Planners will try to book events further in advance. This leaves hotels and venues in a pickle: Taking early bookings could mean missing out on higher-value events later.To avoid missing out on revenue, hotels and venues need to segment business intelligently. That way, you can avoid the pitfalls of traditional lead-scoring biases that hurt RFP management.

In 2020, brands will invest in events as a marketing channel. In fact, in a recent event marketing survey, 52% of respondents said that event marketing drove more business value than other marketing channels. (Only 8% said it drove less business.)

Planners should create ample private meeting spaces and “collision spaces.” Some events do this by providing fewer chairs than attendees. With fewer empty seats, they’re encouraging movement and interaction.

Large, minimalist spaces with easily accessible bars are the perfect recipe for a networking event. Venues like this can use the networking angle to promote event space to corporate clients.

These attendees blend the worlds of business and leisure. It’s given rise to a new, multi-generational segment that drives destination decisions. (See: our Hotel Market Segmentation Guide for more on this.)

Attendees want more control over the event agenda. In fact, 96% of the Social Tables audience believe events are expected to be more personalized than ever.

16. Sustainability will be center stage at events.

For proposals, try showcasing multiple event-specific variations. This adds value for the planner by helping them better meet their event objectives, while adding value for the hotel or venue as an upselling technique.

According to Billboard, there over 800 annual music festivals in the U.S. alone, and they attract 32 million attendees in total. 14 million of those attendees are (surprise, surprise) millennials.

At smaller levels, adding performances to the agenda can go a long way in engaging attendees. However, for larger events, creating a festival-like atmosphere requires access to a variety of spaces that are exclusive to one group.

A bigger focus on wellness could revolutionize F&B — replacing beef with the proverbial Brussels sprout.

While you don’t need to offer 11 choices for every hour, you can empower attendees to mold the event to meet their individual needs.

Sustainability initiatives are your chance to make a positive impact while painting your brand in an equally positive light.

This type of data risk is more subtle, and it involves employees selling data to third parties without the knowledge of the organization that employs them

Data security risks in the hospitality industry extend far beyond the reputation hit that a hotel can take if guests’ data is compromised. Industry and political regulators are becoming stricter in governing how organizations process and store personal data.

the job turnover rate in hospitality is as high as 90 percent

Whether the needs are short-term or necessitate a longer plan, hotel-specific accountants can scale on demand to offer the needed expertise and ramp up quickly.

Colors intuitively reflect a room’s status. We see the same in restaurants today – different colors for vacant, occupied and vacant not cleaned. Tracking status and orders for each table enables faster table turns and better service. In addition, linking to the frequent diner database can enable customized service. More obviously, these systems link to pager systems and reduce table wait times, which lead to happy customers and more profits.

Imagine, for example, in-room systems that allow guests to pair their mobile phones with the in-room systems, so they can not only switch between the devices to take calls anywhere, but also order room service, adjust the lighting or view the in-room entertainment menu of selections from anywhere, even outside the hotel or off-property. Guests also could be notified via a text on their mobile devices if they have a package waiting at the front desk, or they could be reminded of upcoming spa or personal trainer appointments, for example, or reservations at the hotel restaurant—or even be provided with recommendations for local activities and events.

The next generation of these technologies could be included in the guest room as part of the entertainment hub, giving travelers access to work-related services and helping them be even more productive. Imagine being able to use a voice remote to binge-watch a favorite TV show or conduct an instant video meeting with a colleague.

The next generation of mobile apps will serve as one-stop shops, letting guests control their room lighting, order movies on the entertainment hub, and view augmented reality maps to navigate the property and locate the nearest hotel employee for assistance.

n building a network that supports these new technologies, hotel operators should consider an environment that includes both on-premises, cloud, and networking technologies such as SD-WAN and high-speed broadband to make certain traffic is handled efficiently. And networking components such as WiFi and unified communications can ensure users of the network—guests and hotel employees alike—interact and transact using their preferred method of communication.