BETHESDA, Md.
Marriott’s Convention & Resort Network (CRN)–an integrated network of over 60JW Marriott, Autograph Collection Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels and Gaylord Hotels– conducted a recent survey that revealed three positive trends for large meetings* at Network hotels: group demand, pick up and spend are all up for 2015 and beyond.
Group demand is reaching an all-time high. Overwhelmingly, corporate and incentive meeting leads are increasing. 78 percent of Network hotels are seeing an increase in corporate leads, 90 percent of those coming from US mainland resorts. 71 percent of offshore resorts are seeing an increase in incentive groups and 50 percent of US resorts are experiencing an increase in leads for incentive business.
Stability for large group bookings and meeting attendance is strong. 47 percent of Marriott CRN hotels reported a decrease in cancellations versus two years ago, and 65 percent of hotels said the majority of large groups are achieving or exceeding their room blocks. In fact, 60 percent of US resorts in the Network are experiencing groups picking up more than their original blocks. Attendance retention by large groups is also on the rise with about half of CRN hotels reporting an increase in meeting attendees
As evidenced by responses from all 60 Convention & Resort Network hotels, spend has significantly increased over the last two years: 78 percent of Marriott CRN hotels report spend is up in 2015, and 90 percent within that are US resorts. Marriott CRN properties are also reporting that groups are upgrading their events. 69 percent note increases in spend on food and 63 percent report increase spend on beverages.
Message to planners: book large groups now to secure desired dates. Large meetings are booking further out. 41 percent of CRN hotels said that groups with 300 or more rooms are booking further out than just two years ago. For hotels and resorts with 600+ rooms, over 30 percent report large groups are most commonly booking into 2017 and over 20 percent report the majority of large groups are booking into 2018.
“We are now seeing an increase of large groups booking in 2017, 2018 and beyond, with many of the Marriott Convention and Resort Network hotels confirming groups in 2024 and 2025,” stated Mike Wainwright, vice president sales strategy, CRN. “This is compared to mid-size groups on average of 100-250 rooms that are more frequently booking in 2016. Planners are changing their strategies and now are looking much further ahead in order to secure desired dates, locations and patterns.”
Additional findings throughout the survey include what planners are doing with meeting programming:
- 79 percent of CRN Hotels report planners are upgrading event programs with unique destination experiences, followed by 75 percent of hotels reporting an upgrade in staging and A/V; and 69 percent of hotels reporting an upgrade in food.
- When asked about Millennial/Gen Y meeting attendees, hotels report that planners are modifying the following in their programs: 96 percent technology; 82 percent F&B; 73 percent activities; 55 percent meeting set-up.
*Large meetings were defined in this survey as 50 percent of the largest group (peak rooms) a hotel would extend one client/group. For example: in a 1,000-room hotel, peak rooms for group would be 900 and therefore that hotel would define a large meeting -for their property specifically - as 450+; whereas a 600 room hotel is 500 peak and therefore defines large meetings as 250+.
