Anyone in the event planning industry can tell you—there’s a huge difference between a simple and a simplified meeting. Why? Because simple meetings don’t exist.
It’s a term we hear quite often in the hotel industry. When you’re a resort property used to hosting hundreds, if not thousands, of people for trade shows, expos and conventions, the idea of a 20- to 100-person meeting does seem, well, simple.
But what’s simple for a hotelier isn’t necessarily simple for those who have to plan them.
You’ll never hear a planner call a meeting simple, no matter the size, room nights or total spend. Every meeting requires intensive effort, attention, organization and time.
The increase in small meetings
Prior to the pandemic, 50% of corporate meeting spend was on smaller, easily replicable meetings. These smaller meetings include employee or vendor trainings, workshops, seminars, internal staff or shareholder meetings, and road shows.
As pandemic closures and restrictions have eased, the first meetings to return were these smaller meetings, which reduced crowd density and allowed for easier social distancing.
Recent surveys indicate rising confidence in the return of in-person meetings: 82% of 305 planners said they would hold live meetings in 2021.
Same task list, different event
Many of us at Groups360 spent the length of our careers in convention hotels and resorts. We know that event planners and hoteliers have inexhaustible and essential to-do lists.
While there may be increasing complexity for larger meetings and events, the workload is similar between large and small.
Planners have to make same decisions and follow all the same steps:
- Submit requests and budget approvals
- Search and source hotels and venues
- Create RFPs and wait on responses
- Book guest rooms and meeting space
- Arrange catering services and presentation equipment
- Launch registration website
- Communicate with attendees and guests
- Manage a room block
- Orchestrate content and outside vendors
- Report back to the meeting owner and stakeholders on ROI
Sourcing, requesting and booking guest rooms for 10 people takes no fewer steps than rooms for 1,000.
Many professionals who are tasked with these small meetings aren’t full-time planners — they are administrative professionals for whom meetings are just one aspect of their jobs.
Inexperience produces a measure of risk: Part-time planners may not be well-versed in hotel contracts and the art of negotiation, resulting in higher meeting spend than necessary. And without knowing the most efficient ways to source venues, they might not discover alternative locations or properties that are a better value.
An end to the endless list
We understand the complexities of the planner’s task. From the beginning, Groups360’s mission has been to simplify the process of booking and arranging meetings and events for both planners and hotels.
There are no simple meetings — but the meeting planning process can certainly be simplified. Streamlining the process of planning and producing these unique, safe, memorable attendee experiences is invaluable.
That’s why we created GroupSync. Now more than ever, given the significant time and labor constraints that have pressurized their duties and deadlines, both planners and hoteliers need to automate as much as possible.
Automate your workflow
Hospitality task lists deserve some simplification these days, especially since everyday life is far from simple. GroupSync offers more control, convenience, optionality, targeted results, and easier transactions.
Groups360 continues to build technology that makes it easier for suppliers to showcase hotel content, reach qualified planners, and distribute inventory in real time. Planner solutions are designed to slash the inordinate amount time typically spent on the logistics of meetings and events.
GroupSync Marketplace turns weeks of searching, sourcing and waiting on RFP responses to a few days. GroupSync Engage lets planners skip the RFP altogether in favor of instant online booking of group rooms and meeting space at participating properties, such as IHG, Omni, Atlantis Paradise Island, Virgin Nashville, Thompson Nashville and many more to be announced.
By offering instant group booking, hotels can automate the time spent on booking smaller meetings and invest the recuperated hours and energy into higher value events. Smaller meetings pose less financial risk for both the hotel and the customer, making it easier to transact online.
Ready to simplify your workflow? Discover GroupSync today.
