The definition of luxury may look a bit different depending on the type of group you’re gathering for your next meeting — but one thing is clear across the entire events industry: Meeting the expectations of that definition is getting increasingly difficult as everything gets more expensive. According to AMEX GBT’s 2024 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, cost is the biggest challenge for planners in 2024. Fifty-four percent of respondents in North America and 59 percent in Europe identified cost as their top concern.
As funding for meetings becomes more stringent, finding the right people to make those meetings come to life is also getting more challenging. The hospitality industry often suffers from a lack of experienced staff, and the shortage creates much bigger problems than a few frustrated leisure guests venting about the issues. Knowland’s 2024 State of the Meetings Industry found that more than 30 percent of planners continue to face hotel staffing problems, either due to lack of experience or outright shortages.
While those challenges are real, there is plenty of good news to celebrate. The most recent Freeman Trends Report shows that 82 percent of attendees prefer in-person events versus online programming, and 80 percent believe in-person experiences are the most trustworthy news sources — far ahead of academic institutions, company leaders, media outlets, and more.
With the meeting industry on the way to a full recovery, planners must figure out how to work around those issues to deliver the kind of VIP experience that can secure long-term attendee loyalty. Within this new landscape, high-end hotels in secondary destinations are emerging as an ideal solution. In fact, Knowland’s research found that 53 percent of planners are looking to source high-quality venues outside of tier-1 markets. “This shift presents opportunities for second and third-tier destinations, especially venues with attractive experiential value propositions, first-tier product quality, and quality service levels,” shared a planner responding to Knowland’s survey.
But what exactly constitutes “first-tier” quality and service now? Skift Meetings partnered with one of the premier hotels in the West, The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, to help event organizers keep up with evolving attendee expectations and a changing industry landscape. This guide will explore the shifting concept of luxury in an evolving era of meetings and events and topics top of mind in the industry, such as:
The definition of luxury may look a bit different depending on the type of group you’re gathering for your next meeting — but one thing is clear across the entire events industry: Meeting the expectations of that definition is getting increasingly difficult as everything gets more expensive. According to AMEX GBT’s 2024 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, cost is the biggest challenge for planners in 2024. Fifty-four percent of respondents in North America and 59 percent in Europe identified cost as their top concern.
As funding for meetings becomes more stringent, finding the right people to make those meetings come to life is also getting more challenging. The hospitality industry often suffers from a lack of experienced staff, and the shortage creates much bigger problems than a few frustrated leisure guests venting about the issues. Knowland’s 2024 State of the Meetings Industry found that more than 30 percent of planners continue to face hotel staffing problems, either due to lack of experience or outright shortages.
While those challenges are real, there is plenty of good news to celebrate. The most recent Freeman Trends Report shows that 82 percent of attendees prefer in-person events versus online programming, and 80 percent believe in-person experiences are the most trustworthy news sources — far ahead of academic institutions, company leaders, media outlets, and more.
With the meeting industry on the way to a full recovery, planners must figure out how to work around those issues to deliver the kind of VIP experience that can secure long-term attendee loyalty. Within this new landscape, high-end hotels in secondary destinations are emerging as an ideal solution. In fact, Knowland’s research found that 53 percent of planners are looking to source high-quality venues outside of tier-1 markets. “This shift presents opportunities for second and third-tier destinations, especially venues with attractive experiential value propositions, first-tier product quality, and quality service levels,” shared a planner responding to Knowland’s survey.
But what exactly constitutes “first-tier” quality and service now? Skift Meetings partnered with one of the premier hotels in the West, The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, to help event organizers keep up with evolving attendee expectations and a changing industry landscape. This guide will explore the shifting concept of luxury in an evolving era of meetings and events and topics top of mind in the industry, such as:
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