Meeting planners have a very challenging role. With the constant influx of popular trends to stay ahead of, meeting planners must be able to quickly identify the most critical movements and make decisions for their own meetings and events, asking themselves what’s hot and what’s not? What’s the next biggest thing and what’s on its way out? To help resort event planners and catering managers maintain a competitive edge, we’ve unveiled the top trends impacting hospitality event planners today:
- Differentiating with technology
- Accommodating millennial preferences
- Emphasizing health and wellness
Technology is disrupting just about every space you can think of, and resort events are no exception. Event management has come a long way from the binder-toting planners who seemed to have every event detail at their fingertips – just inside their binders. Considerable technology advancements are helping sales, catering and even banquet teams work seamlessly together. The digitization, integration and consolidation of essential meeting data is bringing efficiency – and profitability – into sales and catering departments. When integrated with the resort’s property management solution, event planners improve their visibility to BEOs, room blocks and even invoicing.
The Millennial generation is generally more willing to share a little information in exchange for a personalized experience, and with technology integration, resorts have more customer data than ever before. They’re empowered to use it in ways that help streamline their events. Better access to the data gives event managers and staff a deeper understanding of their customers and helps provide the highest level of service personalization, which always results in increased satisfaction.
Being healthy isn’t a new trend, but the way customers manage their health is distinctly different from recent years. Wellness is the new luxury and capitalizing on this increased focus on individual health can bring more event business into your resort. Health and wellness today refers to a more holistic state of being, where one’s mental, physical and emotional health are synchronized. Offering trendy, healthier F&B selections, including allergy-sensitive and vegetarian options, are important criteria that event planners will use to evaluate where to have their next meeting or event. Finding ways to incorporate alternatives for snack breaks, and even adding movement sessions, will help secure more event business.