Das BTN Magazin (Corrie Dosh) schreibt in der letzten Onlineausgabe über die Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung der Technologieberatung PhoCusWright, nach der in diesem Jahr ein Durchbruch in der Einführung von Meetingtechnologien erwartet wird. Darunter versteht PhoCusWright onlinebasierte Meetingplanung und -buchung.
BTN Mag Meeting Tech Adoption To Tip
Meeting Tech Adoption To Tip
By Corrie Dosh
FEBRUARY 05, 2007 --
...caused by a convergence of new market entrants, technological enhancements and a "growing disdain for the status quo," according to a survey sizing up the industry released late last month by Sherman, Conn.-based travel research firm PhoCusWright Inc. Meanwhile, a number of suppliers are launching and updating technology products targeted at facilitating online booking for small, ad hoc corporate meetings.
PhoCusWright estimated that the corporate meetings market will be worth $75.8 billion by 2008, up from an estimated $73.4 billion in 2005. The firm's figures are based on surveys, interviews of 160 corporations and associations and additional interviews of industry vendors. In addition, PhoCusWright estimated 60 percent of travel for all corporate meetings are expected to be booked online by 2008.
Leading the growth are corporate meetings with fewer than 25 attendees, which the survey projects to grow by 13 percent in 2007 against a relatively flat growth rate for other meeting types. Bookings for this segment are also among the first to be moved online because they are more transactional in nature than large meetings, with simple travel and meeting space needs.
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Santa Clara, Calif.-based meetings tech firm OnVantage Inc.—now operating under the name of its merger partner StarCite Inc. and based in Philadelphia (Meetings Today, Aug. 14, 2006)—first launched an online booking tool for small groups last June. The product, EasyBook, was for sleeping rooms only and was tied to a mandatory standard contract pre-approved by both corporate meeting buyers and hoteliers.
On Feb. 8, bowing to pressure from corporate clients, StarCite will allow customers to load their own pre-negotiated rates and contracts into the tool. ...
Though developments in the meetings and events industry "tend to be more evolutionary than radical," the market is quickly reaching a tipping point for mass adoption of technology and new sourcing strategies, PhoCusWright's Sileo said.
One of the biggest opportunities for corporate buyers and suppliers alike is the rapid growth and recognition of small-meeting expenditures, according to Sileo. In 2005, two-thirds of all corporate meetings were for less than 50 attendees.
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The redefinition of the meetings industry is happening during, and probably caused by, a very interesting time in the growth of the Internet, Sileo said.
"The online travel agencies are looking at how they redefine themselves and stay competitive in light of other new entrants and sites. There are also the mega-agencies that have woken up to the opportunities, and, third, are search and social networking sites. You can't assume that the same companies that have succeeded in the transient market are going to be those that succeed in the group market because unless they change their thinking and functionality or combine with some of these more group-related companies, they are losing traction," she said.
Sabre's GetThere also has unveiled a design this month for its DirectMeetings tool, with many changes aimed at booking small, ad hoc meetings. A new budget forecasting and comparison tool, open registration accessibility and wizard functions are aimed to help users plan small events within the boundaries of company policy but without extensive training on a complicated sourcing tool.
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Conference center chains also are getting into the act. Ann Marie Moayedi, national director of sales for Aramark Harrison Lodging, said the conference center chain is in talks to begin listing Aramark properties on EasyBook.
"It's to capture that end-user market that traditionally would not be going through the procurement department," Moayedi said. "We will have to sell a la carte as traditional hotel pricing for EasyBook."
Traditionally, conference centers have used a per-attendee, per-day pricing model called complete meeting package pricing. Flexibility in breaking up the complete meeting package also helps conference centers to capture the ad hoc meeting planner by being more user-friendly, she said.
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Source: Meeting Tech Adoption To Tip
