What is the current state of play for venue sourcing agents? beam members share their top trends and insights.
There are many reasons to be optimistic for those in the venue sourcing sector. First, there has been a much higher bounce back for meetings post-pandemic than expected. Second, September has been a record month for events, with meeting space almost impossible to find. Third, with very short booking lead times, coupled with strong demand, agents and venues remain very busy.
There has also been a huge return to face-to-face events rather than virtual ones – people are ‘zoomed out’ and value personal interaction more than ever. While international events have yet to return in a meaningful way, they should soon now that Covid-19 is in retreat and once the airlines’ current levels of service improve.
Sector insight
Which sectors are driving the recovery? Sharon Bannister, head of venue find, event account management and sales at agiito,shares her insights: “Some customers are significantly exceeding their 2019 venue-find spend, with the public sector leading the way, followed by transport and logistics. Banking, financial services, professional services and insurance were slower to return to face-to-face meetings last year, but we have seen a significant upward trend in booking patterns in 2022.”
Stumbling blocks
Of course, the outlook isn’t all rosy. The business events, accommodation and meetings industry is still relatively fragile. Venues and agents alike are carrying significant losses from the Covid-19 shutdowns, many are servicing large debts, leaving little financial wiggle room. This isn’t being helped by a recession and inflation. Meeting costs areshooting 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 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 bookabout 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.”
