The German Best Western hotels decided to reopen its MICE industry study which is conducted to find out the current trends in meeting & conference bookings and etc. In addition to that, the MICE study also aims to learn the key indicators on how companies select hotel companies and how the trend has been for the past few years.
The survey covered small, medium and large corporations who have experienced booking with Best Western. In total, 250 companies-participants were surveyed. Each company had a representative and presented the factors regarding business hotels called the MICE segment. Also acquired data were compared with the previous year research.
Significant factors were evaluated in the study session that revolved around current market trends. Discussed were environmental aspects, social programs and booking channels among others. A demand for “green meetings” which are about ecological aspects were evaluated which resulted as higher than last year. About 20 percent companies pay particular attention to ecological aspects when booking an event. It is a vital part of the hotel selection criterion. After all, no matter what tourists’ aims are, they would want an ecologically stable environment to as a place for their stay. People who go for business trips or vacations want the same thing when it comes to hotels. Social programs accounted for 45 percent as compared to the last year’s 40 percent.
Online booking portals were deemed as the most important channel. 70 percent uses the internet as a means of booking for an event. The remaining 30 percent rely on print media such as newspapers and magazines for booking purposes.
However, it is important to know that actual booking requests fall under the online portal a total of 19 percent as compared to last years 36 percent. Organizers use the power of email and 37 percent utilizes the telephone to make direct bookings.