Grass Roots HBI, Publishers of the Meetings Industry Report 2009
Grass Roots HBI’s Meetings Industry Report
predicts up to 30% venue rate cuts
25th March, 2009 - Venue sourcing specialists Grass Roots HBI launched the third edition of its Meetings Industry Report today, offering insights into the current and future picture of the UK meetings industry with highlights from a European and Global perspective.
Grass Roots HBI, which placed £120+ million in meetings spend on behalf of its corporate clients last year, reports shrinking venue rates with reductions of between 5% and 10% already achieved during the first few weeks of 2009. The agency predicts reductions of up to 30% during this year.
Grass Roots HBI works with many of the FTSE 100 companies and Des McLaughlin, Managing Director, reports: “Our clients are increasingly taking a longer-term approach, appreciating that we can best negotiate rates on their behalf when looking at total requirements over a 3-6 month period rather than per meeting. Even with shorter lead-times this means we can achieve much greater leverage on cancellation penalties. We already save our clients around 30% each year against published rates, and hope to improve on this figure this year.”
Grass Roots HBI reveals that meeting rates increased by just under 2% in 2008 compared to 2007. London continued to be the most expensive meeting destination in the UK during 2008, at an average £60.64 for day delegate and £228.04 for 24-hour rates. At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest average day delegate rates (DDR) were in the South West at £47.12 and in the North East for 24-hour rates at £126.66.
Paris, Milan and Geneva were the most expensive international cities in which to meet with an average €94 four-star DDR rate. Budapest (€50), Brussels (€56) and Lisbon (€62) were the cheapest.
With companies looking to maximise their meetings and event budgets, Grass Roots HBI reports an increase in demand for teleconferencing facilities in meetings, particularly to save time and travel costs for senior executives. Other changes in the market include increasing compliance and mandates around how meetings are sourced.
For a copy of Grass Roots HBI’s Meetings Industry Report 2009 visit www.grassrootshbi.uk.com/
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