Research by Meetingsbooker.com has revealed that consumerisation of meetings bookings is transforming the landscape of the industry around the world.
In a research document released in January, the online venue-finding platform highlighted 10 key trends it has recorded from a healthy sample of 137,000 meetings spaces around the world.
One of the interesting findings reveals that, overall, there is increased demand for bookings by the hour, rather than a flat rate for a full or half day.
Full day meetings remain the most common booking type at hotels, accounting for 44%, but this has dropped 5% in the last year. The research indicates that hourly-bookings account for the majority of this reduction and represents 15% of all bookings.
Eventprofs have been vocal in their desire for more flexible rates, and anecdotally reveal that venues are unwilling to break away from the traditional, more regimented booking slots, often forcing clients to book for either a half day or full day.
Hourly bookings offer eventprofs greater flexibility, with 2-3-hour slots being most popular during morning hours.
It is also interesting to note that hourly-bookings are more commonly being offered by non-hotel venues, with co-working spaces an obvious popular choice. Meetingsbooker.com’s CEO, Ciaran Delaney, says he expects hotels to start experimenting with hourly-bookings before too long and that, he notes, will lead to growth.
Despite hotels remaining the most popular destination for meetings, currently holding 49% market share, their ultimate lack of flexibility means that they are beginning to lose out on online meetings reservations, down 3%. Non-hotel venues, in particular co-working spaces and business centres, are now receiving 10% more reservations, accounting for 23% of total bookings. It is also of note that specialist conference centres currently hold 19% of the market, down 7%.
Are hotels too old-fashioned in how they view meetings, or at least how they are booked, and is this reflected by them losing market share for online bookings?
Delaney says it is a matter of legacy. He explains: “A lot of alternative meeting venues are independent organisations and relatively new, so they immediately start selling online. Hotels are often part of larger international groups that have been selling meetings manually for decades, so they have legacy technology in place that naturally takes longer to change. We are now working with many global hotel groups to drive increased automation via their own websites, combining both online bookings as well as faster RFP solutions.”
Commenting on the rising popularity of remote working and flexible co-working spaces, Delaney notes that they are here to stay. He says: “They are very popular locations for smaller meetings for under 20 attendees and who don’t need accommodation. We are also seeing hotels gradually adapt their offering to cater for this growing segment. When you walk into the lobby of a CitzenM Hotel how many people do you see sipping coffee and working on their laptops?”
Elsewhere in the report, it is revealed that the attendee size for meetings booked online has not changed significantly compared to Meetingsbooker.com’s previous research. The vast majority of meetings booked online range between one and 20 delegates, representing 92% of reservations.
The percentage of meetings for 21-40 attendees grew marginally by 3%, reaching 8% of online meeting reservations.
Delaney notes that this trend will continue to see growth, as more global corporate organisations with larger meetings rollout online sourcing technology.
However, co-working spaces are not for everyone, and with the majority providing wide, open-plan space, they don’t all offer the required privacy.
Although, according to the research, specialist conference centres hold 19% of the market share, it is down 7%. This likely owes to dated facilities on a broad, global landscape.
In the view of Conference News, one non-residential venue chain that offers specialist and modern spaces is etc.venues. It offers high-spec, city centre venues
which are all easily accessible
on public transport, which is essential for modern meeting professionals.
By the end of 2020, the specialist venue’s portfolio will feature 20 venues in London, Birmingham, Manchester and New York, offering more than 300 meeting rooms and over 46,500sqm of dedicated event space.
Nick Hoare, etc.venues’ chief operating officer, in January said: “2019 was a remarkably successful year for the company. We increased our revenue by 20%, successfully delivered 19,000 events for an ever-growing list of clients including 84% of the FTSE 100, and hosted 965,000 delegates.
“The year ahead is very exciting. We’re investing a record £20m plus in development, and with more venues and rooms to offer, we’re expecting to host more than one million delegates at more than 20,000 events in 2020.
It is this sort of ambition that eventprofs would be well-advised to pay attention to.
Consumerisation of meetings
One of the great challenges the conference and meetings industry has faced over the last couple of years has been to rival the likes of Airbnb and booking.com when it comes to ‘effortless’ instant booking. While Meetingsbooker.com does have this capability, the demand for instant booking through reliable, mobile-friendly portals remains high.
According to the new research, instant bookings now represent 47% of total online reservations, which has risen by 11%. Delaney believes this trend is set to rapidly increase as more venues connect via API, offering instant booking capability direct into their central reservations systems.
However, with the relative ease of instant bookings now a requirement, eventprofs are looking for a single solution to manage all their events. Someone booking space for 20 delegates online may also organise a 100-delegate event with group accommodation the following month.
Eventprofs want to be able to decide how they book and at the same time remain in control of the process. Online bookings are generally smaller with shorter lead times, while larger events take longer to plan and tend to involve a team in the selection process, along with the additional requirements.
Bookers and planners now expect to have one platform catering for all their meeting sourcing needs. The research shows that online bookings have an average lead time of only 12 days, whereas larger event bookings with group accommodation made via the platform using RFP have a much longer lead-time of 62 days.
Does Delaney believe there is a disconnect between venues and organisers; do venues still think they can dictate how they sell their event spaces, and is there perhaps a nervousness that the customer has too much control? He says: “No, ultimately venues want to sell their spaces and have happy customers who will book again. The smarter venues are constantly reviewing their offering, making changes to respond to customer needs including sustainability, broader food offerings as well as venue technology.”
