Sponsored by IACC
For over 40 years IACC has been known for representing the very best hotels and conference venues that host smaller conferences, meetings and training courses. And it is these smaller events that have led the change in the return to live business events.
Since 2016, through the Meeting Room of the Future™ initiative, IACC has been the leader in advancing research on how meeting spaces will look and function in the future. While this research has consistently been a valuable resource that has brought together research, innovation, and trends with the single purpose of predicting, creating and shaping the future of meeting environments, this thought leadership is taking on a newfound importance in light of the global public health crisis that has disrupted the meetings industry more than any other event in modern history.
As we place the pandemic behind us and begin the recovery, it is more important than ever to uncover new insights on how those in the meetings and events industry are responding to the changing needs and expectations of meeting planners.
To meet this objective, IACC surveyed IACC’s and SHFM’s top global meetings focused hotel and venue operators to understand the pace of recovery, levels of optimism gained from the actual recovery so far and the operational hurdles such as recruitment of venue staff and the effects these are having on the recovery. The survey was administered over a three-week period in March 2022 to venue operators globally and covers five key emerging topics including:
- Pace of recovery
- Client priorities in the new meetings landscape
- Property & product investment
- Workforce development and staffing
- Social & environmental responsibility
There were 87 venue operators that took part in the research study from three continents (Americas, Europe and Australia). Of those, 58% of respondents represent residential venues while the balance consists of non-residential venues. Approximately 38% represent corporate respondents while 62% are marketed properties.
The Pace of Recovery is Rapid and Encouraging
Indicators show the level of business events being held globally, such as conferences and meetings, are still very much in recovery mode but there is also reason for optimism on the industry’s return to “business as usual”. Respondents to the 2022 Meeting Room of the Future (MRoTF) survey reported that in 2021, average meeting/business events revenue was 45% lower than 2019 levels but in 2022, this percentage is expected to shrink to just 8% below 2019 levels. As seen in Table 1, European/Australian venues are projecting a strong recovery this year with revenue levels expected to exceed 2019 figures by the end of 2022 in both Denmark and Australia.
Residential venues (non-university) predict the earliest return to pre-pandemic revenue levels (2023) while residential (university) venues and urban non-residential venues anticipate a longer recovery time and don’t foresee revenue levels returning to 2019 levels until 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Regardless of whether a venue is corporate or marketed, on average, both venue types anticipate a return to pre-pandemic revenue levels in 2023.
How Venues See a Post-Pandemic World
There is no question that how meetings are conducted has fundamentally changed. COVID-19 accelerated the use of technology like never before and venues have been quick to respond to adequately meet these new requirements. However, navigating a global pandemic coupled with multiple social, economic and political shocks has also resulted in a reprioritization of how people spend their time, their attitudes and their values.
While the pandemic has shown the ease of attending online meetings it has also reinforced the value of human interaction (Figure 4). Based on IACC’s original research from February 2022, the value of human interaction is ranked the highest of seven factors when considering attending an in-person meeting, above expanding your network, scheduling and cost of attending. Collaboration with colleagues is also highly ranked.
Shifting Corporate Behaviors Leads to More Meetings
IACC’s February 2022 published research cites the frequency and size of meetings has fundamentally changed. In the short to mid-term, there will be a drop in daily meetings, replaced by increasing weekly, monthly and annual meetings. Smaller meetings of less than 50 attendees are most common.
Recognizing the return to in-person events, venues are ready to invest in their physical space to make it more comfortable and updated for meeting attendees. When asked what types of investment they are intending to make to their facilities in the next 18 months, the greatest percentage of respondents report they will invest in their conference and meeting room space.
Hybrid & Digitally Charged Meetings are Here to Stay
Moving forward at least in the short to mid-term, having a virtual element to in-person meetings will continue to be important and very few predict a future where events will be 100% in-person with no virtual attendees. IACC’s research shows a compelling 65% of those surveyed expect an increase in demand for virtual meetings (at least in the short to mid-term).
While the emphasis is now on making improvements to their physical space, venues have spent the past two years enabling more successful virtual participation with 80% of respondents reporting that they had made “some” or “a major” investment in their technology offerings to better serve the needs of clients requiring virtual participation for live event(s). Venues in the Americas were less likely to report investment in this area (21%) compared to venues in Europe and Australia.
IACC’s Detailed research and trends can be downloaded from the IACC Meeting Room of the Future Website here.
Do you have what it takes to be a IACC certified venue in 2022? Visit IACC’s membership page for more information here.
