Trade association for the booking agency, venue and apartment community, HBAA, is predicting increased spend on meeting content and event production in 2018. Other trends for the year the association identifies include:
• Increasing demand for agency expertise and support
• More variety of venues and meeting formats
• Increasing focus on creating a memorable experience
• Greater use of VR in event planning.
Louise Goalen (pictured), chair of the HBAA and head of venues at agency Top Banana, adds that clients were looking for greater involvement from their agencies through incorporating them into their own events teams.
Goalen also predicts more one-day events which don’t require overnight accommodation.
She also foresees a move away from holding meetings and events in the traditional four walls and into unusual, inspirational venues and spaces.
Erica Livermore, HBAA executive committee member and MD of Prestige Reservations also suggests operators and corporates will increase their focus on the guest experience. She believes in 2018 the industry will see:
• Brand consolidation in the hotel sector and the creation of sub-brands targeting niche markets
• The renaissance of budget hotel brands
• The serviced apartments sector reaching maturity but corporate confusion over who owns what
• A greater push by brands on the adoption of dynamic pricing which astute agencies and corporates will only adopt where commercially advantageous.
Steve Jones, operations director at Wyboston Lakes and his IT director colleague Craig Warner foresee more demand in the New Year for breakout sessions in common areas, with Warner predicting a trend towards more digitised information being available to planners, with VR ready content enabling them to visualise their conference before stepping foot on site.
“Guests of all ages have the latest technology at home and expect this when staying with us,” adds Jones. “Many want to bring their devices with them and for theirs to work seamlessly with ours. Venues need ever more to keep up with guests’ expectations.”
In terms of the evolution of dining trends, Jones says record highs in casual dining are making formal dining spaces redundant. “There is also an increasing expectation that produce will be local, and food will be beautifully presented – ‘snapchatagenic’ – food as well as tasty, healthy and nutritious,” says Jones.
Goalen concludes the HBAA look ahead by saying: “Although the changes are more evolutionary than revolutionary, there are many significant developments across nearly all areas of this industry at present. It will be intriguing to see how they progress over the year.”
