Getting Back on Track

Mid-Atlantic Events Magazine recently reached out to hospitality industry professionals and planners and asked them to look ahead into 2021 and to talk about what will be needed – beyond a vaccine – to achieve a level of comfort that will allow meetings and events business to get back on track. HERE ARE SOME OF THE TOP RESPONSES:

JOSH NOWAK DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING FOR LANCASTER MARRIOTT AT PENN SQUARE AND LANCASTER COUNTY CONVENTION CENTER

“If there’s anything positive we can take away from 2020, it’s that the spirit of partnership is key to strengthening our business community and providing great experiences. From a hospitality standpoint, continuing to operate with a collaborative mindset and transparency in all aspects of the event and travel planning process is going to be vital to the client experience and hosting successful gatherings. For example, Lancaster County Convention Center has invested in virtual tours that have created a unique way to offer site visits during the height of travel restrictions and keep our sales funnel active.”

“Businesses are looking to rebound in the new year while creating meaningful experiences that weren’t available to their employees this year. A platform that enables us to easily demonstrate the defining aspects of our venue that also saves our clients time and money is a win-win solution that will persist far beyond 2021.”

“Enticing guests to return no longer lies in just dates, rates and availability - it’s the extra steps that can be taken to streamline the planning process and be a partner for our clients in new ways, whether that’s communication to attendees ahead of arrival, a custom check-in experience, or creating personalized touch-points that will make for a memorable stay. In hospitality, we must continue to identify our guests’ most immediate needs and how we can address any and all of their concerns - both prior to arrival and during their stay.”

“Additionally, maintaining a high-standard of health safety, which has always been our goal, is only going to further establish comfortability in doing in-person business from larger events to small face-to-face meetings.” SCOTT HIGGINS HMCC, VALLEY FORGE CONVENTION AND TOURISM BOARD

"Everyone has been shaken by the impact of COVID-19. In order to get back to business, we believe it’s important to rebuild the confidence for both the event planner and the actual attendee. We’re focusing efforts on areas that will help with that, such as our Montco Wellness for Events, which provides safety updates from our hotel partners.”

“We’ve also introduced Montco360, offering virtual tours of our hotels and attractions. Within this technology, attendees and planners can virtually see a property in advance and become familiar with it prior to physically visiting. Lastly, we’ve moved many of our publications to our Visit Valley Forge App, which now serves as our digital welcome guide. It’s critical that we’re all comfortable traveling, and hopefully with these items we can build back that confidence."

BILL MCEWEN VP STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT, ADVANCED STAGING PRODUCTIONS

"First and foremost, it is important to understand the core service/value your business provides and get back to providing that service by any means necessary. In our world of event technology, our core value is to help our clients communicate their message to a target audience. The method of accomplishing this has varied drastically over our 30-plus year company existence. We are decades removed from VHS recording of meetings and slideshow playback with synchronized audio, but we still provide the means for organizations to ‘speak’ to their audience."

"Second, we need to experiment and seek out new ways to accomplish our goals. We need to be quick to adapt and realize we are learning as we go. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is the unknown. Today is where we thrive by keeping true to our mission. Will we again meet in person? Absolutely, but the future will always have some sort of virtual component post pandemic. Now is the time to embrace change and help develop your future offerings."

"Finally, to get back on track, we have to be true to our people. Open communication is key, especially when it comes to soliciting their feedback and ideas. The best ideas we have seen during this pandemic have come from our people. Harness that powerful resource." STEPHANI L. BANN CMP, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF SALES, KALAHARI RESORT & CONVENTION CENTER, POCONO MOUNTAINS, PA

“I believe it is important for those who want to meet to look at all that our hospitality industry is doing to allow them to meet safely. We CAN meet and, even more importantly, we can meet SAFELY. We need the leaders of our industry to get out and show that meetings can happen and it's within our power to lead the way.”

GBTA POLL: IN-PERSON MEETINGS

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s largest business travel association, has released the results of a survey – the 14th such poll by GBTA since the onset of the pandemic to measure the impact on business travel – which finds that a majority of respondents are optimistic that the travel industry will begin to rebound in mid- to late-2021, and that the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine is top of mind for many business travel professionals.

“What we’re seeing in this latest poll is a number of reasons for the business travel industry to be optimistic about 2021, especially toward the middle of the year,” said Dave Hilfman, the interim executive director of the GBTA. “As the vaccine rollout gains momentum, and if we see a corresponding drop in positive COVID-19 test results, this survey suggests something of a return to personal connections and in-person meetings and events in the business space.”

Key findings include: 3 out of 4 respondents expect employees to attend inperson meetings/events in Q2 or Q3 2021, with 89 percent of respondents set to attend an in-person meeting or event with attendees outside their company by Q3 2021, and 87 percent of respondents expect to attend internal company meetings or events in person by Q3 2021.