City Focus
Prague Marriott , said : “ Globally , Prague as a market is not doing great . If we look at other cities comparable in size in Europe – we are only doing better than Bratislava – for example , on RevPAR . We are behind Warsaw and Budapest and we used to be ahead of these markets .”
From the Prague Marriott ’ s perspective , the first quarter of this year was very slow due to Covid and proximity to the war in Ukraine . However , the second half has seen these concerns ease , Malý stated , and the Prague Marriott has seen a big influx in conference business . That said , competition in the hotel sector is not standing still . The former Intercontinental Hotel , which is being rebranded as a Fairmont and is scheduled to open in 2024 , will be a big player in the conference business . The first quarter of 2023 is looking better , Malý said , noting the Prague Marriott offered 14 event rooms , 1,189sqm of event space , including a largest space capable of hosting 650 delegates , as well as 11 breakout rooms .
Mind the gap Hilton ’ s Cloud 9 Sky Bar was an elevated spot to hear hotel manager Alistair Laird ’ s overview on market lead times . He acknowledged that the MICE climate is tough and booking visibility is limited . “ The willingness to commit long in advance is declining and there is a clear gap in terms of Q1 booking visibility compared with last year , something everybody is facing ,” he said .
Laird did flag the potential pent-up demand to be tapped and the MICE market ’ s renewed appetite for physical meetings post pandemic : “ We don ’ t see the same amount of confirmed business as previous years ( pre pandemic ), but I think everybody needs to stand their ground and remain optimistic because what we have seen in the last couple of months is that , even if you don ’ t have the same amount of business confirmed for the upcoming quarters , the lead-time on this business is reducing .
“ So , either we are going to see pent-up demand in the second half of next year or business coming in at a shorter lead-time . Either way , it works for us !”
Asked where else he saw rays of sunshine , Laird flagged the re-emergence of physical meetings post pandemic : “ Everybody was concerned about the how the world would change after the pandemic , saying ‘ this is going to change corporate travel : we ’ re not going to see meetings and events to the same extent , there will be hybrid events , etc ’. However , what we have seen is that people are desperate to spend time face to face . So , I ’ m definitely optimistic .”
PCO viewpoint AIM Group ’ s Dana Prejkova has been on the PCB ’ s board sine 2021 and was markedly more upbeat than some of the hoteliers . She said that although the first half of the year the MICE market had been damaged by the Ukraine conflict , she was surprised that since May there had been a sharp improvement and the market had taken off ( growing over 200 %). “ Everything started to happen .
Above : Štěpán Malý ,
We started receiving requests for conferences and congresses with very limited notice ( 3-4 weeks ).” It is worth flagging here two factors that have made this segment especially busy : congresses that were postponed because of the pandemic are now being put on , and the Czech Republic ’ s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU ( from July-December 2022 ). Prejkova did qualify her optimism , though , by saying : “ We are still missing people , like everywhere in the world .”
Looking ahead , Prejkova spoke about the importance of re-defining what the ‘ new normal ’ might for the MICE market post pandemic – highlighting the need for speed and flexibility to win customers . “ I think everything will be much quicker ( from the original conference request to its implementation ), you have to be more flexible as regards terms and conditions where cancellations are concerned ( which not many venues in the Czech Republic are used to ).”
Prejkova went on to describe how she saw her own PCO role changing – from being a pure organiser to a more consultancy / advisory role , a trend that has emerged during online / hybrid meetings . Prejkova added that the Asian market was also largely still missing .
When the meeting mists clear and visibility returns , this jewel of a city in Central Europe certainly has the charm and events inventory to take advantage .
ISSUE 122 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 33