face to Face
New Study: F2F Meetings Offer Competitive Edge
Meetings Face Staffing, Inflation and Supply-Chain Issues
