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The evolution of meetings, events deliverables

In the final of a three-part report based on HOTELS recent webinar about managing group and meetings business coming out of a pandemic, the conversation turned to, among other things, execution of new processes, changes to F&B delivery and lesson learned through the pandemic. Read Part 1 and Part 2, as well, for the complete report.

Sponsored by Oracle Hospitality, more than 500 readers of HOTELS and hotelsmag.com signed up for the virtual event entitled, “Driving revenue in the crucial meetings and event space.”

Moderated by HOTELS Editor in Chief Jeff Weinstein, panelists included Kelly Knowlen, executive director of sales engagement and special events at Hilton; Brandi Ronk, director, Sales, Groups & Meetings at Sol Group Corp., which represents the global portfolio of Melia Hotels International; and Dan Surette, chief sales officer at Omni Hotels & Resorts. 

HOTELS: How are you helping your teams actually execute on the new requirements and requests to drive group business? 

Kelly Knowlen: We started last fall. Once we launched our Hilton EventReady (July 2020), we started weekly “office hours” for our team members. Every Thursday at 2 p.m. – and we promoted it through our corporate newsletter, through emails – we averaged about 400 team members every week join to discuss a new topic every week, ranging from hybrid space or the playbook or cleaning protocols or food and beverage service. We had speakers come in for Q&A. We posted them to our intranet so team members could review them. 

We also put together a couple toolkits – one specific to our hybrid solutions, including everything from understanding AV packages to a little bit more detail hybrid glossary. We put together another tool kit about how to sell EventReady to our customers. 

H: How is the F&B experience evolving, and what more recently has been well received and also profitable? 

Dan Surette: I’ve actually seen the best quality box lunch you’ve ever seen in the last 12 months. Our culinarians have gotten so creative. I’m super impressed that as an industry we have found a way to have really good tasty quality food that may look wrapped and in little containers, but I think we’ve all gotten comfortable with. It’s got to be good, but we’re not recycling more and we’re not saving the world as quickly as we used to. 

Brandi Ronk: The pre-pandemic buffets are now really cool food bazaars. I was in Cancun in January and they have live cooking action stations throughout the restaurant that people can go up and have servers assist with choosing the right bagel or croissant and all the right desserts. 

Knowlen: Box lunches, buffets can be individual portions now, but they can still be very high-end, even luxury experiences. Some of the trends that we’ve seen are in the beverage area. To-go cocktail pouches are a new thing, and serving cocktails to go. Grab & Go meals are expanding and being elevated to a new level. Another trend that we will continue to see is healthier options. During the pandemic, people really focused on their health, and so local, organic, sustainable products will continue to be that in food beverage as it’s sourced.

H: How are you going to manage that innate desire to network at an event? 

Surette: We’ve played a little bit of police in the early going here, but I do think that this now is going to fall on the planner and the attendee. 

It’s also now going to fall on the attendee and, if nothing else, this has showed us the importance of networking and being together and working closely with each other at meetings and so forth.  

We’re going to watch and work within the restrictions of the communities. But networking is coming back. It’s going to come back slightly different, or slower, but it’s coming back, because everyone is seeing the need and the gap with the lack of networking in person.

Knowlen: One of the biggest things is to make sure that for all of the attendees, that you set the expectations before they arrive, that you really communicate – over communicate – what they can expect when they get there. Let them know if they’re going to be required to wear masks, or they’re going to be required to have social distancing. And those will keep changing. So, keep them updated right up until the event as to what they’re going to expect. It will really help keep everyone happy, engaged and not frustrated. 

H: Are you seeing inquiries from incentive groups? What industries, group size, timelines? 

Ronk: We’re definitely seeing a lot of incentive groups coming through. It’s from all industries. The timeline is Q4 of this year through the first half of next year. And the sizes are actually bigger than what they’ve been in the past because so many people haven’t had their 2020 or 2021 incentives… Probably about 50% of the leads that I’ve seen over the last three months have been from industries who have never done incentives before. 

H: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned over the last year, and the best piece of advice that you’d give when it comes to driving revenue, looking forward? 

Knowlen: It’s a two-part answer for me: Really listening to our customers, really listening, more than we ever have before, because things are continuing to change. So, listening to their needs, their expectations, what they are looking for, and then meeting those needs with whatever it might be. And then the second thing is being flexible, having to change as conditions change, loosen up or tighten up. 

Surette: I would say flexibility, as well. We’ve done a nice job trying to work together with clients versus drawing hard lines, and internally we’ve had to adjust the whole way. I would also say internally communicate with your teams because there’s a lot of uncertainty and they have questions. On the customer side, just staying close. There have been examples of customers not having anyone from certain places to talk to, or they need help, and this was difficult, because we all were short-staffed. Communicate where you’re at and be as transparent as you can. 

Ronk: I think being creative and making sure that you understand. Even though we’ve had a lot of our customers who are no longer in our industry right now, it is starting to come back, and they are starting to get jobs. Maybe they aren’t in the same position today, but that doesn’t mean that tomorrow they’re not going to be working for another company. So, stay in touch.

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