About 65 per cent of meeting planner respondents have events
on the books for the fourth quarter of 2021, and 62 per cent expect to plan at
least the same number of meetings and events of all types in 2022 as they did
in 2019, according to a new report from meetings data provider Knowland and
global meetings company ConferenceDirect.
The companies surveyed more than 450 ConferenceDirect
meeting planners between 1-25 October for the report, titled "The State of
the Meetings Industry".
About 16 per cent of respondents said at least
three-quarters of registrants to their current hybrid meetings are in-person
attendees, while 22 per cent said it was between half and three-quarters. About
33 per cent reported less than 10 per cent of registrants were for the
in-person portion of their events.
Half of respondents said they have a hybrid or virtual
technology vendor, while more than a quarter (26 per cent) handle the
requirements in-house.
When it comes to sourcing venues, 32 per cent of respondents
said they are "very satisfied" or "extremely satisfied"
with the responsiveness to their requests. Nearly half (47 per cent) said they
were "moderately satisfied". Furthermore, nearly 52 per cent said
that responding in a timely manner to requests was the most important action
hotels and venues could take to increase planner satisfaction. About 43 per cent
said the most important action from suppliers would be to offer terms that are
flexible with pandemic changes.
The top three concerns related to returning to in-person
meetings were budget availability (35 per cent), hotels and venues staffed to pre-Covid-19
service levels (30 per cent) and the method for proof of Covid-19 vaccination
(27 per cent).
More than half of respondents (54 per cent) expect to see
higher meeting space fees, while about 29 per cent anticipate amenity-based
pricing.