In October, hundreds of members of the global MICE and travel community came together in London to attend our inaugural Cvent CONNECT Europe. Guests heard about new technologies and upgrades that Cvent is building as well as the key industry trends and how to further leverage the power of your events.
Lots of time to network and get to know other delegates made for incredible energy throughout the event, surpassing expectations and creating an unforgettable kick-off event.
By the Numbers:
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490+ Delegates
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15 seconds Average check-in time using OnArrival360
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30+ Number of educational and informational sessions
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5 Major product announcements
Session highlights:
Power of Hotel Data
In this session, we discussed how nearly a third (32%) of travel and hospitality industry marketers rated data science as the skill they most lacked. Since a total of £10 billion worth of MICE and corporate travel business was sourced globally in 2016, with 750 RFPs being sent every day in EMEA during 2016, such a lack in technical skill could prove detrimental. The top pain point that emerged for hotels was being more knowledgeable about integration with new technologies. Delegates learned how Cvent could allow them to dive into reporting, highlighting the missed opportunities within their competition.
Best practice: Leveraging the New Cvent Supplier Network Features
To embrace technology with mobile responsive design, the Cvent Supplier Network has been given a facelift — it now comes with a new and improved look and feel, which means a smoother user experience for venues and planners. In 2016, $2 billion worth of MICE business was sourced through the Cvent platform.
Chronicles of a Global Planner
There’s a new mantra for boosting MICE business – win over the planner to win repeat business. When planning an event, planners are likely to know the destination, but the final venue is not decided until later in the process. To appeal to planners, hotels need to make pricing clear, transparent, and detailed. Hotels need to be more responsive (<48 hours) and informative when replying to RFPs. Moreover, to support a technology-enabled event experience, hotels should seek out technologies that satisfy planner expectations and delight their guests.
5 Trends Affecting the Hospitality Industry
In this session, we discussed the top five things trending in hospitality right now:
- Brand Influence – Today's hotel guest wants an experience that extends beyond the typical overnight stay.
- Sharing Economy –The sharing economy motivates both suppliers and their guests to adapt hospitality to how the modern traveller or delegate experiences events and hotels.
- Customer Loyalty – 47% of U.S. and European consumers will abandon a brand if it repeatedly provides poor, impersonal, or frustrating customer experiences
- Technology – 53% of millennials would rather lose their sense of smell than their technology – so how can hotels meet those technological expectations?
- Buying Dynamics and Data Protection – With the rise of purchases made on mobile devises, secure data protection methods have never been more important, especially with GDPR coming to the UK in 2018.
Announcing Smoother Room Block Management
Cvent introduced its newest product, Cvent Passkey, at Cvent CONNECT 2017. The tool helps hotels boost and maximise revenue from MICE bookings, increase ADR, and improve the overall planner and user experience when making group reservations. Some of the top pain points that emerged in this session for hotels offering group room blocks include lost bookings, call centre costs, inefficiencies, and OTA fees. Passkey can help drive 60% of room block bookings online to beautiful, professionally designed booking sites. Passkey also has features that enable upsell opportunities to a larger audience — which will prove highly beneficial as 13% of guests will book an upgrade if offered one at the time of booking.
Business Transient Road Map
The session uncovered the top tips for being competitive during RFP season for corporate business. Some of the key takeaways included understanding the client’s process and needs while preventing data loss and maintaining rate integrity. The session also discussed how Cvent has set out a clear investment strategy for 2017 to enhance the transient product suite, which includes modernisation, enhanced data, and simplification.
Find out about Cvent CONNECT Europe Virtual 2020
