What 2021 beholds for independent meeting planners?
It’ll be very wise for
independent meeting planners to conclude that 2020 was a year unlike any
other in the meetings and event management diaspora. After COVID 19 fiercely
spread and bestowed wrath, the independent meeting planner was widely affected
with most of the meetings, hospitality, and events being either canceled or
postponed since March. With this saddening scenario, the independent meeting
planner are looking towards 2021 with a strong ray of hope. Experts also
believe that hopefully, 2021 will bring back the businesses of event management
and the independent meeting planner to normalcy.
For this change to be
long-lasting and accelerated, the independent meeting planner must lay emphasis
on factors that can help them adapt to the changes post-COVID.
Below we bring you
some insights which can help independent meeting planner understand how they
channelize and cash on the newer aspirations that 2021 has in store for them.
1. Various tech-
meeting planning firms have sighted nearly $2 billion through meeting requests
for proposals in the second quarter of 2020.
The experts from these
companies also added that although the RFP figures have been significantly low
as compared to previous years but the factor of conversion is at the same rate
as was in 2019.
2. Clients are now
showing interest in organizing smaller meetings and events.
Reports show that
since July 2020, 40% of all RFPs that they got showed interest in hosting
smaller events, with 90% of these RFPs clearly mentioning the crowd strength be
less than 50.
These RFPs which were
received in summer months also had astonishing results with independent meeting planners being asked to just arrange space for the
event significantly promoting that no sleeping rooms or restrooms being needed.
These figures signal that organizers want the event to wrap up by the day, with
no attendees staying back and using the breakout room or the ballroom, etc.
3. The desired hotels
have slashed down rates.
Surveys and reports
say that the sought after and awarded hotel have slashed down the rates to 11%
below average as compared to the previous years. Figures show that for the
month from September 2020 to December 2020, the rates are down by 23%. Predicting
these rates will be down by 10% for Q1 of 2021, with the overall figures for
2021 being 3%. We suggest that independent meeting planners must capitalize on these exceptionally lower
rates by sending RFPs, dedicatedly for events taking place in the latter months
of 2020.
4. Many eminent
organizations have sighted that the source pacing and demand for the first
quarter of 2021 are near the 70%-75% of pace.
The places like
Orlando, Las Vegas, Nashville, Houston, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco, Atlanta,
and Washington, D.C. which have always been the sweet spot for independent
event planners have seen a dip in demands. Experts believe that these figures
will continue to drop lower than the present state till the first quarter of
2021, as the demand in the coming months is not expected to grow better up till
2021.
5. The mid-sized
metropolitan areas are being believed to perform better on a relative basis in
the year 2021 than the prominent metros.
Studies show that the
mid-sized metros saw the astonishingly same level of bookings as other
prominent metros, while the major metros saw a dip in demands for the same
month of July. This can be attributed to factors such as the differences in
pricing, the appreciated ease of driving, and the added car access. Along with
these factors, the deciding quote is the number of COVID 19 cases and its
prevalence in the prescribed region.
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