In the world of meetings, meetings and more meetings, where does the omnipotent ‘Venue’ fit in? Some indulge in it by the infinity pool and some prefer the good ol’ Grand Ball Room, some even take to the jungle! Thankfully, living in an era where hotel consultants and meeting planners are still in a standardization conundrum, here lies a space that still revels in its customization! With apps still a long way to create an impact, brick and mortar rule the roost or rather the meeting-world still lies on the ‘touch and feel Nirvana mode!’ 

Where there is an opportunity, there stems a devil! The success of for meeting planners lies quite dominantly on the ability to zero in on a tailor-made perfect venue! The timing is never been more perfect to look for venues beyond hotels, who have inserted the Revenue management element to make themselves uncompetitive and making meeting planners scout for alternatives. Bizarre over-the-top revenue management practices have already had the Indian Aviation Industry under the mat, hotels will not be far behind! What was by tradition a practice wherein the planner negotiates with the hotels on the basis of Pax is today marred by the greed of discerning hoteliers, who have suddenly discovered their love to ape some American brands and enforce a minimum revenue guarantee! Of course, this is not exactly standard, but it is part of the great negotiating game which can highly selective and exhaustive, resulting in an enhanced ego-boost to the discerning hotelier’, while the client hopes to grin and bear the travesty to Uncle time! Additional Service Charges varying between 10-15%, which are as opaque as it levied on hapless clients by a select bunch of hotels, continue to do tremendous dis-service to those ply the honest trade! 

Unique venues live by the tale of enhancing the guest experience and bring in the Wow factor! The future of the meeting industry lies in the out-of-the-box venue management skills supplemented with the rising corporate culture where the call to choose the venue will be dictated by the need to build an experience/story around it! What would have been considered a random name of the street, may soon turn out to be the next great Meeting destination? It still does not stop an Event manager to suggest holding a Sales Meeting in the middle of Chandni Chowk in Delhi or Chickpet in Bengaluru. Can any FMCG Marketeer actually agree to hold one amid the rumble and noise of a market-place! What stops a pharmaceutical major in organizing its regular sales meet in the Conference Hall of a Hospital? One day one might see an incentive program being held around a Bollywood Set or around a Cricket Match at the Wankhede Stadium as well! Alternatives such as Universities, Race Courses, Clubs and Bars, Museums and public spaces have all raised their hands to curate events and get into this competitive space, wherein with outsourced services, the choice for suitable venues gets enhanced giving the client to claim onus on his creativity to deliver a unique experience. 

India as a market is a natural ‘Hands in Glove’ with the event industry. What goes into a family in selecting a suitable venue to create an event out of an occasion?  Do hotels strategize to woo this burgeoning segment? Having been in the industry, before the evolution of the term Event Management to now ‘Event Activation’, have hardly come across hotels creating a specialized marketing center to add commercial value to their event spaces apart from a few branded five-star hotel chains. At most hotels the banquet management team, is not necessarily your Event marketing team. The revenue stream can just bigger with inputs of Food & Beverage, rental of audio-Visual equipment, accrued business from rooms, etc. 

The country simply loves to celebrate! With made-to-order occasions created out of thin air or a six-month-long meticulously designed wedding, hotels in India never had it this good. The Indian hospitality industry’s unique revenue trait, where Food & Beverage contributes more to the revenue kitty than the segment is credited. The Meetings industry’s mite seldom goes challenged with the discerning Indian finds more occasions to celebrate! Events to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, kitty parties, family and friend’s get-togethers, naming ceremonies and of course, the big fat Indian wedding all bring cheer to the table! We are not talking about corporate events yet, that bring in the big moneybags. 

Speaking about the new era hotels that seem to be flooding the market with imported standards especially from Europe and US, who seem more interested in getting to the magic number of 100 properties in India, than creating a right variation to their product to suit the Indian market. Service and Amenity standards currently being enforced in the name of global parity is absurd. There have been investments made in crores to create a profitable entity, and have left Indian hoteliers in the lurch, not necessarily due to the economic situations we endure. One set of hotels in Bangalore with a combined inventory of 500 rooms, a couple of International brands to make the owners feel proud, has meeting room infrastructure of a banquet hall measuring 2500 square feet! How do you explain to a prospective client, who wishes to book a hotel for his mega residential conference or wants to host his big fat Indian wedding, that he can take his room business, but has no venue to host the banquet! Indians, by trait, need any excuse to get a gathering on to host a lunch or dinner, whether it is for a baby naming ceremony or an anniversary party. 

The scorn for Food and Beverage sales is not justified, when in India, sometimes F&B sales constitute up to 50% of revenue. It should do well for hotels and other event venues to broad base their client profile. As a hotelier, what does it take to position your event spaces amid your glowing hotel brand? If your Event Spaces Food & Beverage contribute more than 30% of your turnover, get it a branding strategy! The hotel brands bring with it, standards and total recall, but the right unique brand identity for your event space will make it stand out amid the hardened competition.

In an era when hotel projects are more often part of a multi-use facility with retail, residences and commercial spaces are thrown in, event spaces will have to strive its own unique niche. A day when you will have branded and franchised event spaces are not far. Creating and managing an ‘Event Space brand’ will bring in Event standards, improved guest feedback, and enhanced occupancies. Creating unique brand identities and focus for Event spaces will also take on branded hotels especially in the four- and five-star segment. It is not far ahead that, with the increased demands with regard to technology, enhanced client requirements, the era of specialized companies managing event spaces are not far behind! 

Somehow hotels around the world have always been reluctant a radical shift in branding strategy. But in an era, where the competition gets fierce, specialization takes over, it is never too late to reinforce branding standards on individual profit centers such as event spaces, health clubs & spas and one might be tempted to add Laundry services to the list! 

The advent of up-to-date revenue management strategies has virtually taken over decision making with regard to the functioning of sales. Marketing event space is still left untouched by the new era Revenue Managers due to the customization it requires. In an era, wherein technology will soon engulf decision making, the role of venue managers will be that of facilitation than to create opportunities to build working relationships! It is almost like not foreseeing the trap. Well, they said the same thing of ‘growing-up’ as well!