HRG says that the majority of companies do not know how much they spend on meetings and events.
The TMC said that research showed that 56 per cent of firms could not put a figure on this area of their spending, although at the same time 53 per cent were looking to spend more on meetings in the next 12 months.
Amanda Hanlin, HRG’s director of global sales for meeting groups and events (MGE), said that companies now wanted to see how much they were spending on meetings across their global businesses.
“Gaining visibility of spend is the most urgent priority for clients,” said Hanlin. “On the whole, they have no idea what they are spending across their markets or who is doing what. They want to start to get control and compliance.”
Hanlin said TMCs were well placed to look at what companies were spending on meetings and events because they had been analysing travel data for years.
“Having had experience of transient consolidation we are well versed in what works and what doesn’t work when going down the consolidation route,” she said. “We can give consultative advice to customers.
“We can offer visibility, control and cost savings through consolidation of their programme. We can also compare transient spend with meetings spend if required.”
Hanlin added that HRG could also look at how companies were utilising their internal meeting space.
“What’s the point of sending staff out to an external meeting when 70 per cent of their own meeting rooms are available?” she said.