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shooting up . The average Day Delegate Rate ( DDR ) has grown by around £ 12 in London , and £ 7 in the provinces , reveals Bannister . Rising meeting costs in a belt-tightening economy will presumably lead to fewer meetings and events .
It has been well documented , but another stumbling block is staff shortages . When combined with increased wages , it is making it difficult for venues and agencies to meet clients ’ meeting needs . Customer expectations are high , which is tricky to manage when the sector is still in recovery mode .
Of course , the possible return of Covid-19 looms large – fewer meetings and Christmas parties are being booked this winter due to client uncertainty . This could hopefully ease over the coming months , but only time will tell on this one .
It has also been predicted that
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“ Compared to the past two years , it is safe to say 2023 will be far kinder to our industry .” |
20 % of events will not return and have instead gone online , particularly training and smaller meetings . One of the main issues with this is inconsistency . Bannister explains : “ We are seeing consistently lower rates of conversion in 2022 – around 10 % lower than in 2019 . The most common reason is a lack of budget approval to proceed , often as the booker has been asked to hold the meeting virtually instead . This has an operational impact on already very busy teams both in our offices and our venue partners .”
Meet Less , Meet Better Overall , booking patterns remain unclear . Far fewer meetings are being booked for 2023 compared to pre-Covid times . However , there is an upside to this , says Anna Snoep , director of operations at Inntel . “ We are seeing that our prediction of ‘ Meet Less , Meet Better ’ was on the money . The number of transactions in meetings and events are lower than pre-pandemic levels but both average length and value per booking have increased significantly .
“ This is not just a result of the current inflated pricing . Our clients are meeting less but when they do meet , they do so in higher quality venues and add value by adding dinners , overnight stays , team building and other activities . They are also combining meetings to reduce travelling time and the number of trips . The value assigned to delegate travelling and personal time has changed . It is essential that delegates feel that face-to-face meetings and events add value to their personal and professional development .”
With the pressure on , communication between venues , clients and agencies is suffering , which can lead to challenging issues arising . “ The old rule book
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about how we work with each other is definitely out of the window , and past relationships don ’ t seem to count for much ,” reveals Chris Peacock , director of Conference Care .
Green goals Another trend is sustainability , which is higher on everyone ’ s priority list than ever before . “ Awareness of the importance of sustainability for meetings and events among clients and bookers has vastly increased ,” says Snoep . “ Clients are keen to understand a venue ’ s green policy and are showing a keen interest in offsetting options . In response , Inntel is building a product portfolio of meetings and event carbon calculators , as well as a variety of offsetting solutions . This trend will only continue and grow in 2023 .”
Next year , the ‘ race for space ’ should disappear , too , as the industry catches up on all the postponed events of the past two years . Peacock predicts “ a more balanced supply and demand situation , which will increase the availability of event space and may level out pricing as well .” He also expects “ an increase in the number of social enterprise venues , and for them to raise the bar in terms of their facilities and services offered .”
To summarise , the second half of 2022 has seen a “ much stronger recovery than most venues and agents would have dared predict at the start of this year ,” concludes Des Mclaughlin , content director of beam . “ Booking cycles have changed , at least for the time being , with very short lead in times , making accurate business forecasting extremely difficult . Despite this uncertainty , when compared to the past two years , it is safe to say 2023 will be far kinder to our industry .” CN
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