As hotel supply in North America begins to surpass demand for the first time in eight years, CWT predicts the pendulum will swing back to a buyer's market next year. Planners who can be flexible with their dates and destination choices will be best positioned to take advantage of the changing marketplace.

CWT says Europe’s increasing regulations, coupled with decreasing budgets and ever-stricter company guidelines around meetings, could mean a bonanza for the continent’s mid-scale hotels.

The pre-Olympics and World Cup building frenzy means Brazil now has a solid infrastructure and a hotel supply surplus. Planners eyeing Rio for future meetings can expect to find decreasing hotel rates, according to CWT.

Meetings are expected to grow by 25 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, with concomitant increases in costs per attendee and group size.

Virtual attendance will continue to make inroads across all meeting and event functions in 2017, according to CWT. Expect to see an increase the use of Facebook Live’s video streaming to include remote attendees as a program unfolds—and record it for replaying after the fact.

CWT took a hard look at the state of strategic meetings management and concluded that it continues to be a work in progress. While each company’s SMM program is going to be unique to align with its corporate culture and goals, survey respondents agreed that total savings is the most effective success metric. Running just behind total savings, however, were
• savings just from sourcing initiatives,
• attendees and/or sponsor satisfaction, and
• compliance with corporate policy.
For the future, says CWT, planners can expect to see their SMM programs integrate more with marketing and sales to tie meetings more closely to corporate success metrics.

Wherever you meet in 2017, expect to pay more for food and beverage, warns CWT. Rising food production costs, coupled with an increase in attendees’ special dietary requests, means you’ll be paying more dough for your bread and butter—if you still have gluten-eaters at the table, that is.

A few trends to be on the lookout for: The “Sriracha Effect,” where more attendees crave hot and spicy foods; “healthy indulgences” at the breaks that combine sweets with more nutritional options; and emerging super foods, including Kaniwa (a high-protein, high-fiber seed), Baobab (an African fruit); and Soursop (a popular South American fruit).

It won’t be enough to just track your attendees’ air travel next year, according to the forecast. CWT says that planners should expect to have a handle on where their attendees are throughout an event so they are prepared to act quickly in an emergency.

Beacon technology, which enables planners to track attendees through a microchip in their nametags, is predicted to be among the emerging tech players in 2017. However, the report notes, “While basic tracking data is interesting, it may only reveal what is happening on site, not necessarily why. Real-time feedback is critical to buyers’ ability to make meaningful changes both on site and for future meetings.”