BOCA RATON, Fla. - eTradeWire -- To provide hospitality suppliers with a deeper understanding of the needs and sourcing patterns of qualified meeting planners, EproDirect surveyed and gathered insights from their extensive database of over 80,000 meeting planners. The aim was to identify which promotions and incentives capture their interest, which marketing strategies effectively influence their decisions, and what factors impact their booking choices. The analysis revealed some anticipated findings, as well as a few unexpected insights.  For the full FREE Report, request here:  https://www.eprodirect.com/2024-survey-request/

Survey participants profile:

34%:  Independent/Third Party Meeting Professionals
30%:  Association Meeting Professionals
17%:  Corporate Meeting Professionals
3%:  Government
16%:  Other  (includes but not limited to Sports, Religious, Fraternal, Education)

Key findings

-Planners are booking more meetings than ever!  Levels have not only returned to pre-pandemic numbers, but have exceeded them.  (36.9% are booking more than pre-pandemic)

-Planners are booking world-wide.  More than half of the planners have booked or would consider outside/offshore of the United States.  38.82% have booked out of the United States, 17.65% have said they will consider it.  The locations that they have/would consider are pretty evenly varied.

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-The booking window has been pushed slightly; 6-10 months out is at 37.35%, followed closely by 11-15 months (33.73%) – but there are definitely short-term and long-term meetings too being planned out (15.66% and 13.25% respectively).  For non-US destinations, the top average booking time is 11-15 months (41.79%).

-The most preferred method of receiving hotel information, updates or special offers is through email marketing communications (87.06%).

-Not only do planners want to receive emails about information, 87.95% have indicated it is the top choice to solicit/prospect them as well.  Planners continue to read trade publications, but don't often use them as their primary source to learn about meeting venues.

-Meeting planners continue to find a great deal of value in FAM tours, meeting facility guides and renovation/new hotel openings.

-Floor diagrams, measurements and capacity charts are the most important hotel website tools for planners when selecting a meeting venue, and to find this info out, visiting the hotel website is the primary source of information (68.24%) planners use to learn about meeting facilities.

-Quality of service (90.36%) is the over-whelming top factor in choosing a destination.  This is interesting because it is way higher location, room rates, and many other options.

-Special promotions affect the decision on a location "a moderate amount" at 42.17%, with comped meeting space at the top desired offer.

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-F&B Costs and Room Rates are the biggest challenge right now for planners.

-79.52% find value in using a CVB for RFP distribution and destination assistance and of those, 70.59% use the CVB/DMO for sourcing event sites and accommodations.

There is way more in the survey report!  For your free copy of the report, please request here:  https://www.eprodirect.com/2024-survey-request/.

About:  EproDirect is a hospitality marketing agency who focuses exclusively on the meetings & convention segments of the hospitality industry. Over the last 20+ years they've worked with thousands of hotels, resorts, destinations and other meeting suppliers developing and managing email marketing campaigns. These campaigns delivered their client's content and messages to EproDirect's database of over 80,000 qualified meeting planner subscribers, and as a result, delivered thousands of new direct group business opportunities.  www.eprodirect.com