Three Thoughts on (MICE) Travel of a Tuesday
September 1st of each year represents, for me and I am sure many others, the ramping up of MICE business as people return from holidays and attention turns to upcoming MICE programmes. Hotels start to see the transition from leisure guests to corporate groups. September was often the most successful month of the year, revenue wise, based on my time working in hotels and DMCs. September 1st 2020 is a completely different situation as Grim Gretta remains an almost permanent presence for those of us in the MICE industry since the pandemic kicked in. So here we are, it’s September 1st 2020, and here are three thoughts on travel of a Tuesday regarding roles reimagined:
1. Bombarded with negative news on the daily as business closures and further job losses in the industry are announced, it made me think about what may happen to our roles as the industry adjusts to the new realities of life in a pandemic. First to come to mind; the role of a Destination Management Company (DMC) in a post pandemic world. DMCs have been hit hard and many lessons have been learned recently. The DMC could play an even greater role in the organisation and execution of MICE programmes as they become more heavily relied upon when it comes to areas including health and safety, risk assessment, insurance, financial stability, emergency preparedness and compliance. With a more pivotal role, DMCs can seize the opportunity to establish more sustainable contracting, pricing models and engage in a more transparent manner with their clients on these matters. Many DMCs have realised their vulnerability as a result of the pandemic and such vulnerability needs to be rectified to future proof their viability.
3. As companies in the MICE industry continue to haemorrhage money, time needs to be spent on how best to set up their sales and marketing teams to ensure they continue to deliver high levels of service when RFPs become a more regular feature once more. With mass layoffs and furloughs, there is justified concern among the buying community that the service they receive will be compromised when trying to get responses to RFPs and the negative impact that could have on their relationships with their own network of clients. Most companies will, as business returns, be faced with the challenge of doing more with less. Take the typical sales and marketing structure within hotels as an example; can such structures be maintained and, if not, what are the alternatives? Could sales professionals represent multiple markets both within and outside the MICE segment? Cluster sales may become more prominent. The role of the global sales office may need to be reconsidered if they are representing a hotel portfolio that has less “on property” sales and marketing people. The same can be said for representation agencies on the DMC side (I being one such agency). Could aspects of marketing be outsourced with the goal of gaining an alternative and fresh perspective on marketing and the opportunity to potentially save money? Will changes in how, where and at what cost we sell and market our businesses unfold? A lot of questions and my thoughts are that yes, we can embrace and implement changes in how we do things; it is my prediction that outsourcing and the hiring of freelancers will become more prevalent, professionals will need to be more agile and able to work across different market segments, global sales offices and representation agencies will need to dig deep to create a stronger value proposition and more considered decisions will be taken on the how, where and at what cost businesses sell and market within the industry.
4. Where do the excellent CVBs and DMOs sit within a post pandemic industry? Understanding that the role, structure and funding of CVBs and DMOs varies across the globe, I still believe it is worth looking at possible changes to their roles in the industry. Will more MICE buyers avail of their services? What will industry engagement look like for them and what will stakeholders demand from them in the future? What about budgets for sales and marketing? What I see is that they will certainly take a more considered approach to how sales and marketing budgets are spent, which will most definitely have an impact on those who organise B2B events within the industry. I foresee face to face sales being done in a more paired back environment without the cost of all the bells and whistles typically associated with sales. I can envisage a more central and commercial role being played by CVBs and DMOs where they not only generate new business opportunities but play a greater role into turning these opportunities into contracted revenue. How that may actualise remains to be seen.
As with any substantial change, there will be uncertainty and anxiety but with Positive Polly mode in action, it also means new opportunities, new beginnings and new ways of doing things and that excites me. So there you have it; my three thoughts on (MICE) travel of a Tuesday as it relates to roles reimagined with more to come each Tuesday.
