With the past 18 months being spent behind screens for many of the events industry , the desire to meet face-to-face has perhaps never been higher . For a corporate hospitality and catering provider like Searcys , having people back in the room is a boon that cannot be overstated .

The business hosts events from a variety of venues , from Blenheim Palace to The Gherkin . I spoke to Rebecca Hawkes , director of sales and events at Searcys , about the bookings the business is seeing , as well as how the company has handled the pandemic .

Free at last Specialising in in-person events has been a difficult patch to navigate in recent years , now that the events industry is looking to bounce back . What change is Searcys seeing in its client base ?

As you might expect , the easing of restrictions in the UK has had a

Rebecca Hawkes

profound impact on the bookings seen by Searcys , with not only more inquiries being seen , but more confirmations as well .

Hawkes says : “ 2022 did not start quite as we would have liked it to , you know . We really did see things start to pick up towards the tail end of last year across September , October , November .

“ What we have seen since they started announcing the release of restrictions with the stay-at-home guidance lifted , is a real resurgence in inquiries . Just to give an example , in the last three

“ Having a social part of the meeting is such an important aspect for people now ; lunches , dinner meetings , but with drinks at the end ”

Searcys ’ Pall Mall building

weeks , we ’ ve seen a 76 % increase in inquiry levels . What ’ s really good alongside the inquiry shooting up is that confirmation is starting to come through now as well .”

Not only is the booking pattern picking up , but the business is seeing a change in what is being requested , with more of an emphasis on the social side of events . Smaller bookings of 10 to 20 people for dinner occasions are also on the rise , with people keen to take advantage of Searcys ’ portfolio of restaurants and bars .

Hawkes says : “ Having a social part of the meeting is such an important aspect for people now ; lunches , dinner meetings , but with drinks at the end , that kind of thing . We ’ re seeing quite a lot of short lead stuff come in .”

Hawkes also spoke of larger-scale conferences being booked , with two conferences of