During the Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Congress this summer, the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) held an educational session entitled “Visioneering Meeting Room Future” to update attendees on its annual Meeting Rooms of the Future report.
This year’s report found that meeting planners especially liked flexibility of meeting space, networking spaces adjacent to the meeting event, delegates discovering the locality and regional culture of the event’s location, food and beverage offerings and access to authentic local area experiences.
And what’s especially appreciated, according to attendees at the MPI session, is to have experiential elements added to the initial budgeting process, providing a more transparent, all-inclusive transaction.
Mark Cooper, CEO of IACC and the session’s presenter, said some of the key areas discussed were trends in food and beverage, technology and the delegates’ experience during meetings. He added that it was apparent that planners are experiencing a growing expectation to incorporate communication-based technologies into their events, but there’s clearly some uncertainty as to which makes a difference and provides the best value.
Properties and conference centers in the Western U.S. and Mexico are trending in several all-inclusive themes and aspects.
After Benchmark Hospitality International and Gemstone Hotels & Resorts merged last year, the “new” Benchmark has been using all-inclusive elements at its hotels, resorts and conference centers, which now total 70, “making the whole budget thing for meeting planners a whole lot easier,” said Andrew Finn, vice president of group sales at the firm’s The Woodlands, Texas, headquarters.
Especially from a meals standpoint, Finn said allocating for F&B in the preliminary budget can save up to 22 percent in banquet service charges and less tax. And with a more expansive destination choice with the Gemstone merger, Finn said the many new unique settings can make for a more personalized meeting experience.
“Experiences at our properties can be built into the budget and are germane to the individual environments, such as surfing at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu and golf and hiking at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs,” Finn said, adding that teambuilding activities and cooking are the most popular activities.
At Benchmark’s Chaminade Resort and Spa in Santa Cruz, Calif., for example, meeting planners looking to make their meetings more productive and less stressful hook up with the Mindful Meeting Package, which includes mediation, yoga, aromatherapy, specialty teas, nature trail hikes, well-balanced breakfasts and discounted spa and meditation guest rooms, the price of which is based on group size.
Chaminade also has recently premiered a 90-minute educational and interactive experience called The Science of Cocktails, priced at $45 per person. Attendees discover the history of Junipero Gin and Hirsch Bourbon and create their own cocktails with the infusion of botanicals, herbs and citrus.
“We continue to see a focus on all-inclusive packages that include some unique and creative teambuilding activities,” said the resort’s marketing manager, Winona Holmes. “The Science of Cocktails is an educational and interactive cocktail creation experience that covers spirits, their history and an unconventional nerdy approach to making truly unique cocktails. And it’s one of our most popular activities.”
Other Chaminade teambuilding programs include s’mores galore, a chili cook-off, a salsa challenge, an egg drop, a scavenger hunt and boat building.
Hilton’s all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta is also seeing more interest in complete all-inclusive group packages, said Beatriz Smith, the property's sales director.
“Meeting planners like one simplified price that covers accommodations, F&B, use of meeting space, coffee breaks, welcome receptions, teambuilding activities and more,” she said.
“Depending on the profile of the group, we often provide additional experiential features. Some popular options here include tequila tasting, Spanish lessons, salsa lessons or a city tour.”
And like many other properties and conference centers trying to keep up with the MICE sector, the Hilton Puerto Vallarta is receiving RFPs for incentive programs up to two years in advance, Smith said.
Grupo Posadas is also boosting its all-inclusive business agenda via its Fiesta Americana Grand Meetings Mexico umbrella brand. Posadas is currently managing eight hotel brands and 155 properties, with an ambitious plan to reach 300 properties by 2020, said David Manzella, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Posadas USA, who is based in Phoenix.
Within the Fiesta Americana Grand Meetings Mexico umbrella brand, Posadas offers a premium all-inclusive rate with everything included.
“Meeting planners like a customized approach, and each of our destination properties takes the pre-budgeting process to the very exact detail, including taxes and gratuities,” Manzella said. “All you have to do is add in the travel cost.”
Posadas offers four meeting brands: Live Aqua, Grand Fiesta Americana, Fiesta Americana and Explorean, located in Cancun, Cozumel, Los Cabos, Playa del Carmen and Puerto Vallarta, and the exclusive City Collection. The majority of the properties are all-inclusive. Group activities include culinary teambuilding, snorkeling, city tours, scuba diving and fishing tours.
Manzella said 2016 was Grupo Posadas' best year ever for groups and incentives, headed by retail, information technology, construction, medical, financial and insurance, and 2017 is picking up briskly.
Meanwhile, the Hard Rock Hotel all-inclusive expansion in Mexico and the Dominican Republic is going full speed, with meetings currently making up a good chunk of its business. Hard Rock Hotel all-inclusive properties are located in Punta Cana, Riviera Maya, Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, with another opening in Cancun (a “Riviera” brand) and one in Los Cabos in 2018.
Hard Rock’s focus with the meetings sector is on the experience—for both the attendees and the planners, said Kevin Edmunds, vice president-meeting & incentive for the AIC Hotel Group, Hard Rock’s parent.
“In our rates, all of your meeting needs are taken care of with included function and meeting space, cocktail receptions, coffee breaks, Wi-Fi, telephone calls to the U.S. and Canada, taxes, tips, room service and much more,” Edmunds said. “What it comes down to is we are a one-stop shop for it all.”
Although the all-inclusive model does simplify the process, all-inclusive properties vary from one to another, he added. “One thing to keep in mind when researching all-inclusive properties is their actual inclusions for groups,” Edmunds said. “At our properties, we include all meeting and function space so when you pay that upfront cost at the signing of the contract, that’s what you should fully expect to pay.”
Technology advances are also a major driver for meeting attendees these days, and Edmunds said the quality and security of a property’s Wi-Fi is very important.
“We have seen more and more inquiries, and these advancements change every day,” he said. “Smart televisions, work stations—they are all a part of the meeting, but the connectivity needs to be there.”
A recent Meeting Professionals International study found that more than 61 percent of meeting professionals agreed that current available event technology makes event management much easier and that it will develop and change dramatically in the next 10 years, but 92 percent admit that meeting planners are not making the most of such technology solutions.
