Meetings management in 2024
A BTN data story created from the responses of 167 travel managers from across Europe and North America in the 2024 Meetings Strategy Survey
BTN’s Meetings Strategy survey, fielded from March 15 to April 5, showed a concerted push among organisations to get their hands around meetings activities – especially as smaller, more internal meetings have proliferated in a remote work world. How meetings strategy crosses with travel management – or not – can be seen in the following data story. Where does your company fall in this mix?
The topic: Meetings management fitness assessment
The topline
90% of BTN survey respondents said they had some kind of meetings management activities in play.
The takeaway
The vast majority of those organisations are still developing meetings programmes in terms of policy, technology implementation and data analysis.
23%
WE'RE FIT
Strong governance and policies, sophisticated enterprise technology and data capture ensures visibility.
43%
WORKING ON GOALS
Implemented policies and meetings technology, but still lose sight of some key data.
24%
LEARNING THE ROUTINES
Implemented meetings policy and/or technology, but not fully leveraging capabilities.
10%
LOW ENERGY
No meetings management.
The topic: Venue sourcing consistency
The topline
Slightly more than half of survey respondents’ organisations are disciplined with formal RFPs when sourcing meeting venues.
The takeaway
How much duty of care and/or cost leverage are companies losing when they don’t strategically source venues? Can they use preferred partners?
Does your organisation use a formal RFP process or tech platform to source meeting venues?
(126 respondents)
(126 respondents)
Has your organisation ever used transient travel and meeting spend together to increase your leverage with suppliers?
(104 respondents)
(104 respondents)
The topic: Leveraging combined spend
The topline
Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents had attempted joint transient and meetings negotiations with preferred suppliers.
The takeaway
Unfortunately, the vast majority of those who attempt it say they are rebuffed by their partners; more than 10 per cent don’t try because their suppliers won’t accept it.
"Our supplier doesn’t like us to combine spend because transient room rates are generally net rates and meetings rates usually include commission. The commission rates are part of the commercial model with agencies. But I provide transient rate guidance to our meetings team, and if I go to our hotel partners as the travel manager, I can usually get the lower rate”
– Travel manager
SMALL MEETINGS REVOLUTION
According to American Express Global Business Travel Meetings and Events' 2024 Global Meetings Forecast, 37 per cent of client organisations said their small and simple meetings would see the most growth in attendee numbers in 2024. Amex GBT M&E gathered those projections in July 2023. Now that we’re in the thick of 2024, BTN has found that the trend lines for smaller meetings have emerged even stronger. We asked related questions in our March/April survey, and the majority of responding companies said they have more small meetings than ever and they plan to spend more on those meetings in 2024 than in 2023.
The topic: Small meetings, big opportunities
The topline
Close to two-thirds of survey respondents said demand for smaller group travel, whether for internal or external meetings, had increased over 2019 levels.
The takeaway
Establishing strategies to facilitate that travel type, serve the needs of the group once they are on location and control costs has been a common challenge for travel managers, and it’s crossing over with meetings.
Do you agree with the following statement: Compared with 2019, my organisation in the past 18 months experienced an increase in trips associated with small group travel.
(138 respondents)
“The mix of meetings volume really changed at my company during and after the pandemic. We have so many people working remotely, and our company allows that, but teams still have the need to get together, build culture and collaborate on projects. So we are figuring out how to put policy and controls around that”
– Travel & meetings manager
The topic: Small meetings haven’t peaked
The topline
More than 50 per cent of survey respondents projected their organisations would spend even more on small meetings this year than they did last year.
The takeaway
This higher volume raises the stakes for bringing smaller meetings under spend and policy management – whether that’s through the travel programme or the meetings programme, or as a joint initiative.
How do you expect your organisation's expenditure on small meetings (<50 attendees) in 2024 will change compared with 2023?
(136 respondents)
(136 respondents)
How companies are responding to the rise in small meetings
Put a lid on It
43% are attempting to limit travel for internal meetings
Provide parameters
32% of companies have a specific policy for small meetings
20% are developing one
Press play on tech
12% use a specialised simple meeting planning/management technology
37% run small meetings through the same tech as large meetings
(From top to bottom: 63 respondents, 139 respondents, 130 respondents)
Among companies that have specific small meetings policies...
40% have put the policy under the remit of the travel management team
35% have put the policy under the remit of the meetings team
(43 respondents who answered ‘yes’ to having a dedicated small meetings policy)
The topic: Venue sourcing for small meetings
The topline
Small meetings policies prioritise onsite meeting locations and existing preferred hotels.
The takeaway
Travel and meetings professionals may increasingly be working with facilities and human resources to ensure onsite spaces are included in planning workflows and booking tools.
Does small meetings policy include requirements on how to source spaces and/or hotel rooms associated with the event?
43 respondents (answered ‘yes’ to having a dedicated small meetings policy)
43 respondents (answered ‘yes’ to having a dedicated small meetings policy)
Survey Respondent Base
Business Travel News’ 2024 Meetings Strategy Survey included 167 buyer-only respondents. Here’s a snapshot of those respondents:
Current role
(167 respondents)
(167 respondents)
Current travel spend
(157 respondents)
(157 respondents)
Current regions under management
(167 respondents)
(167 respondents)
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