Fuel Your 2024 Strategy: Maximizing Your Hotel’s Event Space

The U.S. meetings industry is a powerful force. It boasted an impressive annual revenue of around $30 billion in 2018. When you consider the supplementary services like food and beverage, equipment rental, and audiovisual setups, this number skyrockets to an additional $110 billion. To put things into perspective, the direct spending supported by meetings surpasses the sales of businesses in the air, rail, and water-transportation sectors combined, as well as those in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sectors. Globally, the events industry market was valued at $886.99 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $2 trillion by 2028. These staggering figures underscore the immense importance of event spaces in driving the economy of the hotel industry.

Despite their undeniable significance, some hoteliers still fail to fully leverage the potential of their event spaces. This often stems from the absence of automated tools or senior-level personnel dedicated to optimizing event spaces. However, the untapped potential of event spaces presents a golden opportunity for hotels to significantly enhance their revenue streams. By recognizing and leveraging the value of event spaces, hotels can drive substantial growth and success in the hospitality sector. Event layout software can assist hoteliers with fully leveraging the potential of their event space.

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Business meetings are changing, with more companies embracing remote work and downsizing their offices. This shift creates a perfect chance for hotels to make more money from their event spaces. For example, with the increasing popularity of smaller day meetings, hoteliers have a golden opportunity to boost revenue in their event spaces. But how can they make the most of these meetings? Are there ways to modify larger event spaces to cater to the rising demand for smaller, more intimate gatherings? Hoteliers can get creative in how they market and showcase their event spaces. Using spatial design technology can simplify the sales process and unlock the full potential of their event spaces to increase profitability.

When optimizing an event space for profitability, you will want to focus on flexibility. Create spaces that can easily transform to host different types of events. These can include business meetings, expos, performances, weddings, receptions, etc. Movable walls, modular furniture, and adaptable lighting can help achieve this. The more versatile your space, the more bookings you can accommodate. However, iterating on the different options available may be something of a hassle. This is where modern spatial design technology truly shines.

Using solutions like event planning software, event design software, or virtual tool software can make the management, planning, design, and promotion of event spaces easier for hoteliers. These tools not only streamline space optimization but also help in venue marketing efforts. Optimization goes beyond just filling in space; it involves strategic approaches like dividing larger rooms into smaller sections to accommodate more attendees simultaneously. Additionally, knowing how guests spend on food and drinks helps predict and boost profits. Real-time collaboration features facilitate seamless communication and coordination among team members. It ensures plans are executed well and adjusted quickly, saving time and money.
 

Virtual collaboration and personalization are the major trends impacting event sales and planning for hotels. These trends are embodied in the rise of spatial design technology. It empowers teams to connect digitally and streamline decision-making processes. Spatial design technology allows hotels to create dynamic digital replicas of physical spaces. Now, hotel venues can offer more personalized experiences tailored to the needs of clients and prospects. Through the 3D modelling capabilities of 3D walk through software, event spaces can be designed at the touch of a button. Seamless collaboration and imagination come together in the shared digital workspace. This transformative technology shows event spaces and enables clients to visualize and interact with potential layouts. Hoteliers are empowered to bring their creative visions to life.

For venues prioritizing experiential engagement, spatial design technology is a game changer. Immersive 3D previews enable users to explore venues virtually. Hoteliers expedite the sales cycle by qualifying leads and closing deals more efficiently. Automatically populating design details speed up the process of event creation and management. Streamlining this process minimizes errors and optimizes resources. Collaboration tools and task management features further enhance event execution, ensuring a smooth transition from planning and design to operation. With spatial design technology at their disposal, venues can unlock the full potential of their event spaces, delivering unforgettable experiences and driving business success.

You will be looking at several factors to calculate your meeting space’s profitability. Consider factors such as how many people attend. How much are you spending on catering costs? What is the type or size of space being used? Are there electric or air costs involved? Are you considering sustainable event planning? Traditional metrics like revenue per square foot may not provide the full picture of success. One method is to look at “delegate density.” This compares the number of attendees to the space’s capacity. For example, a meeting room designed for 50 people accommodating only 15 attendees would be acceptable during slow periods. Yet, by adding just 3 more individuals to the meeting, and charging per person, you can increase revenue by an additional 20%. So, how do you accurately measure success in this context?

Automation can simplify the process of tracking and analyzing KPIs for event spaces. By automating data collection, hotels can see how often spaces are booked, how full they are, and how much money they make. Real-time monitoring capabilities enable instant access to data on current bookings and room availability, empowering hoteliers to make informed decisions on the fly. Automated reports give detailed insights into performance, including how full spaces are and revenue per square foot. Connecting with revenue management systems helps with flexible pricing and inventory management. Overall, automation improves efficiency and accuracy in managing event spaces, helping hotels boost revenue and guest satisfaction.

Another example is utilizing virtual tour software to design, showcase, and sell your space. Understanding how people explore and use your space allows you to qualify and prioritize high-value prospects based on engagement analytics and chat thread documentation. All this feeds into your team’s CRM to show how this technology impacts your ROI.

Having a plan is crucial, but without someone leading the charge, it falls flat. Numerous factors contribute to the undervaluation or misunderstanding of meeting spaces, including space design, personalization, vendor management, last-minute changes, catering challenges, accessibility, or event visualization. However, a significant reason behind this oversight is the absence of senior figures tasked with optimizing these spaces.

To ensure the success of these strategies, designate someone to optimize event spaces. This role involves more than planning; it includes using tools and training staff to manage spaces efficiently. While room revenue management tools are widely used, there’s still a significant gap in meeting space management tools. Most technology companies in this sector focus on helping planners and boosting registrations but miss out on the needs of hoteliers for developing meeting space revenue strategies. What’s needed is a user-friendly automated tool that covers the entire event’s lifecycle. This tool isn’t just for pricing, but also enables comprehensive management of meeting spaces. Investing in such technologies can automate decision-making, streamline processes, handle pricing, and optimize space allocation. Ultimately this is how to maximize the utilization of meeting spaces.

It’s evident that event spaces hold substantial revenue potential for hotels, often overlooked. It’s high time for hoteliers to reassess the significance of their meeting spaces and integrate them as key elements of their revenue strategy. Going beyond conventional room revenue, hoteliers should explore the adoption of advanced tools such as event diagramming software, event floor plan software, or virtual tour software to gain deeper insights into space utilization and elevate the booking experience for clients. With these proactive strategies and innovative technology, hotels can unlock the full potential of their event spaces and excel in the competitive hospitality landscape.

Prismm is a world leader in spatial design technology, evolving how hotels connect, collaborate, and transact across virtual environments to unlock the infinite possibilities of their event spaces. Prismm captures a true-life digital representation (a digital twin) of physical event spaces with an immersive spatial technology platform that transcends the limitations of real space. Able to show the full spectrum of potential layouts, hotels can edit their digital twin to match their customers’ requirements exactly. They can also plan, design, and visualize spaces in harmony with their customer preferences, regardless of their geographical location. Whether it’s collaborating on a global scale or catering to specific client needs, Prismm empowers hotels to create customized spatial solutions that resonate with their clientele.

To experience the transformative capabilities of the Prismm platform firsthand and ensure your hotel and event spaces remain at the forefront of spatial design innovation, schedule a personalized demo with us today.